Navigation in 2018 is heavily dominated by Google Maps, and for good reasons. They have maps all over the world, it is fast, simple and free. But it has it’s downsides, we, the users, get so focused on going the right way and religiously fallowing our phones, that we forget to look around and actually enjoy our surroundings, even if that is exactly what we went for. And it often ends up being stressfull. So we wanted to make navigation fun and interactive, to allow people to be off their phones and enjoy their trip, even when going to a new place.

Adriana, Jacob and I went on a walk around town talking and brainstorming, Adriana and I both moved here from out of seas, and Jacob has moved around the UK all his life, so we were all acquainted with moving to a new city and planning to stay there for a longer period of time.

As we walked around we realised that one of the things we used most when coming to a new place is finding places to eat and drink etc. And that particular feature in google/trip advisor is rarely sufficient. It rarely includes half the opportunities in a city (we know this from our own) and you are often not able to specify what you are looking for etc.

This is when we came up with Navigation Recommendations, a pin you could put on your clothes and it would tell you directions by little flaps indicating your directions and when you walk around the city recommendations will pop up on your phone.

Once we had the basic idea for our project we went back and started brainstorming on it, to come up with designs and hone the idea.

Initial Sketches

After developing on the details of our idea, we started playing with physical prototypes, made of grey foam. The prototypes served as an indicator of size and wear. We wanted the final product to be something we would want to use ourselves. This is also what drew us to make the product as a pin, since it can be used and worn in many ways, on a ring, bracelet, necklace or as a pin.

Foam prototype develepment

Since we were all doing individual 3D renderings, we wanted to take the opportunity to make different designs of the product, to be able to give a larger range of jewellery. I went on a walk in Victoria Park for inspiration, because I was still not satisfied with my idea. I found it too clumsy. So we took a day off for inspiration.

Secend inspiration sketching 

We then decided to pick out our favourite ideas. And start learning the Rhino program, to be able to create our prototypes in 3D. I chose to do a pin inspired by (name of metal grid toy) it will be very versatile since the grid can be changed into whatever pattern the user would want to wear, when not getting navigations. It would also be able to write in Braille and help visually impaired get around to new destinations, which is otherwise very hard for them without a guide.

Renderings of design.

Adriana chose to do a rotating half circle, that would indicate directions. She then later changed it to have an arrow on the half circle. It can be used for everyone since it has no language and is very intuitive to use.

Adriana’s prototype

At this point, we had also changed the name of the product to Where2. It was shorter and more playful. We describe our end concept as a fashionable gadget that A fashionable gadget that will navigate you and give you recommendations on whatever you are looking for in the area. We were then ready to do our elevator speech with the help of our concept board.