Interaction Design Sprint

This Sprint began, as expected, with brainstorming. First to speculate, was the user of the app that we would create. My brainstorming was directed by the information that we were to create an app allowing for ordinary citizens to record scientific data concerning water: citizen science. With this information in mind, I began my process of thinking of figures who would willingly take the time to invest in the health of the water around them. That is, who cared enough — who would have a vested interest — in water.

The results of this brainstorming ranged from restaurant workers, to politicians, to environmental investees. However, what was necessary at this point was to differentiate those who would be effected by water health and those who would actually invest in water health. From this point I was able to hone in on one specific group: environmental enthusiasts.

Now the question came down to, what is significant enough about a body of water that it should be recorded. What would environmental enthusiasts care enough about to record? What easily recordable factors reflect healthy or unhealthy water? Reflecting on these questions I came to the conclusion that there are two main components that are easily recordable and reflective of healthy water. First, are signs of pollution. Second, on the flip side, are sightings of life, such as animals. Creating an app focusing on these two factors would allow both visual and type information to be easily recorded.

The next step was to layout the flow of the app. This app has two main functions: information recording and information observation. The recording of information would allow the user to select the type of observation (pollution or life) and then continue on to give the template allowing type and visual input(a geotagged photo).

The additional feature that I added to this app was the information observation function — called in the app “See The Impact”. This feature would allow access to a map (formatted like an apple map or google map) that would allow the user to search a location and see the health of the bodies of water in that area. The health would be determined by the data entries of the user of the apps. Those areas with high records of pollution would be colored in red, showing an endangered area of water.

I chose to add this function so that those interested in the health of the water around them could not only input information, but have access to understanding their contribution in a larger context. This was therefore meant to motivate users to continue their participation in the using of this app.

Unlike the previous project, this sprint called for the consideration of navigation. This was a challenging new factor, yet opened my eyes to the complexities in design that allowed for a user to interact with an app in a simple way. In the navigation aspect of this project I focused on making my app as usable and understandable as possible.