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PROCESS
Starting point: Digital wellbeing
Our original idea was to work in the field of issues related to so-called Digital Wellbeing; we refer by this expression to all those aspects related to a healthy and efficient use of digital tools, a very topical issue considering how much digital is now part of the lives of many students and workers.
Of great importance for us in order to understand what we expected to get out of our work, in particular from the combination of the Digital Wellbeing topic and the Natural Interaction approach, was the Meaning Generation workshop; after a group discussion, we synthesised our ideas by graphically composing them into six metaphorical images, and assigned each of them a meaning.
Being constantly bombarded with notifications, reminders, messages makes you enter a vicious circle where you want/you always have to control the situation. Did someone write to me? Do I have some notifications? Did my phone vibrate? Your are getting less and less free.
The objective could be not to be overwhelmed by elements that seek for our attention, giving more order to the huge set of possibilities that our devices offer
The major control with the minor effort: having a large set of possibilities within reach can be decisive in a context where interaction needs to be fast, keen and efficient, like in a session of digital work from home, where the user has to take in count a lot of small different tasks.
Interactions has to be as simple and understanble as possible, even when introducing groundbreaking or disruptive technology the language used to communicate then it’s fundamental in making them possible
The nature of our relationship with technology has already got to the point of “invading” the emotional and personal sphere, going deep in intimacy with the users. Should be our role transforming this relationship in a positive one, without losing potentiality and the “human” factor.
Alternative and more passive ways of solving problems during the working session can make the user more focused on the major tasks where their attention is necessary.
Specifically I think that the idea to use a completely new way of interacting with a common use object to change a behavior. Even the shift from the digital to the physical. I like also the idea to “force” the user to certain action to change habits in a positive way.
Modularity is an important element talking about a context, the one of Digital Work, where the activity is divided in a lot of different tasks and even different tools and sftwares.
Physical natural interaction to control digital worlds. Shifting the pressing of buttons with the movements that resemble the real action made in the videogame.
After considering numerous alternatives, we decided to focus our research efforts, in looking for a target audience to work with, on the digital work environment, and ended up being mainly interested in the topic of remote work, which is highly topical and very close to our own generation of students and new workers.
Knocknock fun fact
Among the topics evaluated during the brainstorming as possible topics to be addressed were group sociality, cyber security, urban orientation and the Internet of Things in home tools.
Desk Research
After considering numerous alternatives, we decided to focus our research efforts, in looking for a target audience to work with, on the digital work environment, and ended up being mainly interested in the topic of remote work, which is highly topical and very close to our own generation of students and new workers.
“Imagine starting your first adult job at home. You have no peer relationships or experience in how to navigate organizational life.
Think about how overwhelming it would be to move through each day without knowing how to find context, where to look for the right resources, or who can most easily steer you in the right direction.”
-Anna Dewar Gully, Talentculture
“To put things into perspective, the pandemic impinged their education, forcing them into remote learning without being able to interact with their classmates in person. When a person is isolated, their interpersonal skills may suffer.”
-Jack Kelly (CEO of WeCruitr), Forbes
“Imagine starting your first adult job at home. You have no peer relationships or experience in how to navigate organizational life.Think about how overwhelming it would be to move through each day without knowing how to find context, where to look for the right resources, or who can most easily steer you in the right direction.”
-Anna Dewar Gully, Talentculture
“Companies often introduce new digital tools under the assumption of making work efficient, but without assessing the impact of the digital tools themselves on work organisation.”
-Francesco Russo, agendadigitale.eu
Interviews
The interviews were one of the major turning points in our research; our aim was to collect real and personal experiences, each from a user dealing with remote work (or study) and technology in different ways and at different times.
The users interviewed (seven in total) ranged from newly hired workers to students to workers with careers spanning from 20 to even 50 years; the interviews consisted of an initial free dialogue on the topics we researched and the drafting of a daily routine constructed by us during one of the classroom workshops.
Knocknock fun fact
Very important in terms of our cohesion as a group were the unpacking sessions of first edition Pokémon trading cards via a Figma plug-in.
“I have a lot of friends that use gaming as a background when they communicate; I think it makes sense because seeing a human face through webcam is not the same as in presence, it feels distant; gaming instead is a way to fill this distance, to have a powerful visual stimulus.”
-Amerigo, 23 years, Software developer
“Technology is really powerful working from home, but it also takes a lot of risks: more software means more technical problems to deal with, and the distance from the rest of the team can turn an easily solved technical problem into a real frustration.”
-Antonio and Monica, 52 years each, Technical business analysts
“I think that the majority of distractions (during working) comes from the navigation on the web or softwares; personally I try to minimise the number of items occupying my screen; diaries, printed books, notes and anything outside PC are an important anchor to reality.”
-Marco, 24 years, Product designer
“When I’m at the office I have some collegues I really trust and I can easily reach for immediate support; from distance the company provides tools like digital reports via ticket to ask for assistance but usually they take so much time.”
-Eleonora, 23 years, UX/UI designer
A very special interview was of particular importance: Maurizio has been CTO (Chief Technology Officier) for Twipe with a multi-decade career; in our interview with him, we tried to find out as much as possible about the process of managing different teams within a company. According to Maurizio, communication, both on a technical and human level, is a key element in managing a large team. The interview also allowed us to understand some important mechanics within a company, from the average number of people a worker has to deal with to the sectorialisation of roles, all of which would have strongly influenced the core of our project.
“In company dynamics, where everyone has many commitments from which they cannot disregard, it is important that there is a filter between colleagues at work, so that interactions between them are not invasive; in a remote working perspective this is lost causing episodes of frustrating invasiveness; your tool could fill this gap.”
