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An
idea emerged back in the 20th century about a brand new mode of
transport involving a magnetic pad to reduce friction. In 2012, when
California was all about the California High-Speed Rail project, Elon
Musk suggested Hyperloop. For several years now, the world’s best
engineers have been working toward a technological breakthrough. The
future is a tantalizing secret and we’re constantly trying to predict
and infer what will happen. Hyperloop One just disclosed their own
vision of the passenger app interface, and you can easily compare the
work they did with what we imagined to be the perfect Hyperloop app: https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/hyperloop-one-and-here-built-a-hyperloop-passenger-app/
Everything
changes at lightning speed, and we can’t always keep up with the latest
news. In the meantime, innovations encourage us to think up creative
solutions that have everyday applications using smartphones, tablets,
MacBooks, etc. Our company has a lab for generating experimental
interfaces where we’re always asking what kinds of challenges we’ll get
to see in a year or two, like:
An AR app for studying anatomy which shows you someone’s internal organs when you direct the camera view at them.
The messenger of the future which will boast additional functions like micro crowdfunding, dating options, and a bunch of other cool stuff.
A news service which uses AI to predict newsworthy events a spine-tingling 15 minutes before they actually occur.
In
this article, we want to talk about creating an app for Hyperloop.
After all, they call it the 5th transport mode, with its own
infrastructure. So its interface will be totally unique, with its own
functionality and usability.
Obviously, what interests us most is which cities are included in Hyperloop’s network, and how long travel will take.
Route Selection
A
map of the US emphasizing key cities on Hyperloop’s map and indications
of travel time (in minutes, based on speeds of 1080 km/hr). The user
selects two cities on different coasts. The interface shows which
segments make up the route and calculates general travel time (taking
into account stops along the way). We see the route screen, which
presents the points of departure and arrival, travel time, cost, and a
“Choose Seats” button.
If
the trip takes 12 minutes, what kind of service can you offer to your
passenger? A meal? Unlikely. Movies or music? We hope there’ll be wifi
on board, which is more than enough to meet that demand. What about the
possibility of chatting with a new friend? Link to your Facebook profile
and the app will analyze your interests and select a spot beside
compatible traveling companions.
Let Your Hobbies Choose Your Seat
Sync
up your Facebook account and the app filters available seats next to
people who share your interests, whether they be web design, subway
construction, or volunteer work in Africa. The user can select one or
several interests. The app will show your neighbor’s photo and a brief
bio, something like: “Okay, we’ll seat you next to Amy Richards, she’s
an IT security specialist and has been involved in charity work in
Namibia for the past five years.”
What’s
the best thing you can inherit from good old airline companies and
railroads? Democracy! Hyperloop will suggest several classes of service
and possibly even a free trip to go with your submersion into a
diverting virtual reality which features ads.
Selecting the Right Class of Service
Standard:
a carriage map with densely packed seats. Here you’ll see the seat cost
and the number of pre-selected seats. Swiping left takes you to the
Business class map, with fewer, comfier seats and more leg room. Suite:
this gets you a full carriage including a conference table and opulent
armchairs or sofas. Auto: this includes the option to bring your ride
along for the ride.
So,
I’m right in the middle of my 40-minute journey from Washington to
Seattle. Where am I? How fast am I going? What’s going on around me? The
app has to be totally able to answer such questions, especially when
you’re stuck in an enclosed space in a vacuum.
Useful Info Along the Journey
During
the trip you can check out a map with your designated route and trip
trajectory. You’ll also see all the information relevant to you: speed,
time en route, expected stops, and even points of interest along your
journey.
How
can a company make Hyperloop more accessible for ordinary people? By
lowering costs at the expense of advertisers, for example. But how to
tempt passengers into communicating with the brand? Easy: brand
promotion should be available to all the passengers on board.
Lightning Speed Delivery
Every
station has a special carriage with compartments. Put together all your
shipment info in your Hyperloop app. Approach the carriage and use your
phone to open the compartment, then insert your package. The mail
carrier will take off on schedule and will soon arrive at its
destination. The recipient will get an alert and receipt location
beforehand. All that’s left to do is to go to the mail carriage and,
using a phone, open up the right compartment. Fast and easy.
Conclusion
Cutting-edge
technology expands our horizons and inspires us to think about how
we’ll benefit from it throughout the course of an ordinary day. These
intriguing concepts have been developed by our company, Cuberto, and we
totally get that sooner or later, all of this will become reality. We
grow and evolve with the times. It’s not just technology that’s
transforming, but also our attitudes to everyday objects. As a product
team, it’s our job to establish the most convenient conditions for the
use of these technologies.
A
really great lesson I have learnt is to adopt and adapt the ‘design
process’ that we have been drummed with to everyday design and
problem-solving. Not only as a student but as an Intern we are
constantly reminded of design thinking and other processes that should
be used. But are we ever reminded of when and how they are the most
appropriate tool?
There’s
a small dark area that no one really teaches you and it’s what to do
when there is no user research before the project starts. The
user-centred design approach is designing for real people and users,
identifying a problem. But what if you are tasked with a problem when
you have no real knowledge of those people or specific users? Sure, you
could go and do research but why use all of that time when your solution
could not have any value to the end user?
