AJB - Final Major Project - Process Journal

Dijit ALEX BACON

02

Contents A list of all the sections within my process On the right-hand side of this spread is a breakdown of all the chapters and the page numbers correlating to where they can be found in order to quickly navigate to one of the specific sections.

-01. Title Page 00. Chapters 01. Welcome

04

An overview of the layout and contents

02. FMP1 Summary

20

50

The big decision ahead of the interim

102

08. Model Making

126

Sand, spray, more sanding, more spraying

64

Sketching out some intial concepts

05. Interaction

07. Further Ideation Developing the form of each product

Where do I go from here...

04. Ideation

86

Final decision on the sticky note method

Just a little catch-up on what you’ve missed

03. Framing

06. Final Concept

09. Final Design

140

This is dijit - sticky note’s digital alternative

76

10. Conclusion What I did well and what I’d do different

152

Welcome

0

My first chapter, how fun ! (2nd Process Journal, same jokes) I’m starting off this journal with some context about my project. This

chapter talks about; why I picked the topic, what I plan to do, and also how I’ve displayed this information.

04 Subchapters 01. Preface

02. Introduction 03. Format

06

Preface The two core influences that led to this investigation around hybrid working: >

unfortunately.

The first was during lockdown while studying my first year of industrial design. While working completely remote, Microsoft Teams and Miro were tools I became all too familiar with. Leading to a realisation that these interactions struggled to give a fair representation of the collaborative and creative environment I wanted to work in.

And the second was my experience of hybrid interactions in a work environment, during my placement at Plan Strategic. From the smallest of inconveniences and awkward interactions working with people onsite and online still wasn’t seamless.

With these experiences in mind I set out to answer the question...

08

HOW CAN WE CREATE SEA TRANSITION INPERSON A COLLABORAT

E AMLESS NS BETWEEN AND VIRTUAL ATION?

10

Introduction Process Journal = FMP1 Summary + everything since New Years So here we are, at the end of my final year design project and here you are, at the start of it’s journey.

In this book I hope to illustrate all the work that was put into my digital sticky note concept, dijit. Including all the highs and all the lows. This is my process.

5 27

Because of this I’ve used a system of chapters, layouts and icons to help breakdown my work into distinguishable and digestible sized chunks of information. These next few pages will explain a brief breakdown of how to read through this book a bit quicker. You’re welcome.

1 This is a big page number

>(

Format - Title Page

This isn’t a real title page - it’s a demo sorry for the confusion This section of text purely provides a summary of what the chapter

contains. Often times there’s not much to write as the titles themselves

are relatively self explanatory. And the subtitle takes most of the space.

12 Subchapters 01. Subtitle 02. Subtitle 03. Subtitle 04. Subtitle

14 (>

Page number 1 and...

insert image here.

Format - Text page Briefly describe what the text below is talking about Most of the information will be; second hand, opinions, expert opinions, etc. But if you see any text like this be sure to read it. As the highlighter means it was especially important or insightful. Other than that, the majotity of text will be written out in these paragraphs or a couple of other ways, like: - bullet points - see what I did there

...Page number 2

(>

16 Most of them didn’t want their name or photo used...

...so I swapped them out with graphic characters.

Format - Interviewee’s title Brief description about them or an important quote Brief introduction and summary of our conversation, followed by some of the most influential points I took away from the discussion: - Most important thing they said - Second most important - You get the idea...

-

18

Format - Reflection The beauty of hindsight - looking back at my project A lot of my reflections and realisations occured throughout the project which allowed me to develop on those things further. But on these pages as I look back on the project to talk about some things that I may have forgotten about, ignored, or just ran out of time to implement.

This is just to reflect on the process as a whole and share my honest opinions about my FMP2.

FMP1 Summary

2

Just a little catch-up on what you’ve missed

In FMP1 my focus was surrounding hybrid working and what I could

design to smoothen out these interactions we have with people in office and elsewhere. This is what lead me to the start of FMP2.

20 Subchapters 01. Insights 02. Explore

03. Environment 04. Ideate 05. Brief

22

72%

of people say virtual meetings do improve collaboration

68%

also say there’s too many virtual meetings

Core insights “Hybrid work models must address this sense of disconnection in real and tangible ways.” - Prasad Setty Prasad also talks about the correct approach moving forward in order to implement sustainable hybrid working models. Looking at the stats from his survey it’s clear we can’t just increase the number of virtual meetings without feeding the other issue.

If we just reduced the amount of meetings people would feel more and more disconnected and potentially disengaged. But, if we made a gateway for meetings in the hybrid world people would lose their personal time to concentrate in the way that works best for them. We need more quality over quantity.

A new approach to hybrid interaction was needed. But did I manage to create that...

