Day 9 – 10.03.2016

On Thursday we all met in the morning for a short status report and then talked about all the to-dos before the final presentation. It’s the last day before the final presentation, so our task for today was to finish our video prototypes and then go out to the streets and ask random people how they liked our product ideas. The goal was to get first user feedback and also let them fill out the interaction design vocabulary to compare that with the one each group defined for their product at the beginning of the ideation phase. Finally this would be the indicator of how the experience perceived by the prototype matches with the experience we wanted to conduct. After Daniel explained all the deliverables, the structure for the final presentation and requirements for the upcoming evaluation, the groups worked independently for the rest of the day on the remaining tasks for their product.

Team Sparpflanze had already done the prototype and the video the evening before so they went straight onto the evaluation phase and preparation for the final presentation.

Team Erlebnis Generator was a bit in delay with building the prototype because they couldn’t find the right material at the beginning of the week and in addition they had to wait for the laser cut introduction until Wednesday, before they could start working on their „machine“.

But they managed to finish their prototype on Wednesday and this morning they focused on shooting their concept video so that they can use it for the interviews in the afternoon.

Team InstaDrop was also well in time and had already prepared their (video) prototype. Today they focused on getting user interviews and preparing the slides for the final presentation.

Team CubeX finished their redesigned cubes and were also done cutting the video scenes on Wednesday. Today the team split up so that a few could finish editing the video and adding some special effects while the rest went out to collect user feedback.

Altogether every group managed to stay in time and was able to finish all the required deliverables by the end of the day.

Saving Plant

Michael Braun – Christina Diewald – Alexander Schenker – Isabel Schönewald – Anh Vu

The Saving Plant can be described as a living savings box. When the plant is bought, it gets preconfigured. For that, you determine a savings target and a space of time. To reach this target you have to drop a specific sum of euros into the plant every day, which guarantees the plant’s water supply. In our example the necessary sum is 2 Euros, depending on the preconfigured values. If no money is dropped in for 4 days, the plant will die. The top of the plant is covered to avoid watering in the normal way (without dropping in money). It also contains a hole to fill up the water tank and a display which shows the progress. When the savings target is reached, the plant pot gets unlocked and it is possible to extract the money and the plant.

 

To stay informed about the plant and your process of saving money, you get a personal URL. This leads you to a website which shows the health of the plant, the savings target, the progress and the remaining time. Furthermore, you are able to reset the values and get a new plant.

 

Erlebnis Generator

The “Erlebnis Generator” is designed for all the undecisive and adventurous out there.

Have you ever been in a city – foreign or well known – and wondered what to do or where to go? Whether you are just searching for inspiration on how to spend the next thirty minutes, or looking for a place to eat with your notoriously dissenting friends, the “Erlebnis Generator” helps you to discover something new or make a decision.

 

Sparpflanze

Dem Geld beim wachsen zusehen

Michael Braun – Christina Diewald – Alexander Schenker – Isabel Schönewald – Anh Vu

Die Sparpflanze ist sozusagen eine lebendige Spardose. Sie wird vorkonfiguriert verkauft: Dazu legt man ein Sparziel und einen ungefähren Zeitraum fest, den man für das Erreichen des Sparziels benötigt. Um die Wasserzufuhr zur Pflanze zu garantieren muss täglich ein bestimmter Sparbetrag eingeworfen werden. In unserem Beispiel sind das 2 Euro jeden Tag. Bei Einwurf wird die Pflanze mit einer Tagesration an Wasser versorgt. Wirft man kein Geld ein wird die Pflanze nach 4 Tagen sterben, außer man wirft in der Zeit wieder Geld ein. Auf dem Deckel der Pflanze gibt es neben der Möglichkeit den Wassertank aufzufüllen und eine Anzeige für den aktuellen Stand des Sparziels. Ist das Sparziel erreicht öffnet sich die Verriegelung und man kann Pflanze und Münzspeicher entnehmen.

