Here is my final prototype! I ended up making a second hand app for children’s shoes. I chose this user group because children are constantly growing and need a rapid change of shoes. I also have a theory that it might be more acceptable to buy used shoes for children when it comes to the hygiene aspect.
If you want to learn more about the process of making the app, you can read blogpost 18 and 19 (18 | Final Idea & Paper Prototype, 19 | User Testing).
I conducted two user tests with the paper prototypes so that I could get feedback and recommendations before creating a prototype in Figma. The testers first got some brief information about the project before I presented how the test was going to be conducted. The test consisted of five tasks where different features were involved so that I could understand how the different elements are perceived from others.
Here are the three main questions I aimed to answer with this test:
Is the content understandable and intuitive?
How is the interaction of specific elements perceived?
When there are multiple ways to solve a task, which one is preferred?
My setup during the user testing
The two people testing the prototype are females in their twenties. Both of them are tech-savvy and have used second-hand apps before.
The five tasks:
Register a new user (you can make up the information yourself).
Find sneakers for Thea.
Create an ad for a pair of shoes you want to sell.
Change Martin’s shoe size to size 25.
Change your location.
User test 1
Task 1: Went quickly, understood how to add a child.
Task 2: Went straight to a specific ad on the home screen, which happened to be a sneakers ad. Didn’t realize you could click on „recommended for Thea“ to see more options.
Task 3: Went well.
Task 4: Did it via the home screen.
Task 5: Profile page -> then settings.
User test 2
Task 1: Went quickly. Understood ad child. No problems
Task 2: Went to explore, and then sneakers, and saw that it was already set to Thea.
Task 3: Created the ad without problems. Fast
Task 4: Went to profile page and clicked on his shoe size
Task 5: Went to profile page and then settings and clicked on location
Main findings
It is not clear that it is possible to click on the “recommended for Thea” to find a more detailed display. Need to make that section look clickable
Changing the shoe size of a child can be done two ways and both paths were used by the test subjects.
Most tasks were conducted without any problems.
It was slightly challenging to conduct the tests alone. There is a lot to organize when doing tests with paper prototypes and the organizing can sometimes take the focus away from observing the tests. I also wanted to take notes along the way, but it was too challenging to do both that, observe and organize the paper prototypes. Next time I would want to get help from others to take notes and observe.
After the last blog post I had a meeting with Birgit Bachler where we talked about the topic. I presented some of my ideas and got useful feedback. Based on the feedback received and my assessment of the potential and feasibility of each idea, I decided on the concept I wanted to further develop.
THE FINAL IDEA
The final concept I landed on is creating a second-hand app for children’s shoes. There are multiple second-hand apps on the market, but there are none dedicated for children’s shoes. I focus on this user group because children continuously grow, and so their shoe size is constantly changing and there is a rapid change of shoes. There are for that reason a big potential for second-hand children’s shoes. This approach is not only more sustainable, but also cheaper. After discussing the idea with Bachler, we concluded that second-hand children’s shoes might be more acceptable than adult shoes, given the different hygiene concerns associated with used footwear. Another advantage of a second-hand app dedicated to shoes is that it might be easier to find the exact type of shoe that you are looking for, being able to filter on different shoe types.
After deciding on the concept, I started thinking about what features this app should contain and I searched for inspiration from other second-hans apps. I created a MoSCoW list to arrange the different features in order to help me decide on what was the most important ones and what I did not need.
PAPER PROTOTYPE
After getting a more defined vision of what the app should contain I started to create paper prototypes. First I quickly sketched the different pages of the app and then I made some more detailed screens. The app is in many ways pretty similar to other second-hand apps, but there are some features that stand out, for example the option to add children to your profile so that you can easily find shoes that matches their size and preferences.
Log in & Create new account
The log in page and the create new account page are pretty straight forward. When creating a new account, the information that are necessary for the app is asked from the user. The user can also add children when setting up their profile so that they can more easily find shoes for them.
