Sony
HCDE Masters Capstone: Kizuna
Tina Tran, Annie Yang, Kalpitha Jagadeesh, Hamedia Jemal
Enhancing Live Streaming through Multimodal Design
I directed and headed the research of the team as the lead UX researcher throughout the 6 month project with exploratory survey, semi-structured interviews, and contextual inquiry. Additionally, I analyzed the qualitative findings from the research phase through empathy mapping and opportunity analysis to support the ideation and design phases.
Project Overview
Currently, Sony has a wide portfolio of products that fulfill a variety of needs and their products work separately, not interconnected. Leveraging Sony's design philosophy and competitive edge, my capstone team and I aimed to establish innovative connections between devices like cameras, microphones, monitors, and headphones.
Kizuna is a multimodal design that was created to enable live streamers to amplify their creative potential and connect with their audience in exciting ways, to transform the future of video-based content through Sony products.
My Contribution
Project Background
The human factors engineering team came to our team to create a relationship between Sony devices as well help define a new opportunity to attract consumers.
The initial challenge proposed by Sony was, How might we attract and retain consumers (ages 25-55) with higher purchasing power?
Our goal was to create a system that enables different Sony products to be connected smoothly, increasing their overall utility and effectiveness for content creators.
User Research Roadmap
In order to gain a better understanding of our users, their pain points, and our problem space, we engaged in a variety of user research methods.
For the first phase of research we focused on familiarizing ourselves with the problem space and areas of opportunities. We began by conducting literature review, competitive analysis, and industry trend analysis of existing solutions to understand and narrow down areas of opportunities. This also included data mining Sony product reviews throughout various commerce platforms to understand what people were saying about Sony products and their competitors.
For the second phase of research, we were interested in understanding the overall experience of how users experience creating content online and consume online content. Our survey began by giving us insights that inspired our semi-structured interview questions. Our semi-structured interviews then led us to uncover areas of opportunities and corresponding pain points within the user journey to guide the ideation of the conceptual design. Contextual inquiries lastly solidified our initial findings as well as supported our understanding in gaps in the workflows of content creators.
We conducted a comprehensive literature review, competitive analysis, industry trend analysis, and data mining to identify gaps and opportunities within Sony's hardware domain by examining their key competitors such as Apple, Google, Samsung, LG, and Amazon.
We gained a deep understanding of the competitive landscape, including product features, design trends, and customer experiences. By comparing Sony's products against those of its competitors, we were able to identify areas where Sony excels and also areas for improvement. We were then able to identify opportunities to differentiate Sony's products, address unmet customer needs, and uncover insights to enhance the overall user experience.
From the first phase of research, we found that Sony has an edge over its competitors to bridge digital to physical with its robust hardware offerings in the audio-visual realm and found areas of opportunity in content creation, eLearning, wellness, and wearables.
We created a prioritization matrix with our stakeholders to work together and narrow down areas of opportunity from the first round of research.
Sony expressed curiosity for content creation and eLearning over wellness and wearables as they have conducted extensive research on wellness already.
Familiarizing with the problem
Understanding the overall experience
At this point in the project, we were able to create an overarching research question to help focus on scoping down the problem after feedback from the stakeholders: How do online learners, social media content creators, and tech educators use audiovisual technology?
To understand online learners, content creators, and tech educators, we employed three methods of exploratory survey, semi-structured interviews, and contextual inquiry.
Defining Target Users
From the second round of research, the team was able to identify and define our target users.
Key Findings
Using empathy mapping, survey results, and insights from interviews and contextual inquiry, we were able to identify 4 key findings.
Final Design Question
Personas & Storyboard
Three personas were created based on our research findings and insights. Creating these detailed profiles allowed the team to empathize with users, prioritize features, and focus on important needs. We kept these personas in mind when creating our solution to support live streamers to enhance their content creation process.
Following the persona, a storyboard was created to help visualize and plan out our concept. The storyboard helped lay out the user journey step by step. The story board helped present a visual guide for the user experience to illustrate the users interactions with our concept.
Design Principles
Based on our research findings, we created a set of overarching principles to guide the ideation, design, and prototyping phase.
