Portfolio April 2024

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George Hill Portfolio 2024 Liant inte num nonsequam fugit, sandend ipicabo.

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George Hill | Product Design Portfolio | April 2024

About

About me

Experience

I am a recent graduate in product design, looking to further develop my skills and enter the field of information design. After three years of study, I am looking for opportunity that allows me to make a real contribution to live projects and challenges me to work as part of an industry-leading team.

Branding & Print, NTU DI, Nov 2022 - May 2023 During my final year at NTU I was a member of the Expo Committee, which organised the degree show for all undergraduate product design courses.

As a member of the branding and print team, I collaborated with the rest of the team to develop and implement the brand for the 2023 show.

As a designer my process is user-centred. I’m passionate about making products accessible, inclusive and sustainable. Interactions with products, services and systems are what users care about, and that is where I see the value of the designer.

Every project starts with an understanding of the user, the problems they face and the weaknesses of existing solutions before I put pen to paper.

Education BA (Hons) Product Design Nottingham Trent University 2019-2023 CertHE Industrial Design & Technology Brunel University London 2016-2017 hello@georgehilldesign.com @georgehilldesign georgehilldesign.com linkedin.com/in/georgehilldesign

A-level Product Design, Sociology, Business Lincoln Castle Academy 2009-2016

Structural Designer, StormDFX, Jun 2021- Jul 2022 During my placement year, I worked as a structural designer at StormDFX, designers and manufacturers of retail displays. I was responsible for developing concepts into technical drawings.

Skills • • • •

Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop Solidworks Keyshot ArtiosCAD

Contents

04 | 01 Future Bus Stop

18 | 02 Cykle

29 | 03 Audio/Visual

2023 Component of final year major project

2022 Final year minor project

2021 Second year project

01 Future Bus Stop 2023 Component of final year major project Improving the experience of using public transport, and leveraging its physical footprint to attract new users.

4 | 01

The brief

Improving perceptions To get people ‘through the door’ Let people see it as an attractive option

Increase use of active travel

Why are people not using it?

What do they think about it?

What are the percieved challenges?

How can we reduce car use?

Alan Murray-Rust

How? Increase use of public transport

40% of households in Nottingham don’t have access to a car, but cars dominate our streets.

This is despite increasing awareness of the environmental and social damage caused by society’s dependence on cars.

How can we reduce car use in cities like Nottingham?

5 | 01

Improving experiences Keeping people using these modes by providing a better experience than the car What are the positives?

What are the challenges?

What are people’s priorities?

Perceptions

Staff presence

Comfort

Maintenance

Security Safety

Stops

Look/Feel

Integration

Improving perceptions + experience

Improving perceptions

Branding

Improving experience

Value

From going through a user’s journey, I identified a range of factors that affected the desirability of a journey made by public transport.

These were then categorised by whether they affected the perception of public transport, the experience of using it, or both.

From these factors, I determined that there were some that would be best suited to a product-design based intervention.

6 | 01

Passenger behaviour

Vehicles Fares

Information Fragmentation

Value

Simplicity

Availability

Research

Waiting spaces Safety

Information

Physical infrastructure

Look + feel

The factors around comfort of stops, safety, information, and look/feel could all be addressed through focusing on the physical footprint of the network - bus and tram stops.

This would cover improving both the user experience and the non-users’ perception of the network.

7 | 01

Integration

Branding

Reframing

How might we...

use street furniture to improve perceptions and experiences of using public transport?

What are the pain points experienced by existing users of public transport?

From this exploration, combined with secondary research that identified user’s expectations, I could develop a reframed brief and specification of requirements to define my problem-solving.

What negatively or positively affects perceptions of public transport for non-users?

...that can be addressed using street furniture.

8 | 01

User journey

User persona Public transport commuter

Trips are a matter of routine - no planning

User journey Public transport commuter

Head to the stop – no need to check where it is, they already know

Jane, 48

Reasons for travel

Doesn’t own a car – depends on public transport

Commuting to work

Access to jobs, services, and leisure is limited to places accessible by public transport

Essential and leisure shopping

Works in service, care, or administration

Glance at the live times to check how long they will be waiting

Take a seat to waitC

heck times again, via the bus operator’s app

Bus approaching

Board

“At least I have enough time to at chapter.”

