Combine – Here I Am (II)

Konceptvideo:

Solution

Web based solution

Pictures

Videoskitser:

Phone as Hotel key

The idea was to make a digital key through the phone. This would save time for hotel guests and Airbnb users e.g. The phone would track a person’s location through iBeacon and hereby open the right door.

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Click and Collect

Online shopping is a growing market but the shipping costs- and times can opt out many people from shopping online. The idea was to make a click and collect system where you order online and pick up the order in the store. With the iBeacon the store could then track when the customer is nearby and start packing the order so it would be ready when the customer arrives.

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Office idea

A lot of offices have the concept of their employees having to check in and out from work, which tends to be a rather annoying thing to do. If this was done automatically, it wouldn’t be a problem if people forgot to do so, since it was done automatically through the beacon.

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Pharmacy idea

The queue time at the local pharmacy can often vary between 20 minutes to almost no waiting time. Since it’s rather often hard to predict, we made a concept making you able to see the queue prior to your arrival, and take a number in the queue without even entering the store, as long as you’re in range of the beacon.

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Hairdresser idea

This concept illustrates the issue with getting a haircut without a booking. Mainly targeted towards the female gender, where they’re often required to book a time prior to the haircut.

Designprocess:

Introduction

The design process is consisted of varies parts of gathering data, analyzing it and getting new perspectives. Our process is written in chronological order, as seen here with methods underneath.

Week 1: Problem analysis

• First initial client meeting
• Field research

Week 2: Idea generation

• Material Story Lab
• Customer Journey
• Design fiction
• Second client meeting
• Video sketch

Week 3: Concept development

• Video sketch
• Third client meeting>
• Final video
• App Design

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First initial client meeting

On wednesday the 7th we sat down with two other groups and had prepared a few questions based on the case we were handed prior to the meeting.
The client was still were still very confused about the technology itself, and some of us were unsure what the technology even was. Yet the meeting gave us insights on what the technology could be used for, and what the purpose of the concept was going to be in the end.

We also figured out that Combine is currently selling screens all over the world for interaction purposes.
With the answers to our questions in mind we started working towards a field study, where we decided to investigate these interactive screens spread all across Aalborg in different locations.

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Fieldwork

As part of our fieldwork we wanted to focus on how the interactive screens can be used in a practical manner and has a purpose for the interaction.
We mainly used Shadowing as a method to investigate random peoples interaction with screens, mainly the bigger ones utilized for ordering food at McDonalds and renting or turning in books at the local library.
An example of a screen interaction from our Fieldwork can be seen below:

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Material story lab

Using this method with 3D sandboxes, the group placed all sorts of toys and figures in a sandbox. We did this in silence trying to visualize how each group member was feeling about the teamwork and the case. Afterwards we discussed how each member expressed themselves, the contrasts of the objects and if there were any theme in the sandbox. Some of the members in the group were skeptical in the beginning but as we worked through it we all thought it was a funny, new and abstract way of working with idea generation.

At first, we had many objects in the sandbox. There was little to no space between the objects. We tried to come up with a theme or categories but it just did not make sense to us. It showed that the teamwork was chaotic and that we had very different ideas of how to handle UCrAc. Anette came by and told us to rearrange the object and to take out some of the objects out again. We couldn’t use this for the idea generation but it helped us getting on the same page and actually got the members closer together. We even managed to symbolize some of the thoughts we initially had in the sandbox in the end.

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Customer Journey

We used customer journey to visualize the touchpoints that a customer would interact with in current ideas.

This method really helped us to figure out what the real problem was, who the customer was and how they were feeling in certain scenarios. This gave us an idea of what needed to be changed and in which direction the project was heading. We used this method to generate ideas based on the customer’s emotions during the set up task. This tool was also used to present our field research to our client.

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Design fiction

This method discuss the ‘what if’-scenarios that could exist and how the possible concepts might look from the users perspective. The concepts are designed based on the possible fictive outcomes. The model helped us divide and analyze our data from the field research into idea generation through several fiction-based situations.

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Second client meeting

At the second meeting with Combine we showed our three Customer journeys and talked about the project and where we were heading. He really liked some of the ideas, which resulted in us going more abroad than just our ideas, and tried to make a bigger concept than we initially thought we would. We went from focusing on one franchise / industry to working towards making an app that focuses on reducing waiting time in many stores, mainly focusing on pharmacies and the current click and collect system.

The main idea was to make waiting fun but also to attract more customers to a certain chain. Therefor we made a concept where a person would get a notification while driving when there was a gas station from this certain chain nearby. The notification would say “tank here and get the chance of winning a free cup of coffee. The more gas the person puts on the merrier are the chances of winning. The person would play a game on a screen next to the car and if they won, they would get the free coffee.

All group members found video sketching challenging but also fun and rewarding.

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Video sketching

After the idea generation of possible concepts, we needed a deeper understanding and exploration of the concepts. Conceptualization was made using video sketching, bodystorming and storyboards.
After a second meeting with our contact person from Combine we chose five ideas which we continued to work with. The ideas were sketched out using storyboards to explain the possible solutions. These storyboards were also the basis for the videos. We found the tool very creative, we developed the ideas, and we got ideas of what was possible in real life and what was not.

Our video sketches are integrated on the “Video sketches” tab at the top of the page.

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Third client meeting

For the last meeting with the Company, we showed the 5 videos about the different situations where the iBeacon can be used.
After observing people interacting with screen we chose to focus on reducing the waiting time, in order to add value to the customer. Nevertheless, Combine suggested to add something else in order to make the shops buy the technology, and questioned the reduction of the waiting time as a way of getting more sales, arguing that in the waiting time the customer is exposed to the products, and if we reduce it the sales might decrease.
After the meeting, we realized that we were working from a different perspective than the company.

According to the teacher’s advice, all of us agreed on mixing our value proposition with the company’s suggestions.
Somehow, our aim was adding value for the customer, and we agreed that reducing the waiting time would attract more customers and if the shops gets more customers each day the sales will increase. Anyway, we also appreciated Combine’s advice, and we introduced the screens inside the shops in a creative way: bringing the customer relevant adverts related to the product that he or she is about to buy. In this way, we reduce the waiting time, which is nice for the customer, but also push the marketing in a specific way which is convenient for both shop and customer.

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App Design

We decided that it would be easier to visualize our concept if we made a few mockups in Photoshop demonstrating the concept itself within the video.
The mockups were then set up in Invision which allows us to make a fictional app with predefined buttons for the presentation.

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Final Video

A clear communication of the concept was our main aim. With this in mind, we decided to make a video with one of the group members pretending to be a customer, showing the full process from ordering the product, using the apps navigation to picking up the product.
Since we decided to show it with some detail to make it easy to understand, we developed only one situation but in a detailed way. That is how we chose the situation that we have called “click and collect”, when a client buys a product online and has to pick it up at the store.

In the first scene, the client is in the street and she receives a notification that her product has arrived at the shop. Then, she decides to go there and pick it up. When she is approaching the shop, the store receive a notification that the customer is approaching and they should prepare the order. By the time the customer arrives, the order is ready. She arrives and has the possibility of checking relevant adverts related with her order in a screen, and as she is not interested in buying anything else in that moment, she just receives the package and goes home.