Sarah Samarasinghe

Design Goal
Make the user research process more accessible and widen the scope of research participants to foster greater design solutions that aren’t restricted to a local scope.

User Group
Design Students /
Research Students

• Research

Research Objectives
• Understand the process students use for collecting qualitative research
• Learn about the thoughts and feelings of the students when collecting qualitative research
• Uncover any problems or barriers they encounter during the process of recruiting participants
• Investigate the impact of the current environment on the process of collecting qualitative research

• Contextual Inquiries
• Interviews
• Surveys

• Design

After mapping the user flow and creating low-fi sketches, we developed an app mockup in Figma using our chosen color palette and visual guidelines, which was then used for user testing.

• Testing

Testing fair takeaways
We evaluated our testing results through post test surveys and SUS surveys.
Our final SUS score was 82.075Design Implementations
• Break down longer surveys into parts with additional point incentive
• Provide a GPS map section on app to show all locations of vending machines
• Develop an Onboarding tour upon sign up
• Create a Shareable and easily accessible results page

Overview
Our problem space addresses the growing issue of social isolation, which is exacerbated by economic, technological, and cultural shifts in Sydney’s urban landscape.Connectico is a series of installations designed to enhance social interactions in public spaces.Providing shade and visual appeal, Connectico makes public spaces more inviting while encouraging shared experiences and personal expression. By promoting community interaction, it helps build and strengthen friendships, creating a stronger bond with our public spaces.

Approach
To arrive at our final design, Connectico, we conducted a thorough evaluation of our initial concepts using a decision matrix that considered key criteria aligned with SDG 11 and user needs.Compared to our other concepts, which fell short in areas concerning accessibility, expenses and potential to incite meaningful interactions that weren't highly dependent on individuals.As we progressed with Connectico, we refined the design to address any areas where our original design scored below satisfactory in our decision matrix, ensuring it effectively met both user needs and SDG 11 objectives for safe, inclusive, and accessible urban spaces.

• Researching our Market

For our investigation, we decided to use mixed methodologies to provide an in-depth insight into the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of young adults in Sydney. The methods we chose, particularly interviews and online ethnography, bring a voice to our users, allowing us to explore more niche yet significant areas of this problem. In addition to this, naturalistic observation and surveying provided a behavioural and statistical outlook on public spaces and the ways our users interact with them.

• Online ethnographies
• Interviews
• Surveys
• observation

• Testing

• User testing
• Expert testing

Testing fair takeaways
We evaluated our testing results through post test surveys and SUS surveys.
Our final SUS score was 78.75Design Implementations
• We iterated the form factor of the physical installation, improving the integration into public spaces
• The UI for the homepage was redeveloped to be less crowded and act more like a landing page
• A dedicated space for users to scroll through prompt was added the the navigation bar

• Our Solution

By aligning with SDG 11, Connectico revitalises urban spaces, encouraging people to connect through installations that enhance the social functionality of locations like bus stops, parks, cafés, and libraries.These installations, tailored to fit their specific environments, transform overlooked spots into meaningful social hubs, offering prompt-based interactions and hosting events that bring communities together.Connectico combats loneliness by helping individuals meet new people and nurture these connections through prompts, messaging, and events. It also serves as a convenient third space for existing friends to gather, creating accessible public spaces away from home and work where they can relax together. This approach transforms under-utilised urban locations into lively, engaging areas, adding vibrancy to the greater Sydney region.

Package design
To prototype the box element of the packaging, i used fusion 360 to replicate the design. The design had to reworked in order to comply with manufacturing (laser cutting).

Chocolate design
The chocolate element was also developed in Fusion 360 for 3D printing. The 3D printed design was then vacuum sealed which made the mould for the chocolates to be made from.

3D Rendering
For advertising, I put the models into blender and applied procedural textures on them to develop a render for an ad campaign for the chocolates.