 

Um sich über den aktuellen Status seiner Pflanze informieren zu können bekommt jeder Sparpflanzen-Besitzer eine URL mit Parameter. Damit kommt er auf seine persönliche Seite auf der man die Gesundheit der Pflanze, das festgelegte Sparziel, den Fortschritt des Sparziels und die voraussichtlich verbleibende Zeit bis zum erreichen des Sparziels einsehen kann. Zusätzlich kann man zur Wiederverwendung der Sparpflanze nach Erreichen des Sparziels die Werte via einem Button auf dieser Seite zurücksetzen und neu festlegen. Auch die Pflanze kann er Besitzer dann durch eine neue ersetzen.

 

InstaDrop

Secret Places, Secret Events

Sandra Zollner – Carl Oechsner – Maria Bittl – Tobias Martin

The user discovered a secret event from a RFID Sticker

Our goal was to design a product which generates unique and exciting experiences while discovering new places. We know that many travellers appreciate insider tipps and invitations to local events which can not be found in a guidebook or online.

InstaDrop consists of two parts: a RFID sticker which can be attached anywhere in the city and holds the secret event’s address and date as well as some information about the local host. Second there is the credit card-shaped device featuring an E-Ink Display that can be used by a traveller to read the stickers’ hidden information.

 

top left: the device does not contain an event yet; bottom left: the device received an event and displays the encrypted location; bottom right: the device displays information about the host

To enhance the surprise effect even more, the address is encrypted on the user’s device. Only a service contractor like a taxi driver can decrypt this information and drive the person to the venue or give directions. This keeps tension and anticipation high until the user arrives at the final destination.

Furthermore with InstaDrop locals have the opportunity to share their private or public events with other open-minded people looking for adventure, new stories and new friends. The number of information requests can be limited to avoid the “public-event” effect known from Facebook events. When creating a new event, the host answers five personal questions whose answers are shown to the finder. This provides the possibility to  compare interests.

CUBEX

Discover new places

Eva Geiger – Larissa Gerling – Sabrina Gild – Christian Guerrero – Tim Wiltzius

 

 

Our concept consists of a dice and several poker-chips. The dices are activated by simultaniously touched sides (six sides). Each side of the dice is assigned a different color, which represents a certain category. By rolling the dice, a random destination according to the die result is
selected.

 

 

 

After opening the dice, each group member can take out one navigation chip. The chip closest to the destination vibrates. If the group has to change the direction, another chip starts to vibrate and leads the group into the new direction. When the destination is reached, all chips vibrate.

 

 

 

Day 8 – 09.03.2016

On Wednesday morning we met for a feedback round and discussed the progress of each group.

Group 1 feedback round

Group 1 were finalising their plant prototype. They included a LED progress bar to depict the daily progress of the money saving process and a QR code on the casing that links to an interactive site displaying the individual saving progress. For the video prototype a storyboard as well as a script had already been prepared. They bought three orchids in three different states of growth. After finishing the prototype in the morning they started to film.

 

Group 2 cutting wood

Group 2 were busy during the day building their automaton. As the system would be quite complex they decided to build a Wizard-of-Oz prototype. They got an introduction on the laser cutter and started to cut out the required pieces of wood. Later in the day they started to record video material.

 

Group 3 was done with their design prototype they finished cutting out of PVC using the laser cutter the day before. They presented the final design which consisted of two transparent PVC layers the size of a credit card with a printout of the UI in between. After lunch the group rented a car and recorded some in-car shots that were missing. Then they started to edit the raw video material in the media lab.

First cube prototype of Group 4

Group 4 presented their finished cube prototype containing chips. The individual parts were cut out of PVC plates using the laser cutter. They spent the rest of the day editing their video and applying special effects, so that the cube would light up in different colours.

After the feedback round all groups continued working on their prototypes. Group 2 finished cutting, assembling and varnishing the casing. Group 3 and 4 were able to finish and render their film by the end of the day.

