Portfolio of Chenyang Jia

For MArch Design for Performance and Interaction

Portfolio CHENYANG JIA

B. Arch. Hunan University (2018-2023)

CHENYANG JIA China

jiacy55@outlook.com

+86 1810318899

PROLOGUE Bridge

Bridges break binary opposition, and foster cohesion and peaceful coexistence across the river of difference. Design is a bridge. It can connect the past with the future, so that history can be told in today's tone. Design connects artistic creation with technical approaches, coping with new challenges in society together. Design could also bridge the gap between people and bring them closer by promoting dialogues.

The stone arch bridge that I painted on the cover, is the way for me to go from my hometown to the outside world. I hope that in the future I could serve as a bridge that leads people to a more beautiful and fair new continent.

01 Dialogues Through A Century

Rejuvenation of the old Yueyang port.

Time Frame: Apr. 2022-May. 2022

Site: Yueyang, Hunan

Collaborator: Yue Siyuan

Instructors: Jiang Min, Amber Sun

Role: Research, Site Analysis, Ideation, Urban Design, Interfaces, Rendering

Category: Urban Design, Augmented Reality

The historical district of Dongting South Road in Yueyang is the birthplace of the city. However, like many other old communities, it is now atthe risk of crumbling down. In the project, I carried out urban renewal design for the area near Yueyang Port, and I tried to combind Augmented Reality and other technologies to encourage tourists and citizens to learn more about the place and discover the hidden gems.

This is an urban design project in my senior year. Yue Siyuan and I conducted research and analysis together, and I completed the other parts independently.

Motivations

Yueyang Tower is a famous scenic spot in Yueyang with millions of tourists. However, one square away from it, the old district of Yueyang is dilapidated and rarely visited, despite its richness in history and culture. My goal is to revive this decaying community.

Cultural Analysis

Problems & Ideation

# Lack of Vitality

· Aging of the population

· Outflow of locals

· Few visitors

# Loss of Memory

· Improper preservation of historic buildings

· Traditional culture not inherited

· Traditional business disappears

Design

# Insufficient Urban Facilities

· Lack of public space

· Low-quality of buildings

· Waterfront space is unfriendly

How might we preserve the memory of the old community while

In addition to urban renewal design, I plan to incorporate Augmented Reality (AR) and Machine Learning technologies to help me achieve these goals.

Because AR can be:

· Highly interactive

· Novelty and appealing

· Inspiring and whimsical

· Well combined with architectural space

I designed three different modes in which people can interact with the historic district.

Game Mode—“Back to the 70s”

First, visitors scans the QR code at the Tourist Service Center to enter the game. Afterwards, users will go to four spots in turn to complete the task according to the instructions. In this way, users will complete a story line while touring the whole district.

I use Augmentedm Reality to restore the old appearance of the city and enable ourists to experience the past life.

Chapter 1—Start your time travel

City Catering Service Company

It was a commercial bulding built in 1960s. I restored its unique facade based onhistorical photos, and it is now used as a souvenir shop for the Historical Exhibition Hall

Cishi Pagoda

The dilapidated houses on both sides of the path leading to the pagoda are demolished, and a stepped square is built to dredge the viewing corridor from the pagoda to the lake.

Chapter 4—Farewell to my friend

Old Railway

Railway line along the lake was built in 1950s together with the pier. It is an integral part of Yueyang Port. The current train carriages are used as coffee houses and shops.

Chapter 2—Pumpkin Pies

Chapter 3—Lets’s go enjoy tea time

Exploration Mode—"Find the Easter Eggs"

First, users follow the prompts to take pictures of preserved components of the building. Then, use object recognition technology to determine the component based on anchor points. Users can learn about the historical information and historical photos of this building and add to the collection.

Interior of Historical Exhibition Hall

Users can find the preserved components in the building according to the shape hints. After collecting these components, users will be rewarded with some prizes, such as creative souvenirs of this district.

Creator Mode—“Join the Scene!"

