INTERACTION DESIGN

Microsoft Design Expo

Description

This Microsoft sponsored project challenged students to design a product/service to be used in a future where wireless broadband is ubiquitious and approaches transfer speeds of 1,000 Mbps. Student teams were asked to research the needs of a target user group and to identify areas of opportunity that can be met by leveraging a wireless gigabit connection.

In a team of five, I designed a product/service that addresses issues of trust between small businesses and their customers. Called nPerson, the device and associated service seeks to establish, maintain, and repair trust relationships by extending existing models of trust to a digital medium.

Approach

Focus - We developed a territory map to define the space we would need to explore.

Exploration - We followed our focus setting phase with a period of exploration, with the goal of creating a broad understanding of a small business's needs. Our exploration phase included directed storytelling sessions, regular interviews, blog studies, and fly-on-the-wall observations. We also explored various frameworks of trust during this phase.

Generative Research - We then needed to understand how academic models of trust mapped to actual user experiences. This was the focus of our generative user studies. We employed a number of techniques to understand how small business owners and their customers feel about trust.

Solution

nPerson, our final concept, is a system of virtual contact cards representing personal relationships through multi-media content. These cards are shared in-person through the use of a mobile device. The cards and the relationships they represent are living artifacts of social networks and dynamic preferences between customers and businesses. A more detailed description of our solution is included in the final presentation.