Log in pageCreate new accountSet up profile
Home page & Ad page
In the home page, shoes recommended for the registered children are displayed. If there are no registered children, the shoes that are displayed will either be shoes recommended based on the previous purchases or shoes that are popular in the app. It is also possible to click on recommended sections for each child in order to get a more detailed view with possibilities to sort and filter (middle picture). When an ad is clicked on, a page with more details about the shoes will be displayed (right picture).
Home pageMore detailed view of reccomended shoes for a spesific childAd page
Explore
In the explore page, it is possible to search for specific tags, browse shoes based on shoe type and based on shoe brand. When browsing shoes in this section there is an additional filter option where the user can choose which child they are looking for shoes for (second picture from the left).
Explore pageBrowse shoes based on shoe typeSorting possibilitiesFilter possibilities
New item
When adding a new shoe for sale, the user must fill out general information about the shoe and add pictures. The user must also decide where to send the shoes from, what package size that is correct and if they are open to meeting the buyer in person or not.
New item 1New item 2
Chat
In the chat page, there is an overview of all the different chats and the user can filter the chats based on if you are buying or selling an item or both.
Chat pageSpecific chat
Profile page & Settings
In the profile page there is an overview of the users profile, the children they have added and the shoe ads they have added, but also the shoe ads they have liked. It is possible to change the information about the children by clicking on the frame. The settings page can be reached from the profile page (icon in the upper right corner). In the settings page the user can manage their account and log out.
In this blogpost, I will pick up where I left off and introduce two new concepts.
CONCEPT 3
What:
Sustainability score on shoes. Inspired by the Exhibition Design Trend workshop in the International Design Week.
Why:
There are a lot of greenwashing happening and it can be difficult to know what kind of shoes are more environmental friendly then others. While one might assume that vegan leather shoes are better for the environment, some are produced using toxic chemicals. Implementing a sustainability score can help consumers make more informed choices and purchase genuinely eco-friendly footwear.
How:
The score system would be similar to the nutrition score on food. The score should represent the environmental impact from the whole life cycle of shoes, including: raw material extraction, raw material processing, manufacturing, assembly, packaging production, transport and disposal. The score can either be stamped on the soles of the shoes or placed on the shoe boxes. They should also be visible when people are buying shoes in shoe stores.
Challenges and opportunities:
It can be difficult to collect the data from the whole life cycle of shoes. How willing are brands to share this information?
Status quo:
No similar scoring system currently exists.
CONCEPT 4
What:
Modular shoes. A shoe brand where all the different parts of the shoe can be replaced. Inspired by the phone company Fairphone where all the different parts on the phone can be fixed and nothing is glued shut.
Why:
When shoes are worn out, there are usually parts of the shoe that are totally fine. By using a shoe where different parts can be replaced easily, the lifetime of the shoes will be extended dramatically.
How:
The concept revolves around a modular shoe design, where the different main parts of the shoe can be taken apart from each other. The mechanism should be user-friendly and robust to ensure secure attachment of the parts. When a component wears out and requires replacement, you simply order a new part. Instead of throwing the pair, users can easily order a replacement part, which will extend the lifespan of the shoes and reduce waste. This modular approach enables effortless customization. This innovation helps the environment and gives people more options for their shoes that last longer.
Challenges and opportunities:
Can be challenging to create the attachment mechanism.
Status quo:
There have been some projects where people have tried to create a modular shoe.
After organizing the topic into different areas, I have more clarity and I am ready to continue the ideation phase. While I was reflecting upon the different problem areas, the ideation process already started. Ideas popped into my head and I tried to write them down as soon as possible. In this blogpost I will present some of the ideas.
CONCEPT 1
What:
Rental of shoes
Why:
Fast fashion and trends that evolve fast makes it challenging for people to stay stylish without overconsuming shoes, but rental of shoes will make this possible. This can also be a solution for those needing shoes for special occasions, such as the one time a year when heels are required for a formal event. By renting shoes, you can find shoes that better match your outfit and avoid the need for unnecessary purchases.
