Riccardo De Mei

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO Riccardo De Mei Service / UX / Product Designer

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I. love.

Design.

Or rather, I love to give the world new chances and meanings through creativity.

HI, NICE TO MEET YOU! I was born and raised in Rome. After I completed my Bachelor’s degree at European Institute of Design, I moved to Florence.

I studied Product Design because of my facination with the reason why objects have their shapes, but I gradually realized that I am more interested by the “empty space between objects and users”.

This “empty space” encompass sensations, needs and identites. It is what brings users to choose a particular product or service.

So, I realized that I love to project experiences: products, as services, vehicle theese experiences to users.

I love brainstorming strategising, teamwork, Design Thinking and all the tools that allow us to empatize with the users and maximize the results of any creative process.

So, go ahead and have a brouse through my projects!

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I love icons.

Or rather, I love to express concepts through icons.

Icon are immediate, and encompass a broad range of meanings.

Therefore I designed most of the icons in this portfolio.

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Project index: .01

.02

.03

.04

1. Introduction 2. Main questions 3. The E-bike 4. The Community Hub

1. Introduction 2. Smart Unit UX/UI renewal 3. App UX/UI renewal

1. Introduction 2. Engaging UX/UI 3. Communication UX/UI

1. Introduction 2. Our “level up” strategy 3. Graphic samples 4. Video-frame samples 5. Website

SVOLTA E-BIKE SHARING

IRSAP NOW 2.0

NATURE EXPERIENCE PARK

ERRE PUNTO

START

FREE FLOATING E-BIKE SHARING SERVICE FOR ROME

This is my graduation project at IED, in collaboration with Zehus, Legambiente and Comune di Roma.

I developed it as a Product Designer acting like an art director, building a team made of:

PRODUCT DESIGNERS Development of the Bike, Service Design.

INTERIOR DESIGNERS Development of “Punto di Svolta”, the service’s community hub.

MEDIA DESIGNERS Development of the App.

COMMUNICATION DESIGNERS Development of naming, communication strategies and animations.

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Development of logo, color palette and animations.

Our aim was to solve the big bike usage problem in Rome, proposing to citizen their best fitting experience as possible.

We wanted to be the creators of a new cycling lifestyle in Rome.

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?!

First of all, we started with our main question, interviewing random but targeted people in Rome to build our “personas”:

WHO AND WHERE ARE WE PROPOSING “SVOLTA”? ?

?

Roman users are skeptical about bike usage in Rome.

The orography of Rome is unfavourable to bike riding: moreover, streets aren’t smooth.

Romans imply bike usage as a way to ignore traffic and reach their destinations quickly.

One of our project partner was “Zehus”, an innovative electronic bike engine startup from Milan: when we mentioned it to interviewed people, it solved most of our previous practical problems.

Therefore, the new question was:

HOW CAN WE PENETRATE A SKEPTICAL MARKET?

...

We realized that what we need to persuade skeptical users to join our service was to create a circular economy based on the introductions of “Bike Coins”, to reward customer’s loyalty: they could collect BC riding our bikes around the city. There coins or tokens could be used to represents discounts in multi-targeted partner realities like theatres, bowlings, cinemas, fast foods, ecc.

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Unfortunately, I can’t share deeper service details.

They were about different BC collecting dynamics, designed to optimize the impact of the service to the whole economy of Rome.

Moreover, there were strategies to earn money from these dynamics, in addition to user’s bike rental incomings.

This is the bike we projected: it is engineered to maximize the User Experience during the ride, both from ergonomical and social aspects (for example, the different wheel rims color is linked to the recognizability of the Brand among the streets): In our opinion, it is one of the main factors that can define the success or the failure of the whole service.

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I also took part on the concept setting of “Punto di Svolta”, the service’s building situated in the 9th paviollion of the “Ex-Mattatoio”, an historic spot in Rome.

Our aim was to create a space that could allow our community growth with co-working open spaces, private office rooms, a big presentation set and a restaurant/bar.

It was designed to boost our Brand Identity strenght, proposing our service as a new lifestyle for citizens of Rome: in fact, most of the services available here (for example co-working desk rental) were directly linked to our service’s Bike Coin consuption.

2nd

CHAPTER

NOW 2.0

RENEWAL OF A SMART HOME HEATING SYSTEM

This project was commissioned by IRSAP: their engineers and marketers shown us marketing problems of their existent system and launched a University challenge to renew it, innovating its User Experience in the whole lyfe-cycle of the product.