“Here at last.”

“Here we are again.”

Social and leisure activities Information access Familiar user Uses operator-specific apps used for their commonly made journeys Gateway to the network

“I hope I can get a seat.”

Local bus or tram stop Familiar with their routes as a habitual user

“I can’t see the screen from here...

I’ll check on the app instead.”

“My bus isn’t showing on there yet.”

Jane’s transport priorities Value for money Reliability and dependability

What are the pain points for the regular user?

Locate

How can her experience by improved?

Check

Wait

Making public transport feel like the first-choice experience

User persona Car convert

Check

Board

Improving the visibility of information at the stop

Is information prioritised in the same way as users?

User journey Infrequent/occasional user

Identify stop location

James, 36

Reasons for travel

Owns a car – considers it essential for family life

Leisure shopping

Lives in the city suburbs with his wife and two children

Social and leisure activities

Knowledge/professional worker Work flexibly from home 2-3 days a week

Check its the right stop, referring to Google Maps to check the name

Check that the route needed stops here

Look at the live times display to check when the right bus will come

Take a seat to wait

Go on phone, listen to music – keep occupied while waiting

Glance at live display to check time until the bus is due

Bus approaching – check its the route needed

Point before bus or tram arrives is highstress

Flag bus down

Board

“Ah yes, thats the number of the bus I want.”

“At least I can sit down while I wait.

Better reply to that text.”

Family activities

“Ah, here it is. There are so many buses at this stop, I hope he sees me.”

Information access Mapping apps Reassurance from on-journey information Doesn’t want to download apps Gateway to the network Local bus or tram stop

“Hm... is this the stop that maps told me I need?”

Jame’s transport priorities Convenience

“I can’t really see the screen... it only shows the next three buses.”

Value for money

How to convince him to leave the car at home?

Public transport has a wide range of users, who use the system for a variety of reasons. To identify where the opportunities for improvement are, I developed user personas and journeys. These helped to map the types of users, ranging from regular commuters to unfamiliar users who typically get around by car.

Convenience!

How can it be a smoother experience?

Don’t make him download an app.

How can the physical footprint reflect the quality of the service?

Locate

Con

Planning required – different ways to do this

User persona City visitor

“I can’t really see the screen... and it only shows the next three buses. ”

Wait

CheckB

oard

Needs more reassurance that they’re following their plan

User journey Information touchpoints

Planning

Claire, 31

Reasons for travel

Lives in a nearby town

Leisure shopping

Works locally to where she lives

Social and entertainment activities

Travels into the city on weekends to shop and spend time with friends

Information access

Currently parks in the city, but is considering the train or park and ride due to the cost

Reassurance from on-journey information

Confirming

Checking

Mapping apps Doesn’t want to download apps

Operator apps

Mapping apps

Route maps at stops

Stop flag signs

Live times display

Timetables at stops

Operator apps

Mapping apps

Gateway to the network Park and ride site Mainline rail station Claire’s transport priorities Convenience Value for money Operator websites

9 | 01

Some familiarity with the public transport system

Wants to be kept informed by the system Sticks to the routes that she knows and sees as reliable

Pre-planning - only an essential step for unfamiliar journeys

Static information to guide users and reassure them

Best done by dynamic information Live times are trusted

Stop layout

I aimed order information in a more user-friendly way, which responded to the way that people seek and use information at this point in their journey.

This meant experimenting with where information was positioned. Live times was a valuable part of the information journey and was valued by familiar and unfamiliar users for its reassurance. I intended to bring this down closer to the user and combine with the fixed information panel.

10 | 01

Blank sheet - what information needs to be here and what doesn’t?

