Project brief
The theme of the project was 'belonging'. The project brief asked us to look at Orion Mall, Bangalore as a public space and understand the various user groups present in this space. By doing this, we were encouraged to find a group of users who didnt seem to 'belong' to this space and then build a platform that would help them change their behaviour in an ad hoc manner to then 'belong'.
The first steps was to derive the meaning of belonging in such a place and see what were the behaviour patterns that made a certain group seem out of place in the mall.
Research & analysis from field visits
- Types of users who visit Orion mall
- General behaviour patterns in this space
- Groups that seem not to 'belong' due to their use case or ciscumstances.
The research phase included 2 field visits to the mall - the first to map out users and behvaiours and second to understand the chosen user group in slightly more detail by observation and interviews.
Proposed concept
The World Trade Center just behind Orion Mall houses a large number of offices. The employees from these workspaces come to Orion Mall during their lunch break to have a meal. These users have a time constraint and are in a hurry to get back. Their behavior makes it seem that they ‘do not belong’ in the otherwise relaxed recreational space provided by the mall. These users are different from others in the food court who have usually come to spend time here and take long to finish their meal while chatting and relaxing with friends or family.
My project aims at creating a smart phone application that can allow this working class to save time of standing in lines, waiting for food to be prepared and looking for free tables in the crowd by providing them these services and information virtually before they actually enter the space. This will facilitate them to ‘belong’ within the relaxed atmosphere of the mall by giving them more leisure time once inside the space. Acting as an intermediary between the food court stalls and these users, the application will allow for easier interactions, more efficiency and a better experience for both groups.
Ideation
Since the medium was already decided as a smartphone application, ideation was mainly around the features, information architecture, the various taskflows and finally the wireframing of every screen within the application. I started from paper sketches and then moved to digital wireframes and final screens.
Final Screens - UI Design
