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Key-Chainz

Home Entry and Security Management Platform

People want quick, easy and secure controlled access to their homes, property and valuables. In response, we designed an 'intelligent', integrated and wireless home access management platform.

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University of Washington, Human-Centered Design and Engineering
User Experience Design (HCDE 418) Spring 2015

Project Background

Winter 2015 our team: The Key-Chainz, developed a keyless, wireless home access management platform concept, to apply and demonstrate our understanding of user experience design, theory, and methodologies.

Roles: Background Research and Thematic Analysis, user expectations, user biographies and scenarios were created individually. Personas were created in pairs. In addition to brainstorming, ideating, desinging, wireframing, prototyping and testing, our team collectively delivered the final designs, annotated wireframes and presentation.

Original Prohect Website: Key-Chainz Class Project Website

Client: Katie Derthick, Instructor HCDE 418, University of Washington, Winter 2015

Project Length: Three months.

My Roles

My individual contributions included literature review, thematic analysis, ideation, iterative design, creating storyboards, scenarios, user expectations, user biographies, fabricating 3D printed prototypes, video recording, editing, and sketching.

Our Team
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Anu Mohajerjasbi
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Coimbra Jackson
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DaniSandoval
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Mark Stamnes
Background User Research and Thematic Analysis

Individual Contribution (Each team member also performed their own background research and thematic analysis)

I performed background research using existing print and digital literature for thematic analysis to build an understanding of a user base that we had no immediate access to. During thematic analysis I considered social, cultural and environmental influences on: attitudes, experiences, beliefs and cognitive factors. I then used my research to identify expectations, describe their understanding of discrete data units, describe their use of technology, and describe their goals, pains and desires. Finally I wrote user biographies while contributed to the collective development of user personas and individual creation of use scenarios.

A list of background research resources are available at the end of this page.

Personas

Each persona was created by two of our team members. I contributed to Pat's development.

Scenario and Storyboard

Individual Contribution. I used brainstorming, sketching and ideation to work out story lines, then I freestyled until I had a few pages of stories to work with. Next I trimmed down my stories and broke them into smaller stories. I sketched my first scenario and storyboard drafts, refined them a couple of times and built storyboards using the Storyboard That online storyboarding tool.

Storyboard

Pat has a strong attitude about independent living. Pat has always embraced the freedom that comes from being self-sufficient. Even at an advanced age, Pat appreciates living alone. As Pat ages, her daughter worries that she may have problems with forgetting to lock up the house, forgetting keys or having difficulty getting back in when she returns home.  With her new home management system, Pat's house is secure, she can always get back in and her daighter is always notified when Pat comes and goes. I created the following storybaord using Storyboard That.

System Design

With two solid scenarios from each team member, we held brainstorming and ideation sessions. Each team member contributed sketches, then we we narrowed our system design down to have four main components: a smartphone app, wireless locking mechanism, biometric key-pad and key-fob. These are my sketches below.

Prototypes

My teammates created a paper prototype keypad and key-fobs which we used as proof-of-concept tools in a demonstration video we created. Then I modeled and 3D-Printed a keypad prototype for use in our final presentation and classroom demonstration.

User Stories

We created user stories to help guide our information architecture and interaction design.

Wireframes, Annotated Wireframes and Hi-Fidelity Mock-Ups

From our Information Architecture and Interaction Designs we built wireframes, annotated wireframes and hi-fidelity mock-ups.

Experience Evaluation Plan

After our final round of usability studies, we modified our designs and built high fidelity mock-ups