Week 9 and 10 update (Mood Board, User Feedback Assignment)

Here is what we've done for the past couple weeks after we presented 3 main ideas from the mock interviews we did between groups. Those main ideas and things we'll take into consideration are:

- Wireless power so there isn't an ugly cord sticking out from under the centerpiece and so the users don't trip over it.
- Way to distinguish speakers and ping them for location. If it's a 5.1 speaker system.
- Take into consideration the materials of the leaves because if they're too heavy they wont stick and if they're made out of foam it might dampen the sound too much.

---------------------------------------------

Here is our Mood Board (clicking the link will link you to the .pdf file)


---------------------------------------------

Here is our User Design Feedback Assignment

---------------------------------------------

Here are the sample personas we came up with

Week 6 and 7 Questions and Comments

As stated in the last post, we received no feedback after our presentation in either way. The class voted 100% green, which is a good indication that our design will be a worthwhile pursuit.

Here are the questions that were asked during our mock interview session:

- Is it going to light up?
- Yes, it will include lights on the base of the centerpiece that will have soft-colored lights that will illuminate the piece from the bottom up.

- Is the centerpiece's leaves (speakers) going to be wireless or wired?
- We'd like to have it wireless, but there are certain restrictions that may arise. Things such as having the wireless receiver built in with the speaker will potentially make it difficult to stick onto the wall.
- However if we go with wired leaves, it'll definitely reinforce the metaphor of our centerpiece being organic but again might be too much of a visual burden with all the wires sticking out.

- What are the leaves going to made out of?
- We'll have to experiment, things like sponge and foam might absorb the sound but the upside is it'll be light. However if we go with a heavier more sturdy material it might be too heavy to stick to the walls/windows.

- Approximately how much would this retail for?
- We've already established that we're catering towards upper class homeowners so if this were to go in production we'd want to use very high quality materials and speakers... We're probably estimating somewhere between 350 - 450 dollars.

- What kind of Controls will there be for this centerpiece?
- We have a couple ways we could go about doing this. We were thinking of having water controls so it'd seem like you were watering the plant but instead you'd put water droplets into little test tubes that would detect the weight of the tube increasing and thus would send a signal to change things like volume, skipping songs, stopping and playing.
- Another way we could approach this is using modern symbols that are projected on the piece by lights and over a photocell. When the user puts their hand over the symbol the photocell will detect the change in light and trigger said functions.

- Will the centerpiece's leaves play all the same music?
- We want all the leaves to play the same music so they wouldn't conflict with each other, however after taking this into more consideration this could very well be a possibility once we advance further into the project.

- Will the centerpiece look ugly if there is an MP3 dock exposed?
- We'd try our best to hide all the electronic hardware to maintain the centerpiece's elegance and sleek structure.

- Is it possible that the leaves will be too high for the user to reach?
- Probably not because you're going to be the one positioning the leaves up there in the first place...

- If this is supposed to be a 5.1 surround sound speaker system how can you tell which leaves are which?
- We'd have to develop a system to tell the users which leaves are which. Possibly by implementing a feature so you can Ping the leaves from the system and have the leaves play some sort of indicator sound.

- How would you power the centerpiece if it's supposed to be in the middle of the floor?
- Using wireless power we will be able to transmit power to it without having a huge ugly extension cord sticking out of the piece. Here is a product that we might use.


Here are some pictures from those discussions.

Karen doing some sketches for the interviews

Our group conducting the interview..

How the centerpiece would look in someone's living room

Again how it would look in someones ultra fancy apartment, the piece is using it's sub woofer that on the glass system.

Presentation File

Our presentation can be found Here

The presentation went well. We did not really receive any feedback either than the general feeling of content throughout the class.

Week 5 Assignment

Team 22km's Gantt Chart can be found here

What people or positions will be most affected by this project?

- Parents will feel more secure that they know that their children can be more independent in finding their way to and from school and other places

- Children will be able to use this device to display information on the safest way to get certain places that are pre-programmed from their parents.

Who will be required to operate it?

- Parents will have to program in specific places into the device and then give it to their child

- Children will have to be able to use the device to navigate to the menu to display the place they want to go to

How many people will be affected by the project?

- This question is a bit ambiguous, but that being said parents who feel they need to have the feeling of security for where their child is so they don’t have to drop their kids off to places everyday. Hopefully the child will become more independent.

- Potentially millions I suppose…

What are their current levels of skill in operating this technology?

- Basic motor skills and the ability to recognize symbols

What training, if any, will they require?

- Ability to follow the instructions given by the device. Device will include an instruction manual mainly for the parents to learn how to program locations into the device for their children

What team support will they need to keep using the project?

- IT support if software/hardware problems occur

- A help center in case they really have no clue how to use it after reading the instructions

What are their attitudes towards this change?

