Presence by Combine (III) - User-Driven Creative Academy

Casebeskrivelse:

Presence

The case we were assigned with required us to come up with a solution for the company Combine. Their idea for a mobile application – Presence – was described as a geo-based instant messaging concept. Furthermore, the description stated that the messaging function would be related or pinned to a location. Even though the general idea behind the concept was contoured, the functionality and purpose of it was left for us to be envisioned.

Our part of the assignment required us to work with the visualisation and development of the concept.

Etnographic research

Starting from these premises we went on to making ethnographic research regarding the current usage of apps as well as the usage of the location function. In order to reach this goal we decided to take interviews with people which we considered that are within our target group range, which we defined as teenagers and young adults.

Afterwards, we created a set of four rough ideas of how we thought the two features – messaging and location – can be combined, in order to get some feedback on the directions we thought the project can go towards.

The interview was structured in two parts. In the 1^st there were questions regarding apps and location function whilst in the 2^nd part we presented them with four rough ideas. Our main goal with the questions was to find out which apps were the most used and which app the users though they cannot live without.

Part 1 – Questions

Which apps/features do you use the most?
Which features can’t you do without?
Which features you can do without?
How do you use social media apps in general?
How often do you use the location setting on your phone?
Do you see new ways of using the location setting on your phone?

Part 2 – Presentation of ideas

“Trip-advisor” app
Wishlist app
Social meet-up app
Love note app

Sandbox

In the process of specifying our problem, we visited the material story lab. For us, it was a great help at specifying which direction we wanted to take the app. We learned that many of our thoughts on the app were around culture, food and social life, and that we actually shared many thoughts on the subject. It was a good thing to learn that we were thought about some of the same issues, and to realize that we were on the same page.

After visiting the sandbox, we worked further on a couple of ideas, but we found it hard to figure out exactly what Combine expected from the app.

2nd Meeting

The second meeting with Combine left us a bit confused, because we did not feel we were given any new information. However, it helped us to go back to the start of the process and generate more ideas for the video-sketching process. We also felt as though we were taking the basic idea in a whole other direction, however it helped us to go from 2 ideas to 5 ideas.

Ideas after the 2^nd meeting

Leave a message – with this app, the user can leave a message pinned at one location and another user can read it only at that location
Food Review – the users leave reviews at different restaurants/diners/places to eat; these reviews appear on their friends phones if they pass by those specific locations
Business/Message – the user can follow specific stores/businesses and gets notifications if he passes close by
Photobook – the user can take pictures around the city and pin them on specific locations
Last one – a message is pinned to a locations and distributed to a number of contacts; the message is only accessible at the location and the last person to reach the location doesn’t get to see the message

Design process

The first steps we took in our design process was to brainstorm on how the app could work and which functions it would fulfil. this was a very hardy process since we could not find a need for the concept, neither could we establish a fixed goal for it.

Video-sketching

After we were introduced to the basic principles of video-sketching we decided to create a mock-up video for each of our ideas, in order to show them to the client. The first step in creating the videos was to make the storyboards for each one of them. Afterwards, we created basic figures and mock-up phones on paper, which we subsequently scanned and arranged in small video sketches. By doing this, we wanted to give the client a short introduction to our ideas. There were seven sketches in total, based on five ideas. It is possible to view all of the sketches by selecting the tab “Mock-up videos”.

Group members:

Cristian Alexe

Idun Obel

Jonas Foged Lindholm

Lea Louise Nielsen

Line Maibom Mogensen