Fixed information

Information development — Current information touchpoints —

Information development — Stop signage – current signage evaluation — Stop ID is seperated from the name, making its purpose unclear

Fixed Bus stop flag

BA 38

Identifying and marking bus stop location Indicating bus stop name and ID

Dynamic

Bus symbol clearly identifies stop location from a distance

indentifying routes serving the stop

Real-time information display, either full colour TFT or LCD, or older LED dot matrix

Bus Stop

68 69 70

Countdown for next arrivals at the stop/scheduled times

71 N68

Clear, bold route information

Distruption and diversion information (upcoming known diversions and responsive) Promotional information

Central Avenue

Operator information such as contact details Promotional/diversion information

Keep

Stop

Start

Clear large display of route numbers/names

Showing ‘bus stop’ text

Distinct symbol for bus stop to identify location from a distance

Seperating stop ID and name

Using network branding as part of the identification of the stop Using route colours more clearly

Stop name and ID to reference with journey planning apps

Combining stop name and ID

How to bring these info categories closer together?

Information development — Stop signage ideation —

Information development — Stop signage development —

How to handle busier stops with a lot of different routes?

Small stop 1 – 6 routes

BA 38

Busier stop 8 or more routes

SH 01

Central Avenue

Does this layout of information reflect the way users need it?

71

Providing breathing room for information

Information development — Stop signage development —

Stop identifiers Routes

Dynamic information

Stop identifiers

Routes

Dynamic information

11 | 01

56

57

58

87

88

89 N58

59

pronto

the calverton

SA

N68

Stops look neat and clear with a limited number of routes, and allows a few more to be added. But how would this formula or layout work with many more routes, particularly routes with names insted of numbers? How could they be accomodated?

Information development — Stop signage concept evaluation —

Hucknall Road

Bus Stop

Bus Stop

68 69 70

Implementing a logical hierarchy of information

Route colours are used but as a thin outline Branding is not very visible, what purpose is it serving?

Full route details, such as timetables and diagrams

Starting with a clean slate, I considered what elements were necessary or useful to include on this panel. Most of this information was bypassed by habitual users, but was important reassurance to unfamiliar users.

Is ‘bus stop’ text necessary or clutter?

Detailed Printed paper information

In order to better group the fixed and live information, I explored rotating the traditional bus stop flag into a landscape format. This would better accommodate the integration with the digital display for live information.

Stop name is small, this is a useful identifier for people alighting

Dynamic information

Which elements are useful vs not useful?

How to make this info clearer?

Information development — Dynamic display Strengths and weaknesses —

Information development — Dynamic display —

Current real time display Current time is useful info

Route numbers differentiated in yellow

Desitnation condensed and abbreviated unnecessarily

Confirmatory information

Confirmatory information

Useful confirmation of the route needed, particularly for infrequent users

Useful for people with single-operator tickets

Just because we can show something, should we?

Additional information Nice to have Allows for mental calculation of arrival time for regular users

Indicates the direction of travel

6 mins

Not very visible from a distance

Coloured area draws the eye before information does

Keep

Stop

Start

Differentiation of route numbers from destination and times

Displaying operator logos – show name as text

Differentiating routes by colour – routes in Nottingham have ‘line’ colours

Light text on dark background

Abbreviating destinations Highlighting the time obver other information

Route number or name

Type makes numbers ambigious

Destination

Current time

Disruption information

Crucial information

Additional information

Numbers are easy to remember

Time until arrival is the point of the live display

Important for user confidence to be kept informed about delays and disruption

Familiar users know which route(s) they use

Organising information by need

Operator

Crucial information More effective when combined with ‘line’ colours already used

Using type with more differentiated numbers

Time until due

Needs to be accurate

Allows users to plan alternative journeys or set expectations

Needs to be displayed clearly and unambiguously

Should be clearly visible from a distance if possible Thoughts Current format is consistent understood – is there anything that can be done with the layout of information that makes it easier to unserstand besides adopting clearer type and colours?

Feels bolted on

Information development — Dynamic display —

Information development — Dynamic display development —

Larger size for most urgent item - the next departure

While the landscape format of the digital display was retained, again I considered how this touchpoint might better meet the needs of users.