Group 3 and 4 are cutting their video material in the media lab

Day 4 – 03.03.2016

It’s the fourth day and we started with a review of the creativity enforcing concepts and the tasks of yesterday. The first concept was using random words or wikipedia articles for inspiration and to integrate them into the first idea. People reported having trouble with the sometimes farfetched words, but also having fun with this technique and the sometimes bizarre results. The second technique involved writing down the initial idea and running the piece of paper through the group to get some addings to the basic idea.

After the recap round, we reviewed our idea again to see if we could improve it. The next step was incorporating our ideas into a story. We took a look at an exemplatory story in order to see how an Experience Story should look like and Daniel explained the different parts of the story: Explanation of the Baseline – Experience Baseline – Framework for the Experience – Concrete Interaction – Situation after the interaction Simon added a more vivid viewpoint with his image of a story mouse. Finally, we got the task to write our own story based on our idea, while always keeping the important w-questions and the emotions of the protagonist in mind.

After we finish writing, we got together with a partner from a different group and exchanged stories. This different perspective added some new viewpoints and ideas and after incorporating the feedback, we went off on our lunch break. The afternoon session was quite short: the task was designing and drawing a storyboard for our story and since it was an individual task, everyone left for home, pencils and paper ready.

 

Day 1 – 29.02.2016

 

Daniel and Simon started by introducing themselves. As the director of the course became ill, the course was nearly canceled. Luckily, Simon was allowed to take over and Daniel joined in.

After a few words on the organization and requirements of the course we started by being asked what we consider experience design to be. Thereby we also discovered that there actually exists a difference between experience design and user experience design. As well as the fact, that while the term usability has been an item of research for quite a while experience design is a rather new topic of research (~10 yrs.).

We then went on to discuss the term of hedonic quality. An object which has hedonic quality is something we want/have for the purpose of aesthetics, as a status symbol or for its “wow”-effect. Not necessarily on the other side of the hedonic quality stands the pragmatic quality, which is rather self-explanatory. We then discussed real-life examples of both qualities and the in-betweens, like chocolate, MacBooks, jewellry and orthopaedic shoes.

This led to a discussion about psychological needs, which have become a topic of research rather recently. We were asked to list needs or even models we could think of. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs turned out as a rather well known model among the group and was discussed to some detail.

We then were shown the core needs that experience design uses as its core. These needs are: competence, relatedness, popularity, stimulation, security, autonomy and meaningfulness. In experience design these needs are supposed to be the guides and inspiration of product design.

Also in the beginning Daniel had to remind us a few times not to think about efficiency or usability as we were inclined and used to, but rather of the emotional aspect, no matter how practical the gadget/item.

We were shown some examples for needs as guides, like the negative example of 3D for home TVs, where the technology was wrapped into usability which they (the companies) tried to then wrap into an experience. In contrast: the example of the need of stimulation by immersion, which results into VR-applications (VR: virtual reality). Other examples are the coffee shaker and the Mo, both of which were also discussed.

The group was introduced to various human psychological needs, from maslow’s hierarchy of needs to Self-Determination Theory including stimulation, competence, autonomy, security, popularity,relatedness and significance.

In afternoon, the course started with two experience design exercises. For the first task, we had to write down a personal vacation story, which was in any kind remarkable. The goal was to extract the basic experiences and what kind of satisfaction for psychological needs made them worthwhile. For example, being lost in the jungle can be terrifying, but become worthwhile when you make it out by yourself, experiencing heightened autonomy, stimulation and competence.

The second task consisted of creating a boxing for an arbitrary product and receiver in groups consisting of two students. The focus lay on the interaction of the unpacking. After deciding on the product, receiver and occasion, groups  had to address specific psychological needs with the product and the boxing. One example satisfying a basic psychological need is using high quality materials for the boxing of a status symbol. As a present for a married couple, one might choose a boxing, which can only be opened by the two collaboratively to heighten the sense of relatedness.