Based on your life experience, skills, and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like?
The Air Quality in Almaty app will present alternative healthy habits to engage in using the information we learned about air quality and about Almaty residents’ behavior. Our design process will utilize our team’s skills combined with consultation from the AlmaU students, other Almaty residents, doctors, our commercial stakeholders and software engineers. We want to make sure we are satisfying the needs of all of our stakeholders. The AlmaU students, as very important stakeholders, will significantly aid this process. They will be able to gauge the interest level in the app of the general public and offer unique insights for the app’s design. We will make sure the platform is attractive and user friendly. Separate from the main function of the app we need to make sure we cover the costs of making it. Rather than having residents pay for the app, we hope to profit off of advertisements for products that encourage healthier air quality. For example we will be reaching out to air purifier and mask companies that may want to advertise on our app. Another part of our design process will probably include trial and error. We may put the app on the market and get feedback from different parties and then adjust what it looks like and possibly the way it functions. Because we will heavily rely on feedback, we may incentivize users to write a review, rate the app, or give some sort of constructive criticism. An important aspect of creating the app will be advertising it to companies and organizations. We believe coordinating with companies will expand the breadth of people our app reaches and legitimize it.
An effective design process
1) Attractive platform and attracts users
2) Must be beneficial in someway: health, entertainment, popular
3) Trial and Error
Identify your three most important stakeholders and list five unique attributes for each one of them.
Doctors
Specialize in respiratory illness medical fields
Willing to advice their patients using the app
Willing to listen to advices on such as adding air purifier to rooms or install filters in A/C
Eager to reduce respiratory illness in the community
Willing to work with us and providing feedbacks for the App
Residents
Willing to share information with other residents/relatives
Concerns about air pollution and related health impacts
Open to making changes in their daily routines in order to reduce air pollution exposure
Willing to integrate usage of the app into daily decisions
Trusting of new solutions and information
Local Companies
Production of affordable and effective masks, filters, and air purifiers
Willing to collaborate with us on the App where we will provide advertising platform for the companies
Willing to provide the app to employees working in areas with high levels of air pollution
Eager to sell more products to the residents and make profit
Willing to provide feedbacks of their employees and make suggestions for the App
Identify three ways in which you will validate your project concept, technology, usability, and business model
There are a number of ways in which we can validate our problem statement, proposed solutions, and business model. Initially, using the feedback gathered from interviews with the AlmaU students and the responses from surveys of Almaty residents, we will be able to validate the need for improved air quality interventions. Using this feedback, we can also accurately design the App to meet the needs of Almaty residents. We will also review other air quality interventions that have been implemented in Almaty and in other cities around the world. Information gathered during this review will help to validate the interventions that we present on the App. To determine which interventions will be most effective, we will integrate real time air quality data into the App. Regularly validating this air quality data will help to ensure that the app is working properly. Once the app is fully developed, we will ask the AlmaU students to test the App and provide feedback for more improvements. Once we have published the App to the other collaborators (such as the doctors or local companies), we will continuously gather user experience feedback for further improvements.
Give three examples of something very interesting you learned from a friend that was a completely alien concept to you.
• Most of my knowledge is within the engineering, energy, and sustainability fields. However, I am always interested in learning new things and broadening my interests. While completing my undergraduate degree, my roommate was a physical therapy student. By studying together, I learned a lot about anatomy and the ways in which the principles of physics are applied when evaluating a patient’s motions and physical abilities. It was interesting to learn how, even though we were entering very different fields, physics was a common thread between both of our areas of study.
• Recently, a friend of mine opened a small boutique store selling clothes, personal care items, and accessories among other things. While she was establishing the store, I would sometimes spend a few hours a week helping her out. During that process, she taught me a lot about what goes into starting a business from developing a business proposal, getting a small business loan, incorporating the company and getting a business license, and renting a storefront were just a few of the initial things she had to do in order to start her business. It was very interesting to see all of the things that go into starting a business, above and beyond the business operations itself.
• One of my friends is a professional musician who is both a performer and composer. While I enjoy listening to music, I know very little about music theory or composition. While spending time with this friend, it is very interesting to hear the different ways in which he thinks about music. While listening to a song, he is able to break down the composition and structure of that song. He has shown me how there is almost a mathematical basis to music composition and music theory. I have learned a lot from him about cord structure, how different keys are used to portray different moods or feelings, and the ways in which music can be constructed and deconstructed.