UX Research & Design Portfolio (March 19)

Isabel Herczeg.

Education.

About Me. Researcher & Designer

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Third year designer looking to obtain a position using a wide variety of innovative art & design skills to create meaningful experiences that improve human health, connectivity, and productivity.

Design and Environmental Analysis GPA: 3.5 Interaction Design Architectural Design Studios Human Centered Design Methods Research Methods in HCD Environmental Psychology Environmental Science & Ecology Global and Public Health Calculus & Statistics Microeconomics

Awards & Involvements.

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Dean’s List 2019

Professional Skills.

Interface Design Wire-framing Sketch Illustrator Microsoft Office MATLAB HTML, CSS, JavaScript

Cornell University / Class of 2021

Big Red Leadership Institute Architectural Revit SketchUp Rhino AutoCAD Photoshop InDesign

Student Athlete Advisory Committee Cornell Gymnastics Record Holder Highest Floor Score & Debut Event Score 2x ECAC Scholar Athlete & All Academic Team 2x First Team All American USAG Collegiate Nationals

Work Experience Design Intern / Summer 2019 OTJ Architects Washington, DC

Made strategic design decisions to effectively integrate technology and branding identity into the commercial interiors of Fortune500 companies. Responsible for planning the use and layout of spaces to maximize way-finding and employee connectivity. Created branding graphics and digital designs that were showcased on large-screen displays.

Research Assistant / Feb - May 2019 Design And Augmented Intelligence Lab Ithaca, NY

Conducted user experience research which examined the physiological effects of urban design on way-finding in virtual cityscapes. Analyzed data from biometric sensors in MATLab to determine which virtual reality environments elicited the most intuitive way-finding experiences.

Intern / Summer 2018

Green Business Bureau Marlborough, MA Wrote articles for the GBB website on the long term financial benefits of investing in green business practices and the importance of smart consumerism. Assisted in improving the user experience of customers navigating GBB’s online sustainability assessments.

Moments

Moments in Time: Hand-drawing for DEA 1150 Design Graphics & Visualization.

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Spotify Synergy.

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02 05 03 06

Ecolodge Peace.

UberEats Flow.

Showroom Tranquility.

PLANTIpack Stewardship.

Film Photography Discovery.

01

Synergy.

Spotify “Atmosphere” Feature

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Upon analyzing the information architecture of Spotify’s Iphone homepage feed, I found that the homepage of the App does not play to Spotify’s strengths of encouraging the discovery of new music through social interaction. My redesign goal is to re-integrate social interaction into Spotify’s feed by reorganizing the personalized feed to include a new feature that allows for the rapid creation of crowdsourced playlists.

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On the “Atmosphere” landing page, the user is able to see what their friends are listening to and has the option to add their friends to a group playlist.

Users are also able to see other nearby users, and have the option to quickly drag and drop their icons into a collaborative playlist or add them to a group playlist by clicking the “Add to Group” Icon.

User Scenario:

Nikki is on a road trip from Sydney to Byron Bay with some friends of hers and she is on the music. She opens Spotify to the home page and sees her “Recently Played”, “Made for Her”, and her “Heavy Rotation” as recommended playlists.

At this point in the journey she has exhausted much of the music on

her personal playlists, and instead of clicking on one of the suggested playlists, he goes to the search tool and searches for one of her mates’ names on Spotify. She begins to play his “Road-trip” playlist. All of her friends have very different tastes in music, so no one agrees on listening to this one playlist.

AGE OCCUPATION STATUS LOCATION

20 Student Single Sydney, NSW

BIOGRAPHY

Nikki Wellings “I’m hoping to discover new music and friends along my travels in Australia.”

Nikki is a 20 year old college student traveling around Australia in a van.

Outside of exploring, she spends her time making music and hanging out with friends old and new. She is often sharing music with others and curating the perfect playlist for a group gathering.

MOTIVATIONS Exploring Exercising Outdoors Making electronic music

PERSONALITY Extrovert Introvert Sensing

Intuition

GOALS Discovering new music Connecting with the people she meets along her travels Saving time in her busy schedule

Thinking

Feeling

FRUSTRATIONS Lack of service in the outback Having to get a new sim card in new countries Having to use texting apps to speak to friends from home

Judging Perceiving

TECHNOLOGY Facebook Instragram Yelp Spotify BRANDS

User Experience Shortcomings: • The first components of the homepage feed are tailored strongly towards what the user is already listening to and makes repetitive recommendations • It can be difficult to find friends on Spotify and see what they are listening to; no nearby or mutual friends suggestions • The feed order changes each day and is not consistent between users

User Flow & Prototype: On the home page, I reorganized the feed to include what I have labeled as the users “Atmosphere” after the users “Recently Played”.

Within a collaborative playlist I added an “Add Friends” and “Add Nearby” button that brings the user to the “Atmosphere” page that lists their friends activity and the nearby listeners.

The users “Atmosphere” landing page shows them the recent collaborative playlists they have listened to.

Usability Heuristics:

Intuitive, non repetitive organization of categories on the homepage feed, and consistency of homepage design between users

Emphasis on discovery of new music through social interaction as opposed to heavy focus on already discovered music

Ability to see what friends and other users are listening to on the Iphone application of Spotify

Users can essentially “Air Drop� nearby listeners or friends into their collaborative playlists to rapidly create crowd-sourced playlists

02 Flow.

UberEats Information Architecture

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After analyzing the usability heuristics of the UberEats App, I chose to redesign the homepage feed to maximize way-finding in hopes of improving healthy eating choices. The sorting constraints put in place to pick a specific type of food were overwhelming and confusing to the user, and did not provide the user with ample appropriate healthy meal choices.