Users use ARview to see the current scene. The different objects in the scene are posts published by users or the official. The content of the posts may be the artwork they created for the current scene, or interesting stories about this place.

Art Studios

Pagoda Square

02 Famap

Stay connected and stay safe.

Time Frame: Jul. 2022 to Sep. 2022

Collaborator: Joe Chiang

Instructors: Vero Chen, Luna Zhao, Willa

Role: Research, Ideation, Wireframes, Visuals, Testing, Prototyping

Category: User Centered Design

Many international students encounter a variety of difficulties overseas, even dangers. An online study shows that 32.1% of Chinese students had encountered dangerous situations abroad. This issue makes parents pay more attention to their children’s safety, surrounding environment, and also daily life.

Inspired by this situation, we decided to design a mobile app for family members living apart, we designed this mobile app. Famap, a map-based social app that allows family members and intimate friends to know each other’s real-time location and daily life, helps people stay safe and connected.

Although messaging apps enabled people to communicate using text, photos, and videos, people still feel that communication with their families is not close or free enough.

First of all, most communication apps fulfill the needs of communication between the general public but lack the flexibility and closeness for family members to share in small circles.

Second, real-time communication such as text and Facetime has some limitations, like staggered available hours for different people, causing frustration in communication.

The problem Research Survey

A design question arises...

How might we design an app to provide more opportunities for long-distance people to communicate and share their daily life without being too intrusive?

First, to find out whom people communicate with, the frequency, the approaches, and their pain points, we invited 50 participants from different age groups to complete an online questionnaire about communicating with family members in distant places.

�� Mostly with family members

�� Need to communicate at least daily

�� Real-time videos and chats are the most used communication methods

�� Lack of real-time chat and loss of contact bothers users most

#1 #3

#2 #4

Interviews

Later, we conducted interviews with 8 participants to dive deep into their needs. Some key findings are as follows.

Keen to know what and whereabouts of their loved ones to ease the feeling of missing and anxiety.

Shuya, in a long-distance relationship：

“When I don’t have time to contact my boyfriend, I check out the location app to see where he is now and guess what he might be doing so I don’t miss him that much.”

Competitor Analysis

Elder family members have barriers to using mobile apps to communicate.

Mr. Zhang, 70-year-old: "I hope to have video calls with my granddaughter every day. I also follow the news of her city. But to use these mobile apps is a little difficult for me."

Younger group is very concerned about personal privacy.

Yawen, an international student in Sydney : “I’d love to share my life with my parents, but I just can’t stand them knowing what I’m doing and where I’ve been every day!”

To understand the existing apps in the market, we researched 3 apps that provide real-time locating and communication services for people in different places. I found that there is an opportunity to create an app that contains both locating and interacting features for distant family members.

TARGET USER:

friends, couples

MAIN FEATURES:

· real-time locations

Zenly

· chat

· create users’ life maps based on where they spend time

Life360

TARGET USER: family, close friends

MAIN FEATURES:

· real-time locations

· create small and private “Circles” real-time alerts safety reports

iSharing

TARGET USER: parents and children

MAIN FEATURES:

· real-time locations

· arrival alerts, drving reports sending alerts.

Main Features

Findings

· Real-time locating and chat are the must-have features.

· The functions of apps are one-sided, either focusing only on security issues or social interaction and cannot balance both well.

· Emergency alerts might not be useful for long-distance users with the time difference.

· Enable users to adjust accuracy on real-time locations can ensure privacy.

· Lack of accessibility considerations for elderly people in terms of structure, colors, and button size.

Based on the findings, I discovered the highlight of my design: Mainly used for long-distance close relationships, with both locating and interaction features.

Define

First of all, through the previous questionnaire survey, it is clear that our main user group is family members, so we used a typical parent image to create a persona.

In competitor analysis, we found that couples and close friends are also important potential users of the app.

We also used storyboards to present a typical user scenario using a common messaging app to communicate with distant family members. Through this, we discovered 3 user pain points and corresponding goals:

I have to tell Jane to be careful!

