The final phase of the Fitbit Redesign Sprint was to reconstruct a Fitbit-like self tracking experience that incorporates our chosen design goals and outcomes. Over the course of 3–4 days, our aim was not to create ultra high resolution devices or user interfaces, but develop methods and techniques that would approach our preferred solution.
Digital Experience
We set design guidelines to explore and find new spaces in digital experiences for the project.
Guidelines
- Inclusive
- Accessible
- User defined level of data privacy
- Open-source
- Minimal usage of cloud
- Minimal carbon emissions
- Minimal screen transitions
- Data visualization through traditional and abstracted forms
- Non-visual modes for data visualization preferred
Goal
Since the aim was to develop methods and techniques that would help us achieve the approach towards the final solution we decided to use the very basic tracking metric, i.e steps. With step tracking we focused our attention on these two scenarios:
1. Showing the route taken by a user
2. Given current location of the user, display places to visit within “x” miles radius
Architecture
On the design end, we took into consideration the onboarding information keeping in mind accessibility settings and inclusivity aspects of the application.Our focus on including gender identity on a spectrum in an application meant for self tracking came from the common observation that none of the major players in the industry asked for the information, and also as a way to tackle the lack of representation in data from underserved communities. We also roughly wireframed different kind of visualizations to represent data captured for representing scenarios 1 and 2.
On the other hand, we researched and practiced technical tools of digital products to create our simple application. Here is an architecture of the app. On the front end, we developed a User Interface with React Native, an open-source UI software framework created by Meta for mobile and web applications. Importing Native Base, a UI component library, helped to develop a universal design system and gesture interactions quickly. Data visualization is built with D3.js, one of the most popular data visualization libraries in JavaScript.
On the back end, we created a CRUD function in AWS Lambda that enables communication between API and Amazon DynamoDB to create, read, update and delete data. API can be called on the front-end and displayed on the applications. To test that the whole process works, we created dummy datasets on Observable, an open source platform for data visualization.
We also used the direction API and isochrone API on open route service (an opensources geolocation API platform) which takes as input the longitude and latitude of user’s location and gives as response the route between two locations and places located within a user-inputted radius.
To prototype a data visualization into a mobile app, we followed tutorials on Medium by Joseph (Geolic)[1]. In the demo, the globe is displayed on a mobile screen and each country is colored by the number of COVID cases. The darker a color is, the more COVID cases in the country. Through the iteration, we understood a basic structure of mobile or web applications, data flow and tools to develop final deliverables.
Physical Device
Similarly, we developed guidelines for the physical reconstruction that led to interesting creative compromises and tensions between project goals. We primarily designed for attachment mechanisms using three approaches described below. We believed that the hardware and integrated circuits should conform the user’s engagement with the experience. Small development boards such as the Adafruit QtPy, Adafruit LilyPad, Seeed Studio Boards were considered.
Guidelines
- No use of Fitbit parts or forms
- Differently environment-proof
- Better integration with the body
- Modular components
- Local sourcing preferred
- No adhesives
- Biodegradable materials preferred
Approach 1: Biomaterials
Our focus in biodesign was to encourage sustainable practice as well as investigate materials that can grow and change with the user. In Biodesigned, a publication from the Biodesign Challenge, Neri Oxman lays out three approaches to biodesign:
1) Nature-inspired projects that have co-evolved with digital fabrication;
2) Nature-informed projects that have co-evolved with materials engineering; and
3) Nature-grown projects that have co-evolved with biology and/or synthetic biology.
The natural materials we investigated include bamboo leaves, corn husks, papyrus paper, agar agar, and slime mold. The bamboo leaves and corn husks were soaked in warm water and folded into various wrist-band forms. The agar agar was processed into a sheet using a material recipe for Conductive Agar Ag03 from Materiom. However, the agar unfortunately dried out before we were able to adapt it into a usable form. Papyrus paper from Blick Art Materials was strong yet flexible enough to be formed into a wrist cuff with various locking mechanisms. Lastly, slime mold (Physarum polycephalum) was grown over a silicone wrist band to observe the pattern that emerged.
Approach 2: Flexible Industrial Material
Our second approach was to use flexible materials such as silicones which can be molded to fit various shapes and forms while providing robust structure for an enclosure. A curved strap designed in Autodesk Fusion 360 was printed in eco-resin using AnyCubic Photon. The 3D printed form was then used to create a plaster mold in which we could inject Smooth-On’s Ecoflex silicone. The intent of molding into a curved shape was to minimize the stress inherent in the material when flexed. In the molding process we also cured Ecoflex into flat strips.
A concern with using silicone was its potential to feel uncomfortable against skin. Using raw cotton fiber, we embedded strands of cotton into a flat sheet of ecoflex silicone. The cotton-silicone material was soft and insulating against the skin, suggesting composites of biomaterials and industrial materials hold unique properties.
Approach 3: Body Integrated Materials
The third approach was to design the form around the body. Drawing inspiration from the Design Sprint, we designed for an ear-attachment using molded and printed materials. Using EasyMold silicone putty we formed an impression from Roxanne’s ear, however this produced an imprecise shape that did not provide enough detail. Next, using the 3D scanning app Heges, we generated a mesh of Roxanne’s ear that was processed using Grasshopper. The resulting model was printed in eco-resin using the AnyCubic Photon.
Another orientation of body integration is fashion. Fashion has trended toward integrating performance functionality, with materials designed for sweat, yoga, or embrace. We investigated embedding a device in a sports bra and a sock, considering soft circuits to improve comfort. However, what is lost in designing for fashion is customization for body form.
Designing in the three categories resulted in a variety of materialities for further exploration. In creating human-centered experiences, we inevitably find friction between designing for a universal user and designing hyper customized forms.
Reference:
[1] Joseph (Geolic). “Creating a D3 Map in a Mobile App Using React Native.” Nightingale (blog), July 8, 2020. https://medium.com/nightingale/creating-a-d3-map-in-a-mobile-app-using-react-native-46da1e6b3be6.