How:
There are two types of users:
People that have a monthly subscription where they can rent a specific amount of shoes every month. If they like some pairs better, they can keep them for several months and still swap the other pairs of shoes.
People that want to rent a pair of shoes for one single usage.
There might be hygienic concerns from users regarding wearing shoes that others have previously used. This can be solved by addressing that the shoes will be thoroughly cleaned after each rental.
This concept can either be app-based, where users find the shoes they want to rent in an app and they are then delivered to the users house, or it can be store-based, where there is an actual store where customers can visit a physical location to try on shoes before renting them. Alternatively, a combination of both app and store could be an option.
Challenges and opportunities:
Not sure how willingly people are to use shoes others have used before them
Might be an option to focus on children shoes
Status quo:
Similar concepts exist, most are tailored specifically for designer shoes and only for one time rentals.
CONCEPT 2
What:
App that informs you about what to do with your worn out shoes
Why:
It can be difficult to know what to do with your worn out shoes. Is it possible to fix them at all? Can I fix them myself or do I need the help form cobblers? This app will guide you through different scenarios and what you will need to do in order to extend the lifetime of your shoes.
How:
The user would start by defining the problem area. First off the user must choose the correct type of shoe, and then which part of the shoe that is worn and need to be repaired. Then the repairing options that is fitting would be shown and the user must navigate to find the one that suits their problem best. Then there would be instructions on how to repair the shoe, what kind of equipment you would need and videos showing how to do it.
If the problem is too complex, the app would suggest the user to go to a cobbler and get it fixed there. It could also be an option that the user could book an appointment with a cobbler in the app.
Another possible feature is a scanner where the user can scan their shoes, and the app would suggest how to fix them.
Challenges and opportunities:
Not sure how to get people to use the app
Status quo:
No similar apps currently exist. However, there is a website where individuals can contribute and share instructions on how to repair specific parts of a shoe.
In this blogpost I discuss the last two main areas of my mind map and some of the main problems within the areas.
INDUSTRY
One of the main problems when it comes to the industry aspect is greenwashing. With the growing awareness around sustainability in the world it is more important than ever for brands to have a sustainable image, but how genuine they are can vary greatly. Some brands might come off as being environmentally friendly by for example using recycled materials or vegan leather, but then they don’t share the fact that they use a lot of toxic chemicals in the production. Brands choose wisely what information they want to share and only shares what they will benefit from, so there is still a big lack of openness in the industry. It is therefore extremely difficult for consumers to navigate this market, where true intentions vary widely.
Room for improvement: Make it easier for consumers to identify which brands are truly environmentally friendly and not just greenwashing.
CONSUMER HABITS
Consumer habits is a very broad area and is very similar, if not the same as consumption, so those two areas could have been just one. There are many problems regarding consumer habits, and they are tightly connected. One of the biggest problems is overconsumption. 23 billion pairs of shoes are made every year and 22 billion are thrown into landfill (Dennis, 2022). Trends and fast fashion drive us to buy more shoes than we need and we buy new shoes even though we often have shoes that are in perfectly good condition. Another issue might be that many of us don’t know how to properly care for our shoes once they show signs of wear. There is a lack of knowledge when it comes to what parts of a shoe that can be repaired, and that problem might be connected to the fact that cobblers are not visible in todays society. Somehow, cobblers seem to belong in the past. While there are many DIY repair kits available, they are usually limited in what they can fix.
Room for improvement: Make people get a stronger relationship to their shoes so that they care more for them, don’t want to replace them and want to repair them when needed.
In this blogpost I discuss the first two main areas of my mind map and some of the main problems within the areas.
MATERIALS
The big amount of different materials used in shoes are what makes the shoes difficult to recycle, but also difficult to produce sustainably. It can be challenging for consumers to understand what kind of materials they should look for if they want to choose a better option for the environment. It is also important to take in consideration the chemicals used in the production of the shoes. There are instances where vegan leather used in shoe production involves specific toxic chemicals. Even if a product appears to be more environmentally friendly due to the materials used, the overall production process of the shoe may not fulfill the promise of being a greener choice. The effects of the chosen materials must also be compared. While leather is not environmentally friendly, leather shoes tend to have a long lifespan.
