Category: 02 Work 2020

By: Felipe Escobar
Keywords: Work 2020, Digital Technology, Balanced, Gradual,

Design Goal and Interaction vision:

Help flexworkers (freelancers) from the year 2020 (Generation Y) live a more balanced life in a world in which there is constant competition for their attention. The interaction should be like a cigarette or coffee break, reminding you of the break you need to do by a craving.

Research Explorations:

The method initially was done through literature review of forecasts and trends for work and society in the year 2020, after that the method used consisted mostly of observational research and interviews. In the initial stages it was developed with different users, but for testing design solutions the same user was both observed and interviewed afterwards. The goals were to find insights on how people work that could be applied in the year 2020 and the usage/appeal of the design. The initial stages were discussing findings from literature and it was identified that user’s had a lot of different things to take care of during their working time. Later it was tested if the solution should be physical or software based and findings proved that physical solutions, if properly used, were preferred by the user. Then in other tests, users found the solution to be useful but remarked on the functioning of the object which was tweaked as much as possible to correct accordingly.

Design Explorations:

There were 5  tests done with different prototypes, each one building up on the knowledge gained from previous iterations. The first test was done with two versions, one to test a software based solution and the other a physical approach, the software based was found to be too obtrusive and would be disabled. The following tests were done to identify the directions that would be taken, first user’s stated that although colors gave them an overview, the pressure felt constant and they had no feedback over which area was unbalanced. This was later implemented in another test in which different activities were given to users and they had feedback with both pressure and color.

Final Design:

The final design incorporates self-tracking into daily life. The design consists of a watch that keeps track of the user’s activities throughout the day and helps give an overview of how much time they are spending on each kind. This will help plan and adjust their activities and give an overview of their productivity (defining productivity as all elements in their life and not just those related to work). This information is gathered through technology by a clock, if the user spends too much time on an activity the wristband will constrict the user very lightly, causing mild discomfort until the user stops doing that specific activity. It will remind him like a craving or hunger that they needs to change activity.

By: Anna Pestaloza
Keywords: Work 2020, Communication, Digital Technology, Spontaneous, Curious, Effective
Final presentation poster: Click here

Design Goal and Interaction Vision:

“I want to give people working as self-entrepreneurs an easy and direct way to identify and recognize each other, as people with whom they could have a useful exchange of ideas, to support their work and share their knowledge.”

I used the metaphor of “love at first sight” to better describe my interaction vision. I wanted to give to two people, participating to the same co-working event, the possibility of recognizing each other from distance, and feel a kind of attraction that could lead them towards each other.

Research Explorations:

At first I wanted to discover how self-entrepreneurs that work in the same space (co-workings) interact with each other. They had to draw and describe how their workspace was like and which kind of connections they made there in a workbook. After reading the booklets I had to adjust my design goal, since I discovered that the main problem was not to bond with the people working at the same co-working space, but with people they meet at events for co-workers and self-entrepreneurs. These events take place once a month and anyone can join them.

I went on with an online research on how you register to participate and how can you find meaningful collaborations in a small amount of time. I went to a co-working event, I gave some questionnaires around. I noticed that the tagging system that had been used to match profiles of people participating to the event was scary. I have also noticed that people were very afraid their descriptions could be misunderstood.

Design Explorations:

I tested a first prototype at the IOB event (Figure 1). I made some badges with a main shape indicating the main professional field of the person wearing it. I attached on the background shape some stickers of other fades, corresponding to different aspects of that main field. Feedbacks: people were happy to be able to personalize and make up their badges at the moment. Too many colors on the badges were confusing, the informations were not clear. A lot of people are colour-blind, shades are difficult to distinguish.

The second test was carried at the Career Event at YesDelft. I worked with the staff to make personalized badges for each participant, based on the questionnaires about their profession they filled in when they subscribed for the event. The background color differentiated students from companies, the shape stood for the professional field and the icons for the skills. Feedbacks: the badges worked well as icebreakers, icons and shapes were too difficult to understand, having something that tells too explicitly what you do could ruin the concrete interaction.

Third exploration: a game to test the efficacy of the product as an ice-breaker.

Final Design:

Pikpoke is an electronic badge that will help you to find people to share knowledge with, based on the infos about yourself you registered in it. Pikpoke will be your wing-man, the one that gives you the hint to start talking to a person that you find interesting, but you don’t know how to approach. When it detects another badge that has similar informations registered in, both the badges lights up, giving to the people wearing them a hint to approach each other. The signal is not too explicit, it is just a light, so the two people will have to talk in order to understand what they have in common. The aperture or closure of the diaphragm is a way to concretely set the specificity of the search.

 

 

By: Ilaria Scarpellini
Keywords: Work, clear, aware and comprehensive

Design Goal and Interaction vision:

I want the to improve the communication between team members, creating a higher level of comprehension and mood sharing.
I want the team members to be aware of each others’ conditions and be there at the right moment, like the X – MEN.

Research Explorations:

At the beginning y main research goal was that of investigating the effects of computer work on interactions between team members and fin interesting dynamics. After some observation sessions and generative sessions in collaboration with a couple of company I narrow down my research on the dynamics of questions and interruptions.

I tested a preliminary concept of alternative communication on workplace through role playing. I interview the users and gathered their opinions. I then evaluated my final concept in two ways.  A first test on 8 people to get an idea of how people attribute meaning to materials in relation to their temperature/texture. A second test with a prototype to resemble the real interaction interviewing the participants afterward.

Design Explorations:

At first I observed the current situation to get an idea of what to focus on. I explored some potential directions then went straight to the idea of introduce a new means of communication. At first my uncertainties where about what to communicate and how to do it.

I first focused on light feedback associated with a computer interface. Then I thought about a minimal solutions involving just interfaces. Then I did a step back e beginning to reinforce more and ore the idea of focusing on the product. The evaluation study deeply influenced my last decisions about the final outcome.

Final Design:

CONCEPT: The idea is to create a means to improve the quality of the communication between colleagues. The product aim is to enhance the connection between team members providing tactile feedback.

PRODUCT: The object is interactive and can be approached in different ways by the user. It is sensitive to touch and movement so to detect people’s level of concentration. At the same time it provides information expressing them through tactile feedback as vibration and warmth.

INTERFACE: The interface allows the users to exchange questions attributing priority to them. The software manages the output in relation to the amount and priority of the questions considering also your concentration level.