DESIGN X CULTURES

NaimCarbajal
13 min readFeb 21, 2022
Design X Cultures

Course Description

The class and I will be working cross-culturally through collaborative projects with international students from a university program in Europe. We will be researching European design values and discussing with students from Finland and the University of Oulu while also presenting American design values. Towards the end, we will be showcasing one full extensive communication design project that will demonstrate our completed research.

FINLAND PRESENTATION

January 22, 2022

To start the semester as a whole class we individually had to research our friends from Finland to learn an interesting fact about their arts and culture and present it to the class. I took the approach of learning the difference between Finns and Americans in how they present themselves as individuals and their communication style. It helps to learn how to approach and learn to communicate with someone from a different country that way there won’t be any miscommunication or barriers.

presentation

US ART + CULTURE

January 25, 2022

We had to do some research on our own country’s art and culture on what we found to be interesting or what we pride ourselves on. Ironically this was a little challenging to decide on a topic to research because since America is broad and it’s a mix of arts and cultures; I had to narrow it down to my personal experience and opportunities I’ve gone through as an “Alien” here in my country as a Hispanic.

presentation

TEXAS ART + CULTURE

January 27, 2022

As a class, we had to research the state in which we reside currently which is Texas, and had to present something interesting about the arts and culture here. Like the U.S, it is down since Texas alone is a broad state compared to the others. I went ahead and chose the topic of language since there are so many dialects that have developed here in Texas; among them is Spanglish.

presentation

USA + TEXAS RESEARCH

February 01, 2022

We had to compile 3 key facts that people automatically think of when they hear of the U.S and Texas following along with a scientific description explaining why this is true. Then after our research, I got the pleasure to be paired with my team members Monique, Toby, and Melissa; to discuss our facts and find commonalities between them and narrow them down to a unifying theme.

USA + TEXAS FINAL PRESENTATION

February 17, 2022

With my team members Monique, Toby, and Melissa we finished compiling our presentation about the various entertainment in America. We will be showcasing it to our friends from Finland as an introduction for the upcoming weekend at Capital Factory in downtown Austin before we jumpstart our megatrends with them from February 19th — 20th.

Categories:· Tv & Film, Sports, Music, and Live Entertainment

presentation

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION & TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGHS (MEGATREND) 3 Day Start-up

February 19, 2022

Team: Nick jones, Kristan Kamacho, and kylie Crissman

Finland team: Juuso Kumpula, Juulia laitinen, Lauri Kaikkonen, and Jona Hokki

Today was the first day of our three-day startup for our megatrends which we got to be paired with our assigned groups according to the megatrend topic we individually had an interest in researching. We started from eight in the morning to one in the afternoon. It was a five-hour process of ideation, brainstorming, and prototyping that was broken down into one-hour increments. We went a little past the scheduled time, but it was okay because everybody had great feedback and questions to provide to the teams. My team and I started with mapping the design space by brainstorming the array of opportunities for our megatrend design. After mapping our design space, we dove into technology’s pain points and opportunities as it keeps expanding more and more each year.

We are codependent on technology for almost all day-to-day tasks which are essential for us to navigate our lives in this present state. But what if there was a way in which technology could be a best friend or buddy in the sense that it checks up on you or notifies you on your current state to make sure that you have accomplished what you set out to do but that your health is in good shape. If tech companies provide these products for us to purchase and use that they should also be responsible for notifying the user on how to stay mentally well since tech can also be disastrous to the mind varying on the individual of course. But with intention and validity, it can be delivered effectively in enhancing wellness and mindfulness for the user. So, to wrap up our brainstorming for the day, we framed our “how might we question”: How might we utilize technology to enhance wellness and mindfulness?

Brainstorm
how might we

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION & TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGHS (MEGATREND) 3 Day Start-up

February 20, 2022

Team: Nick jones, Kristan Kamacho, and kylie Crissman

Finland team: Juuso Kumpula, Juulia laitinen, Lauri Kaikkonen, and Jona Hokki

Goal: How might we utilize technology to enhance wellness and mindfulness?