Room for improvement: Make it easier for consumers to understand what kind of shoes are more sustainable.
CONSUMPTION
With the growing awareness around sustainability it has become more common to buy second hand clothing, but it is not as common to buy second hand shoes. People might think it is a bit more difficult to buy used shoes because of various reasons. First off, the hygiene aspect is a bit different from used clothing. Some might find it less appealing to buy used shoes then to buy used clothes. Secondly, it might be more difficult to know the condition of used shoes when you can’t speak to the former user and wear and tear might not be immediately visible. Some types of shoes, due to lighter usage, might be easier to buy second-hand than others. Additionally, people might be sceptical beacuse they think that used shoes are already shaped to the previous owner’s feet, which might make them less comfortable for the new owner. There might be a difference between peoples thoughts of buying used shoes from private people through second hand apps for example compared to buying used shoes from a second hand store. When buying from a private seller, you can often get more detailed information about the condition of the shoes and learn more about the previous owner, which can help reduce some concerns.
Room for improvement: Provide more product information about second hand shoes.
I’ve been feeling somewhat stuck with my project and the topic I’m working on. It’s challenging to make progress because I don’t know which direction to take. There are many aspects and different problems to consider, and eventually, I’ll need to decide where to focus my efforts.
I have also been thinking a lot about a dilemma that I don’t know how to solve. One of my goals is to encourage people to maximize the use of their shoes. However, I’ve been hesitant because understanding the full potential of shoes can be challenging and there are many aspects to consider. It can be challenging to recommend extended use, as wearing shoes for too long might lead to health issues, such as stress injuries. Feet are different from each other and will therefore put pressure on different parts of a shoe. Some people will also wear out a shoe much faster than other people. The encouragement of people maximizing the use of their shoes must therefore be somehow personalized. People will in many cases notice when a shoe is worn out since it is visible on the physical part of the shoe and then it is natural to do something about it, but it might not be like this in all cases.
Because of these obstacles that I have met in my prosess I decided to sit down and create a mind map to organize and get a better mental model of the project. This way I could sort the different problems of the different main areas and how they are related. This helped me get a clearer picture of the topic so that the way forward can be easier. Below is a picture of the mind map, and I will write a bit more about the opportunities in each of the sections in the next blog post.
I have been reading the paper “Cyclops: Designing an eye-controlled instrument for accessibility and flexible use” which is written by William C Payne, Ann Paradiso, and Shaun Kane. In this blog post I will write about the paper and my reflections on the topic.
The Cyclops is an eye-gaze controlled instrument designed for live performances and improvisation. It is specially motivated by a need for expressive musical instruments that is accessible for people that rely on eye tracking for computer access, such as people diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The instrument contains a synthesizer and sequencer, and is displayed as a 2D canvas on a screen and controlled with eye-tracking.
CHALLENGES
There are multiple challenges of varying size when it comes to eye-tracking being the only controller and interaction method.
Precision: Targets need careful placement, spread out from each other and made bigger. Because of this, the amount of input elements that can be displayed on one screen is reduced.
Timing: Getting to a target on screen means keeping your gaze fixed in one spot, and it’s difficult to difficult to control the timing or rhythm of inputs.
Midas touch: A design challenge when creating responsive gaze-only interfaces is when the user is activating controls accidentally when dwell time is reduced. The dwell time varys widely, depending on what kind of task it is, and it is therefore important that different tasks have different dwell time that is matching the task. The dwell time might also vary from person to person, and that might be more difficult to design for.
Other challenges: Varying accuracy and precision across users, trackers and lightning conditions. Usually more accurate around the center of the screen and less accurate around the edges.