24

THIS NOTIS ONSITE HYBRID THIS

ONLINE

A new perspective In order for my project to address issues appropriately I’m setting it in stone Currently hybrid working is seen as a combination of people working remotely and people working from an office and in words there is almost no other way to explain it. But, I still believe that hybrid working is seen from the wrong perspective.

Treating it as a mixture will only ever feel (at best) like a standard video call for those remote or a normal meeting between those in office. The goal shouldn’t be to patch holes to get back to what it used to feel like.

This is an opportunity to work in a new way.

26

ONLINE

THIS IS HYBRID

ONSITE

My definition More minds should always mean an increase in collaboration In order to capitalise on ‘the best of both worlds’ we can’t just try and mould the two together, we need to see it as an entirely new entity otherwise the addition of just one virtual member into an otherwise onsite meeting creates an imbalance - neglect.

These settings should be adding to each others experiences instead of plating them next to one another. Even in the extreme cases of remote and onsite working their interactions with the leftover majority is still (in my eyes) a hybrid interaction. Whether that’s colleagues, clients or customers.

Hybrid Interactions Two or more parties, collaborating from different places at the same time, must be able to complete all activities together.

The main area of difficulty in this matter was brainstorming, but I didn’t that yet.

28 Business Analyst

“I never know whether to send a message or not because I know how annoying those ‘constant pings’ can be.”

Operations Manager

“IT come in and set it up but they aren’t the ones using the meeting rooms.”

Marketing Manager

“It’s become standard practice to work with others in the team that are spread out internationally.”

Senior Project Manager

“We can’t replicate a whiteboard environment, thats the one thing we just dont have in terms of collaboration.”

Interviews In the interview they all asked for their name not to be mentioned, to avoid any of their opinions being held against them in the future.

In all of these interviews I had a few standardised questions which I’ve categorised into the five topics; policies, preferences, meeting room arrangement, and insights.

With each interview I held more knowledge about potential insights I’d gained which allowed me to fast track the following conversations asking for their thoughts on the subject allowing further insights to develop. All the most insightful quotes are on the left hand-side.

The points that I took away from these meetings were either said multiple times across the interviews, or only mentioned once but were very deep and insightful. These points were: - Brainstorming doesn’t feel as collaborative - There’s a decrease and need for office culture - Hybrid meetings don’t have the same ‘flow’ as in-person colllaboration - There’s this resentment/guilt felt on either side of the screen when you can’t tell if people are engaged.

30 ONSITE

ONLINE

Meeting Room Layouts Core insight from interviews with varying companies (and roles within) Early on in my interviews I was able to identify how each user and their team conducts their team meetings.

From that came these two common choices. On the left displays two setups from the perspective of both the onsite and online viewer.

The first is best for those online, as everyone is almost at a level playing field - but what’s the point of the people onsite coming together if we don’t make use of the inperson collaboration capabilities.

The second is best for those onsite, as the meeting can be conducted as usual - however it creates this sense of neglect as the online viewers just watches in, not really included in the collaboration.

32

ASSOCIATE Entry level jobs / In the earlier stages of someone’s career

MANAGER Managing roles / Jobs with a responsibility for other’s output

DIRECTOR Head of ... / Overseeing multiple teams and all elements within

Personas Hybrid working affects all of us in the world of work And everyone has a unique set of preferences in how they get stuff done. From my research I found the thing that seperated people the most in terms of the way they work/think and in the things they want out of hybrid working was down to their role.

I think due to the different responsibilities and types of tasks they have to do on a regular basis create these bigger differences as well as different restriction that come with them. This is how I then broke down this hierarchy of jobs into the 3 persona profiles.

34

Working Environments Herman Miller - Living Space So far in my research I’ve found that my main insights always lead back to issues in the workspace. Mainly due to it’s link with the decrease in social interaction or ‘office culture’. It seems that the main friction point in people’s workflow is when the wrong task is taken place in the wrong environment.

What I mean by that is that we know the office is great for in-person collaboration and that working from home is perfect for virtual calls and solo tasks but if people are trying to do each of those in the opposite place what’s the point of being there? Because of this I thought I’d investigate how offices have adapted to hybrid working - if at all.

Herman Miller created a series of different spaces designed with specific situations in mind. This is their brief description of: “Living Office provides people with a variety of spaces that are optimized to support work and interaction. We call these spaces settings. Each of the following 10 settings is distinct in its purpose, scale, and sociability. Each may be executed in a variety of ways to enable purpose, express character, or enhance the activities of work.”

36 Deskspace Could be: Hive Clubhouse Forum Plaza

Kitchenette Toilets

Phone Booths Could be: Haven Landing

Meeting Room Could be: Jump Space Clubhouse Cove Meeting Space Workshop Forum

See what I did there

(

Office Plan: >

How this looks in a real office layout I looked into these setting and tried to make sense of it from a product design perspective in the hopes I might gather some specification points for whatever I end up designing in whichever setting.

