Week 5: Pain Points, Cryostar, Visualizing New Application Structure
Reflection
A Lo-Fi Mockup of the App Overhaul
Our groups week five presentation was a wonderful experience for everyone in our group. We developed a comprehensive list of pain points of the AIA vitality app. Alongside our presentation of pain points we offered detailed analysis of the aforementioned pain points. We made an important decision after week 5 that we would try to model our paint point discussion through a new lens. More specifically, the goal was to frame our analysis by considering the audience the app was targeting. Previously, we had omitted this critical contextual information and as a result our last presentation suffered from this bias. As a result, this weeks presentation was a better exercise in considering all the variables and previous design considerations of the apps developers before we began to pick apart the AIA vitality app’s weaknesses.
Cryostar
A Cryostar LNG Refueling Dispenser
Since our first exposure to the Cryostar problem I have been fascinated by the challenge presented. The goal of this project is to present a concept to the client that solves the problem of Cryostar customers who neglect to follow the important and safety-minded instructions given to them. Furthermore, the solution needs to utilize the client’s cellular device. After picking apart the problem a little more I discovered several constraints that would needed to be considered. The single largest of these constraints is that due to the nature of dispensing LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) its transformation from liquid to gas and vice versa between dispenser and storage tank requires extensive PPE during the dispensing procedure. Because of the PPE constraints, using a cellular device in these conditions needs some out of the box thinking. My solution, attach passive RFID tags, a negligible cost to the dispenser, that act as physical forward and back buttons in the mobile app. More specifically, as the mobile app guides the dispenser through the process, tapping their device on the respective back and forward RFID tags, they will be able to advance or go back in the dispensing helper app while still wearing their PPE. I am confident this solution will work on Android but I need to complete further research for iOS devices. I am excited to share this idea with our professor and hopefully get some feedback from my peers.
AIA Vitality App Architecture
My Depiction of the AIA vitality app Organization
After our last presentation I decided to create an infographic to help our team realize the scale and complexity of the pre-existing AIA vitality app. I wanted to share this in my blog to hopefully clue in my readers to how complex this app really is. My goal for this infographic is to develop and prototype what our eventual redesign will be and how it compares to the pre-existing app. More importantly, I think it will spur productive conversation and thoughtful brainstorming. In fact, I think it will help us develop a better redesign while reminding us of what the apps core functionalites are.