Increasing the size of the display itself would allow information to be larger and therefore more visible from a distance, as well as reconfiguring the way that departures were shown. I developed a ‘call out’ of the next departure to take advantage of the larger screen space.

12 | 01

More departures visible better for more heavily

Current, but clearer

More departures

Organised by route, portrait

Next departure highlighted

Next departure callout

Organised by route

Group by route, not by time?

Information development — Dynamic display development —

How to provide reassurance to unfamiliar users?

Grouping by route more natural but more unfamiliar?

Information development — Physical + digital integration —

Differentiation between fixed and dynamic information using background colour

would require scrolling or refreshing for busier stops

Consistent visual style between information types

Aesthetics

Whilst retaining the new positions of information, I refined the look and feel of the design.

A key consideration was providing a cohesive form between different elements, uniting them all in a common aesthetic in contrast with the existing stop. I also explored the finish options and how to implement network branding.

13 | 01

3D brand applications

Aa

Information presented to network standards, using brand colours, typography, and symbols

Logo applied to column, acting as a ‘beacon’ for wayfinding

Shape of logo adapted into texture to provide visual contrast

The future bus stop is the physical presence of the brand. This is strengthened by using brand colours and the arrowmark, and presenting information using brand typography and colours.

Flag column in Robin Hood Teal, to provide visual distinction RAL 220 20 20 Natural Indigo

14 | 01

Shelter structure in brand grey RAL 000 25 00 Onyx Black

Look + feel

High-quality materials and finishes give a positive impression to the passenger and potential user, as well as having a positive impact on the street scape.

Glass manifestation uses a pattern derived from the network logo, with a hollow version to give better through visibility on shelter ends.

A visual rhythm and common height to elements of the stop give a holistic and unified appearance,

15 | 01

Experience

All information is concentrated on the ‘flagpole’ element common to all stops. Information is brought down closer to the passenger – live dynamic information and fixed signage are combined with a common design language and location.

Amenities like benches and lean bars are mounted to the structural elements of the shelter to reduce clutter and prevent dirt traps.

16 | 01

Flexibility

All the elements, both 2D and 3D, could be adapted to suit a whole range of situations. To demonstrate this, a ‘design guide’ was complied to show how the information and signage should be presented, and how stops can be configured to respond to local needs.

17 | 01

02 Cykle 2021 Second year project Lighting that lets you adapt your surroundings to different moods and activities

18 | 02

The brief

Flexible Designs

‘Modularity and multi-functionality remain essential design considerations.’

‘Flexibility in furniture and lighting design is essential as residential spaces perform harder than ever, becoming places of work, exercise and learning, as well as rest and relaxation.’

‘Design a piece of lighting for the home that fits within the Made.com market demographic. You should target your lighting design around one of the key themes from the WGSN 10 Key Trends report.’

‘offers a chance of personalisation’

‘give consumers flexibilty and a variety of options’

19 | 02

Research insights

Post-pandemic, more people are opting to work from home, at least a few days a week

The condition of the property market means that renters and buyers can only afford smaller homes

WGSN’s detailed trend reports traced the origin of the flexible lighting trend back to the same trend in interiors. The way we use our spaces has evolved to be more flexible and intensely used.

Reacting to open-plan layouts, spaces are becoming ‘zoned’ for different functions using furniture, and potentially lighting.

20 | 02

More activities are taking place at home, including work and hobbies

People are reconfiguring and ‘zoning’ their spaces to better suit the way they use their home

How can lighting participate in this trend?

Reframing

To direct ideation, I wanted to reframe the original brief into something more focussed on the trend.

Considering the insights from research, I mapped out how lighting could participate in the flexible trend in a meaningful way. In the end, this produced a new brief to guide my ideation.

How can we let people use light to transform their space and switch their mindset?

21 | 02

Aesthetic inspiration

1

2

4

3

5

Raw edges As a trend-driven project, I chose another trend identified by WGSN to guide the aesthetic development of the product.

‘Raw edges’ defines the materials and form, as juxtaposed materials and geometry like wood and natural stone provide textures and contrast.