- Parents will feel more secure that they know their children can get to different locations on their own. They will also feel more self confident that the route the device gives them will be the safest route they can take (not into dark alleys!)

- Children will become more independent while using this device.

What can the team or organization do to alleviate their concerns?

- Address any problems that the consumers might have.

- Properly advertise all the benefits of the product.

Conclusion to your end users:

- Because this is quite a sensitive subject (parents and child safety) we’ll have to reassure them how the product will help their situation and all the positives of using it.

What is the need for your product?

- Children need to be independent

- Parents need to feel that their child is safe

How will this product make people’s lives easier?

- Parents will have to spend less time taking their children places (school, friend’s houses etc)

- Kids will have the device to guide them so they don’t get lost and they will develop knowledge of familiar routes better

How will it help fill the niche you are aiming for?

- The device and its functionality is directed towards mid-class families

What are the benefits of having such a product?

- Feeling of security, confidence in the community

Conclusion on your project goals:

- Aims in helping family security, allowing their children to become independent

Project Scope, Goals and Asssumptions:

Project Contract:

Assignment 3

Document on your website/wiki the following:

- The results of the voting method from the workshop: ranking of your 5 project ideas
based on team members’ vote.



Voting Results:
1.Fidget
2.Pants
3.Smoke
4.Shoes
5.Highlighter


- Outcomes of the use of SCAMPER method on your project ideas. Explain how you
modified your original ideas and detail your three top ideas.



through the different SCAMPER methods, and synthesis of several we came up with a number of related ideas.

The top 3 are:
Circulation Enhancing Socks/Leggings
Hand Warming Figet for Business People
Smoke Filter that attached to Cigarette Package

- List the selection criteria that your team came up with. Explain each criterion, showing
why it is relevant to the project ideas that you have.

- Document the use of the checklist technique. List the questions that you used and the
answers for each project concept. Do a comparison of your ideas based on the result
from the checklists (ranking).

This document can be found Here

- The decision-matrix method: selection criteria, reference concept, ranking of your
concepts (explain why you assigned 0, + or – to your ideas).



- Project selection. Identify your top idea.

Top Ideas:
Corporate Fidget
Smoke Filter

Document any difficulties your team encountered during the selection process, and describe
how you overcame these hurdles.

As a team we were unable to come to a unanimous decision on which project to pursue, so until one idea shows a clear advantage over the other we will co-process both projects.

Post your team’s answers to the following questions:
• Do the results make sense?
Yes
• Does the team feel comfortable with the results?
Yes
• If you did it again, would it come out differently?
Considering the randomness of the ideation process I am 100% sure that if the process were repeated the results would be different.
• Do you need more information to do it properly?
It would have been more effective to have a specific problem and then use the methods given to brainstorm possible solutions. The method used was much less effective for evaluating ideas which lack a well-defined goal.

Assignment 2

INTD 402/403

Week 2 Searching for Ideas Workshop Assignment

Group Nouns and Verbs:

Document and upload your list of 20 verbs and 20 adverbs

Sterilize Grow Push Grope Distort Flip Smoke Pulse Flip Squeeze Turn Spin Pull Grab Squish Destroy Bounce Pet Purr Jack

Throbbingly Blissfully Passionately Magically Swimmingly Musically Sickly Numerously Ackly Retardedly Pointlessly Idiotically Jokingly Whimsically Happily Sadly Sarcastically Backwards Forwards Calmly

Document, illustrate and upload your possible combinations

Sterilize Blissfully

Grow Magically

Push Pointlessly

Smoke Magically

Slip numerously

Pulse Sickly

Turn Musically

PUSH passionately

Grab Whimsically

Destroy Sarcastically

Pull Jokingly

Document your best 7 adverb-verb combinations describing your possible project.

Grow Magically

Push Pointlessly

Smoke Magically

Pulse Sickly

Grope Magically

Jack Numerously

Squish Whimsically

Bodystorming-Brainstorming:

From the workshop process you have 5 possible body/brainstorm ideas. For EACH idea:

1. Describe each idea as an “elevator pitch”

2. Document and upload your sketches and concept maps including attributes

such as the:

a. experience

b. sensory input: (images, sounds, tactile, taste, smell – what does it

respond to -- input),

c. action (what does it do? - output),

d. context (is it cultural, play, work, mobile).

3. Create and upload a short story (or scenario) that relates the context to the

inputs and outputs. Do this for EACH of the ideas. Your story/scenario should

Growing Shoes
A pair of shoes which makes you taller when you talk to taller people so you don’t feel so inferior and wimpy
a) be tall
b) rising sensation, feeling of power
c) expands hydraulically, pneumatically or mechanically to make you taller
d) workplace, daily life, social events
3. Mark plans to meet up with a group of classmates later on in the day to work on a group project. His other group members are quite a bit taller than he is (and oddly enough all the same height). Mark feels that his confidence to share his ideas could be boosted if he was roughly around the same height as his other groupies. Having just acquired growing shoes he meets up with his group mates and his shoes begin to expand until he is the same height as everyone else.

