Portfolio-Zhang Xiaowen

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PRODUCT & INTERACTION & SERVICE DESIGN

ABOUT ME

EXPERIENCE Aug. 2015 - Dec. 2015 Intern at UX Bosch, Shanghai Feb. 2015 - Mar. 2015 Intern at Media 10, Design Shanghai

UX Designer From Shanghai Passionate; Curious Fast-learner; Team player

EDUCATION Sep. 2011 - 2015 B.Eng. Industrial Design at College of Design & Innovation Tongji University, Shanghai Mar. 2014 - Jun. 2014 Exchange student at University of Applied Arts, Vienna

Sep. 2012 - Jan. 2013 1090 Eco - Tableware Design Project Oct. 2011 - Jun. 2014 Secretary of Public Relations Department of D&I Student Union

EXHIBITION

SOFTWARE SKILLS Advanced Ai

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Rhino; Keyshot Intermediate Ae

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Sketch; Pixate Beginner Pixate; Arduino HTML/CSS; Swift

June 2014 Essence Exhibition, Vienna, Austria

LANGUAGES

May 2013 Grow-up & Delight Exhibition, Shanghai

Chinese - Native English - Excellent German - Intermediate

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS Rapid Prototyping

3D Modelling Service Design

Video Editing

Interaction Design Empathy

Usability Test

Industrial Design

User Centered Design

Design Thinking

Conceptual Design Ideation

Sketching

UI Design

Concept Development

Problem Solving Design Research

User Interview Photograhpy Graphic Design

Storytelling

COMMUNICATION IN DESIGN

We are living in an era of technology where we can communicate anywhere, anytime. Somehow, there is a lack of face-to-face communication which is the most important one.

In this section, I explored how design and technology can bring people closer to each other and make us communicate better in our everyday life.

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PULSE Gadget Design & Interaction design Mar. - June 2014 | Team work PULSE is a gadget which enables you to sense and record the heartbeat and accodingly alter the tempo of music through PULSE application to make a unique piece of music in a certain mood. The soundtrack can be amplified on any surfaces with vibration to share with others or slow down fast heart beats, and can also be sent to your friends or family via PULSE application so that they can perceive your feelings in an innovative way.

INSPIRATION

EXPERIMENTS

Research shows that most mothers pick up their babies and cradle them on the left side close to their hearts so that the baby stops crying and softly falls asleep.

We did some experiments on people’s reactions towards an object playing rhythmic music in public.

INSIGHT

Heartbeat is unique and it carries our emotions such like anxiety, happiness, excitement and so on. We tend to be influenced when hearing and feeling it.

Later we carried out experiments on people’s reactions towards a vibrating device combined with rhythmic music.

TECHNICAL STUDY We carried out a technical study on recording pulses in differant situations with a sensor and Arduino and amplifying them with a vibration speaker on various surfaces and see how it affects us.

Result shows that others' pulses can affect our pulse.

Sensor

Battery

Amplifier

Surface transducer

The gadget consists of two parts: a pulse sensor (Input) and a surface transducer (Speaker) which amplifies the detected pulse and plays it on any surface.

CONCEPT record pulse

alter tempo

share feelings

make music of the moment and feel the vibe together

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connect

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interact

IDEA DEVELOPMENT Our original concept is a wearable gadget with WiFi connection and two detachable parts.

Considering feasibility and flexibility, we made it portable and simple which allows you to clip it on your clothes or bags with wired connection.

Pulse can be sensored and analysed with Arduino to alter the tempo of the music and can be felt through a vibration speaker.

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SCENARIOS You can alter the tempo of various music templates with your heartbeat and share it via PULSE application or play it on any surfaces through a vibration loudspeaker. And when your heart beats too fast, PULSE can calm you down.

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VOLVOS Mobility Design & Service Design Oct. 2014 - Feb. 2015 | Team Work VolvoS, a project for "INVOLVO China", aims to encourage more people to take shuttle buses instead of private cars or taxis and relieve the overloaded traffic during peak hours in Shanghai, so as to create a better commuting experience for users.

It can serve as a team-building platform for big companies and offers shuttle bus sharing service to close-by small companies.

BRAND ANALYSIS Volvo’s core values: Safety, Comfort, and Sustainability.

COMMUTING IN SHANGHAI

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1 Change

Overload

"I drive my car to work everyday since I cannot stand the awful experience of public transportation during peak hours, but the traffic jam is also terrible. We waste so much time on commuting and we cannot do much about it.“

"Our company has a shuttle bus because it is in the outskirts, but it's always tedious in the bus.

Most of the time colleagues are sleeping, on their phone or chatting with whom they already knew.

And it’s hard to build new connections.”

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By shuttle bus

Faster

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By public transportation

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USER INTERVIEWS

Direct

Relaxing

"Our company is too small for a shuttle bus and my friend who goes to work by shuttle bus saves nearly one hour everyday. I always feel worn out after struggling in metro at peak time."

