PROJECT: LUMEN

 

Challenge: For the main project during my Design for Contemporary Objects class, my group chose to focus on "how might we improve the experience for business travelers to make them feel more at home while they're away?"

Process: The process consisted of four different stages:

  • User interviews: we spoke with business travelers of a variety of different ages and industries to understand their needs while away from home.
  • Re-definition: based on our interview, we determined that our original question did not seem to have a true need. Honing in on the key insights, we instead decided to focus on how to enhance the comfort and convenience of the business travel experience.
  • Ideation: We brainstormed 40 different ideas and then honed in on a few which turned into physical mockups. After showing these concepts to our previous interviewees, we were still not sure we had found the right idea. Elements of both seemed to appeal to our potential users, and so we brainstormed a third and final idea.
    • Idea 1: A device that would sit in your hotel room and provide recommendations on an activity, restaurant, or entertainment offering based on distance and price inputs.
    • Idea 2: A small keychain device that acts as a room key and would also allow you to view the status (free/busy) and location (bar, restaurant, room, etc.) of your team members within the hotel to easily coordinate impromptu meet-ups.
    • Final idea: A smart room key that would allow gold status hotel customers to automatically check into their room, unlock their door and club floor, provide recommendations on and offline navigation to dining, attraction, and entertainment offerings, and offer deals with the hotel’s partner restaurants.
    • Prototyping: we took this final idea and built a functional prototype. I was in charge of the Arduino coding and understanding the hardware design of the product.

Results: We made a functional experience prototype and video for the final presentation. Check out the videos below to see the prototype in action and a typical user journey.

Skills: design thinking, Arduino coding, user research, product design, storyboarding, prototyping