“

AGE OCCUPATION STATUS LOCATION

26 Yoga Teacher Single Bondi, NSW

BIOGRAPHY

Anna Michelle

“I’m hoping to discover new vegan friendly restaurants, recommended by local people who share the value healthy eating.”

User Scenario:

Anna opens UberEats and scrolls through the eclectic jumble of categories on the search page. She clicks on the “healthy” category and then uses the sorting option at the top to sort by delivery time instead of what was picked for her.

Anna has a day job as a yoga teacher and performs live music as a side job.

Outside of her busy weekly schedule, she enjoys hiking and volunteering at local farms. She lives alone so she is hoping to meet people who share her love of the outdoors and healthy living.

MOTIVATIONS Eating Healthy Being Environmentally Friendly Being time efficient

PERSONALITY Extrovert Introvert Sensing

Intuition

GOALS Discovering new healthy cuisine near her Connecting with people who share her taste in food Saving time in her busy schedule

Thinking

Feeling

FRUSTRATIONS Lack of healthy options closeby Trying a new dish and not liking how it tastes

UX Shortcomings:

• Jumble of categories makes it hard for the user to find and use specific search constraints • Inconsistent placement of search constraints both at the top of the homepage & on the search page

Judging Perceiving

TECHNOLOGY Facebook Instragram Yelp Spotify BRANDS

• After the sorting constraints have been put into place, restaurants that are not “healthy” or “vegan” pop up, as the algorithm finds menu options within traditionally unhealthy restaurants that classify as “healthy”

Current UberEats User Flow:

Redesigned UberEats User Flow: Redesigned to include greater consistency and efficiency of use for sorting mechanisms and constraints.

Usability Heuristics:

Intuitive organization of categories by the time of day, meal course, dietary categorization, ingredients and dishes, health foods, and nationality.

Recommendations for each user are tailored closer to what they like, but users are still encouraged to try new restaurants based on the reviews of their peers.

Ability to join groups and view ratings and reviews of popular restaurants within each group.

The group icon among the sorting tools at the top allows the user to see the groups that they have joined.

03

Stewardship.

Human-Centered Research & Design

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In a challenge to design a tech wearable that informs users about their impact on global climate change, my group designed the PLANTIpack; a portable microbiome which monitors its plant health and relates it to the effect plants have on maintaining the wearers local air quality.

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Group Partners: Olivia Heim; oh66@cornell.edu Adam Weld; lrh8@cornell.edu Abigal Brown; ahb99@cornell.edu

Mission:

Connecting humans with the earth to reveal the intense care necessary to keep our natural world sustained & maintain healthy global air quality Engage - creating an interactive experience & attachment that both shocks & intrigues users Educate - Make the issue known to the user Inspire Change - Compel the user to change lifestyle habits in response to the product’s impact

Low Fidelity Prototypes.

Clips on anywhere!

Lights reflect the air quality & water needed based on moisture levels in the plant Water through the top Clip Battery

Usability Studies:

Surveys

Durable - Comfortable - Eye- Catching - Flexible - Accessible Educational - Attractive - Portable - Interactive ?

“Which size do you prefer?

Delphi Method xsmall small medium large

WERABLE

armband belt clip/broch

SIZE

xsmall small medium large

ROUND 2 WERABLE

SIZE

ROUND 1

armband belt clip/broch

“I like the style of the prototype”

Talk Aloud FEEDBACK

SOLUTIONS

+ Hard to get water in small hole + Like that it can sit on its own + Would like to have varied sizes

+ bigger hole + market as home decor + offer varied sizes

FEEDBACK

SOLUTIONS

+ Want a virtual interface to visual plant water intake & health + Unsure how to cary it around

+ Make an Iphone application + Create a clip-on version

“Which form factor fits your use best?”

Virtual Interface: An app connects to the product to give an interactive visual that illustrates both the well being of the plant and how it relates to air quality and the greater health of our natural world. As users better take care of their plants, they are rewarded with discounts on all natural products sponsored by partnering companies.

Air Quality Scale in the user’s region Forest growth in response to care of plant, symbolizing the greater state of the natural world Virtual plant grows with your PLANTIpack plant

Scale Showing the amount of water the plant needs

04 Peace.

The Modern Ecolodge

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I designed this mountain home to give residents time and space to breathe and think by surrounding them with natural materials and early morning light. The modularity of the home reduces the construction prices and environmental impact on the local landscape as a result of primarily off-site construction.

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First Floor Plan

Conceptual Sculpture Drawing: Hand-drawing showcasing a study of modularity and the orientation of modules in 3D space.

Second Floor Plan

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Tranquility.

The Modern Ecolodge

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The design of the Gunlocke showroom is used to move this historical furniture brand forward into the modern era through the integration of immersive technologies into their showroom.

Gunlocke is a company that prides itself on having fourth generation employees because of its corporate dedication to employee health and wellness. For this reason, I chose to create digital experience rooms that surround visitors in natural settings as they sit and relax in Gunlocke’s most iconic chairs.

J4

J4

J4

J2

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06

Discovery.

Dark Room Film Development

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Photography is my art medium of choice because it captures fleeting moments and represents them in a tactile form that is malleable and open to interpretation. My love for this medium has developed into an appreciation for its origin and darkroom processing has become a form of meditation for me.

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These are some film photos taken while on a month long journey throughout the southern island of New Zealand; living in a van and out of a backpack. Living minimally taught me to value experiences and human connections more than the material possessions that just cluttered my existing landscape.

Pictured is Mt. Aspiring National Park, South Island of New Zealand.

From Left to Right, Hooker Valley Trail of Mount Cook, the Fox Glacier, and the infamous blue pools hiking track.

& ...

The Journey Continues

March.