From the users perspective, I think it can be challenging to get used to using such interfaces where the only interaction is eye-tracking. On the other hand, the project aims to help out people who are already used to eye-tracking for computer access, and they are probably already used to this way of interaction. I can imagine that one have to stay extremely focused while interacting, because when not focused and thinking on other things the eyes tend to move around. At the same time, it is like learning any instrument – you’ll need practice to be able to master the instrument. It is still important that the instrument ‘helps’ you along the way, by having different dwelling times depending on the interaction and what is the most natural.
THE INTERFACE
The interface is created with some of these challenges in mind. The musical control is split across three screens which reduces cognitive load and possible unintended interactions. There is a section of the screen that is non-selectable representation of the pitch sequence that can be fixated upon without affecting the output in any way. There is room to grow – there are different screens that the user can select depending on their experience
REFERENCES
William C Payne, Ann Paradiso, and Shaun Kane. 2020. Cyclops: Designing an eye-controlled instrument for accessibility and flexible use. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression.
After the last semester I discovered that there is a big room for improvement when it comes sustainability in the footwear industry. I looked into the industry itself, learning about materials and looking into sustainability campaigns, and learned about consumer habits, reading research papers about it and creating a survey where I gathered first hand information about it. I then came to the conclusion that I want to focus on consumer habits since it might be easier and more realistic to create a change.
The focus this semesters will be to look into different ways of changing consumer habits. I will go through an ideation phase where I generate ideas without too many restrictions, so that my creative thinking can evolve without boundaries.
One of my initial ideas is to focus on shoe repair services and how they can become more appealing and visible for all age groups. By doing this, I still need to learn more about the profession and I want to visit a shoe repair service in Graz and talk to them about the topic. My goal would be that peoples first thoughts when they have a worn out pair of shoes is Can this be fixed? rather than I need to buy a new pair of shoes.
THE FIRST PROTOTYPES
We were thrown into the ideation phase and got the task to create 1-3 prototypes over a few days. We had a speed dating session after this, where we presented our prototypes and got some feedback. It was very helpful to get other perspectives on the prototypes and to discuss the opportunities to evolve the ideas.
The Shoe Shredder Company
Explanation: This is a business idea where The Shoe Shredder Company takes care of old, worn out shoes and give them a new life in a different form. The way this work is that there are multiple recycling boxes from the company around the city and people can deliver their worn out shoes in these boxes. The shoes will be collected and brought to the company’s factory. There the shoes will firstly be cleaned and then shredded and the fibres from the shoes will eventually be used as isolation in walls. This way, the shoes will get a new life as something new and the shoe waste will be reduced.
Things to consider:
Can shoe fibers be used as isolation and how well does it isolate? There are no actual research that shoe fibres will work well as isolation. There might be difficulties regarding all the different materials in shoes so that the level of isolation will vary.
How can the company make sure that only worn out shoes will be shredded? This company should not be a quick fix for people that just want to get rid of their perfectly fine shoes. There has to be a way to make sure that only worn out shoes will be shredded, maybe the shoes can be scanned in the recycling boxes?
Why should people use this as isolation? This isolation have to stand out from other kinds of isolation. It is definitely a sustainable choice, but it have to be appealing as well.
Feedback:
It would be nice if the shredding happens in the recycling boxes, so that people can watch their own shoes turn into fibres.
Some kind of tracking would be cool, so that you can follow your shoes and get to know in which buildings your old shoes end up.
Awareness campaign
Explanation: This is a shoe shelf is working as an awareness campaign. The shelf can either be placed in different places were it is natural to have shoe shelfs, e.g. in swimming halls, in gyms, in climbing halls etc., or it can be placed in places where you don’t expect to see shoe shelfs and where people have time to observe it, e.g. at bus stops or in train stations. There are multiple pairs of shoes that are permanently placed in the shelfs and that are worn out in different ways. There are also different messages on the shelf, like “new sole – as good as new” that are suppose to inspire people to repair their own shoes.
Feedback:
It would be nice if there were some sensors on the shelf that could scan peoples shoes and give them specific recommendations on improvements shoes that could be done.
