My Role
- Equal contribution to user research, concept development and user journey mapping.
- Full responsibility for video production and animation.
- Limited contribution to UI, graphic design, and 3D modelling.
OVERVIEW
The Brief
‘Designing for the new work space’. Our design aims to facilitate harmonious relationships between work and life by incorporating natural systems into the work and home environment.
The Process
Throughout the design process we have made sure to reference the double diamond approach by ---,'. However, this project cannot be said to reflect the design process in full as it omits essential steps in user prototyping, testing, and iteration. Instead, for the purpose of learning, we have placed primary focus on exploring aspects of user research and user experience design.
RESEARCH
Research Objectives
1. Gather insight into the way learning environments influence work ethic and motivation amongst university students with part time jobs.
2. Identify how the shift to online study has effected students stress levels and/or productivity.
2. Identify how the shift to online study has effected students stress levels and/or productivity.
Participant Selection
The target user of this study was students in higher education. To ensure the fair representation of such a diverse user base we selected participants from various universities, disciplinary backgrounds, and employment types.
Sensitising Activities
The sensitising process prepared participants for upcoming workshops by encouraging them to begin questioning how changes in circumstances such as COVID-19 may have impacted their relationships towards work and study. This also provided valuable background information about students work environments, attitudes, priorities, values, motivations, and future goals.
Group Workshops
Overall, 3 workshops were completed with each including 3-4 participants (11 total). When conducting workshops researchers were assigned one of three roles; 1) documenting evidence, 2) workshop facillitation, or 3) observation and analysis.
Generative Activities
Workshop activities were designed using generative methods to help reveal “tacit knowledge and unconscious latent needs” which participants might otherwise find difficult to express (Grocott, 2012).
Collective Visioning
Through collaboration participants were asked to envision a positive future of work and study. The resulting discussions provided valuable insight into peoples shared (or conflicting) experiences, desires, values, pain-points, ect.
Individual Experience Mapping
Having participants map their everyday work/study routine allowed us to gauge the way environmental factors and experiences can impact a students day.
Other Activities:
ANALYSIS
Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes and pain-points from our large qualitative dataset.
Key Findings:
Routine promotes productivity but leads to feelings of mundanity.
Students wish for more spontaneous and novel experiences in everyday life.
Moments of reflection are important to students wellbeing.
Students highly value time spent in nature, however, feel somewhat disconnected from it.
At times, student sleep patterns reflect those of shiftworkers.
Design Vision
A design vision was developed to ensure the team maintained a shared understanding of the project, thus providing a foundation for the next phase of concept ideation.
Vision Satement:
To facilitate harmonious relationships between work and life by incorporating natural systems into the work and home environment.
Vision Metaphor:
Environments harmonious as a rainforest
HILL Statement (IBM visioning framework):
University students who work should be able to enjoy spontaneous/tranquil moments throughout the day whilst productively balancing work, study and their daily routines by embracing nature.
IDEATION
Design Criteria
As a team, we first developed a design criteria before ideating four potential concepts which were presented as storyboards. Each concept was then evaluated using a decision matrix to determine which concept would be developed further. 'BioEgg' was chosen and would soon become 'EcoEgg'.
Concept Development
Several methods were used to build upon the proposed features of our current concept.
WWWWWH Mind Mapping
Aided in refining the design idea and clarifying design intentions.
Forced Association
Forced association was utilised to explore how emerging technologies might be integrated into our final design. We concluded that sensors would be useful for detecting environmental conditions, and AI would be useful for creating personalised schedules and alerts.
Final Concept
Design Features
Experiencing Flow
From the wake up, to study, to deep sleep - EcoEgg aims to guide users towards moments of flow-state throughout their day. Specifically, it gathers environmental and behavioural data to craft daily routines that aligns with a users natural rhythms.
Smart Home Integration
The EnviroEgg App can be used as a central interface from which the user can control and co-ordinate other smart home devices. By integrating EcoEgg into existing smart home systems, users can create truly immersive and customised experiences.
Sensory Environments
EcoEgg combines image projection, aroma, and sound scape to transform the way people experience their surrounding environment (eg. simulating a coastal sunrise).
Meditative Moments and Mood Tracking
The EcoEgg app features “Diary taking” activities for their proven benefits on emotional wellbeing. This information informs interactions with EcoEgg and is recorded for users to reflect on.
Dynamic Lighting
EcoEgg adjusts the colour, brightness and temperature of lights in the environment to ease users back into their natural circadian rhythms, as well as supporting productivity and wellbeing.
Colour theory has proven effects on students’ moods, and may also project a sense of purpose to both the room and the person in the habitat. (Kurt & Osueke, 2014)
User Jouney Experience
To best capture the intended user experience of our final concept we created a user persona and journey map. This map highlights key interaction points and their effects on students levels of relaxation, focus, and mood.
Promotional Video
