Design Sprints
Here you can find a collection of design sprints from 2023. It’s mainly projects categorised as UX Design, and they’re from the Master in Interaction Design course Screens at AHO.
Speculative AI News
A 4 day group project part of the AHO Master’s course Screens - Interaction design in 2023. The task was to create a speculative App based concept of how AI could generate news without bias.
Team
Kristina Hanitz & Tianyi Shi
What did I do?
UX Design, Wireframes, Exploring ML & Prompting
AI generated news
The purpose is to create articles through AI to produce news without bias. All data is biased, but merging material from multiple sources could possibly equalise that.
How it would work
By prompting a combination of search words, the user could generate their own article. The article, along with images, would be AI generated. The user can archive their articles, rate the result and request the generator to elaborate.
Result
‘AI NEWS’ is a platform with AI generated news. It reduces bias, and the user tailors the prompt to match their interest field.
Reflection
A large amount of material must be produced prior to the prompt. That means that the user might not have access to current news. The article could also be inaccurately generated, spreading false Information. Prompting could also be difficult to manage for an inexperienced user.
Restrictions
An increasing number of celebrities and world leaders have restricted AI to generate material based on their appearance, which would limit the images connected to the generated article.
Botanical Garden
This was a 3 week Individual project as part of the AHO Master’s course Screens - Interaction design from 2023. In collaboration with Oslo Botanical garden, the task was to create an interactive learning tool. We visited Netlife for user testing.
Collaborator
Oslo Botanical Garden and Netlife
What did I do?
UX Design, Mental Mapping, Wireframes & Desirability- and User Testing
Concept development
The concept was based on the circulating plant collection, at The Oslo Botanical garden, that is moved outdoors during summertime. The user can house the exact same plant, and copy when the ‘experts’ moved the plant outside for the warmer months.
A two way platform
The ‘experts’ at the botanical garden have their side of the platform to register how they care for the plant, while the ‘others’ are the observers who desperately need some tips on how to take care of a new and exotic plant.
Netlife User Testing
The class visited Netlife to gain valuable tips and experience on user testing.
Testing prototype
The test subject managed to navigate through the app, but didn’t understand the content or context. Specifically the timeline and notifications on when to move the plant outside simultaneously with the experts at the botanical garden.
Reflection
It was challenging to not be in the room where the app was tested. When the test subject didn’t understand the flow, there was no way to fill in the gaps verbally myself - and the test was ended.
Taking a U-turn…
When working at a high pace, it’s easy to take a wrong turn. That’s alright! The previous concept failed in the user test, so I decided to take a U-turn and produce a new concept last minute.
Different approach
I started hands-on with a different approach than the first round. I made a couple of sketches and did a quick desirability test to find the most interesting concept.
Reflection
I wish I did testing early on, either on classmates or family. That way I could have spared a lot of energy pursuing one faulty concept. But I was also challenged with making wireframes super fast, and became a lot better at navigation and UX principles.
Result
The app became a platform where the user can observe plants that bloom rarely - some only once a decade! The user ‘collects’ plants that are filmed around the world, and they have to choice to watch it live (in case it blooms any second), or they can also replay footage of the development of the flower or ‘past blooms’.
Reflection
A thing I struggled with when making this concept was that the user needs motivation to return to the app. What brings the user back and what is new from the previous visit? If the plant only blooms once a decade, could that be boring for the time spent in between?
Delightful data visualisation
A 2 week individual project as part of the AHO Master’s course Screens - Interaction design. The task was to explore data visualisation and user engagement. It was a collaboration project with Airthing’s.
Collaborator
Airthings
What did I do?
UX Design, Animation, Sketching & Data Visualisation
Background
The scope was based on three variables - CO2 concentration, humidity and temperature. Those are three of the most important factors when looking at air quality. But the starting point is only a graph that swings between a couple of numbers. It’s not immediate or engaging. Especially not if you’re looking at it as a family with kids.
Data visualisation
I wanted to create something that the whole family can understand, even kids. The present data visualisation does not qualify for that. It’s neither delightful or engaging to look at.
Process and Sketching
I started analysing the different values, and the physical symptoms that emerged when the values are off.
Sketching
By making the values figurative, I wanted to communicate what sensation you get if the values are ‘off’ for too long - head aches, nausea and even nose bleeds!
Testing
The concept and sketches entered the weekly trial with our supervisors, and the conclusion was that the figures couldn’t be too detailed, because they have to be quick to understand and efficient to animate.
Result
The result became a little green blob with a minimalistic facial expression that says a lot. It’s calm and gives a thumbs up when the values are OK, but suddenly jumps around to signalise that the values are off and they can’t be for too long!
This intuitive reaction to panic is something what even a child can understand. And thus, my hypothesis is sealed!
Collaborator feedback
Airthings evaluated the concept and saw potential in the figure, but decided that it (specifically) was too childish. On the other hand, they really liked that the visualisation was separated from the graph, and that you could scroll back and forth to assess a specific value to a specific time.