Inspired by the workplace environment from my internship I used the rough layout to see how these settings would lay out in a real life scenario. Most large companies can have a massive area where each setting has it’s own designated space, but most of the time one space acts as multiple settings.

38 ON-SITE

TEAM MEETINGS

HOT DESKING

ENGAGEMENT SOCIAL INT. AVAILABILITY

...writing converted was

...desks had multiple

...time used for breaks

...there was a

...people could tell if

added digitally

owners

was measured

designated space to

you were busy or not

relax ...you didn’t need to

...desks moved by

...you could track

...we messaged the

take anything into

themselves

physical activity

other desk users

...people online

...you couldn’t sit in the

...breaks were

...teams had social

...availability was

could interact with the

same place

celebrated

video calls

requested

...classic mediums were

...you didn’t have to

...the amount of tasks

...people played online

...we could represent

connected to online

take stuff to/from

was shared

games in between tasks

personal workflows and

users

home and office

...we checked people’s

...we had online desks

...breaks were

...people that live

engagement

(sit in a call with

celebrated

nearby work remotely

ONLINE

HYBRID

meeting rooms

office

preferences

neighbours)

together

...meeting rooms didn’t

...we could visualise

exist

online workers being ‘AFK’

What if...

Post-it note concept generation From every insight came the areas of opportunities I’ve listed. Taking these forward I ideated by creating different (what if...) situations for each post-it note to design the concepts around later on.

Through this exercise I came to realise there was a lot of overlap in the ideas that tried to solve them. For example, resentment and guilt is often resolved by addressing the engagement. And others seemed to become more of a specification point to take forward rather than solely designing around it, e.g. hot desking.

The page on the left represents the post-it notes excluding the opportunities; timezone, resentment/guilt, and commuting but keeping them in mind as a specification point to design around in the future. Some of the scenarios are relatively common and others more speculative, but it’s these ideas which act as the starting point to generate concepts from.

40

HYBRID

ON-SITE

TEAM MEETINGS Write on the desk and upload to online viewers

Post-it pad (digital) to upload writing

Holographic ‘Tony Stark’ style desk

Hand gestures (end the call with a wave)

Robot arms moving things on hybrids behalf

Connected series of physical whiteboards

The room is the screen

Digital postits wall

Post- it ‘block’ uploads digitally

HOT DESKING Screen embedded desktop for personalisation

Automatic height adjustments (desk, chair, monitor, etc.)

‘Wall-E’ chairs take you to the right desk or meeting room

Lock storage at each desk for each user

Chairs and desks were combined

AR shades the AI indicating which desk is best desks that are unavailable to use that day

Storage solutions at the office

Two sets of equipment (paired?)

ENGAGEMENT SOCIAL INT. AVAILABILITY Pressure plate placeholders on the desk

Empty cup detecting coaster

ONLINE

Eye tracking have to look at people in order to hear them

Personal post it board

Headset with eye tracking

Screen/dividers create a fake silhouette to visualise people remote

Map of digital office with online neighbours

AR/VR visualising people that aren’t there

Proximity tech (away from desk + meeting room)

Stationary tracking attachments

Kan Ban boards with breaks integrated into it

Specific work modes to indicate the type of work Activity feed (celebrate) feedback prompts

‘Captcha’ mini games test you’re paying attention

Rest pods/ booths

Smart watch compatibility

An area to do or share hobbies and games

Sleep pods

Better detailing availability meters (inc. work modes)

Message board

Designed around pomodorro method Invites others to take a break with you

Tally system (different tasks with different weighting)

Personal buzzer modern pager

Bitmoji activity options based on work mode

Simplified shared calendars (time blocks)

I wish there was something to

make into these digital sticky notes... (foreshadowing)

Concepts Post-it note concept generation Each one of the darker blue post-it notes on the left-hand side represents a concept related to the position of the ‘what if’ scenarios from the previous page. Some of the most commonly appearing concepts across the board were: - Post-it note and white board product alternatives with a digital ‘sister’ it would upload to - Products integrated within certain workflow methodologies (e.g. kanban boards) - Digital office including all workers (on-site and remote) - Desks with different digital capabilities - Time and location tracking products for seamless time management

42 Organisation

Devices

Workspace

Consumer Tech

Tangible User Interface Soft Tech

Existing products Mood board and research Though I did find a large correlation between the below product categories and the split between on-site, hybrid, and remote (which is how the images were represented on the mood board seen in the picture to the left), I thought it would be better to keep them in their product category groups regardless of where it’s used as my future product could be one device used in both scenarios and should be inspired from all of them.

