It’s hard not to be underwhelmed by a product that we already had a good idea of what it would be, especially if you’ve ever used an iPhone. But aside from there being little surprises, and an arguably terrible name (there’s nothing poetic about iPad), what I find more interesting are services the device will enable.

I work for Nokia, so I’m either working on or analyzing new service opportunities created by mobile devices. I’ve been using an iPhone since 2007. At this point, the phone itself is no longer what impresses me. It’s the services that others have built on top of the platform that continue to impress. It’s the same for Nokia devices. Sure, our phones have some pretty solid technology. But it’s the services that mobile devices enable that are really compelling. Nokia Life Tools, which provides agriculture, education, and entertainment services in emerging markets, is a good example. So is a mobile service I worked on last year to help HIV positive youth take their medication.

And While the iPad isn’t marketed to address agricultural issues for farmers or medication adherence for HIV positive youth, I cannot help but wonder what services this new device (and I predict future devices much like it) — somewhere between a mobile phone and laptop — will enable given its size, portability, slick interface, and robust application delivery platform. So while the iPad seems somewhat predictable, the new services it will enable are not. And that, I find exciting.

For a few months now, as I’ve driven from the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, I’ve passed a billboard advertising the LG Dare on Verizon’s network. The slogan, “Dare to experience the best 3G network,” always makes me cringe a little bit, because to me it means Verizon doesn’t get it.

Is a network an experience? Currently, perhaps, yes. But in the future, definitely no.

I realize we’re still perfecting mobile infrastructure, but that’s all it is: a conduit. It’s like electricity (or the Internet), which at this point everyone expects to just work. Essentially, that’s what Verizon advertises: “It’s the network.” It works well. And yes, the network is likely the best in the United States. As someone who traveled across the country recently, visiting some remote areas, Verizon was the service that continued to work the most (AT&T, not so much).

But if the network works, then it’s invisible. Hence, not an experience. As mobile connectivity improves and moves increasingly toward working invisibly, like electricity, the experience of its network that Verizon currently pushes as its main sell becomes negligible.

This makes me question the real experience that Verizon should be selling: the touch screen LG Dare. And since that’s not what is being advertised, I can only imagine I would not care to dare experience the thing that actually offers one.

Mobile Media Life was a collaborative project with Motorola to explore imaging, communicating, visualizing, and viewing in everyday life. The goal was to help people become skilled at enjoying, producing and interacting with rich media at work, school, or play thorough new interfaces and services on mobile devices.

This purpose of this project was to design the concept for a consumer product that Motorola could develop and deliver to market within the next five years. The product is to be designed for people living in the United States and between the ages of 13 and 25. It should give people new opportunities to experience media on mobile devices.

Our Solution: Motoroo

MotoRoo is a touch-screen mobile phone coupled with a service that allows members to share media. Users can see what media their friends are watching or listening to, and they can also access this media through the phone. This allows friends to share their television, music, internet, and video preferences in an interactive way.

Users are also able to view or listen to media together, and interactive video and text enhance this experience.

Team

• Carrie Chan
  Interaction Design
• Melissa Clarkson
  Communication Planning & Information Design
• Jamin Hegeman
  Interaction Design
• Carisa Sirak
  Business Administration

Process

Research included in-home interviews.

Diagramming our research findings to discover patterns and opportunities.

Artifact produced during a participatory design session where participants were asked to model the self.

Participatory design social networking map.

Sketch from a concept scenario.

Wireframes documenting a particular scenario flow.

GoCoffee was a result of a project for John Zimmerman’s Interaction and Visual Interface Design course in fall 2006. A Cooperesque persona and scenario drove the design process.

We used research from interviews to develop the persona. In addition, we created a flow diagram and wire frames based on the scenario.

Our final presentation included a Flash movie demonstrating the interface. A FlashLite file was also created to assess the look and feel on a mobile platform.

GoCoffee Team

• Jamin Hegeman
  Interaction Design
• Rachel Kurpiel
  Interactive Media Management
• Kipum Lee
  Interaction Design

Deliverables

• Demonstration

Process

We categorized the finding of the user research to help identify patterns.

We used a flow diagram to better understand the iteration for our scenario.

We created wireframes to prototype the interface and conduct think-alouds.

For tomorrow’s class, which begins in six hours, my mobile project team will be presenting our paper prototypes.

Again, if you haven’t been paying attention, we’re creating a mobile application to help people find a coffee shop. Our persona travels often and really likes coffee, but not just any coffee or coffee shop. Our man is concerned with quality.

Based on the feedback we got from the wire frames and flow diagram, we revised our persona and scenario a bit, and made some modification to the wire frames. And then we just let the wire frames inform our prototypes. It actually seemed rather simple.

One of my team members was charged with mocking up the prototypes, and he did a fine job.

When it comes time to turn these guys into Flash that we’ll load onto a mobile phone for the some testing, that’s where I come in.

In the meantime, we’ll probably find out we’re not framing the problem incorrectly. But at least our prototypes look pretty, and that’s what design is all about.