Carnegie Mellon University | Senior Interaction Design Project

A1 Research Direction
A2 Kick'n Opportunities
A3 Kick'n Up Concepts
A4 Second Iteration
A5 Final Presentation

KiCK'n Opportunities

We identified three groups of people which we felt had the most potential for exploring creative design solutions to facilitiate their communication. We also conducted more focused research on technology, and products related to information, communication, and mobile devices that could relate to these groups. Team kick it then drew up some rough sketches of products that might address users in these groups.

Groups/Families communicating across distances

With distances growing between family members, there is a growing desire people to stay incontact with greater ease. Especially in the early 20's age group, who feel unable to maintain the level of affiliation & communication they desire with friends and family.

So with this said make we would like to explore creating a communication device that targets these people combining auido, visual, & email communications. This in order to stay more connected to family and friends from home and college, while still maintaining freedom and independance.

Groups/Families within the same environment/household

The family does not spend as much time together as it would like, but still wants to communicate with each other in an effective way to keep order under the roof.

Here's a few ways to leave quick, temporary reminders, maps, money, and messages without long explanations.

Communication between professionals/caretakers and individuals

A large problem for this area has been a language barrier, whether or not the language has been too technical or over simplistic for the user. Such situations arise where there has been unclear direcitons, such as when medication is supposed to be taken for example. It has been found that 60% of seniors feel that they misunderstand their physician.

The oppertunity in this sutiation that can found in new writen / verbal language approaches where it is understandable but not dimmed down. Times when physicans are available, where they can examine information, can also be approached with new outlooks. There is much room for improvement here.