Themes These are the main themes amongst products of interest Of course consumer tech is a massive area within hybrid working related products, but amongst that specifically is soft tech. Which I believe is the best fit in terms of fitting into multitudes of workspaces. The last category is tangible user interfaces (TUI) which I’ve focused on as I think it could add a more human feeling for the hybrid interaction.

44

COULD BE

SHOULD BE

MUST BE

Specification Could be - Integrated with personal preferences by the specific user - Designed around tangible user interfaces - Two products (for on-site and remote workspaces)

Should be - Suitable for hot desking setups - A fitting/elegant design to blend into the workplace - Usable by multiple people (one party) in real life and virtually

Must be - A physical product to help create better hybrid interactions - Equal to or an improvement in efficiency compared to the current system - Designed with consideration for both sides (remote and on-site)

46

DESIGN A PR THAT ALLOW TO COLLABO REMOTE COL A ‘NON-FORU

RODUCT WS USERS ORATE WITH LLEGUES IN UM’ SETTING

48

FMP1 Summary A strong foundation for FMP2 It was a long process throughout FMP1 trying to cut down such a large subject area, hybrid working, into one solution. But that was my mistake. I tried to solve as much as I could but in reality all I needed to do was pick my one glass instead of trying to boil the ocean.

I wish I had started the design process sooner so that it woul;d have allowed more time further down the line on further iteration however, with this realisation I set up multiple decision making matrixes and frameworks at the start of FMP2 in order to cut down all my ideas so I could focus on one sole solution.

Framing Where do I go from here...

5

This section leads on from the end of FMP1. With a load of information

and ideas about what it could potentially be, these frameworks allowed me to work out what it should do. (and therefore what I should do)

50 Subchapters 01. Framework 02. Categories

03. Levels of activity

04. Hierarchy of Interaction 05. Decision Matrix

52 Personal vs.

Professional Opportunity Categories

MoSCoW

Collaborative Work

Isolated Work

Levels of Activity

Scope

Hierarchy of Interaction

Interaction Framework This probably makes little to no sense at this point

It barely makes sense to me...

This framework lays up multiple ways I divided the issue. Each one of my intiial ideas maps onto each matrix within this post-it brainstorm.

MoSCoW - This is to remind myself of what is in scope for my project based off FMP1, all yellow notes are comments or reminders back to what my core focus should be.

Personal vs. Professional - This is broad scoping tactic dividing the ideas in half.

Opportunity Categories - Are the same categories from my what if... exercise in FMP1 but slightly streamlined.

Collaborative vs. Isolated Work - Dividing the opportunity categories into ideas that relate to individual activity and ideas that include a group of people.

Levels of Activity - The red notes symbolise all the levels I need to consider. As every meeting will vary in scale and purpose which this tries to illustrate.

Hierarchy of Interaction - With all my ideas physically varying in scale this plays them against each other. Like what would happen if one party had the product but the others didn’t or how would it pair with an environment.

Scope - Because of the scale of different ideas I was able to scope out a lot of ideas based purely on the viability of someone working remote having an environment or furniture scaled product in their home office.

54

Categories Cutting it in half I quickly realised one big destinction between all of my ideas was some were based on purely individual activity like time management, dealing with pings, kanban boards, etc. And the rest were about interacting with others like the virtual whiteboard.

This separation streamlined a lot of my ideas to a manageable amount as I knew I wanted my solution to connect people rather than just a piece of equipment used by one individual as that doesn’t address any of my insights found in FMP1. Knowing I wanted to focus on collaboration of multiple parties I moved onto the different levels of these activities.

56

Levels of Activity How is my product going to work with others Designing the independant interaction for the user should be relatively simple, but due to this projects core function of working across these hybrid interactions I layed out these different potential levels of activities.

Personal - Intimate conversations with few members Discuss - These are team based conversations Solve - Potentially multidisciplines to solve something Present - A show and tell meeting with a few leads

Full lines - From the perspective of Dotted lines - Indicate they’re joining online Black bar - Screen seperating online and onsite

What is really interesting is the idea of only one party having the tech. Meaning it should still provide value even if the others don’t have the same solution implemented, otherwise there’s little chance of using it.

This is a framework I kept referring to while ideating as it made me think about the products interaction in all of these settings, but it also allowed me to cut down more ideas, as I get closer to my final concept, making me think about the environment of which the product is used.

58 Individual Environment Furniture Product Nothing

Hierarchy of Interaction Decision time (finally) This section had two purposes; consider the different level of interactions and scope out the non viable options based on user environments. The different factors are: Built Around - Interactive wall built into the office Furniture - Ergonomic meeting pod Product - Digital sticky it note Nothing - Where we are now

Office - Privately owned space Communal Space - Libraries or Coworking Spaces Home - Personal workplace when not commuting Remote - Often moving with no fixed workspace

For obvious reasons the nothing row was scoped out for the main interaction. Followed by the individual column as I want to a system of connected products that create a tangible connection across hybrid working.