-Maurizio, 50 years, COO at Twipe
The brief: how might we...
At this point, strengthened by numerous insights and points of interest gathered, we started to outline our context of action: the remote working day of a young and highly digitised worker. Discussing all together, we finally synthesised a product vision, still strongly linked to the concept of efficiency and a healthy relationship with technology.
Knocknock fun fact
“How might we” really sounds like the name of a mid-west emo band, doesn’t it?
“Our Project is for gen-z smart workers who lose time/procastinate while working. The product is a phygital object that will make them keep a positive relationship with technologies, without making them losing time and energies. Unlike Digital apps that focus on blocking actions, our product focuses on a different approach that inhance concentration instead of forcing you.”
Then refining this brief and putting more focus on the more social, communicative and human aspect of working in the company (as established among others after the interview with Maurizio), we asked ourselves:
How might we enhance remote work efficiency, while recreating the office environment at home, given the challenges of limited direct communication with colleagues?
Three concepts: peer-to-peer session
It was therefore time to answer this question we had posed. The occasion was the peer-to-peer workshop, where we were asked to synthesise three different proposals, to receive feedback and suggestions for each of them and then channel our efforts into one of them.
In short, our three proposals were based on a phygital and interactive task-management system, a multi-use tool for remote-working sessions and a fast and natural communication device to connect with colleagues.
The latter, then called Knock Knock Radio (due to its nature as an audio-based multi-function tool), was eventually selected as the most promising concept.
After an initial draft of possible functions and especially interactions, presented at our mid-term Pitch, it was time to explore the possibilities of our idea through prototyping and testing.
Prototypes
The prototyping session was crucial in exploring the interactive possibilities of what, it was now clear, would be a device strongly based on its ergonomics, ease of use and versatility, with immediacy as its main objective and a wide range of very different workers as its target audience.
The cardboard prototypes each reflected a different idea of positioning (on the desk, our primary setting), interaction and structure.
Knocknock fun fact
For a better feeling and immersiveness, the paper prototypes were filled with rocks from Bovisa Campus garden.
Zero-Km policy.
Sacher
Mikado
Donut
Starship
Buzz
Robot Head
Cash
The Nun
Lavazza
Let's test them!
We structured the testing session in two main phases. Firstly, we presented the pape prototipe without explaining anything, and asked the users to think out loud what they expect this object was, how the would have used it and how they wold interact with it. The second phase instead consisted of a brief explanantion of the object’s purpose and it features, asking them how they would perform the main actions of our object, already recognized as selecting a channel/a contact, confirm a selection, accept an in coming call, knocking and “shutting down” the device.
This phase was extremely interesting, useful and fun: from the five users who participated in our testing, we obtained an enormous amount of ideas that we would never have thought of; the users reimagined from scratch the interactions we had assumed, introduced new possibilities to our concept and suggested modifications to the prototypes.
For this very reason, we decided to repeat the process, reducing the number of prototypes and redesigning the most successful ones, until we got what would be the final form: a device totally different from what we had initially imagined.
At the end of no less than three prototyping and testing sessions, each time improving existing ideas based on feedback and new insights, we recognised the most functional form and interactive system in the prototype we christened 'Lavazza'; a small screen, a knock surface and a body reminiscent of a switch.
Knocknock fun fact
The paper prototype for “Lavazza”, the model that later became our final shape, comes directly from a cup of coffee at Poli’s vending machines.
Engineering the prototype
In preparation for the so-called 'madness showcase', which would be an opportunity to test our design with a real audience and in a high-level simulation, we started working on the engineering of the prototype by dividing our roles according to competences.
During this process we never stopped improving and reviewing the project itself, constantly questioning our ideas of interaction, user experience, the intrinsic values of the idea and even its basic characteristics.
It was at this stage, for example, that the display reached its final concept, that of a small screen containing very little information at a time (an idea born out of technical limitations but which then became a strong point of the concept); to increase the visual impact of such a small screen and to integrate more communication elements, we then added the LED ring, which replaced some of the elements initially conceived on a larger screen.
A surprisingly arduous challenge was the design of the various mechanical components, those that would allow the prototype to simulate the state-of-the-art interaction we had imagined.
Numerous technical limitations (due to both the hardware at our disposal and the limited time left at this point to complete the project) forced us to revise the prototype's internal components day by day in search of a solution.
After countless attempts, discarded ideas and even attempts to modify the interactions themselves in order to be able to deliver as faithful a prototype as possible, the printing of some specific parts and the implementation of some technical stratagems allowed us to build a fully functional prototype.
Knocknock fun fact
The piece that finally allowed the prototype to function properly closely resembles the silhouette of Batman. Coincidence?
Madness showcase
The madness showcase was an important opportunity for us to test the system we had designed up to then, this being particularly linked to its physicality and its context.
During the madness we in fact reconstructed a real set, a hypothetical workstation which our testers were able to access to immerse themselves in the experience with the prototype, working for the first time.
Also from the feedback point of view we had a lot to discuss: although many of the opinions collected were linked to the numerous limitations of the prototype brought then, the post-it notes pinned to our board gave us the opportunity to review numerous aspects of the experience: in following days we carried out a great deal of simplification work, revision of the interfaces and, above all, arrangement of the prototype components.
Knocknock fun fact
Since during the madness we had not yet managed to condense all the components inside the body, a pile of fake books hid the hardware systems on the desk.
To mention one of the most important changes resulting from Madness, the very concept of knock as an interaction has been strongly enriched, becoming more iconic and regular during the experience with the object and taking on a decidedly greater human value thanks to the addition of new possibilities of use to contact other users.
