Introduction
Our research in Milestones 2 and 3 showed us that TCAUP students are busy and hard-working, spending much of their time doing work in the studio. As they spend time working in the studio, many students felt that they would like their environment to change to stimulate them throughout the day; staying in the same environment all day makes many students feel tired, bored, and stressed. We also learned that even though TCAUP students are extremely busy, it is important for them to take breaks from work in order to stay focused and productive.
NatureFrame is designed to augment the TCAUP studio environment by providing students with a changing environment throughout the day, and encouraging positive habits during work time.
NatureFrame is designed to augment the TCAUP studio environment by providing students with a changing environment throughout the day, and encouraging positive habits during work time.
System Concept & Architecture
NatureFrame will be a small (8" x 10") touchscreen display with integrated processor that can fit on a student's desk, or hung on the wall behind. When a student first gets their device, they will set it up by connecting the NatureFrame to their cell phone using Bluetooth, in addition to entering their phone number to enable the NatureFrame to send Wi-Fi SMS messages to their phone. They will also indicate their desired work/break ratio (for example, a 10 minute break for every 2 hours of work). After this initial setup, the user will be able to choose a nature scene and begin working.
Figure 1. System architecture diagram
When the user is not in the studio, the NatureFrame will remain in sleep mode, searching for the familiar Bluetooth connection with the user's phone. When the user gets to the studio, and NatureFrame finds this connection, it will automatically turn on, opening the user's nature scene, and starting to track their studio time. As the user spends time in the studio throughout the day, their chosen nature image will begin to change randomly; for example, an animal may wander in to the scene, or the season may begin to change.
Figure 2. Frames from a sample animated nature scene
Based on the work/break interval indicated by the user, the NatureFrame will remind the user when it is time for them to take a break. For their break, users can either participate in one of NatureFrame's many meditation sessions, or they can leave their desk to take a walk. If the user decides to keep working, they can ignore the message, and the reminder will automatically disappear. To stimulate the positive habit of taking regular breaks, every time the user skips a break, their scene will become dull with a less active scene and lower saturation.
If the user selects a meditation session, they will watch a short guided meditation video; if they choose to take a walk, the NatureFrame will send them a text message when their break is over and it's time to get back to work.
The user will continue moving through work-break cycles as they spend time in the studio, and the NatureFrame will continue tracking their hours spent in the studio, causing their nature image to change throughout the day. At the end of the day, when the user leaves the studio, the NatureFrame will return to sleep mode when it loses the Bluetooth connection with the user's cell phone. At the end of the day, NatureFrame will send the user a message about their day's achievements (time spent working and relaxing) and a compliment on their hard work. |
Figure 3. Text message
from NatureFrame |
Demo
The goal of our demo is to demonstrate the day-to-day functionality of the NatureFrame - focusing on the changing nature scenes and break activities; due to the limited presentation time, we decided not to include the NatureFrame setup (entering a cell phone number, and selecting a preferred nature scene from the pool of options).
Some of our features will be fully built, while others will be demonstrated using Wizard-of-Oz prototyping. We will use a laptop to represent the processor, and an external display monitor to represent the touchscreen interface of the NatureFrame. As the user spends time "working in the studio", we will run a pre-built animation showing changes in the environment, as well as break reminders. Because our display does not have touchscreen capability, a Wizard will have to click anytime the user touches the screen. We will fully implement the idea of a bluetooth connection that wakes the NatureFrame from sleep mode when the user gets close to it.
Some of our features will be fully built, while others will be demonstrated using Wizard-of-Oz prototyping. We will use a laptop to represent the processor, and an external display monitor to represent the touchscreen interface of the NatureFrame. As the user spends time "working in the studio", we will run a pre-built animation showing changes in the environment, as well as break reminders. Because our display does not have touchscreen capability, a Wizard will have to click anytime the user touches the screen. We will fully implement the idea of a bluetooth connection that wakes the NatureFrame from sleep mode when the user gets close to it.
Figure 4. Demo architecture
Before starting our prototype, we created a detailed demo flow and script to make sure that our prototype would be able to fully support our demo. Our demo will run through a typical day in the studio, with the user arriving in the studio, and sitting down to work with the NatureFrame on their desk. As they spend time working, they will see their nature scene begin to change. They will also interact with the NatureFrame to complete a meditation session. Because our product is meant to be used over long periods of time, we will be showing changes in the scene and giving break reminders much more quickly than would happen in real life.
Figure 5. Demo flow and scripts for both user and the system (step 10 - 13)
Prototyping Process
To prototype the NatureFrame, we started by creating several animations using Adobe After Effects to represent our dynamic nature scenes and a countdown timer to show the NatureFrame's break mode functionality. We also made use of existing resources, like the meditation app Calm, which we used to create a short meditation session. Using our animations, we created an Electron app to simulate the NatureFrame front-end display. To demonstrate the Bluetooth pairing functionality, we used a Bluetooth Beacon and the node.js noble module to allow our app perform certain functions based on the distance between the Bluetooth Beacon and the laptop.
Our prototype and demo allowed us to show all of the key features of the NatureFrame, giving the audience an accurate sense of our product. Some of these features, like the Bluetooth wake/sleep function and changing animations, were fully implemented. Others, like integrated meditation sessions, and text message reminders were faked for the purposes of our demo, but still conveyed the functionality of these features. |
Figure 6. Images from our prototyping process
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Insights
As we created our demo, we gained insights into how ingrained adding decisions to the design process is. In building our demo, we had to actively make sure that we were automating anything that could be automated. For example, we originally planned to allow our users to click a "remind me later" button to indicate that they wanted to skip a break, before realizing that this required additional decision making and action from the user. Instead, we decided to have the notification automatically disappear after a few minutes.
While practicing the demo, we also questioned whether voice or gesture control would have been more appropriate than touch control, since the Nature frame may be out of the user's reach depending on where they have chosen to place it. Gesture control would make it easier to control the NatureFrame from a distance, and voice control would allow users to interact with the NatureFrame without having to stop what they're working on. This is something we would explore and test further when developing a real version of this product.
Designing the demo flow also led us to think more about when a user should receive a message about their daily achievement. Should NatureFrame send this message immediately after the user leaves studio or should NatureFrame send this message once at the end of the day? An immediate message each time the user leaves the studio provides instant feedback, but since a user may leave the studio multiple times during the day, it could be annoying to send this kind of message for multiple times. Ultimately, we chose to send a single summary message at the end of each day that the user visits the studio.
While practicing the demo, we also questioned whether voice or gesture control would have been more appropriate than touch control, since the Nature frame may be out of the user's reach depending on where they have chosen to place it. Gesture control would make it easier to control the NatureFrame from a distance, and voice control would allow users to interact with the NatureFrame without having to stop what they're working on. This is something we would explore and test further when developing a real version of this product.
Designing the demo flow also led us to think more about when a user should receive a message about their daily achievement. Should NatureFrame send this message immediately after the user leaves studio or should NatureFrame send this message once at the end of the day? An immediate message each time the user leaves the studio provides instant feedback, but since a user may leave the studio multiple times during the day, it could be annoying to send this kind of message for multiple times. Ultimately, we chose to send a single summary message at the end of each day that the user visits the studio.
Conclusion
Our demo allowed us to successfully illustrate the basic day-to-day functionality of the NatureFrame, while also considering some additional features and limitations of our system. The prototype we created has served as an effective proof of concept for a pervasive product that will be able to augment the TCAUP studio environment, helping to stimulate architecture students and support the creation of positive habits.