Journey through my first prototype app
As I begin my very first prototype of any kind, I ask myself, “ What can I design. What are my needs? What are the needs of other people, and how can they benefit from the app. Many thoughts and ideas flowed through my brain like traffic on an L.A highway. Because of those thoughts, just like L.A rush hour traffic, I was at a mind block. I proceed to narrow down my ideas and used something I can benefit from and possibly others.
During a day trip in the romantic city of San Francisco, something extraordinary happened. Before I was struck by lighting, I had drunk enough water to please a football team. While I was in a busy tourist filled area (shopping centers, food courts, parks etc. ), I had to go. I mean my urge of going was so strong, I could have relieved myself right there on the side of Macy’s building. But due to embarrassment and shame, I decided not to. I proceeded to look for restroom signs, even asked strangers, but to no avail. Maybe it was destiny to go for a side building ( later I was brought awareness that San Francisco was known for urinating in public). After 10 -15 minutes of walking across streets and asking multiple stores in the area, I decided enough was enough and found a secluded alleyway and relieved myself on a green dumpster. So by experiencing the calamity, I’ve decided to create a prototype called “ Bano”.
Bano will help you find the nearest restroom in the area, real-time, using GPS and social elements. Bano can seek clean restrooms, how long will it take to get there (walking, driving other rides), gives insight on accessibility, and even recommendation base on history. Finding a restroom of your choice can also be pre-planned in the Bano app. The app will also have a light social element to it as well, building a community of restroom seekers, so that way we don’t have to experience this pain alone.
Key points to creating this prototype are that it will be a simple design, users can recognize immediately what it’s function is and that it has a flow that will be easy to use.
here is sketch of my prototype app:
Here is my almost complete version of the prototype:
As you can see, I decided to use light playful color. I wanted the app to not be so serious, while keeping it simple and not so confusing to the end user. I hope this app will not only benefit me, but to many peoples of the world who travels, hike, city dwell even hermits who decides to venture out into our urban society.
Remember “ Even in a rush, don’t forget to flush.”