CUSTOMER EMOTION MAP Arrange afterwork gatherings

Chat with colleagues Learn about the shuttle bus

Find a seat

Get new connections

Relax

Get on the bus

Look for a seat Check bus Look for schedule the bus

Get off the bus

Be disturbed by Try to start conversations others chatting 4 2 Have urgent work to do

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TOP FINDINGS 1

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Users have difficulty locating the bus and getting the seats they like..teambuilding platform f

Users sometimes find their surroundings too nosiy to get some rest.

It is almost impossible to work on the bus when there is an urgent need.

Users tend to talk to people they know, therefore building new connections is not easy.

USER NEEDS Relaxing Urgent work Networking

VOLVO SHUTTLE Teambuilding

CONCEPT The shuttle bus is seperate into two areas. In the chill-out area, users can take a nap.

Reliability Convienience

OPPORTUNITY AREAS 1

CHILL-OUT AREA

The shuttle bus should be easier to locate and track.teambuilding platform f

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There is often a need for urgent work during commuting.

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Users have different needs for relaxing and chatting.

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The shuttle bus can serve as a platform for teambuilding and networking.

INTERACTIVE AREA

In the interactive area, users are encouraged to communicate with others through our design.

WIREFRAME VolvoS application helps to improve the whole user experience.

SCENARIOS

Check floor plan and see what is displayed on each screen

Share photos of company events and parties

In each area, videos/photos/articles based on users’ mutual interests will be displayed on the screen

Get a coffee and chat with others

Carry out urgent work or conduct meetings without being disturbed

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MOLECULE Furniture Design & Interaction Design Mar. - Jun. 2015 | Individual work Molecule is a living office desk system designed for creative offices. It offers flexible layouts to meet various needs of collaboration.

Molecule creates a dynamic and collaborative atmosphere which inspires the users. Height adjustable function encourages working while standing to improve efficiency. It can also go with stools.

The interactive projected screen which visualises users' ideas can improve the quality and efficiency of meetings and discussions.

TARGET GROUP Users who need to work cooperatively from time to time, especially in creative industry.

USER OBSERVATION

USER INTERVIEWS designer 1 Product Female, 28

manager 2 PR Male, 31 Complaint: Long and depressing meeting after work makes him sleepy and stressed.

Needs: Prefers a more dynamic and cooperative atmosphere.

Complaint: Feels uncomfortable sitting along the long table while watching the projector .

Needs: Prefers a more flexible and comfortable meeting place. editor 3 Advertisement Male, 26

video director 4 Creative Male, 29

Complaint: Feels inconvenient to plug the cable from projector to the laptop before presentation .

Needs: Wants intelligent office furniture.

In the creative company Wieden+Kennedy, users are brainstorming, they walk around, post ideas on the wall and have intensive discussions.

CONCEPT Light Touch Projector

OPPORTUNITY AREAS 1. Strong needs for collaboration and communication.

2. Flexible and dynamic working atmosphere.

3. Efficiency and quality of communication to be improved.

Complaint: There are moments when discussions are stuck with no flow of ideas.

Needs: Feels like walking around when he needs inspiration .

+ Module

Technology

SCENARIOS All the parts are detachable.

Wires run through the table bases which are connected with magnets to one end.

PROJECTED SCREEN

TABLE LAYOUT

Presentation mode

SCENARIOS Brainstorming mode

Users can adjust the layout and choose a suitable mode on the projected screen according to different needs.

MATERIAL

IN DESIGN

Materials play a vital part in product design, so it is necessary to know the features of all kinds of materials.

In order to learn more about materials, I made approaches to different materials like acrylic, wood, concrete and applied the advantages of those materials into design.

VEIL Lamp & Lighting Design Jan. - Feb. 2013 | Individual work This new-sensational lamp is realized by parametric design.

The curves resemble waves indicating the beauty of nature.

The wooden box contrasts with polished arcylic pieces.

The hazy light creates a tranquil and mystrious atmosphere.

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FOLD Arcylic Furniture Design Jan. - Feb. 2013 | Individual work Acrylic delivers a sense of purity and simplicity.

This material is easy to be hot bent, so I took advantage of this feature and made this magazine & CD holder out of one piece of acrylic sheet with hot bending technique.

BEACON Arcylic Furniture Design Jan. - Feb. 2013 | Individual work Concrete gives people a feeling of coldness, roughness and modernness.

This material is not easy to control. The process of making this candle was challenging.

Techniques for molding and timing for demolding were the most difficult parts.

KISTEN Sustainable Kitchen Design Nov. - Dec. 2013 | Individual work KISTEN is a sustainable kitchen island. The extendable part can be used as bar counter or dining table which saves space.

To satisfy the growing needs of family bonding and home party, KISTEN enables people to cook face-to-face. Sustainability of the material was also focused during the whole process.

PULSE

VOLVOS

CONTACT ME Zhang Xiaowen +49 176 4389 9482 zhangxiaowen.com rachel.xwz@gmail.com

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