The top right corner was eventually scoped out as the scale of each just aren’t viable for those environments.

Which left me with these final ideas...

60

Decision Matrix Final concepts to take into ideation After using all those frameworks I was left with a set of concepts to ideate around. These were: - Workplace methodology products (e.g. kanban boards, pomodorro method, etc.)

- An interactive whiteboard - The hybrid working post-it note

62

Framing Working hard or hardly working?

At the time it was very much up in the air. I had 100s of ideas flying around and multiple problem areas. I couldn’t decide between the specific issues but also knew that no one product was going to cover all bases. But I don’t think this was procrastination more so my way of combatting that scary decision through logic.

So while I wish I was quicker to come to this conclusion, I at least knew that when I got there I was confident in my reasoning. Leaving only to bring these ideas to life.

Ideation

6

Sketching out some initial ideas

After laying things out I recognised the ideas that worked the best. So I started sketching some of these concepts hoping to bring one to life.

64 Subchapters 01. Sketching

02. The Big Tangent 03. AR/VR solutions 04. Sketch Models

66

Sketching The idea I was drawn to Ba dum tssss It was immediately obvious which idea I wanted to develop further after I started sketching. While I started ideating for the methodologies there just didn’t feel like there was much life behind it. It was purely individual and not my aim for the project.

I was now set on creating a sticky note alternative and all these questions started swarming; - Can you still use paper for the onsite team?

- How do the remote users move physical objects onsite.

- Can it be more than just a square wacom tablet?

And I finally felt set on my idea, until...

68

Source: Marques Brownlee - Apple Vision Pro Review

The Big Tangent Apple release the Vision Pros On the announcement of this product my youtube instagram and linkedin feed were full of people sharing their opinions in a manner of ways. But I started looking into the world of AR and VR and how that’s already affecting the world of hybrid working and to be honest, it’s quite interesting.

Could this new way of collaborating solve all the issues we are facing with hybrid interactions and bring that human interface we were looking for?

No. Not quite. But from my research AR is definitely useful in the world of displays especially as the hardware is guarenteed to get smaller and smaller over time. Therefore I entertained some of these ideas: - What if they replace our monitors?

- Will we still need desks?

- How would AR interact with hardware?

70

AR/VR Products The future of the hybrid interaction workspace Almost completely off track I ran with this idea of the AR hybrid workplace. As some of my ideas from FMP1 were based around this technology I didn’t think it was too much of a leap, however these two ideas would be slightly more speculative.

- The first (and main) idea is based around the poor ergonomics of the desk and chair in most offices, but if our desktops are only at a right angle to hold up our screen - if AR replaces them as displays why do we still need to work upright?

- The second is a physical item that interacts with AR. What if a clock on your desk told the time but also opened up your schedule while viewing with AR. A tangible user interface for the otherwise invisible.

But I ended up sticking with the sticky note block... Sorry if I got your hopes up.

72

Sketch Models Back to the old bread and butter In the time I took looking into all the possibilities with AR and VR technology, I gained a realisation to just start designing. Returning to the sticky note idea with fresh eyes and an eagerness to capture it’s familiar form in a sleek consumer tech shell.

I became somewhat fixated on the corner flick of the paper. Imitating the movement as if one was about to be torn off. These are some very quick sketch models ahead of further developments.

74

Ideation Why I didn’t explore the AR/VR ideas further I came to the conclusion that while an ergonomic chair and tangible interfaces designed around AR and VR technology, I would only really be designing an isolated product improving an individual’s experience and not their connection with online team members.

In order to get the most out of this concept it would be best to approach it as redesigning the entire space in which these chairs would be used rather than designing a chair and placing in any location. This environment first apprach just didn’t excite me as much as standard product design and therefore stuck with the digital sticky note pad.

However, the sticky note pad’s design was very much dependant on the tech I’d decided to use and that was the next question I needed to work out an answer to.

Interaction

7

The big decision ahead of the interim

A lot of my design decisions depend on the type of technologies I use for the products. This is an investigation of both digital and analogue alternatives for the product’s interaction.

76 Subchapters

01. Digital Display Technologies

02. Analogue Display Technologies 03. Stylus Technology

78

Digital Display Technologies Different options for both the site and remote’s screen There are multiple options when it comes to digital displays; E-ink, Touchscreens, Projectors ( + Conductive Fabric). Each comes with their own benefits and flaws. This is how I broke them down: E-Ink Screens - Low usage - Visibility - Reminiscent of sticky notes - Permanently on Touchscreen - Responsive - Image quality - Accuracy - Gesture control Projection - Compact - Cheaper

- Refresh rate - Lacks colour - No touchscreen - Expensive

- Big - Expensive

- Can be difficult to see - People stood in the way - Relies on a camera - Shadows

80

Analogue Display Technologies Back to the stone age.