To start the day, we gathered with our teams and had the time to interact and meet our Finland friends in teams as well as discuss our design ideas with one another. After our meet and greet and giving each other feedback on our projects, my team got inspired by our Finland team’s concept of a “school of humanity” which consisted of an AI robot that came out of the assembly line and got a place in school and would be taught and experience human emotions on the same level as we do. From here we moved on to working on our future wheel which consisted of us putting our goal into a circle and making three branches that had our implications, and then we had to imagine more implications within each category to explore both negative and positive outcomes from each node of a dystopian/utopian consequence. We ended with 3 possible solutions that we could venture into with our concept which all fall under the emotion/feeling umbrella. After discussing with our Finland friends and our classmates, they agreed that we could combine them into extensions of one another to deliver a sense of mindfulness and wellness for the user.

Possible Solutions

· AD/EDG

· AI Robot

· App/Integrated System

DEBRIEFING + REFINING HMW (HOW MIGHT WE)

February 24, 2022

Today we gathered within our groups from last weekend to continue working on our proposed solutions and frame how might we question, so that way we can narrow down our topic to one main question that embodies the whole scope of the proposed problem. Of course, the how might we question will continue to shift as we move forward and continue to gather more research on who our audience is, what’s out there already, and how it’s being used. As a team, we already framed our how might we this past weekend, so we went ahead and started framing questions for our primary research and to do some secondary research over the weekend. This way we can narrow down our scope to a target audience.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

March 01, 2022

As a group, we started discussing more on our primary research and secondary research with articles we read throughout the weekend and shared feedback on what we found interesting. After our discussion, it helped us frame our survey questions more to figure out what we want to gather from the questions and to go back to why we’re doing this which is the mindfulness and wellness of technological use.

survey data

As a group, we went over our survey data and feedback and highlighted the main key takeaways of information that had similar commonalities with an underlying problem. The most common problem was that most people took a break from their devices once they started feeling the effects of too much screen time or physical and mental drainage. Overall, 49% of people spent about 5–10 hours per day on their devices, but 76% believe that 0–5 hours per day is the healthiest time to spend on our devices. After discussing and analyzing our data we were able to frame another “how might we” and this question encapsulates the current problem according to the results which is how might we reduce the overuse of devices?

how might we

After that, we started discussing and sharing how much screen time we individually spend on a daily and weekly basis, and it was impressively shocking to see how much time goes into our mobile devices and certain apps. We started by notating that this may be used as part of our research to guide us in the right direction for our main how might we=utilize technology to enhance wellness and mindfulness? This could open the door to seeing if maybe there’s more of a problem with our handheld devices that we need to explore more.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

March 08, 2022

To expand on our secondary research Kristan was able to get some insight into an existing business that already exists and is on a similar path to what our goal is.

OBSERVATION RESEARCH

March 09, 2022

It was a gorgeous day to sit outside enjoying the campus view while getting some vitamin d from the sun. As I was sitting outdoors, I went ahead and pulled my notepad and started noting down how many students had their phones in their hands along with earphones or smartwatches as they went along to their next class. Most of them had their phones, whether listening to music, messaging as they walk, or just having a device in their hand. It was surprising to notice how attached we are to our devices that it’s not even a question to put them away for even just a second.

Nowadays people can’t go without their phone or put it down for a bit because if they’re in a public space they may feel as if they’re alone or vulnerable without it. So, they turn to their close companion, their device, to make it seem as if they’re not alone but technically they still are.

CURRENT PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

March 10, 2022

Detail: creative outcomes

  • AD/guerilla marketing
  • App
  • Google Home/Lexa voice over

As a group, we started brainstorming which creative approach would be best suited to showcase our messaging in stopping over usage of devices. We will be exploring all three options and ideating sketches and coming up with some prototypes to visually see how it would function and if it would be easier for the user to understand.

BRAND NAME

We also went ahead and brainstormed together ideas on a possible brand name that encapsulates our long-term goal of reducing over usage of devices. So, after exploring definitions and meanings we narrowed down on the name “Plug Off” because it’s direct, modern, and simple in meaning.

brainstorming
brand name

BRAINSTORMING

March 21, 2022

Detail: AD/EGD sketch

For this approach, we are wanting to create a guerilla Ad that can be interactive with which the user can engage. It would be compiled of multiple phones that would display our messaging, then it would switch to our logo “plug off” which would have a motion graphic that would end with our app in the center of the screens.

sketch

Detail: mobile roughs

Nick came up with some sketches for the mobile prototype and the content it could contain to deliver our message.

mobile roughs

PEER MENTORING WITH THE FINNISH TEAM

March 22, 2022

Today we met virtually with our Finnish teams and presented a quick rundown of our presentation to hopefully get more insight if the overuse of devices is a problem in Finland and any overall feedback, we can takeaway to refine our project and prototypes.