After an intense benchmarking phase, I focused on aspects that benefitted competitors and I tried to developed strategies to better apply them redesigning this IRSAP new system of products.

B

FROM: Too expensive

All - in - one

Bad device UX/UI

Bad App UX/UI

Modular price

User-combinable components

Better device UX/UI

Better App UX/UI

C

A

Briefly, this system was based on Satellite Units (A) placed on home existing radiators: they are in network through a Connection Unit (B), and singularly remote controllable to optimize energy consumption and temperature through a Smart Unit (C) or an App.

TO:

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SMART UNIT DESIGN & UX/UI IMPROVEMENT:

One of the market obstacles was the lack of the no-pressure touchscreen technlogy: it was too expensive.

I investigated the problem, and I scaled it into 3 gestures: tap, vertical and horizontal scroll.

I designed the device’s shape to allow the same experience throgh the cheaper trackpad technology.

I also re-designed the UX diagram, optimizing its usability: for example, the heating of a selected room now requires 4 step instead of 8.

activate

back

back

scroll & set

scroll & select

activate

scroll & select

Example of a specific room heating UX diagram:

back

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APP UX/UI IMPROVEMENT:

The app was really methodic and UI wasn’t attractive.

Moreover, there were too many steps to carry out for each action, setted in boring scroll menus.

I focused particularly on two main funtionalities: monitoring the house and heating specific rooms. I mixed them in one multifunctional interface. [shown in the figure below]

To have a better monitoring experience, users will enjoy a (sort of) house plan.

Why don’t we use the same content creating gesture as Instagram stories?

Users will be able to check their house heating situation in a blink of an eye, and they can also rapidly operate on each room with one single tap.

3rd

CHAPTER

A proverb from Navajo people says:

“We don’t inherit Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”

NATURE EXPERIENCE PARK

A sustainable world is possibile if:

Innovation processes are It’s a summary of driven by nature. autosufficient systems.

People enjoy being sustainable.

In our path, we develop these values by:

Exploiting technology to allow nature express itself.

Using the Solar energy of energy and re-using wasted water.

Allowing people to relax and have fun.

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THE PROJECT:

Focusing on the smart table, it solves one of the main problems:

We found out three principles according to which a sustainable world is possible: therefore, we developed our project transfering them to the experience given by the interaction between users and our park components (a smart fountain, a “green hub” and a smart table).

How to engage people in our park?

Experiences has pro-environmental aims: for example, green LED light games on the “green hub” prove the plant’s air cleaning action and the waterfall’s flow stop - if too much water is being wasted - makes people aware about the water shortage theme.

Moreover, the park offers entertainment to users, letting them play a wide range of electronic games on the touchable surface of the smart-table.

The park is an autosufficient system: it stocks solar energy with photovoltaic panels and it waters plants with wastewater, which is collected in a big tank placed under the fountain. The only input from the city is fresh drinking water.

...

SYSTEM:

SMART TABLE UI:

I WON!

USER CENTERED

Power on

1 vs. 1

1 vs. CPU DISCOVER

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Furthermore, a web-app will explain to users what happens around them: they only have to tap on the notification that will appear on their smartphones through the Google Maps system as soon as they enter in the park, or scan QR codes placed on components if they are already inside or they simply want a second-check.

WEB APP UX/UI: www.natureexperiencepark/w Scopri il green hub >...

Discover how green hub works :

We undestood that we needed a digital interface because the light-games communication wasn’t uniquely understandable without a sort of “decodification code�.

On the other hand, we also knew that nobody would have downloaded a specific APP to know those information: we could have brought also environmental information given by Nuvap sensors built in smart components, but Google offers a quite similar service so users however wouldn’t have downloaded an App. So:

How to make users aware of what happens around them?

How to facilitate digital interaction without an APP?

www.natureexperiencepark/w ...

Scopri il green hub > www.natureexperiencepark/w ...

Scopri il green hub > www.natureexperiencepark/w ...

Discover how green hub works :

Discover how green hub works :

Same experie when you clic and “smart ta When lights are green, it means that plants are cleaning air.

Plants always clean air, but nobody sees them: now you know who’s due to if you can breath clean air!

When they turn blue, it means that the hub is filling with recycled water, taken from the big tank hidden under the fountain.