Exercise Pants
A pair of pants which uses electrodes to work your muscles while you’re not using them
a) a party in your pants, now with exercise
b) a pleasurable tugging sensation
c) while you sit idly on the couch your pants are exercising your muscles for
you through electrodes placed on muscles
d) due to possible embarrassment should only be used in the privacy of your
own home
3. Fred usually wakes up at 6 a.m because this gives him the right amount of time he needs in order to go jogging before taking a shower and heading to work. Although this time he remembered the “exercise” pants his friend gave him as a birthday gift over the weekend. So Fred slipped on the pants and turned the switch to the “on” setting. Set on the low powered mode, Fred felt a “tugging” sensation as the electro pulses coursed through the soft yet rugged texture that suits both a comfy lifestyle at home and a tiring and sweaty day at the gym. Fred was in the mood of trying something new today, he decided to skip his morning jog and just focus on making a nice breakfast in his new pants. Finally, when Fred had finished his breakfast he took the pants off in order to get to work and he noticed that his legs felt like they would if he’d went jogging in the morning! Fred was so pleased at his new pants that he decided to wear them to work…

Fidget Toy
A toy you play with in class, or while presenting, or watching tv. makes you happy, relieves stress and is a combination between silly putty, clicking a pen and petting a cat
a) a mindless but enjoyable distraction for your hands
b) textures, vibration, sounds, lights, music, resistance and touch
c) the device has a number of different possibly actions. It can be completely
passive, like tangle, be knotted, like string, be a mind puzzle, be furry and
warm like a cat, or it can create pleasing music and lights and sounds for
when you want a little more distraction and it wont bother anybody else.
d) a toy, definitely in the realm of play
3. A pleasurable toy that response to the movements of your hands. It creates pleasure and enjoyment. Each part programmed with different functions. No bigger than a child’s toy. It’s a ball that can be stretched and pulled, knotted, petted and squished. Relieve anger and stress. Joanna needed to relive herself from her workload from school. She grabbed the Fidgetor toy ball and started to pull really hard. She threw it across the room and bounced back. Finally she was a bit calm and more stable. She turned on the classical music switch and started to give this gentleness pattern of lights that corresponds to the music. Joanna held the ball to sleep. It is heat- sensitive. It sense Joanna’s hand were cold. The Fidgetor ball automatically heats up and vibrates to give her a temperate massage.

Text Highlighter
Highlights text as you read it
a) high lights the text to improve reading efficiency
b) strong visual perception, color manipulation, and it facilitates to focus attention
c) projects lighting on the portable screen, and high lights a portion of text under certain duration, which are all configured by the user.
d) the device is for students and workers to concentrate during studying or working situations, especially when they reads
3. During the exam weeks, Mike is stressed out about the excessive amount of studying. He realized his concentration level is getting lower during the recent weeks due to the pressure. Mike seeks better ways to improve his reading efficiency. Then he is introduced to the Text Highlighter, which is a light, medium-small device to place near the ear or on the glasses. The major function is to high light the text for the reader. The device allows the reader to specifically set the high lighters duration and color, and it provides the user basic controls such start, stop and a speed control. After using the text highlighter for a few days, Mike finds the highlighting helps him read better with a higher concentration level.

Smoke Purifier
Wearable, purifies smoke from around you so it doesn’t bother others, also keeps the pigs off of your back, yo!
a) the pleasure of smoking without all the glares
b) a minor inconvenience for the user but it allows them to smoke without
affecting those around them significantly, giving them more freedom to
smoke in doorways and crowds
c) a breath powered fan, a filter and a holder for the cigarette,
completely non-digital
d) social context, minimizes the disturbance caused by a filthy stinking habit. Also reduces heatiness of smoking up on street corners.
3. “Can you stop blowing that in my face?!”
That’s what Gary hears from passers by every morning when he takes his usually cigarette break just outside of his office building. Although he knows people don’t like the smell he also knows that the smoke from his cigarette is harmful. He then remembered a new product in which was a smoke filter. The next day he bought it and put it to use and right away he saw and smelt a huge difference. He blew the smoke from his lungs into the filter and left the cigarette burning in the filter and he saw a huge decrease in the amount of second hand smoke coming from him. From then on Gary heard less of “Can you stop blowing that in my face?!” and more of “Hey, that’s a nice looking do-dad hanging off your shoulder”

22km

Team members:
Jody Dickerson
Daniel Jagger
Matt Louie
Judy Tao
Karen Liu
David Wu

Team Logo


Team Vision (t-shirt)

Team Vision (Text)- Directed technology:


Team Skills/Concept Maps

(click to enlarge)