2021
UX Design
SOLO
Overview
SOLO is a user-centered lighting device designed to enhance the night-walking experience for individuals who need to walk alone at night. SOLO not only provides improved visibility in low light conditions, but also offers emotional support through a range of customizable lighting colors. The interactive design of SOLO provides a calming and reassuring presence, making night walks safer and more enjoyable.
Approach
I was responsible for several key areas including: conducting research through survey design and data analysis, programming and testing the prototype using Python, and creating compelling visual aids such as 3D renderings and animation clips for the final presentation.
Problem
Walking alone at night can be a daunting and unsettling experience for many individuals, causing discomfort and insecurity.
Solution
While other solutions in the market primarily focus on addressing the physical dangers of night walking, we took a unique approach by addressing the psychological aspect. Our goal was to help individuals feel calm and secure while walking alone at night. Our research findings showed that lighting was a top concern for many people and thus, we designed SOLO - a portable lighting device that not only improves visibility but also offers emotional support through customizable lighting options
Research
Research Methodologies
Online Survey (80 responses)
Secondary Research
Interviews (7ppl)
Onsite Observation
This map reveals the high risk of walking outside at night in Savannah, with red areas being more dangerous and green being the safest.
Important Findings
Walking outside at night is an overall negative experience for users because of poor street lighting, unwanted strangers and the lack of familiar company.
92.5% of respondents feel more safe when someone accompanies them outside at night.
90% of respondents agree that good lighting can help them feel safe.
Darkness and strangers are the key factors that make people feel less safe outside.
A crime occurs every 52 seconds (on average) in Savannah.
Interviewee
College Student
...scared, and sometimes in danger, and always in a hurry, I don’t like to be alone at night.
Interviewee
College Student
I feel like I am constantly at risk.
Interviewee
College Student
if I can’t walk with anyone, I just won't go.
Conceptualization
Having completed the initial research and analyzed the findings, we moved on to conceptualizing potential solutions. We spent considerable time refining and modifying our concept and conducting additional research to gather the necessary information. Our starting point was the question, "How might we help people feel safe while walking outside at night?"
Throughout the design process, we encountered questions that needed further exploration and addressed them to ensure a comprehensive solution was created.
Question 1: What is the meaning of Safety?
Defining the meaning of safety was a crucial step in developing a solution that truly met the needs of our target users. Our research revealed that safety has two distinct concepts: Objective Security and Subjective Security. Understanding these two concepts provided clarity on the problem we were trying to solve and informed the design direction.
Objective Security
Objective Security is based on factual information and represents the actual level of safety. For instance, a high crime rate in a particular area, such as Savannah, would lead people to perceive it as being more dangerous to walk alone at night.
Subjective Security
Subjective Security is a more personal perception of safety and is based on individual experiences and beliefs. For example, international students may feel less secure walking alone at night in Savannah as they are unfamiliar with the area, whereas local students may feel more confident as they are familiar with the neighborhood and culture.
Question 2: What scenarios do we expect our users face?
We focused on the unintentional moments. We fully understand do not enjoy walking outside at night. While we do not encourage people to go out alone, we recognize there could be some situations that people do not intend to stay outside but they have to do it. For example:
1. Waiting at bus stop outside
2. Getting food delivery at night
3. Walking to the parking lot to get the car
Question 3: How to differentiate our products from competitors?
While there are many existing products (e.g.Pepper Spray & Taser) focus on "self-defense" which mostly addresses an external threats against a user, we would like to focus on the internal side that calm the users to overcome their internal fear and anxiety.
Ideation
Our team spent time to do a Crazy 8 ideation exercise which aims to aid in the brainstorming and generation of fresh and interesting ideas in a quick way. Through this exercise, we created 40 ideas including wearable devices, virtual buddies, and lighting devices. After listening to the students feedback and consulting with our professor, we decided to leverage the lighting function to further develop on our final product.
Design Principles
To facilitate our design development, and make sure everything is aligned, we set some design principles as guidelines to develop the features and functions of the product
Engaging Interactivity
Enhance the user experience with interactive features.
Non-Harming
Ensure the product does not have any harmful functions and does not promote violence.
Illuminating Design
Utilize lighting effectively to achieve practical and emotional benefits.
Personalized Safety
Assist users in creating a private, secure, and comfortable environment.
Why Lighting?
Having good lighting will not only provide a practical impact but also emotional impact to our users. It allows us:
To See the Surounding
To Stay Calm and
Colors can change our emotions. The warm color can help people feel more comfortable while the cool color can help us to stay calm
To Be Seen
The lighting can alert other people which could be very helpful especially when people need to across the road
Design & Prototype
We sketched out the design and the potential features of the product on paper and we explored different shapes and forms.
Then we used pink form to create lo-fi prototypes and conduct quick user test. We asked students to share feedback about they like and dislike on different shapes and explain why. After considering students feedback and internal discussion, we chose the “lock-shape” design that allows people to place their finger on the hole to hold the product or let it stand alone.
What they like:
Stand on table; Round edges; Long to fit in hand, but kinda thin; Flat faces on edges; Organic shape (like a stone); Worry stone for button
What they dislike:
Too thin; Not enough to grab; Too big; Don’t want to carry
The Interactive Design
We designed the products with 3 key interactions:
Non-Harming
Press the trigger button on the hole to turn the front flashlight on and off
Illuminating Design
Squeeze the sides to activate and adjust the mood lantern
Personalized Safety
Hold all buttons to activate and de-activate the alarm.
Design Schematic
This is the Arduino Schematic. Rather than using the Arduino Uno, we chose to utilize the Seeeduino Xaio which is about the size of a quarter. This allows us the have a more compact form.
Coding (Python)
We used python to code the program and created different advanced features including fade-in & out effect, changing colours & multifunctional button...etc
Lighting Test
We used the LED lights in the Arduino box to make a quick functional prototype. And we went to a park at night to test the lighting as well as doing an onsite observation to understand the outdoor situation at night.
The interior Design
To ensure all components can fit inside the product, we also designed the interior look of the product to figure out how where to place each component.
The Final Test
Before we glued all the wires and components in the case, we ran our final test to make sure everything works.
The Presentation
For our final presentation, it was very unfortunate that we failed to present the completed physical prototype as we miscalculated the size and we couldn't close the case. However, we successfully demonstrate all features of the product (using the incomplete prototype) to the class! Here are some of the slides of our final presentation.
Reflection
This project is one of the most challenging project I had so far. During the process, we kept modifying our concept until we come up with the final idea. I spent a lot of time for internal discussions in the early stage which makes us we lack of time to do the prototype. It was also a very exciting experience as it was my first project that we really made something physically. The most fulfilled moment was when we tested the program and it successfully completed all the commands we wanted. Here is my key takeaway from this project:
Take the initiative
At the very beginning, our team was not very communicative and everyone worked independently without much coordinations, which made our work not consistent and misaligned. Even though I noticed that, I did not voice it out in the group as I was afraid I will make myself as a difficult person to work with. Until we faced a lot of critiques after the mid-term presentation, I finally talked about it to the team and I realized they also noticed that but did not raise it out. I learnt that being honest with the team should never be a harmful thing. So next time, I will take the initiative when I spot any issue within the team.
Framer 2023
Amsterdam