There
are no rules on where and how to start, different projects require
different needs and we should be taught to learn and adapt to
these needs
I
believe it’s because of the way in which we are taught these processes
that we come to believe they are linear. Design is romanticised to be
this all-knowing, ‘the user is everything’ golden process but in
reality, these concepts and methods are flexible and should be used as
tools to solve our problems, and not as linear processes. What needs to
be emphasized more in the teaching of these approaches is that there are
no rules on where and how to start. Different projects require
different needs and we should be taught to learn and adapt to these
needs.
One
method I have learnt to use when starting a project with no prior user
research is by approaching it as a Sprint and adapting the tools in the
method to the project needs.
When
I say no user research, this does not mean I haven’t taken some time to
become familiar with the project or the people I would be designing
for. I mean I haven’t tested, interviewed or really got close to real
users. I used Youtube…
Anyway,
by becoming familiar with the topic and it’s users on the surface level
you are able to start exploring the problem and thinking up certain
hunches.
Once
you have an initial understanding of the problem and potential users, I
jump straight into storyboarding. These storyboards are assumed
situations for different scenarios the user may encounter. I make sure
to do two storyboards for each use case — One extreme (novice) to the
other extreme (expert). I find this starts to highlight some potential
problems as we start to visualise how user needs are arising.
From
these needs, you can start to build more tangible questions in the form
of How Might We’s to cluster and form a bigger problem statement to
start a project with
This
may seem like a pragmatic approach to starting a project but I believe
it helps build concepts quicker to test with users and validate if the
idea or solution is worth spending more time and money on to do user
research. Just a really nice way to get yourself started when you feel
overwhelmed that there has been no user research!
I
used this approach in a recent project to build prototypes and validate
an idea early at Bosch. Fail fast, learn faster you know?
I
want to learn, design and write stuff. I’m currently an intern in the
user experience team at Bosch Power Tools and an Industrial Design
student at Loughborough University. Feel free to get in touch.
As
a designer starting out in the beginning of your career, you may not
know what to expect during your first job. You could be given lots of
work and because you are the new designer on team, you do things without
question. You might think you are expected to know everything because
nobody said you should seek out the things you need to help you.
Having
worked in the design industry almost every summer in college, I’ve
learned a thing or two about how a new designer, such as myself, can
navigate through challenges and learn in environments based on implied
messages of what we should or shouldn’t do. Knowing the basic tools and
techniques of good design is essential, but it’s the small details
surrounding how we work which can help us progress and open doors. Here
are a few tips that growing designers should take into consideration
during their first year on the job to accelerate career growth.
Asking for Help Doesn't Make You Stupid
It’s
okay to ask for help, but the issue that some designers may allude to
when they say asking for help is a big no-no is the phrasing. Instead of
directly asking for help, ask for feedback and advice.
If you need help with doing research, join a research session. If you
need help with moving forward in a project, ask designers to join you in
prioritizing ideas. This will provide you with direction. Instead of
receiving a hard-cut answer, you receive validation and perspective,
things that will help you develop your own point of view. Designers don’t receive answers, they problem solve to get there.
Saying “No” is better than saying “Yes” all the time*
Note
the asterisk. You are in control of what you want to do. You can decide
when you reply to that e-mail or if you want to go that meeting. We are
often given so many things to do that we can’t do all of them, yet we
think we have to. Many designers, especially in the beginning of their
career, do everything they are told to do, and this distracts them from
the work they need to do the most. Decide on what is most important to
help get your work done and prioritize.
Don’t say yes for the things that get in the way of producing quality work.
Delegating
tasks and prioritizing is hard, but if you can do that, you will get so
much done (and more). It’s okay to say no for valid reasons because it
tells people that you know what’s important.
Speak up
During
a critique, we are excepted to provide feedback for our peers, but not
everyone does it because they might be self concious of their thoughts,
or they don’t make the effort to help. Don’t be selfish with ideas.
Ideas are meant to be expressed and help our fellow designers design for
the people. Feedback is a gift. Feedback is what results in more iterations and better experiences.
Take Breaks
I
used to work hard constantly, whether it was at home, with friends and
family…You name it. But then I realized, without fault, I will be
working for the rest of my life and work isn’t ever really “done”. I was
taking the time to work on something fleeting, when I could have been
spending time with the people I loved and the things I loved to do
outside of work. Also, too much work can increase stress which can
increase burnout. It makes sense to do as much work as you can to get to
a certain job or rank, but that takes time. Just do what you can and
relax when you feel overworked or exausted. In the end, health is more important than work because without health, we can’t work.
Be Present
As
tempting as it is to work from home, especially for people who have the
privilege of doing so all the time, it is crucial to be present. Even
if the quality of work has not been affected, as designers,
collaboration is such an important aspect of the way we do things. Being
present in the office can make all the difference, especially when
working with the people on your team. It’s not a team if everyone isn’t present.
If you have any questions about design, message me on LinkedIn and I’ll write about it!
Hardik Gandhi is Master of Computer science,blogger,developer,SEO provider,Motivator and writes a Gujarati and Programming books and Advicer of career and all type of guidance.
