BLENDED INTERACTIONS
The Blended Interactions workshop is a yearly summer collaboration between the interaction design schools of Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, and SUNY Farmingdale State College in New York, to challenge undergraduates to research and design to a professional standard for a variety of problem statements concerning blended spaces and mixed reality.
2020 - STUDENT LED
Reinvestigating the impact of covid-19 on the socio-academic lived experience
Problem Statement: Explore how an emerging technology (Augmented Reality) can be employed as a storytelling medium
Role
UX Researcher, UX Designer, UI Designer, Animator, Software Developer, Video Production (Team Project, 4 - 6 members)
Timeframe
12 months (Once or twice a month)
Tools
Miro (Ideation), Figma (Wireframe + Prototype), Illustrator (Graphics), Blender (3D Modelling)
Following on from our incredible internship and feedback from academics across multiple international institutions, a small team of 6 students, two Scottish, 4 Americans, chose to continue investigating the issue further, examining the impact on lecturers and academics and redesigning the virtual classroom.
The research focus this time was on generative qualitative data, we had proven we could generate a lot of survey responses now was the time to see how much we could pull from what we already knew.
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As we were running our own project, it was important we established a structure within the team. I took on a more senior role, taking a critical angle, asking the opposite to what the team suggested, to challenge my peers' ideas to ensure our ideas were grounded in logic and data. This allowed us to remove any bias or assumptions and know we looked at our work from multiple perspectives. Once we moved into data analysis and ideation, I was able to take a more creative role, assisting with analysis and brainstorming. I also scripted the storyboards and created the final model using Blender, my first ever 3d design.
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We organised our own research presentation, inviting a group of academics from a variety of institutions and countries to hear about our findings, as well as to present ways they could adapt online teaching to benefit all involved parties. This event was highly successful, as many involved found our solutions highly engaging, and felt they left the call with a better understanding of how to adapt teaching to the current situation.
CLASSROOM CUBE
The cubes properties are:
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Soft flexible casing to allow squeezing as an input method
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Multicoloured light displays
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Audio input and output
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LED face to personify the device and help the student create a bond with it, promoting use
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Detachable mini cube for scanning and holographic display
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While this solution is obviously highly speculative, each component relies on existing technology, and could be a feasible design in years to come. Its many functions may seem excessive, but it has been designed to address a variety of teacher and student problems in the most simple yet engaging manner possible, and is a completely data driven design solution.
Our final design was a speculative solution in the form of an interactive cube. The cube functions similar to an Alexa or Siri, offering visual and audio prompts of class activity, deadlines and personal reminders.
2020 - MENTOR LED
The impact of covid on the socio-academic lived experience
Problem Statement: Carry out an ethically sound quantiative research project to examine the impact of covid on the socio-academic lived experience
Role
UX Researcher, UX Designer, UI Designer, Animator, Video Production (Team Project, 4 Members)
Timeframe
3 weeks
Tools
After Effects (Animations), Illustrator (Graphics)
We were due to fly to New York to continue our exchange project, however as the story of 2020 goes covid-19 put a stop to that. Rather than be deterred, we set up an online research project examining the impact of covid on online learning and campus life, and set out to research it to help students and faculty prepare for the upcoming very different new year.
This year we had a greater focus on ethics due to working under an American Institution. We were required to be CITI certified in studying human subjects before starting and had to work under an IRB. Over the two weeks, we split into small research teams, drafted and released surveys online to over 2000 responders, and produced speculative designs alongside our data and advice to feedback to academics from a variety of institutions across America and the UK in order to help lecturers prepare for online learning.This research project was incredibly valuable as we could really see the difference we were making for our peers' education, as educators could learn how best to deliver content in an online. format.
THE HALLWAY
Our final solution was an augmented reality, gesture-based social breakout space where the user wasn't limited to the mouse and keyboard and could socialise in a much more hands-on way despite the physical distancing. This was designed to address the data points we gathered regarding fears of isolation, lack of social space, webcam anxiety, and the starkness of the 'end call' button.
2019
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Problem Statement: Identify and research pain points at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and design solutions while considering emerging technologies
Role
UX Researcher, UX Designer, UI Designer (Team Project, 2 Members)
Timeframe
2 weeks
Tools
Surveys, Observational Studies, Interviews
Azure (Wireframe and Prototype), Illustrator (Posters and Graphics)
In 2019, 10 Farmingdale State College students from New York, and 4 Edinburgh Napier University students, myself included, collaborated under two industry mentors to examine, carry out research on and design for the problems of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
STREET SMARTS
StreetSmarts are a pair of apps which work together to help street performers at the fringe festival.
The first app, aimed at the public, allows them to find out about performers who catch there eye. This works through geofencing and camera, when the camera within the app is opened, it will launch information about the performer, there social media and any upcoming performances. This works to reduce the paper waste of flyering by essentially being a virtual flyer.
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The second app, aimed at performers, allows performers to gain analytics about there performances. By switching on geofencing and signing up to StreetSmarts, they will gain data post-show regarding engagement, social media growth and ticket sales. This will allow them to see what shows work and what doesn't to allow them to improve.
Other Projects
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