Visualisation

Challenge & Selection

The challenge I've chosen to work on is women's safety. I'd be doing a design intervention to design a  product/ system that makes women feel and be safe, especially at dark, isolated places.

I chose the Visualisation tool to help me go through the steps of user research, empathy mapping,  ideation, and prototyping because it helps me to convey my vision as well as decipher more accurately  what the other person(user) is actually conveying- their pain points, fears, needs, desires, etc.

Application

I made a compilation of several images, some from the internet, some from horror or crime movie  scenes, and tried to pinpoint the exact type and level of fear women face while roaming isolated places  alone. I prepared a questionnaire in which I included these photos.

Later I did Ideation Sketches, made some rendered concepts, and at a later stage even 3D prototype and  did a survey where these sketches and images were shared. It helped me gain a proper understanding  whether the users thought it'd be helpful or not.

Finally, my product poster was designed more visually with more pictures than text, to illicit the emotion  of safety against usual uncertainty and fear, when one uses the service I designed.

Insight and Approach

While I used the Visualisation tool earlier, I used to restrict it to convey my ideas only in the Concept and  Prototyping phases. But this time, I used it even in my initial User Research and Poster Design of the  Final concept. I gained some very precise understanding of what emotions would the users feel in a real  situation and of what types and also to what levels. All this was possible due to the accuracy of the  visual element.

More importantly, I noticed that after the Final Design was made and piloted, it was much more  convenient and efficient conveying it's usage and purpose to the users when I used visuals like  photographs, sketches along with storyboards as to how to use the service.

I'd definitely use this Visualisation tool more extensively and creatively in my future projects as its very  efficient and effective. It removes the chance of any ambiguity in communication between me and all  stakeholders, namely users, design heads, design team, investors and sales and marketing team.

