This interaction design assignment began with a simple, if vague, goal – Design a ubiquitous computing system for coffee shops. Little did we know that the trail taken while investigating these bastions of nonalchoholic, mind-altering beverages would lead in such an unusual direction.

Identifying Extreme Users

A team objective for the investigative part of this exercise was to go outside our comfort zones, approaching strangers and seeking out extreme users, one of whom was this gentleman, who spends an average of 6 hours a day writing in coffee shops.

Storyboarding, Part I

Following research at 8 local coffee shops, we dove into generating concepts and storyboards, seeking an appropriate way to enhance the cofee experience through the judicious application of technology.

Speed Dating (No, Not That Kind)

We then ventured back into the wild, revisiting Pittsburgh's most eccentric coffee shops, where we presented ten concepts to patrons in an attempt to validate which would be of interest to them.

Storyboarding, Part II

Having agreed on a final concept, we generated storyboards and a script for the video that would explain our ultimate design.

Date
March - May 2012

Class
Interaction Design Studio
Carnegie Mellon University
Prof. Haakon Faste

Team
Rajat Agrawal
Jordy Zagdanski

Techs
Audacity
Premier
Photoshop

Skills
Semi-Structured Interviews
Design Specification
Interface Design
Wireframing
User Testing