The idea with going analogue is just to reduce costs and make the TUI more interesting and playful, whilst still being efficient. And only two out of four systems have that combination.

The Etch-A-Sketch is precise and playful tool that could be an interesting mechanism in terms of applying the notes to the whiteboard. However, that does mean it would rely on some sort of XY axis, programmed like a CNC. Which would void the point of doing this to bring unit costs down.

The Magna Doodle has a honeycomb network of iron fillings sealead within. The technology needed in the stylus would just be a magnet to write with. But you would have to avoid magnets going near it and shaking will discard the image.

LCD Drawing Tablets uses pressure to move the liquid crystals between the layers of flim which encase it. But on activation the button sends a pulse of charge realligning the crystals and resetting the screen to write on.

Steel Ball Writing Board was more of an idea that would use it’s mechanism as a selection process to place a post-it note in correlation to a specific point on the screen while working online.

The best option from all of these is clearly the LCD writng tablet. Even though it’s limited to certain colour backgrounds in combination with some sort of touchscreen or camera in the stylus to track what’s being written.

82

Source: https://www.cooperhewitt.org/new-experience/designing-pen/1

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_reportedly_considering_switching_the_base_s_pen_tech_so_it_will_work_on_the_galaxy_fold3-news-45951.php

Stylus Technology Capturing the user’s handwriting Theres 4 examples I found that could be interesting to link with the stylus.

The first is Cooper Hewitt - “The Pen”. It could add new functionality to the pen and to the room itself just like the Cooper Hewitt pen encourages play across the museum.

The two most common methods of path tracing a stylus are AES and EMR. AES is uses an electrostatic grid so the stylus and one of the girds act as the transmitting unit that generates an electrical field which is used to detect the specific locations.

For EMR devices the display is the active digitizer and the pen is passive, which means the pen doesn’t need to be charged, it’s lighter, and less expensive. Unlike AES systems there is no delay in inputs.

The third less common method is by using a camera. The Nuwa pen uses three cameras in the tip in order to track exactly what someone is writing, however this means the pen itself contains a lot of hardware and needs to be charged.

84

Interaction An exploration of potential technologies to use in the final solution I got to the point in the project where these were vital decisions. Going for anything analogue like the ‘magna doodle’ would mean a strict no magnet system in the rest of the product. So this information was vital to collect in order to make the most seamless and natural sticky note experience for the user.

I wish I had access to more of these technologies instead of solely relying on research purely due to the further confidence I gained with E-Ink screens purely because I was able to take it apart and understand how it works.

Final Concept

8

No turning back now this is the way it’s happening At this point in time I knew I was making a digital sticky note however

I didn’t know the exact method or technology used so I reached out to get some external opinions and some fresh eyes.

86 Subchapters 01. Methods 02. Interim

03. Pitch Deck

04. User Observation

88

E - I N K

T A B S

S T A M P

All 3 of these methods allow the the remote user to add their own digital post-it either by projection or just an embedded screen. However, the main flaw for both the Tabs and E-Ink screens is that the remote user cannot edit or move the physical notes. Without the help of someone onsite or the use of robotics.

Methods Different ways of applying the note onto the whiteboard I have 3 main ideas in order to replicate a sticky note exercise digitally. These are: E-INK - Using a stack of E-ink screens, which are powered while sat in their base, these can be written onto and posted onto the screen.

Similar to the stamp this would also allow users to reuse the same E-ink screens and leave a footprint behind of the previous note.

TABS - This system would have smaller tabs used to pin up physical notes or imagery onto the board. But this determines the use of a camera and motion tracking and positioning in order to capture and translate this to the remote user. The main benefit is the decrease in hardware and is less of a step as it keeps the traditional feel of a post it.

STAMP - Each device would act as a stamp to write onto intially and then add it onto the workspace. Using this TUI to determine the placement of the note on the virtual board based on the connection between the device and the board itself.

Once removed from the surface it leaves behind a footprint/copy of the note written.

It can also be applied over the top of an existing note to modify or delete it.

90 writer

HOG

F LY

COG

talker

listener

SCRIBE

viewer

Interim Feedback from the lecturers at the pit stop before the final deadline One of the main pieces of feedback I got was to just pick one system out of the previous options and just run with it. But interestingly, they also brought up my personas and how they lacked a personal dimension.

This set me on a trail of framing my own system of workplace personalities, based on two factors; how much you participate both physically and verbally. With each quadrant labelled by their own extreme, see to the left.

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“I like it. One thing - if the plan is for everyone to have their own one how can you tell them apart? .”

Business Analyst

“I agree. You should probably prioritise the remote user’s accessibility and go with it [the stamp method].”