Why didn’t she pick up the phone? Hope she’s safe...

What is she doing? No message and no updates! I can’t believe I know nothing about her life!

Sorry mom, I was just busy with my exams......

FINALLY!

Pain Points

Lack of opportunities to communicate other than real-time means

User Goals

Help users find time for their real-time chat

What did you have for lunch?

I had TACO!

What’s that?

It’s Mexican food...

I still got work to finish. Bye mom. Take care.

I’m reluctant to hang up but I’d better stop bothering her.

Lack of channels to know more about each other’s daily life

Feeling anxious and helpless when losing contact

Provide spaces to encourage users to share their daily life moments

Display users’ location information to reduce anxiety when they are disconnected

Ideation

In the initial stage of Ideation, my partner and I brainstormed how we could achieve the goals of our design.

Goal 1- Help users find time for real-time chat

Goal 2- Share their daily life moments.

Goal 3- Reduce anxiety when they are disconnected.

Then, we identified the most feasible and effective key features, which goals they meet and how they meet these goals.

Next, we sketched out our visions for the app, including the presentation of main features and interactions based on maps.

Wireframes

Iteration

Before starting on high-fidelity mockups, I conducted usability testing by inviting a total of 6 target users. After that, I made some changes based on the design suggestions they gave.

01-Schedule

Feedback:

“It’s annoying to swipe down several times to view all the schedules today.”

“I feel the button blocks the view of the page.”

“The progress indicator is too small and I might not care much about the progress.”

02-Reminder

Changes:

· Consolidate the time and content of the schedule together and use dividers instead of spaces.

· Simplify the create button for a better view.

· Remove the progress indicator.

Feedback:

“I’m not sure whom this reminder indicates with this avatar here .”

“I want to be reminded when it’s time ”

Changes:

· Make the reminder more concise by removing the avatar of the person who adds the reminder. The user can click to view more detailed information.

· Use a toggle button to allow users to turn on or off the notifications of reminders.

Iteration

Feedback:

“I don’t know these are clickable at first.”

“I want to know more about the information about the places. “

Changes:

· Update the button to a more clickable style.

· Add a quick view and labels of the location so that users can better know what this place is for.

· Provide users with more news by displaying the latest 3 pieces of news.

Final Designs

See Real-time Locations

· Check whether your important ones are safe and what they may be doing.

· Take a photo and publish it to this location. Share what you are seeing now.

※ Worried about others seeing your exact location? Try Blur this Spot!

Interaction

· When your friends are too close or too far apart, it will automatically zoom to accommodate the most members with you in the center.

· You can resize the map with a two-finger pinch.

Home Daily Schedules & Reminders

· Curious about what your families are doing today? Want to check their free time for a video call? The schedule may help.

· See reminders your family added for you. Such as an important appointment, etc.

※ When your family is in a different time zone from you, the time here will be converted to the other’s time.

Sharing & POIs

Share moments of your daily life with your loved ones in an easy and fun way!

· View interesting moments posted by your families and see where they happen on the map. Check out where they frequent and explore their world.

· Tap the POI buttons to see what’s new in your families’ life circles You can customize the radius of the surrounding area in the settings.

Settings

Protect your privacy, customize the visual design and manage your Circle in settings.

Customize the visual Manage your Circle Protect your privacy

Style Guide

Color Patterns

I want this color scheme to highlight the warm and intimate feeling of family.

Buttons

Considering the elderly users of the family, I checked the color contrast and the size of components by the WCAG Accessibility Guidelines to ensure that the system is accessible.

Next Steps

Privacy Concerns

The next step is to test the appropriate scale that users feel comfortable with add more flexibility in the accuracy in settings.

Reflections

Improvements on schedule

Add alternatives of importing schedules from external platforms, such as Google Calendar.

Integrate with news platforms

Cooperate with other newsletter platforms to implement content input in the news page of POI.

Typography

I chose Noto Sans as main font for its legibility.

