TCHO: New Chocolate for a New Generation

Details

Techniques: interviewing, affinity diagramming, personas, diary studies, surveys, sketching, physical prototyping, design presentation, report writing
Tools: sticky notes, illustrator, modeling clay & other various physical tools for prototyping, 3D printer, chocolate molds
Team: 3 School of Information Master's Students (including myself), 1 Business Master's Student, 1 Engineering PhD Student, and 1 Industrial Design Student
Client: TCHO Chocolates

Design Objective

Develop an innovative line of chocolate targeted for Millenials (18-35 year-olds), and present this line to TCHO

Design Solution

Three new lines of chocolates: TCHO Gems, Rococoa, and TCHO Seasons.  Tcho Gems are fortified gem-shaped chocolates.  Gems come in a variety of types (Vitality, Uppity, Tranquility and Infinity) and are designed to melt in a hot beverage; Rococoa are chocolate drink-toppers with a modern look.  Rococoa are designed to sit on the edge of a wine or cocktail glass and come with unique patterns etched on the side for personalization.  Finally, TCHO Seasons is a line of customizable drinking chocolate tailored toward the seasons.  Users can mix and match spices to create their own unique drink.

Result

A tradeshow and a presentation to the board at TCHO.  TCHO is currently working to create several of these lines.

Mediamobz

Details

Techniques: sketching, wireframes, requirements documentation, bug testing
Tools: photoshop, illustrator, googledocs, bug tracking software
Team: product developer, graphic designer, product dev & user experience intern (my role), 2 developers
Client: Outhink Media
Website: www.mediamobz.com

Design Objective

Redesign and develop the MediaMobz Website, an online social network and marketplace for producers and buyers of media.

Design Solution

Complete overhaul of the existing system, including redesign of colors, layout, alert system, and basic backend structure

Result

Increase in signups to the MediaMobz site, as well as an increase in number of jobs posted.

SLickr: A Flickr/Second Life Mashup

Details

Techniques: php programming, LSL (Linden Scripting Language) programming, design presentation, report writing
Tools: flickr api, second life
Team: 2 School of Information Master's Students acting as developers, with backgrounds in HCI and Computer Science (myself)
Client: OKAPI (Open Knowledge and the Public Interest)
Location in Second Life: OKAPI Island

Design Objective

Design and develop a method for the members of OKAPI Island (an online recreation of an archealogical site open to the public) to import and view their flickr photostreams in Second Life without paying high upload costs.

Design Solution

SLickr, an open source flickr viewing screen, which allows Second Life users to "tell" the screen which flickr photos they would like to see by specifying tags, usernames, set ids, and pool ids.  The screen will then "play" feeds of these photos.  The user can control this playback through basic naigation buttons.

Result

The members of OKAPI island can now link their viewer to their photo stream, and allow any member of the public to see images of the dig.  Additionally, the code to SLickr is easily modified and open source.

CharityVis

Details

Techniques: wireframes, data scraping, flare/flex programming, design presentation, report writing
Tools: photoshop, tableau, subversion, eclipse
Team: 3 School of Information Master's Students acting as designers & developers, with backgrounds in English, Health Informatics, and Computer Science (myself)
Website: http://groups.ischool.berkeley.edu/charityvis

Design Objective

Design and develop an innovative method of visualizing a large data set of information about nonprofits, to allow easy sorting and comprehension for potential donors and researchers.

Design Solution

CharityVis, an interactive, multifaceted visualization of the charity landscape. CharityVis allows users to see an over-all view of charities across a variety of categories, while also providing a means to focus on specific charities of interest.

Result

A more interesting, intuitive way to search through a large dataset rather than scrolling through long lists (currently the only other way of viewing this informaion)

Jug Hero

Details

Techniques: circuit design, Arduino programming, Processing programming, physical prototyping, report writing
Tools: Arduino board, various circuitry, various physical items (bottles, wires, foam), subversion, Arduino and Processing programming environments
Team: 2 School of Information Masters Students with backgrounds in Computer Science (including myself)

Design Objective

Design and develop a fun, collaborative musical game with a tangible user interface.

Design Solution

Jug Hero, a game inspired by the Guitar Hero series of video games, but with Jugs not Guitars, and collaborative instead of competitive.  Jug Hero was created with Arduino and Processing.  You may also read more about how Jug Hero works, see vidoes, and press.

Result

A presentation of Jug Hero at Maker Faire, press throughout the web (eg Kotaku and Instructables) and use of Jug Hero in the Jug Band Association's Fair.

RFID: Contextual Awareness & Understanding

Details

Techniques: interviewing, surveys, contextual observation, report writing
Tools: online survey software, rfid reader, rfid chips in various items (credit cards, passports)
Team: 4 School of Information Masters Students with backgrounds in Medical Informatics, HCI, Graphic Design & Computer Science (myself), 2 researchers at the Samuelson Law Clinic.

Design Objective

To assess lay people's understanding of and perceptions toward Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. Because lay people tend to be the passive users of RFID tags (in contrast to active users, thus far mostly businesses and governments), their perceptions and needs have largely been ignored by RFID applications.

Design Solution

A report of our findings and recommendations for how to focus further studies in this area.

Result

This report added to the slim collection of research documenting how lay people understand RFID and the risks they associate with it.  Our report was later used in a paper, "Where’s The Beep?: Security, Privacy, and User Misunderstandings of RFID."

Please email me if you would like to know more about this research or read about our findings.

The Participatory Media/Collective Action Guidebook

Details

Techniques: research, design of rating systems, report writing
Tools: wikis, spreadsheets
Team: 2 School of Information Masters Students with backgrounds in Communications and Computer Science (myself), 1 Masters of Public Health, 1 Masters of Journalism, and 1 Masters in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
Website: http://pmguide.wetpaint.com

Design Objective

Implement a collaborative wiki for individuals, organizations, scholars, and other interested parties to learn about various forms of online participatory media and how this media can be used for collective action.

Design Solution

The PMCA guidebook, a wiki and rating system for the best uses of various online participatory media.

Result

Users can use the guidebook to compare and contrast different participatory media according to the same criteria, and choose the ones most appropriate to their needs and preferences. E.g. if members of a student group were interested in mobilizing collective action on the Burmese monks’ protests, this guidebook would allow them to compare different participatory media and choose among them. Note that the participatory media are not mutually exclusive, but can be leveraged together in an articulated PMCA strategy.