Crimes Against Design – Feedback from other group

As a homework task, we were asked to seek feedback from another group on our concept.

After writing and sending them these questions; this is the feedback we received from our peers Max, Filipa, and Andreia, who are working on the same project in a different group. We then did the same and commented on their concept of designing a seating area for Waterloo station, something it is currently lacking.

Is our idea too unfamiliar, in terms of concept, for people to be able to use it?
No I do not think so. There will always be people who will not want to change their ways or have the time to use the new technology, however the passengers that will use your interventions will benefit greatly.

If so how could it be improved?
Make sure the app interface is really simple and clear. You wouldn’t want people missing their train due to user error.

What do you think could go wrong with our concept?
Network downtime, increase of crime (people always having their phones out), too time consuming to download an app (make sure your redesign of boards is very readable)

Are there ways people could interpret/interact with our concept that we haven’t considered?
There could be a navigational app within the app to direct you to the correct platform/restaurant. Alarm notifications. Ticket purchasing on app, barcode scanning ticket barrier?

How could we make this idea more inclusive for a wider range of people?
Integrate it with other apps, ie: citymapper (tourists), games (children), translate (non-english speakers), facebook, twitter etc. So when new people come to Waterloo they might already be familiar with the concept and prepared.

As we’re working in a team, there are always ideas that a team member introduces and that you are unsure of, and ideas that you introduce that the rest of your team are unsure of. So it was really good to get the opinions of outsiders, and reassured us all that we are coming up with worthwhile concepts. It also gave us more ideas to work with, especially useful as the feedback is from the perspective of other design students.

It was also useful seeing the other team’s ideas, despite them redesigning something very different, as it made us think about things we hadn’t yet considered.

We are currently awaiting feedback from individual people, with a non design background as well. Once I have this I shall update this post with that information too.