22 | 02

‘embrace the dramatic tactility of unpolished wood and stone for organic statement pieces’

1 Hoi Kaloi / 2 En Gold / 3 Srebbinsdesign / 4 Life of an Architect / 5 Alcarol

Ideation

My ideation explored how light can be manipulated and changed in different ways. Of particular interest was the use of angle and direction, diffusion through different materials, and the use of adjustable shades.

While it was difficult to capture the motion and interaction ideating in 2D, this gave a level of freedom to explore ideas and evaluate later with sketch modelling.

23 | 02

Concept development

Evaluating the concepts from the ideation process, the concept of the light which can be tilted to transition from downlighting to uplighting had more potential to be a marketable product. The form and interaction were developed together, form reflecting how the lamp could rotate and exploring how to invite this interaction from the user.

24 | 02

Interaction

Since the concept was that the interaction with the physical product would serve as a signifier of the mental switch between moods/activities, it was important that this was fully resolved.

I used iterative cardboard prototyping, as well sketching, explore the relationship between different styles of dial and how that translated to the rotation of the light fitting.

In the end, the direct continuation of the halfcylinder of the lighting mount was the most effective at communicating the relation between the two.

25 | 02

Flexibility

While the design of the lamp allowed it to be infinitely adjustable, four ‘modes’ emerged that communicated the potential lighting settings that could be achieved.

26 | 02

Ambience

The flexibility of the lighting direction provides contrast between downlighting to enable focus, and uplighting to give ambience.

Users can adapt the lighting in their space to suit the range of different activities happening within it, and let the change of lighting signify a switch of headspace.

27 | 02

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28 | 02

03 Audio/Visual 2021 Second year project Audio player that brings back the joy of self-expression into your environment

30 | 03

Trend insights

Just designing another aesthetically pleasing cassette player?

Embrace the friction and inconvenience Does this allow them to overcome inconveniences of the format, because of the novelty?

Potentially being purchases purely as memorabilia.

Intentionality and deliberate listening

What has made it so big, and culturally accepted?

Insights from trend ‘Nostalgic Formats’

Ceremony and ritual involved with the ‘practice’ of music listening

‘Vinyl Revival’ is an accepted phenomenon

31 | 03

Bring something new?

...but new listening devices for cassette are being developed, indicating there is demand to use them for listening.

What has attracted them to using these old formats?

Artists that lead cassette sales indicate a young audience, who wouldn’t have used the format at its peak.

This project was trend-inspired. The Future 100 report produced by Wunderman Thompson identified a trend of ‘nostalgic formats’ – ie the resurgence of obsolete media formats gaining popularity. I mapped the insights from this report to identify where opportunities could be for a new product to respond to this trend.

How to innovate in this area?

‘Screen fatigue’ has lead to a desire for tangibility and tactility in interactions

Difference in artist sales between different formats suggests different audiences prefer different formats

...is it possible to appeal to all of them?

Does this counteract the desire for immediacy and convenience? if not, need to identify which retro format audience I’m designing for

Possible to blend both of them?

...convenience, but with tactile satisfying interaction

Directions

Physical expression

Decorating our space Saying something about ourselves, to ourselves Saying something to others that enter our space Humans enjoy physical objects

Experience of exchanging and sharing things we enjoy Enjoying things together Bonding over shared media

To further explore these directions from the brief, I produces a moodboard for each of them. This allowed me to visualise what was ‘missing’ from the contemporary streaming experience. I identified that there was the most potential for innovation by addressing the themes of ‘physical expression’ and ‘intentionality and ceremony’

32 | 03

Sharing Borrowing Lending

Intentionality + ceremony

Purposeful listening Removing distraction Intentional listening Manual effot Give and take

Identity Subcultures and belonging Shared experiences

Personal expression

Brief

In the time of physical media, our library of music was on display, on our shelves, in our homes. Digital download and streaming have changed this – our music collections are trapped in our devices. Some have returned to physical media, while for most the benefits of digital download and streaming are too important.

