A Prototype Created by Drew Hesler, Angel Luviano, and Kedrick Bryant
Paper Prototypes – P1
Introduction
Even in a post-pandemic world, the risk presented by COVID-19 to older people is still high and requires those over 50 to spend a ton of time independent of their extended families. As such, they require tools to access those familial relationships in a meaningful and safe way. To help these seniors who would like to see their families, we have created an application which helps them plan a road trip in a manner that would allow them to feel safe and happy, supplying suggestions and safety tips along the way.
Users and Introduction
Vitamin Collective, a Cincinnati-based venture building firm, has hired us to create a prototype for their Road
Design Lab to make a new app targeted towards seniors. Our users are mainly seniors over the age of 50 who
desire to take a road trip but have concerns about various aspects of the trip, mainly because they have never done so or are out of practice. Due to their age, there are various design challenges involved within the creation of the application that require the unique set of skills provided by the Purple Haze Group.
Insights and Design Principals
Insights
Due to their age, the audience for which we are crafting this application requires a unique set of insights.
According to the insights provided by our user research, there are a couple challenges faced by the target
audience:
- Older travelers are excited about the prospect of road trips but are overwhelmed by the available resources. They do not have a trusted ‘go-to’ source of information that will help them plan their trip.
- Older adults have trouble with technologies and are unfamiliar with using social media tools as compared to younger users.
- As a result of the pandemic, travelers are concerned about finding safe and clean travel options.
- Older adults are feeling isolated due the lack of interaction they are having with their families during the pandemic.
- Older adults are typically targeted by predators to give them information and to steal their identity so many are very cautious with their information.
- Older adults that lack resources feel ignored or left out of technology design generally.
Design Principles
Our insights into the audience have led us to decide upon these design principles:
- Our audience needs to trust us. As the people who are leading them to plan and execute this trip, we need to let them lower their guards in terms of giving them information.
- Our design needs to make our audience feel safe and confident when they are planning the trip and while they are taking it.
- Our app will be accessible and highly guided to adapt to the elevated level of mistrust and inexperience that older users feel towards technology.
Ideations and Concepts
Storyboard Sketches
Scenario Sketch
Interface Sketch
Assumptions
One of the things that we are assuming is that all the things that we suggest are possible, even though they may be contradictory in nature. In terms of computing on the back end, we are assuming infinite computing power
on the part of the retrieving server and infinite space upon the phone of the user. There are certain ideas for
which this applies, but not all of them.
Ideas And Scenarios
Ideas
- Works offline
- Shows destination throughout trip
- Shows pit stops
- Clean Bold Interface
- Shows public transportation
- Wheelchair accessible reliable rental cars / medkits
- Text to speech
- AAA
- Calculates total cost
- Can update transportation times
- Shows gas stations / food / hospitals
Scenarios
Working OffLine
Before
Mary is at the end of the planning process. She is traveling from Chicago in Illinois to The Outer Banks in North Carolina alone by car, so there is space where there will not be much
in terms of cell phone service. She is almost set up: she has picked her stops, she has calculated the cost, and she’s almost ready to set off on her journey. Just one more thing: she downloads all the details of her trip plan to her phone, so she can access her plans even in the middle of nowhere.
During
Mary takes a turn onto Highway 12, which means a long drive to her destination in Hatteras
Village. She can relax for a bit, but there is little cellphone service as she drives along the
highway. However, she has downloaded the trip details, which allow her to see her location
being tracked and an ETA.
After
As she arrives in her destination, Mary’s cellphone service returns. It automatically tells her
that she’s arrived at her destination, and that the trip has concluded.
Drew Hesler 