XUN Music Box
Roles: Project Manager, Lead Researcher, and 3D Designer
In January 2021, the world was still firmly in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic which meant that we were approaching a whole year of being separated from our family and friends. In this course we were prompted to examine what togetherness looks like as inspired by Hiroshi Ishii. The key components of this challenge were to thoughtfully take into consideration the experiences of children during this period and how to support relationships outside of the immediate household during this time.
Key skills: collaboration, management, rapid prototyping, and storytelling.
Details
10 Weeks in Winter 2021
With Joan Williams, Leyla Kaplan, and Nathaniel Gray
Conducted in MHCI+D Prototyping Studio Course
We completed our project over 10 weeks. I managed the moving parts of the project while leading workshops, research, and 3D design
Our Opportunity
We were given the opportunity to create a connected holistic system from web to physical device that encourages connection from children to their long-distance friends and family members. We looked one step further and determined that the method in which we wanted to create these discussions was through music as the messenger for creativity and communication.
Worked in an interdisciplinary team managing multiple streams of work to produce a connected website and device interaction.
Brought management methods to a team of designers and researchers pursuing several streams of work simultaneously throughout the course of the project.
In the allotted period, we were able to overdeliver by optimizing team strengths and abilities.
Conducted secondary research, planned and executed two comprehensive co-design sessions to test potential idea solutions earlier during our design process followed by another co-design session to iterate upon the selected concept.
Used best UX research practices from professional experiences along with the integration of personal experiences with what works well with our user group, children.
Through 2 co-design workshops, we were able to generate actionable insights for the strategic direction of the project and later with recommendations for directed design needs for digital platform and physical device interactions.
Led a usability study on an early iteration form to receive feedback through a Wizard of Oz styled test.
Designed interface, physical device, and series of interactions using music to connect children and their long-distance family members kept apart by distance during Covid-19.
Worked with our engineers and designers to prioritize features for MVP to test with a selected group of children.
Engaged design workshop methodologies resulting in form iterations, usability testing, and 3D design and rendering to properly communicate design desires for presentation to the MHCI+D teaching faculty.
Research and Sessions
As a team decided that while research was not a requirement of our brief, we wanted to ensure that our early concepts had a grounding in existing secondary research and technologies. Another aspect of our project was designing and running two co-design sessions with children through the University of Washington Kids Team group in which we executed and integrated feedback throughout our design process.
Design Iterations
We crafted a unique experience for children to create and share music with family and friends through an interactive physical device and paired digital experience. We met our goals to create a playful system that promotes musical creativity, utilizes asynchronous experiences, and engages a multipurpose physical device interaction. In addition to the physical device, several of our team members were dedicated to creating an internet-connected web platform that would sync with our physical device.
Final Iteration
While completing the project within our scope and feasibility limitations, we had aligned on a goal to define a future iteration that with advanced capabilities and time, we would push to execute.
Reflection
This project was a unique experience as it allowed me to explore working with engineering components intertwined with critical research feedback perspectives. Our primary user group was designed to be children between the ages of 7-11yo which pushed me to design and run varieties of research methodology targeted towards a different audience than what I have done previously. In future iterations, we would continue to push the concept further and bring in advanced software development talent to fully implement our concept. Along with the technical components throughout the project, this provided me an opportunity to manage horizontally and push to run an effective, collaborative, and innovative team.