The service sector makes up nearly 70% of the U.S. economy, yet customers are often frustrated by their service experiences and companies don’t always recognize the role design can play in crafting their service offering. How does one design something as intangible as a service? Our team chose to work within the tourism & hospitality industry, applying the principles of openness, transparency, reliability and community to our service.

Our service became known as Streamline, a company that empowers locals to rent their idle goods to tourists who want to travel lightly. It seeks to connect travelers’ destination needs to shared resources in a local community. By helping locals capitalize on their underused goods (and save space in their home too), Streamline creates opportunity by providing luggage-free travel as well as offering an alternative to existing storage options.

Streamline allows locals to post, promote, and lend their idle goods. They are inventivized to participate because they can store their unused items for a reasonable one-time fee, and make money at the same time. Tourists, on the other hand, can avoid the hassle of traveling with large, bulky items by renting through Streamline. By selecting from a variety of goods located right at their travel destination, tourists can have items delivered right to their place of stay for use during their vacation. When returning for home, they can simply leave behind the places they rented instead of packing them up.

Our Prototyping User Experiences class was divided into three sections: storytelling, prototyping techniques, and sketching in hardware. For the first six weeks of the semester, we were assigned teams and had to choose a transportation issue in New York City. My team selected the ominous Port Authority Bus Terminal on 8th and 42nd. In order to identify pain points in the traveler experience, we observed and documented facility layout, information and interaction touchpoints, and user behavior on-site. We synthesized our findings into a user journey map and developed an initial solution: reusable, e-ink tickets that acted as both navigation aids and bus ticket for the passenger.

After a few rounds of paper prototyping and class feedback, we abandoned the e-ink ticket for a larger solution that integrated all bus companies into one ticketing system - instating user accounts, mobile and online access, and redesigned kisoks at the bus terminal. Having recently learned video and user journey techniques, we created several iterations of a user journey video to present our concept to the class. Once we began the prototyping phase of the class, we split from our groups to focus on different types of prototyping and user testing techniques. I chose to use Flash to develop a bouncing ball demo of the interface as well as a foamcore kiosk and the usability application Silverback for user testing.

For the final phase of the class, we could continue to prototype solutions for our selected topic or take our hardware sketches in a different direction. After trying out various sensors, I really enjoyed playing with RFID and developed an RFID jukebox that allowed users to create a playlist from physical representations of songs.

The final project asked students to create a future digital product using technology available within the next 5 years. Our process consisted of initial idea generation, research, design iteration, and production. This project was a great opportunity to try out different storytelling techniques using keyed-gestures, Flash, and After Effects.

With INTouch, the team wanted to explore the idea of mutli-touch tables as part of an integrated system of networked devices in a restaurant. Rather than replace the waitstaff, the table seeks to augment and support communication between guests, servers, and the kitchen and bar by offering solutions to certain dining inconveniences. Features include allowing guests to sort the menu based on dietary preference, sharing food items with the rest of the table, and dividing bills for group dining with smartphone payment.

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