How might we express our music libraries in the physical environment, without physical media?

Consider...

The way people express their music tastes through physical media From the exploration of the trend, I identified multiple reasons for its rising popularity. One factor was that the physical media enabled a sense of self-expression in our own environments – it allows us to express our taste in the physical rather than digital world. From this I developed a brief to explore how this could be done. I felt it was important to consider how the other factors, such as intentionality and ritual of listening would interplay in the brief.

33 | 03

The permanence of online streaming libraries

How people listen to their music at home

User + environment

Mark, 34 Creative professional with disposable income Music lover – into electronic music Favourite artists are Underworld, Röyksopp, and Kraftwerk.

Grew up with CDs, MP3s, and enjoys using his iPod for nostalgia.

Has digitised his library using a streaming service.

To direct my ideation, and create a target aesthetic, I developed a user persona. This outlined his age, the music he likes, how he listens to music, and why he might be a participant in the trend of nostalgic formats. The trend has a wide scope of users, which is observed from the variety of musical artists releasing on obsolete formats.

34 | 03

Ideation

The ideation process began from the two themes that developed from my research; ‘intention and ceremony’ and ‘physical expression’. Many of the ideas responding to these themes had overlap, and after evaluating selected two that responded to each theme to develop into fuller concepts.

35 | 03

Concept Review Seen as for home... part of the ritual

Portable or for home?

Animated album art is becoming more used...

More interaction through a screen, less novel approach

What else could be displayed?

Different material choices

Potential for wall mounting?

Most similar to conventional smart speakers

Phone/streaming is the vessel for the music...

Augmenting the interaction

Answers the ritual element of the brief

These concepts developed from the ideation process. I selected two designs from two themes of concepts - two addressing the theme of selfexpression, and two addressing the theme of intention and ceremony. Feedback was gathered from my classmates and tutors, and I also added my own reflections on the four concepts.

Changing orientation of the slot would make a clearer reference to the tape player

36 | 03

Clearer connection through the detail of the mechanism

Unique approach and novelty

Different use environment

How will the phone be detected?

Doesn’t celebrate the ritual and the inconvenience

Form development

From the concept review, I explored different interpretations of the rectangular form from the concept. The idea of having side firing speakers behind the display was retained, and the form evolved taking inspiration from the design language of premium audio products. As interaction would be through the tactility of physical buttons, their form and position was also finalised, but their functions were left open to further refinement.

37 | 03

Interaction development ‘Home’ menu + menu navigation

Vertical navigation buttons... best suited to the vertical scrolling of the UI

Potential to provide second layer of function by ‘long press’

Playback control

What would these be?

Scrolling within media rather than skipping?

How to communicate this extra layer of function?

Affordances?

Signifiers?

List of categories to get to music selection... simple scrollable list.

Icons needed for each menu item

While interaction is through physical buttons, how the user’s music library is navigated needed to be refined. A simple, unobtrusive interface that focuses on the album art of the user’s library was developed, while the exact functions of the physical controls were finalised. Typography evokes the controls of traditional music hardware.

38 | 03

What information do users need when selecting an individual song?

‘select’ and ‘back buttons to navigate between menu levels are less obvious... how to communicate this function

Standard symbols for buttons that control playback and volume

What functions are needed?

Navigating grids by using buttons... would that be intuitive?

by song Music selection Compact but with added text, feels a little cluttered

More compact without, though

Including album art... this is the concept

by artist

Visual is less important when browsing by artist?

by album

Visual only - in keeping with the visual philosophy

by playlist

By Byplaylist artist

Showing albums featured on playlists?

Text may be useful to complement album covers

Evokes the ‘browsing’ concept

Large album cover display - looks good but not sure how efficient it could be

Interaction + control

As the device uses a different interface and interaction compared to navigating a music library on a smartphone, I included a brief guide to the controls. While the navigational controls are relatively intuitive, this would help communicate the intended interaction with the device.

39 | 03

Detail

40 | 03

41 | 03

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George Hill | Product Design Portfolio | April 2024