We were challenged to come up with an original and playful way to navigate through an area – with Dundee in mind.

We wanted to create something exciting and engaging that broke away from the norm of getting from A to B in the fastest possible way. We wanted away to experience the city to encourage looking around. To begin out process we done a brainstorm of ideas putting our initial thoughts onto paper

We came up with some areas of focus:

– Lights – a light guided tour to your destination

– Signs – create deliberately ambiguous signs need to see if you trust their direction.

– Rating – A location search curated by residents, they give the real knowledge i.e. The best place to buy a sausage roll, the gap in the fence that take five minutes off your walk.

-Stars – Teach to navigate with stars, thoughts of audio visual tours with some augmented realty element.

As a pair we found ourselves quickly focusing on the Ratings ad Stars based ideas. We began to further develop both ideas. We got to a stage with a wall integrated ratings screen for the public to use and edit, however we decided to continue with the stars-based system.

We came up with some initial concept ideas for the Stars idea, one using an audio tour to make you learn your position in reference. But we felt that it would be better to create something the user could use to visualise the consolations above and around them.

Idea 1: A shelter built that the user can walk into and look up to see a screen overlaying the star signs.

Idea 2: A device that attaches onto lamp posts around the city using clear poly carbonate with LEDs inlayed into them that would light up to match the current consolation above it.

Idea 3: A structure built that would allow the user to move a screen around and using augmented reality would show that star signs and supply facts about each one as well as teaching them how to use the information to navigate. Took inspiration from the devices on the Empire state buildings and the Star systems apps for phones.

With all the ideas we thought about implementing a game element to it were the user would be challenged to find a certain consolation and would have to use what they’ve learned about that stars to find the correct one.

We continued to develop the lamp post idea, we felt that this idea would be the easiest to implement and that it would get a lot of public interest as it would be usable by almost anyone.

We modelled up the idea to work out scale and design, we weren’t happy with the current concept but felt that it was too basic and that there were aspects missing. We liked the idea we were using already existing public structures however there was very little interaction there was with it. This is when we thought of using Phone boxes. After some research we found plenty dotted around Dundee and that BT the owners will happily sell the Phone box and its land to you, and that they are commonly on board with restoration projects of the phone boxes. So, this seemed like a feasible idea.

When around Dundee we took photos of the Phone boxes to work out idea on how to change it:

We immediately thought of bringing in the Immersive parts of Idea 1, and the interactive side of Idea 2. We wanted to convert the ceiling of the phone box into the star-scape and have some sort of interactive element that would allow them to learn about the stars.

We decided on the concept that the user would interact with a screen they could input their destination, the screen would then show them the star signs and show them how to use them to get to their destination. This would take people to the early form of navigation and teach them how they done it hundreds of years ago. After the user has found out the consolation they need they will be able to look at the ceiling of the phone box and on that it will show them the consolation that they need to follow and make it easier to visualise. This ceiling aspect will also create an immersive, playful and attractive experience that would hopefully draw public attention and would mean that more people would come and learn about the stars. With the ultimate idea being that people are looking up to the sky instead of down at their phones when going somewhere.

The Roof:

We decided to change the roof design when compared to the original phone box this creates a clear difference in the phone boxes and creates intrigue from a distance.

We done several Models of almost random ideas.We loved the idea of drawing people’s attention from a distance but creating this un-natural and almost alien form and began to come up with ideas based around this.

We then settled on a Geometric Design, we felt it was the best looking and had a playful and Intriguing geometric shape.

The Interface:

 

We played around with these ideas for a while, the first design is simple. We felt that this would be easier to interact with but could be boring. The second idea has a round screen and a stylised version of the solar system, we felt that this was more fun and would attract more people to it and decided to opt for this. We also played around with different Input methods from using sextants (star navigation devices) to using retro gaming peripherals but ultimately felt that  it would be a more user friendly experience just to use a touchscreen.

The Final Model:

 

We decided to make two scale models of phone boxes to show the changes and how it would sit in reference to another phone box in the paired configuration. The Model is made from balsa wood sticks, card, advertisements, bubble wrap and Blue (Grey) foam that was sanded, filled and painted. We also placed a card along with it that shows the different stages of the interface and its design.

Renders:

Model and Renders Carried done on Autodesk Inventor.

Next I took may partners 3D Renders and Photo-shopped them into photos of Dundee.