When they turn yellow, it means that the hub is sending energy to the smart table: in fact, it stocks solar energy taken by the photovoltaic panel on its top.

Water shortage is nowadays one of the biggest environmental problems, let’s care about it!

Sustainable energy resources are nowadays a main theme about sustainability: if you can play with the table, is thanks to the sun!

www.natureexperiencepark/w ...

Welcome to Nature Experience Park

Discover how fountain works >

animation keeps playing automatically

[example 1] tap on “green hub�: animation starts

?

Discover how green hub works >

Discover how smart table works >

park data >

[example 2] tap on “discover park data�

Select the parameter

www.natureexperiencepark/w ...

Scopri il green hub >

read more informations about selected parameter

www.natureexperiencepark/w ...

Scopri il green hub >

www.natureexperiencepark/w ...

Scopri il green hub >

Discover abou PM10:

About air pollution : Powered by:

Powered by:

Powered by:

About temperature >

tap on notification

Same experien you click on “t “umidity� and

PM 10

22 Âľg/m3 About umidity >

About air pollution >

PM 10

PM 2.5

?

22 Âľg/m3

14 Âľg/m3

?

?

PM 10 is a polluting particle that is inhaled by humans in their first respiratory tracks (nose, throat and larynx).

CO2

It is toxic, and its concentration increases during autumuns/winter when house heating systems are switched on.

O3

120 Âľg/m3

10 mg/m3

?

?

40 Âľg/m3 limit

About pressure >

city

NEP

1. Interaction with Park

2. Teaching about nature

3. Information about Nuvap data

4th

CHAPTER

One last chapter, the most personal.

“Erre Punto” is my hobby-project: I’ve been designing and re-designing it since I was 13, and I’ve always considered it as the perfect training for my creativity. Why? DISCOVER

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I have been singing rap music for 10 years, but abound 2 years ago I took control of the situation and I decided to finally start a serious itinerary to try to achieve success.

DJ

SOUND ENGINEER

STRATEGISTS MUSIC PRODUCERS

At the beginning I was alone, I was recording by myself tracks on random instrumentals found on the web and releasing them on my YouTube channel.

I understood that what I needed to grow was to create a network of artists: I founded a label to be more reliable and I started selecting people on the web, looking for common compatible paths.

VIDEOMAKERS

RAPPER

Nowadays we are a strong team, made of multi-backgrounded figures. It bought us to an upper level in all parameters, from social marketing to music quality, from video clips to live concerts.

TODAY WE HAVE OVER 1.400 MONTHLY LISTENERS ON SPOTIFY, WITH OVER 22.200 STREAMINGS.

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Being the “art director” of this project means to costantly develop a big quantity of sub-projects like graphics, strategies, promo animations, videoclip direction, a little of video editing, sound design, ecc: thats why I love to develop 360° projects also in my professional life.

“Giostra” Official Spotify Artwork realized by Riccardo De Mei, 2018

“Settembre” Official Spotify Concept realized by Lorenzo Scollo, 2018

“Fuori” Official Spotify Artwork realized by Riccardo De Mei, 2018

“Nuvole” Official Spotify Artwork realized by Riccardo De Mei, 2019

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“Propaganda #1” - 2017 - Videoclip Frame

Me with my monster version: he’s the fear of an artistic fail.

“Blive Voksen” - 2018 - Videoclip Frame

Me with myself as a child: the watcher is me when I’ll be adult.

SHOW LAST

“Blive Voksen” - 2018 - Videoclip Frame

Me with a monster, that unperturbated looks in camera: he’s the monster of the growth.

“Giostra” - 2018 - Videoclip Frame

A fan of mine has just found a sheet with a verse of mine in the underground.

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Last but not least, I also developed a website for our team: it isn’t online yet because off various internal dynamics, but the whole structure and graphic set is ready.

Homepage

Menu

“Artist” section

“News” section

“Social Feed” section

“Promoter” section

Users can discover us, reading more details and curiosity about biography or anything else.

Users can find hottest information about us, such as upcoming releases or live concerts.

Users will be immediatly linked on our instagram pages, to keep always in touch with us.

Users can subscribe as promoters: they’ll be supplied with any material to promote us in their social channels.

THANKS.

riccardo.demei@gmail.com 3338465074 Riccardo De Mei

Service / UX / Product Designer