Possible Extended Functions

How might the real-time location service help users find their lost phones?

In this project, I learned the importance of empathy with the user group. My target users are not colleagues or acquaintances, but family and very important friends with whom people feel closely connected. Therefore, I did a lot of research to understand the real problems and needs of the target group. Moreover, I did a detailed competitor analysis to find what makes my app distinctive. In the end, I came up with more casual, free, and intimate interaction ways in the design, such as real-time location, daily schedule, reminders, and sharing photos with locations.

This project is the first milestone of my user-centered design learning. I have acquired a lot of skills and expertise going through the entire process. Most importantly, it sparked my deep enthusiasm for UX design!

03 Vitamins Overhead

Vegetable planting boxes with a conveyor belt.

Time Frame: Sept. 2022 to Nov. 2022

Site: Changsha, Hunan

Instructors: Li Xu, Amber Sun

Individual Work

Category: Architecture Design, Service Design

This project was born due to the issue of lockdowns under the epidemic. During the lockdown of the community, many residents were unable to have fresh vegetables and thus suffering from health problems.

I focused on a typical residential area in Changsha, and designed a modular system that can grow, process and transport vegetables for people in the community. I also used conveyor belts and drones to make the Transporting process safer and more efficient.

Background

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdowns have taken place across China. During the long lockdown, people have been complaining about severe food shortages, especially leafy greens. Unfortunately, the neighborhood near my university endured a monthlong lockdown this year.

“Leafy greens are not easy to store and transport, so the community supplies us with only easy-to-store vegetables like potatoes and zucchini. Eating these every day makes me feel miserable.” A resident said in an interview.

This phenomenon provoked me to think: How might we alleviate the lack of vegetables by designing a building for this community?

Research

First, I did some research to understand how residents during lockdowns got their vegetables. I found some problems and opportunities in the process.

Therefore, my design intent is an urban farm. As a building that serves the community, what role should it play on normal days without lockdown? To address this question, I proceeded to conduct a more detailed field research of this community.

Volunteers counting vegetables

Volunteers transporting in carts

Volunteers delivering supplies to each household

Changsha is located in the subtropical climate zone. The annual average temperature is high and the precipitation is abundant, which is suitable for the growth of various crops.

My site is a vacant lot in a typical old neighborhood in Changsha City, with a large population, convenient infrastructure and rich business formats in the community.

Changsha, Hunan

Site Location Yuelu District

Ideation

Massing Process

Consider the lighting of residential buildings to make concessions.

Allocate cubes for different functional areas.

Place blocks with different functions in the right place.

Gratings with different densities can control the light , decorate the facade, and block the sight to the opposite residential building.

Cubes

The roof forms a setback to gain light for the vegetables.

Select facade material according to the needs of indoor lighting.

Step 1

Step 3

Step 5

Stack 6mx6mx6m cube blocks. (6m is a commonly used building modulus)

Step 2

Step 4

Step 6

Microgreens

Planting

In the stage of designing the planting, I selected some crops suitable for cultivation based on previous research on the climate condition, including the local favorite red pepper, high-yield, and easy-to-grow crops such as lettuce, tomatoes, etc.

I chose the appropriate planting method for each species according to its characteristics.

While planting vegetables, the interaction between people and the natural landscape can be realized as well.

2 Green Beans

4 Greenhouse

1+2 Terrace

2+4+5 Greenhouse

6 Canteen

1 Red Pepper Peppers can be planted on open roofs with plentiful sunlight.

Green beans can be planted on a shelf near the wall and can also decorate the wall.

Lettuce can be grown in vertical planting towers using hydroponics.

Spinach does not require much light and can be grown indoors in vertical planters.

Tomatoes are very productive in containers and can be planted by using coco peat in containers for soilless cultivation.

are small seedlings of edible plants. Seedlings have shallow roots and can be grown in small pots.

4 Spinach

3 Lettuce 6 microgreens

5 Tomao

Service and Experience

Black : The process of people coming to experience planting on normal days.

