Live high fidelity mockup of our design response.
MISSile
STATUS Winter 2019 – 9 weeks
PROJECT Research Design + Physical Prototyping
PROJECT Research Design + Physical Prototyping
MY ROLE Research, Interaction + Visual Design, Prototyping, and Documentation.
TEAM Amixa-Ray Calzado, Sean Fudenna, Ashmeet Saggu, & Annie Vuong
TEAM Amixa-Ray Calzado, Sean Fudenna, Ashmeet Saggu, & Annie Vuong
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Friends shift in and out of our lives, but those bonds we hold dear still live in our minds. We often wonder about their well-being and what they have been up to. We try to keep in touch through social media, be there digitally, and catch up with limited communication. Those communications join the flood on our phones pushed out notifications. With families, our careers, and moving around schedules tends to rarely match up. This is where we hope MISSile would take place.
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Friends shift in and out of our lives, but those bonds we hold dear still live in our minds. We often wonder about their well-being and what they have been up to. We try to keep in touch through social media, be there digitally, and catch up with limited communication. Those communications join the flood on our phones pushed out notifications. With families, our careers, and moving around schedules tends to rarely match up. This is where we hope MISSile would take place.
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Rekindling friendships one missile at a time.
Close up of the ship pieces.
ASSIGNMENT
My team was assigned to research in the field of Long Distance Relationships to understand people's encounters and situations, and then come up with an idea to bridge that gap.
My team was assigned to research in the field of Long Distance Relationships to understand people's encounters and situations, and then come up with an idea to bridge that gap.
RESEARCH: CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY + RATIONAL
We conducted an interview with a broad perspective. Gathering information about our participants and understanding their experience with long-distance Relationships.
We conducted an interview with a broad perspective. Gathering information about our participants and understanding their experience with long-distance Relationships.
• 5-minute Drawings: memorable physical and distant interactions
• Artifact: sentimental gift
• 10-minute Interview
We asked our participants to draw their fondest memory and interaction with a person they see face-to-face and again with a person at a distance. Then allow time for them to explain and reminisce about these occasions they cherished. We followed up by asking about a personal item they had that reminded them of their long-distance relationship. Lastly, ask a series of questions about who they are and the type of relationship they had.
One participant reflecting on their sentimental gift.
INSIGHT + IDEATION
People in long-distance relationships we talked to mentioned having friends with whom they used to be close but have now fallen out of touch due to moving away, growing a family, and leading busy lives. Keeping up with those friends, while rewarding, can be difficult to initiate, difficult to find time for, and difficult to maintain across a long period of time.
People in long-distance relationships we talked to mentioned having friends with whom they used to be close but have now fallen out of touch due to moving away, growing a family, and leading busy lives. Keeping up with those friends, while rewarding, can be difficult to initiate, difficult to find time for, and difficult to maintain across a long period of time.
• Long-distance can strengthen relationships when both parties are committed, but strain if there is an
imbalance. The best expression of love in a long-distance relationship is their time.
imbalance. The best expression of love in a long-distance relationship is their time.
• Change disrupts the process of maintaining long-distance relationships. Moving houses, having a baby,
or starting a new job means less time for talking.
or starting a new job means less time for talking.
• The most meaningful experiences in a long-distance relationship inevitably mimic the physical ones.
Syncing a movie across computers to watch together makes you feel like your loved one is right next to you.
Syncing a movie across computers to watch together makes you feel like your loved one is right next to you.
With these insights and the design principles of wanting service to be inclusive, quick, and flexible. We then formulated our 'How Might We' statements. We thought of a game between two people could play. Where no imbalance in skills would take place but has a high replay value.
How might we create asynchronous, low-energy, long-term communication between friends at a distance?
DRAWBACKS
We drew conclusions that we may not come up with a full-proof idea that will continuously bring friends together. Let alone emulate completely physical shared interactions. We made do with what we could to start that interaction. Create a piece to have in-display of high interaction around the house.
We drew conclusions that we may not come up with a full-proof idea that will continuously bring friends together. Let alone emulate completely physical shared interactions. We made do with what we could to start that interaction. Create a piece to have in-display of high interaction around the house.
Something we wish we could have done to improve the MISSile piece was to add-on form of interaction. Where it takes place on the design itself and then becomes a takeaway conversation. We know not a lot of people find joy in 'Warships' so changing the type of games would have been fun. We are aware that there these games available on the smartphones through text. However, causes notification push, conversations get lost. Harboring forgetfulness for either gaming or conversing. We have learned that people get anxious about leaving more than 5 text messages or multiple phone calls.