Detail: feedback

Problem overall

Q: Is this a problem in Finland

A: It’s a Problem in Finland and everywhere

Screentime function

Q: do you use the screentime feature or any other app for your phone for that function?

Mira:

“I don’t know, I haven’t really ventured into those settings; It’s hidden in the settings”.

  • So, unless the person doesn’t know or take the initiative to do that they won’t know or be informed about how to step back and take a break or be more mindful of their mental awareness.
  • Social media equals endless scrolling and that’s all people do for no reason.
  • Is more wishful thinking — why am I watching this instead
  • FOMO= Fear of Missing Out
  • Businesses want to make a profit, so they create algorithms to just keep you on there.

Indicator Idea

Jonathan

“Indicators are a good idea to implement because they would impact people and their behavior”.

  • letting them know about the screen time
  • You have been on your screen for 5hrs
  • Have you been mostly on Instagram — want to step back?
  • Want to keep listening to music?
  • Want to continue on YouTube you’ve been on here for 3 hours

Challenges:

  • Technically it may be hard to monitor consistently screen time.
  • Notifications would have to have a balance that is not annoying to the user.
  • People would just tend to swipe the notifications off so the user could get annoyed and then they would delete the app.

Opportunities:

  • Maybe by adding an element of cuteness people would be more engaged with it or find it appealing.
  • Or making a system in which the devices can converse with the user which adds another element to it instead of just another app.

IDEATION

March 29, 2022

Detail: AD/EGD prototype

Here is a digital prototype of what we’re envisioning the advertisement to be and how it would possibly look if it were to be placed in public.

Detail: mobile prototype

Here are some high-fidelity wireframes Nick did that showcase features of what would be displayed for the user which we converted visually from our research data.

PEER MENTORING WITH THE FINNISH TEAM #2

April 05, 2022

Detail: refinements

After our group discussion with the Finnish teams and professor Karolina we went back and refined our color palette for our mobile prototype and explored more ideas for advertising that could showcase our message more impactful along with different types of activities as well.

before
after

We updated the color palette to a more vibrant one because from Karolina’s perspective she saw them as dark church colors and for someone who lives in an area that’s usually colder and gloomy throughout the year, it would make her feel more depressed to see dark/cool colors on an app that is supposed to make you feel more motivated.

advertisement #1 by Kylie Crissman

BRAND ID #1

April 07, 2022

Detail: brand messaging

We started to flush out the brand voice and who our main target audience is, that way we can have a clear pathway of how we should approach our messaging to have a successful deliverance. We wanted to approach it as if we were an individual who talks to the person and what we would say to get their attention.

advertisement #2 by Kylie Crissman

RUNDOWN

April 12, 2022

Detail: refinements

After doing a rundown of our current presentation with Professor Claudia we got some amazing feedback on making our message clearer and more understandable to the audience and defining the problem even more. We all agreed that time is a common factor when it comes to people allocating it in various ways throughout their day. Then the question was brought up on “what is the one thing that we can’t buy in a store” and it is… time!

common factor

TEAMWORK ON BRAND ID #2

April 14, 2022

Detail: deliverables

  • Mobile
  • Social media
  • merch
mobile by Nick Jones
social media by Kristan Camacho
merchandise by Kristan Camacho
Guerilla Advertisement

FINAL TOUCHUPS

April 19–21, 2022

Detail: video + presentation

We decided to take the original thought of an individual talking to another person and incorporate it into the video to deliver on the hook of capturing the audience’s attention. Then following that we would explain “why and how” we’re doing it through our presentation.

descriptions

FINAL PITCH WITH OULU UNIVERSITY!!!

April 26, 2022

Detail: video + final presentation

This is it! We got to showcase our video and final pitch to our whole class and the students from Oulu through zoom and OMG were there some amazing presentations from both ends. It was a fantastic semester and experience to cross-culturally collaborate with students from a different university and country along with our teammates.

Our brains are already programmed to reach for our devices especially when we hear the ping notification.

video promo by Nick Jones
brand name
brand mission

THANK YOU.

Naim Carbajal- Research project manager
Nick Jones- UX/UI & motion graphic lead
Kristan Camacho- Primary researcher
Kylie Crissman- Secondary researcher

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NaimCarbajal

Hello, my name is Naim, an Alumni from Texas State University; I have a passion for exploring user experience design.