Business Analyst

“The analogue stuff is cool but I think people will get bored of it after a while...I’d rather have a proper screen.”

Pitch Deck

As it’s the same people from FMP1, including their name and picture would tie them back to their earlier honest opinions which were to be kept disclosed in FMP1

External Opinions on Method and Technology I summarised all my findings and create a ‘pitch deck’ talking through the benefits of each technology and note application method. I managed to speak to 3 of my previous interviewee’s from FMP1 to get their opinions on my area of hybrid working I’m trying to solve.

And with some decisions being made clearer and cleaer, I also gathered some new insights. What about personalisation? Where do I keep the pen? Etc. Here’s why I’ve stuck with the stamp method after speaking with them.

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Reasoning The downfall of multi e-ink screens and tabs Moving an e-ink screen - The main downside to the E-Ink screens and tabs is the impact on the remote user’s control to rearrange the physical screens.

The only viable workaround I found is to use the board behind to highlight the relocated note and display its new location.

Rearranging more than one - This system would work but it’s main complication is the potential chaos it could cause when remotely moving more than one note at one time.

With lines and footprints crossing over each other and existing notes this could mess with the clarity of the brainstorming.

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Storyboarding Stamping method Write a note and either place it or stack it. Placing the empty remote on top of a note will pick it up allowing you to reposition or modify it using the remote.

Then you can cross anything out with your stylus that you want to delete and just write again to fill in the gaps.

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User Observation A live sticky note exercise to gauge different personalities The Infinity Apple is an exercise where you have 6 different superpowers giving you the ability to do almost antything. And groups of people have a minute to list as many things they can do with that appple with their newfound powers, but it cant be related to eating or drinking.

Filming these peer groups I set up different scenarios where sometimes there was only one scribe allowed and how did that affect their efficiency.

But the main thing I noticed was how quickly people sit in their natural roles in terms of workplace personalities. There was always at least 1 hog that takes the lead and 1 quieter fly.

I also noticed quirks like; some prefer to write on a table, others wrote a few then stuck them all up together, and people eoither placed them randomly then organised them afterwards or mapped them straight next the power it was related to.

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Final Concept

Designing dijit’s core function There is no doubt that the stamp method was the right way to go. At the end of the day, the other two share such a large flaw in restricting the remote user’s ability to edit or move the physical notes.

After hearing feedback, from my pitch deck and from the lecturers at my interim, I was back and forth on whether to add more friction. Can this device stop the leader from always speaking? Or to encourage the quiet ones to speak up? But I’m glad I didn’t as I came to find each personality carries an important role.

The premise of this project has always been to reduce friction for hybrid interactions and give people the best opportunity to input when they desire. And the awareness created by having a set limit of active remotes is enough to connect people not restrict them.

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Further Ideation

Developing the form of each product

With a mix of sketching, foam modelling and CAD, this is a collection of how my design evolved to what it is now.

02 Subchapters 01. Branding 02. Remote 03. Stylus

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Branding Name and Logo ‘dijit’ came from the products simplest definition, a digital sticky note block. But to shy away from the term’s numerical definition, changing the ‘g’ to ‘j’ not only reads the same but also keeps it’s annunciation when seperated into a verb: to ‘dij-it’ instead of ‘dig-it’. Which is the thing with the shovel

FINAL LOGO

COMBINING STYLES

FROM SCRATH

EXPLORING FONTS

106 dijit dijit dijit dijit dijit dijit

dijit dijit dijit dijit dijit dijit d t

d

d td t

Branding Name and Logo This change also birthed the iteration of it’s logo. The central letters ‘iji each represent a figure with the j standing most proud. The link to that classic imagery of a collective of people symbolises the collaboration of the users both onsite and remote.

While I preferred the straight ‘j’ everyone kept reading it as ‘dilit’.

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Sketches I’ve never spent so long designing just one corner of a product These jottings spread across my notebook are all illustrations of my mind working out how the form is going to end up, and with a lot of behind the scenes maths, I worked out a sequence formula to keep the flick evenly balanced as it curls up and around.

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Foam Models Iterating different ways of getting that classic flick in the corner For this homage to sticky notes I worked on several different ways of creating that familiar form of paper.

The Block The Flick The Split The Lift The Tilt

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Finding Form Iterations of the remote’s dimensions for the best ergonomic feel in-hand.

This exercise was the first step into progressing towards the final form of the remote. The 3 x 9 grid on the left shows 3 different sets as they vary in size (70x70 mm, 80x80 mm, 90x90 mm), depth (10mm, 15mm, 20mm), and radius sizes (0%, 5%, 10%).

With the final verdict being the 80x80mm block with a 10/15 mm depth and 0-5% radius.