Red : The process of transporting vegetables to residents during lockdowns and converted use of the space.

Warehouse

Vegetable Fields

Greenhouse

Canteen

Communal Kitchen

Vendor

Preparation

Activity Rooms Lounge

Lecture Hall

Office

Toilet

Hall

Canteen and Communal Kitchen Green Corridor and Vendor Stalls

Other Work

Please Leave Me Alone!

Everyone more or less wants to leave social situations and be alone for a moment. Inspired by the fact that more and more young people claim to have "social phobia" on Chinese social media, I designed a helmet for them. I cooperated with a partner who is a programmer to help people change state in social situations through Arduino.

Time: 12. 2022

Collabrator: Ying Yafei

My Role: Research, Design, 3D Model, Installation, Photography

Category: Design Attempt Idea

The helmet is mainly composed of four parts: a fixed mask, two movable masks, and a neck guard. Users say the design of neck guard makes them feel safe.

Sketch & 3D Model

Product Development

We use Arduino to complete the switching of people's three social states. The code was done by Ying Yafei.

Active:

· Green LED lights

· Movable masks are kept beneath fixed mask

· Showing all faces

Watchful:

· Sensor : someone enters within 3.6m

· Yellow LED lights

· Eye mask rotates and falls

· Cover eyes

Avoidant:

· Sensor : someone enters within 1.2m

· Red LED lights

· Face mask rotates and falls

· Cover all faces

}

int angle1 = 0 ; //Original angle value of Servo 1

int angle2 = 50 ; //Rotation angle value of Servo 1

int angle3 = 0 ; //Original angle value of Servo 2

int angle4 = 40 ; //Rotation angle value of Servo 2

int Sensor_pin = A5;//Human infrared sensor input

void setup()

{ pinMode(Sensor_pin,INPUT); myservo.attach(9); myservo1.attach(11); Serial.begin(9600); pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(TrigPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(EchoPin, INPUT); pinMode(ledPin1,OUTPUT);

} void loop()

{

Yafei's Code

digitalWrite(ledPin1, LOW); digitalWrite(TrigPin, LOW); delayMicroseconds(2); digitalWrite(TrigPin, HIGH); delayMicroseconds(10); digitalWrite(TrigPin, LOW); cm = pulseIn(EchoPin, HIGH) / 58.0; cm = (int(cm * 100.0)) / 100.0; int val=digitalRead(Sensor_pin);

Serial.println(val);

if (cm>=2 && cm<= 120 )

{ digitalWrite(ledPin1, HIGH); myservo1.write(angle4);

} else

{ myservo1.write(angle3);

if(val == 1)

{ myservo.write(angle2); digitalWrite(ledPin,HIGH);

} else

{ myservo.write(angle1);

digitalWrite(ledPin,LOW);

} delay(100);

}

Other Work Study on Urban Mobile Stalls

In the context of the booming street stall economy, we aimed to improve mobile food facilities on city streets. After field research and user investigation, I put forward solutions to the problems of street stalls with modular design, intelligent management systems, and other supporting facilities.

Time Frame: Apr. 2021 to Apr. 2022

Site: Changsha, Hunan

Instructors: Li Xu

Collabrators: Wang Xinrui, Zhou Ziqi, Yue Siyuan, Yao Yaqin

My Role: Research, Modules Design, Visuals

Category: Class Assignment

Three core modules according to the process: Module A & Module B & Module C

Auxiliary module D, E, F, and G

Core module A, B, and C

Single Model Disolay

The main part of the design is made of energy-saving, and degradable lightweight materials. Eco-Friendly

Disease Prevention

Pay attention to hygiene during decontamination, food processing, and interaction between people.

Exterior Design

Modules of different sizes create rich spatial relationships.Slopped canopies are integrated into the street landscape.

Retain traditional cooking tools and methods to preserve original flavor while reducing their safety hazards. Authentic

*Modeled by Wang Xinrui