POLAR: Reinventing Your Mountain Experience

A proposal for a Windows phone app for avid skiers and snowboarders to provide a better social tracking experience. For IAT 334.

Transcript

1. POLAR F O R W I N D O W S P H O N E SIM BRAR JUAN HENAO SCOTT HORSFALL GRACELLE MESINA
2. ABOUT POLAR WHAT it is > A better social tracking experience while boarding/skiing Not a learning/training app, nor is it a social network For WHO > Avid snowboarders + skiers (go up min. once a week) > Season’s pass holders For WHERE + WHEN > Mainly on the mountain (bottom of the runs, lifts, etc.) > Pre- and post-boarding/skiing to view stats
3. CHALLENGES Minimal size + maximum flexibility Optimal touch target size Integrating an innovative social aspect in this context + OPPORTUNITIES Increased internet connectivity/accessibility HUD capabilities Gamification and competitiveness RESEARCH > Investigation of touch target size limitations > General smartphone/device usage while on the mountain > Research existing systems for patterns, trends, best-in-class examples + areas for improvement INITIAL STAGE }
4. INITIAL IDEAS 1 Olympic-style events through smartphone app tracking games 2 3 4 Nike+ level data tracking, analysis and mapping Personal training: skill improvement and refinement system Friend location alerts and geolocation
5. INITIAL IDEAS 1 Olympic-style events through smartphone app tracking games 2 3 4 Nike+ level data tracking, analysis and mapping Personal training: skill improvement and refinement system Friend location alerts and geolocation
6. RESEARCH + CONSTRAINTS Ideal interactions wouldn’t require a person to utilize touch while riding because users don’t to prevent from getting too cold, numb or wet Devices usage happens at the base and top of mountains, for locating friends and to access social feeds, but not used on chairlifts for fear of dropping the device How can we integrate and improve on the: > Social aspect of EpicMix > Tracking of AllSnow > Gesture interactions of MYO
7. go here ? 1st! 20 min later... the other friend still waits, not knowing that the one friend took in an extra run... ( jerk) FINDING FRIENDS two friends are ready to go down a run one friend speeds ahead, while the other lands a trick the other friend doesn’t realize the one friend is up on the lift already...
8. FRIEND FINDER ? 1st! Current Location BOBBY FRIEND FINDER ON CHAIR-LIFT two friends are ready to go down a run “The jerk didn’t even wait for me!” no sign of the one friend at the bottom of the run, so... the other friend doesn’t realize the one friend is up on the lift already... one friend speeds ahead, while the other lands a trick
9. AVALANCHE! AVALANCHE GAME START Please put headphones on to play. AVALANCHE GAME AGAIN? well done! BEST TIME: 5:30.86 ! GO FAR LEFT. THEN ZIG-ZAG. NOW FAR RIGHT. a season’s pass-holder wants to make his runs more exciting the objective: go down a run as fast as possible as to avoid the “avalanche” run-times are recorded + can be compared to friends’ scores
10. DEMOGRAPHICS Age: 25 Nationality: Canadian Occupation: Carpenter, recently graduated from a trades school CONTEXT Activity: Snowboard Level: Advanced/Expert Ticket: seasons pass (for 4 years in a row) Usually: skies mostly blues/blacks and occasionally goes into the park with friends Why: thrill, experience-seeker, getting away from work Goals: speed, going fast, doing tricks, always trying to best himself/others Needs: a way to locate friends, different ways to explore the mountain, track runs/speed Motivations: bragging to friends about runs/conditions, putting a new spin on the same runs BEHAVIOUR Technology: Smartphone - Windows Phone Level: expert, uses it everyday Communication: Facebook, texts, calls Social networks: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube Other tech: GoPro, Oakley Airwave Tasks: recording videos, taking photos, editing footage/pictures, posting to social networks OTHER Sports: Mountain bikes in summer, loves water sports, and hiking Fan of: Whitecaps, Canucks, Blue Jays, alternative/rock music AIDEN MCINTOSH
11. FEATURE REQUIREMENTS TRACKING FOR ACHIEVEMENTS, LEADERBOARDS + FEED DELIVERY > Polar keeps track of an individual’s accomplishments Hidden achievements are unlocked every time a user reaches a milestone > Achievements are based on the user’s interaction with the app Tracks their total runs, run difficulty, distance, vertical, events, and more > The leaderboard showcases the social accomplishments across events
12. FEATURE REQUIREMENTS EVENTS for REVAMPING RUNS Gamifying the user’s mountain experience through unique challenges AVALANCHE > Focused on the speed-seeker downhill athlete By creating a realistic avalanche environment to challenge them > Built-in coach will guide the user out of “danger” Y-E-T-I > Putting a mountain spin on the traditional HORSE game > Challenge a buddy, trick-by-trick, until one can’t complete 4 tricks
13. INITIAL WIREFRAME
14. INITIAL PROTOTYPE BUILT FOR TESTING > Featured 3 main tasks > Used Edge Animate
15. USER TESTING EVALUTION METHOD Retrospective Evaluation using our click prototype Why? Because we wanted our participants to focus on the task at hand, then reflect on their experience afterwards TASKS > Buzz your friend, Gracey > Start the tracking feature > Play the Avalanche game WHO we tested 4 Snowboarders/Skiers with smartphones 2 Windows Phone users 1 iPhone user 1 Android user OBSERVATION METHODS Taking notes Recording video
16. USER EVALUATION PROBLEMS 1. Navigation bar at the top of the screen didn’t properly orient users 2. Avalanche game instructions were too small and unengaging to read 3. Icon ambiguity/unfamiliarity 4. Terminology interpretation (how we worded things did not translate) SOLUTIONS (match corresponding # to the problem above) 1. Reducing opacity on inactive pages 2. Make instructions short and concise 3. Follow “standard” iconography for users to understand better 4. Be concise
17. BEFORE + AFTER PROTOTYPE SCREENS HERE PLEASE. S C O T T E D I T T H I S P L E A S E ! PANORAMA FINAL DESIGNS
18. EVENTS INFORMATION FINAL DESIGNS
19. AVALANCHE GAME FOCUSED ON THE SPEED-SEEKER DOWNHILL ATHLETE >By creating a realistic avalanche environment to challenge them > Built-in coach will guide the user out of “danger” and push you to escape the impending terror “behind” you FINAL DESIGNS
20. HEADS UP DISPLAY > The HUD is supplementary to the audio + phone application > Displays friend alerts & statistics while user is on the mountain > Coupled with the goggles is a wrist controller with buttons Allows users to quickly interact with the HUD interface Functionality includes start/stop/pause tracking, events + buzz friends > As friends arrive in the same area as a user or gets on/off a lift, an alert will appear
21. POLAR S O C I A L L A Y E R + G A M I F I C A T I O N R E - I N V E N T I N G Y O U R M O U N TA I N E X P E R I E N C E
22. http://www.flickr.com/photos/slozzer/8485489953/sizes/o/in/photostream/ http://www.paulmorrisonphotography.ca/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/b-image357/4671702953/in/set-72157623077955192 http://www.flickr.com/photos/octavez/8505588797/sizes/k/in/photostream/ http://www.latoro.com/wallpapers/sport/18508-desktop-wallpapers-snowboarding.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/octavez/8550372437/sizes/k/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/javiee-mad/8493766199/sizes/h/in/pool-52241372332@N01/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jannapham/3251269296/sizes/l/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeproosen/4228956125/sizes/l/in/photostream/ http://www.appworld.co/Assets/Content/AndroidApps/90888.png REFERENCES