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CAD Models Converting physical form into Fusion 360 The quick CAD environment allowed me to swap this one small detailing maybe 50 times before I settled on my final groove where the user rests their finger or thumb.

Experimenting with layers, surfaces, and meshes just so that I could create this very complex but simple flick.

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Foam Models Experimenting with stylus form and size The top half of the styluses were interesting and a good attempt at pushing the boundaries of creativity for styli, but they were also wildly unsuccessful.

The bottom half however were a massive improvement. The longer slightly thin options were consistently the most appealing to people.

I now just needed to select one to iterate further for finer detailing.

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Testing Getting people to pick up and test the foam models Trialing the styluses on the LCD writing pad these were the results of different people’s favourite overall stylus in form and function.

So I took this one design and reproduced it 10 times into some tougher foam so I could iterate further.

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More Foam Models (but now they’re pink) Experimenting with the stylus’ scale and detailing The images on the left now show two views of the same set of styluses. All of them revolve around the converting form of a rectangle twisting 90 degrees.

From left to right there is a rough progression of how one evolved to the next, with the last being the favourites out of another set of testing.

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Further Ideation Is there such thing as too much iteration?

I honestly loved this stage of the project. Just the freedom to keep trying something over and over is actually quite challenging. A task I thought would get boring after so many rounds actually got more interesting.

Not only that but I think my efforts in this stage reflect the finely detailed products that I’ve ended up with.

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Model Making

Sand, spray, more sanding, more spraying

With the J55 printing material unavailable at the desired time of printing a change in plan meant I had to sand, prime and paint standard 3D prints myself. This is how that went...

26 Subchapters 01. Remote 02. Panels 03. Dock

04. Stylus 05. Dijit

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Remote Model Making Process This part was extremely delicate, but because of the amount of exposed layers in the corner flick, I had to sand it down, fill it and repeat, but this time extremely gently.

I also took a lot of precaution avoiding to spray much filler around the edge of the block so thart it maintains it’s paperlike texture.

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Back Panel Model Making Process This was potentially one of the trickest parts to get right, simply because of the curvature under the plate, which rests neatly into another divot. But when they came out of the 3D printer both surfaces were extremely rough.

So again I sanded, I filled and repeated until it was smooth enough to add 2 coats of white paint. Resulting in the tab in the bottom right on the left hand page.

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Dock Model Making Process The base was relatively simple, apart from the aluminium railing.

At the start I sanded down the 3D print as much as I could, but I definitely didnt use enough white filler primer as the black paint kept slipping into the small grooves.

After I was happy with the black surface I masked up everything except the exposed edge to represent an aluminium rail. I then sprayed my model with the chrome spray paint and touched up the line edges with a paintbrush for the occasional paint dot.

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Stylus (not pink anymore) Model making process With such fine detail on the initial CAD file I spent a long time trying to dremmel the split line back to a visible state, as the plastic layers seemed to ruin the contour.

I then sanded down the stylus before using putty filler to fill the gaps inbetween those layers of filament.

Then I was able to filler prime the body of the stylus and sand till smooth so that I could start spray painting the body to look like an aluminium.

I masked off the chrome areas with masking tape to paint the what would be a black rubber on the stylus outer.

Unfortunately this lead to a loss of detail on the dijit logo and the split line wasn’t as crisp as I’d hoped.

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Dijit (the J55 printer came in clutch) Glueing in some magnets That’s literally it. I sanded down the inner surface, mixed up some 2-part epoxy and glued my magnets in place.

I don’t know what else to say....

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Model Making CMF Model and Magnetic Prototype This process was initially planned to be streamilined using the J55 3D printer, with such accurate sanding and resolution, all this manual application wouldn’t have been needed and I could have dedicated this time to one of my many untouched plans for this project’s development.

Regardless, within the short period I had to sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, spray, sand, spray, etc. I enjoyed the process of bringing the design to life. While there are the odd runs or paint dots on the surface of the model - it gets the message across about the design and it’s CMF.

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Final Design

This is dijit - sticky note’s digital alternative

My final chapter of FMP2. Containing final models/renders for all the components. The true visualisation of my design.

40 Subchapters 01. Remote 02. Dock

03. Stylus 04. Dijit

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Source: Desk Environment - Keyshot Library

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Conclusion What I did well and what I’d do different Overall I am extremely happy with the product I’ve created. The interaction and capabilities it could have in hybrid working isn’t just interesting but plausible.

While I am proud of the product I’ve designed, I am disappointed about the products I couldn’t. With so much energy gone into the interaction and technology I just wish I could have displayed this a bit clearer in more time. With an already pushed back schedule from the lack of ideation in FMP1 in addition to the delay caused by the unexpected sanding and spraying phase maybe I took too big of a bite.

Yet, I still stand by the process I went through to research and decide the final technolgoies, interactions and form within my solution.