Bump
Reconnecting, what you lost...
Introducing BUMP.
Helping to encourage more face to face interaction, because we all should spend less time on our phones.
What we did:
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Brainstorming
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Identifying the Trends
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Secondary Research
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Proto-persona
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Journey map
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Storyboarding
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Journey map
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Ideation Phase
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Low-fi to High-Fi Sketching
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User Flow Diagram
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Final Reflections
Brainstorming
"All great ideas revolve around brainstorming."
At first, we did not have a clear idea of what we wanted to make. One of the tools we used that assisted with our brainstorming was the Tech Building Blocks Method kit. Our group has participated in card sorting exercises that would help build our ideas. At this stage, we were focusing on generating as many ideas as possible individually. In order to aid with the creativity, we set a timer for 15 to 20 min to ensure that we had a good amount of ideas.
The result was as follows. 8 swiftly generated ideas amassed.
After the time passed, we took turns pitching our best ideas to each other. After the pitching phase, we started discussing the details from what would be the least possible to most possible. At the end of the exercises we had 7 concrete ideas. From there, we identified which trends our ideas fell under.
The Resulting Ideas
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Traffic data collection and monitoring AI-based system.
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Social networking. Helping people meet in person with AR features.
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Safety drone that helps locate disasters and accidents of different severity levels.
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Time management and virtual planner.
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Diet monitor and food planner.
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Alcohol vending machine.
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Mood improvement application that suggest music or events based on user's frame of mind.
Identifying The Emerging Trends
In order to make an accurate decision about the idea our team wanted to focus on, we agreed to identify what the emerging trends in interaction and products are. Doing so helped us get an idea of what we wanted to make of our design project.
Emerging Trends:
Technological
Consumer
Societal
Identified Trends
Traffic data collection and monitoring system.
Technological Trend: AI foundation.
Social networking. Helping people meet in person with AR features.
Consumer trend: augmented reality and Technological trend - immersive experience.
A safety drone to help detect disaster’s location.
Consumer trend: merged reality.
Technological trend: intelligent things, and digital twins.
Time management and virtual planner.
Consumer Trend: augmented reality.
Diet monitor and food planner.
Consumer Trends: AI everywhere: Beyond a lot connected devices.
Alcohol vending machine.
Technological Trends: Intelligent things
Mood improvement application: suggest music or events based on a user's frame of mind.
Technological trends: Intelligent things.
Secondary Research
During our secondary research, we looked at what type of technology would be the most successful, who our target audience should be, if we should implement a new technology or work off of existing tech, and what we should make.
Our Findings:
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Wearable technology is a very successful market. Over 170 million units of wearable wrist-wear devices are forecast to be shipped in 2020. (https://www.zimmerpeacocktech.com/2018/09/01/the-future-is-already-wearables/)
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In 2019, young consumers will still be the largest group of wearable users, with penetration among the 25-to-34 cohort jumping to 38.0%. (https://www.emarketer.com/content/wearables-2019 )
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The technology to be used should be a combination of a wearable and a mobile application, given that there still seems to be an untapped potential in the market. (https://proceedix.com/resources/untapped-potential-mobile-wearable-technology )
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We found one article on Psychology today suggesting that people don’t talk face to face anymore. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-path-passionate-happiness/201802/when-did-we-stop-talking-each-other) . We think our technology should focus on bringing back face to face interactions between people.
A Decision
Needless to say, once we identified the emerging trends, as well as reviewed our secondary research, we collectively agreed on social networking.
With the rise of augmented reality and the popularity and success of current social media models, it would make sense to combine both in order to create a unique experience for users. An interesting application could be towards the development of a virtual social networking platform that allows users to visually see other users. For example, you meet someone using this new system, you both hit it off and decide to go to lunch together. This app will allow users to know about the person they are meeting before talking to them, without the need of searching them up.
So the best course of action was to create proto-persona to help create our target user, this would help get out all the assumptions of their experiences in a hypothetical scenario, follow up with a storyboard to help us visualize the scenario.
Proto Persona
Jerry, Smith
Age: 25
Male, Single
User: anyone with a social media account
User environment: Public areas
Devices: mobile devices, wearable devices
Scenario: Jerry has social anxiety and wants to work through his issues. He goes to a cafe to try and talk to people and socialize. However, he does not know how to break the ice and approach people. Jerry spends hours just sitting there, and eventually gives up and goes home.
End goals: For those who want to meet new people and socialize, they can do so already knowing some information about the people they want to approach.
User Journey Map
Based on the secondary research we have collected about our target audience, we were able to map out the user experiences, and pain points.
Ideation Phase
In the end, we chose to focus on social networking. We began to sketch how we thought the product would look while incorporating digital interaction that would pair with the physical item.
Storyboarding
Storyboard, because everyone likes a good story.
Our scenario was tackling the topical issue of social anxiety amongst young people. The main scenario that we chose to focus on was battling social anxiety with social networking.
Industrial Design Sketching
During the process, the Industrial Design team started off the ideation phase with a sketch of how we would integrate the physical interaction with the digital interaction in the social networking idea.
We wanted the concept to be less related to looking at the screen but instead encourage face to face interaction.
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Using AR technology where you can view other social profiles, from the app without looking down on your phone.
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Using a bracelet, or necklace as a beacon sending out a signal to other users who have the beacon. However, you would still need the phone to view the user profile.
With further development we explored devices that could be integrated into clothing as well as various accessories that could best fit a busy person's lifestyle.
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This development focused on the intergration of technology and textiles while being able to connect people in an analogue sense.
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We moved on to focus on more versatile solutions that anyone could use in their everyday lives. Some of these solutions included charging stations with built in display screens, magnetic buttons, and pendants.
Device Prototype
Posters
Wireframes
Low Fidelity
We developed a low-fi wireframe to get an idea of how our app would function and to make quick changes if needed without wasting resources.
High Fidelity
After all the final changes were made, we moved on to the polished stages.
User Flow Diagram
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Users download the app
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Users either log in, or sign up
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If signing up, users will need to pair device with app. Will also need to complete a questionnaire
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User accesses app
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User uses the home page map to find people
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User approaches person of interest
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User “Bumps” their device
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Both users are now connected
Summing Up
We would like to have had more time to fully explore the finer detailed aspects of the matching platform. Finer details could have been put into some of the color coding and gesture inputs for the bump device. Overall, we think we achieved a very effective design solution for connecting people in the physical world.