Co-Design & Features List
The goal of co-design was to collaborate with users, stakeholders, and team members to create a solution that meets user needs. The Co-Design involved short activities with content creators in order to understand their current workflow and set up as well as generate different ideas. Specifically, we were able to get different perspectives from our participants and foster creativity to create a solution that is user centered. By involving users directly in this co-design process, we were able to create and design a product that is innovative and effective for our problem space.
After co-design, we began ideation by brainstorming all of the possible features or functions that could support the key findings from research while taking into account personas and storyboards created. We were able to think of three highlighted features below to support our research findings.
After sharing and building upon each other’s sketches, we created a low-fidelity visual mockup of our concept as a group. The key visual mockups served as a representation of the product to present to evaluators for critique and suggestions. These mockups helped provide visualizations and a guide so we could identify and solve design issues before the final prototype.
Low-fi prototyping
Evaluation
After generating key visual mockups of the product, we conducted feedback from users, team members, and stakeholders about the visual design, features, layout, and overall usability. During evaluation, we were able to assess the mockups to ensure whether they meet user needs and project goals.
The product was evaluated with users, team members, and stakeholders to user stand accessibility, usability, and satisfaction from key mockups created.
Accessibility Evaluation
Ensure prototype is accessible to users with color modes, lighting, and haptics
Usability Testing
Understand how users interact with the mockups to identify any usability issues
User Satisfaction
Assess users’ satisfaction with usability and aesthetics and incorporation with workflow
The final prototype was improved from the following evaluation to support these areas and feedback.
Improved the user flow for device on functionality:
On/Off Functionality improvement
Created Simple Voice Commands
Designed tactile buttons
Included interface on top for easy access
Deprioritized device features:
We removed the flip motion for activating device as that was difficult to design around
Focused on three specific features to support an intuitive work flow
The product was iterated from the evaluation with the mid-fidelity prototype and key visual mockups. The final high fidelity prototype was generated using Blender. Blender is a CAD program used for 3D modeling to support our product design. Blender was used to create the high quality visual to get 3D printed. The 3D printer built the prototype layer by layer following the design specifications from the Blender CAD model. The process to print the prototype went through multiple iterations as there was learning curves with using a CAD program as well as working with a 3D printer for the prototype.
Alongside the 3D printed prototype, a user manual and setup guide was created to support the prototype. This supported the final design to ensure users are provided with clear instructions on how to use and set up the device so users can understand its features and functionality.
High Fidelity 3D Printed Prototype
Poster Presentation & Process Book
One of the largest obstacles we faced was the limited time frame we had to accomplish this project. After project pivots and scoping our project down throughout the two quarters, we were able to create a high fidelity prototype to support content creators and enhance their live streaming experience. However, there are additional work to accomplish with this solution.
Hardware Compatibility
Ensuring that all Sony products are compatible and can integrate without significant modification
AI & Machine Learning
Implement machine learning algorithms to enhance features like real-time analytics and audience engagement metrics
Privacy & Security
Implement security measures to protect user data and ensure compliance with data privacy regulations
Legal & Ethical Consideration
Consult with legal experts to ensure the system complies with relevant laws and regulations, particularly concerning data privacy and AI use
Future Work
Reflections
Reflecting on this project, I realized that integrating Sony’s diverse range of products into a cohesive ecosystem for content creators, specifically live streamers, has been both challenging and rewarding—the project aimed to bridge the gap between independently functioning devices and ultimately enhance their collective utility.
Challenges Encountered:
Complex Integration: One of the primary challenges was working around a system that operates on it’s own. Each device had its specifications and functionalities and we had to keep this in mind when designing our solution.
Ambiguity: Dealing with ambiguity in this project was very difficult. We often didn’t have a clear path and had to adapt. The broad scope and undefined outcomes meant we had to constantly pivot and rethink our strategies.
Lessons Learned:
Importance of User Feedback: The insights gained from interviews and co-designs were very valuable in narrowing our scope and direction. Understanding the needs and challenges faced by content creators helped us design a more effective and user-friendly solution.
Collaborative Effort: Collaborating as a group on this project was both a rewarding and enlightening experience. Each team member brought unique skills and perspectives to the table. This collaborative environment not only enhanced our creativity but also allowed us to learn from each other and grow as a team.