A lighted path 

We were given the challenge- a well known travel company want to enter a new product area, and develop a product for portable light in private home environment. It should include core values that the company represents.  The product should make itself  enjoyable, and maybe help your user to find their way, in the dusk and dark. The company wants the product to attract new consumer groups in new markets. I decided to create a hand held flashlight service, easily reached by web, app interface or spoken communication. You simply pick up the flashlight at a near station, and a light will guide your way. It is a lighted path service. 

TARGET GROUP Men and women, 20-25 year olds

LIMITATIONS Need to be hand held and needs to provide light

WORK MODE Group work for ideating concepts, individual work for developing your own concept.

TEAM MEMBERS Dan Robinson, Mindy Lee, Keyur Jain

SKILLS Prototyping in foam, service development, ethnographic user studies, method

Momondo is a well known or up and coming travel company aiming towards a business and youth population. It brands itself as a "mood traveling guide" and you can similar to Spotify choose your trip with the help of typing in your current mood. 

The site then calculates what is the best trip for you to make , depending on your mood at the moment, which was an inspiration for me and my concept. 

The team started out with a brainstorming session after defining the brand DNA. We were assigned  a target group of young adults with 20 years of age. We ideated on what excites them and what motivates them. We wanted to keep it quite broad at the beginning and not let our self be biased. We had good insights from staff at Umea Institute of Design in how to conduct quality semi- structured interviews, and went for user research with questions regarding travels habits, motivations and flashlights. See result: 

I developed three concepts, one about solar powered energy for Australian van travelers, and also one jewelery inspired projector to bring with you since young people like to share moments and display them on walls. My third concept was about the city bike *inspiration, where people could lend a light just as this service. Evaluation was carried out in the group on each others concepts, with the method Harris Profile. 

I chose to go on with the light service concept since it was an opportunity to be an adaptable system, nature inspired and adaptable for smart cities. A travel service like this can easily be connected to the Momondo brand. It is also a new and innovative idea. Target group for nature exploration is perhaps older, but depending on interest. It could easily be connected to social media of some kind and very much be adaptable to a younger age group such as 25 year old who like to explore. 

. 

For the sketches and foam models, I assimilated the lights to be directed from the front, the sides of the head and at the bottom, where you also can attach a flexible band for attaching the flash light. I also imagined a rotating wheel for a dimmer function

"If it is easy accessible, as if I would walk by it on my Sunday walk and I could just pick up the light, then I would use it."

-  user, 26

We user tested our concepts with workshop and small focus groups with people in age 20-30 years old. 

The form and handle comfortable for most users, and they preferred it small in size. The common comments from evaluation was that the concept was interesting, but many were not sure if they would take the initiative to go hiking. It seemed to depend on the user motivation versus accessibility, since many of them instantly mentioned that they would "go out in the nature so much more if this existed". The users gave me incentives that I could make it in to an emergency system as well. From now on the design work was individual. 

With the user comments and needs in mind and when the final prototype was ready, I iterated more about the system of the service. 

- The system and light should be safe and connected to some kind of alarm system if something goes wrong

-Adaptable for nature travel, it should guide your path as a torch in the darkness *for the exploratory person

I decided to make the service mood- and color based, since this is something research and user test proved to work for our target group. I also wanted to adapt to the Momondo brand DNA- which carries similar elements. Linking tourism to the concept, in shape of a service, felt natural from this point. 

FOR THE FUTURE

 It is a social incentive for unmotivated users to go out in the nature. It also can be seen as guidance system for a broad range of outdoor user groups. It is mood based, and could be developed for cities as a tourist guidance system and rescue system.  The beneficial part is the social factor, the system makes it very easy to hike. A young person can easily connect with their phone, and then hike with a navigation 30 minutes later while reaching the first station.