The Conceptual Design
- Crimson Wave
- Oct 27, 2017
- 9 min read
In this post, we will describe user scenarios, a description of our low-fidelity prototype, and user feedback we received.
Use scenarios:
Catherine – As a 21-year-old senior in college, Catherine is balancing a thesis in the sociology department, varsity track and field, and a new girlfriend. She is busy in a truly Wellesley sense of the word, and the least of her worries is keeping track of her menstrual health, especially since she has always been regular since she started having periods. While Catherine technically belongs in the generation of the digital natives, she does not have strong feelings for or against technology. Catherine is able to learn new user interfaces comfortably; however, she prefers to stick to her laptop and her smartphone.
What – Catherine is annoyed by the nearly constant push notifications her period tracker app keeps throwing her way. Especially since she is not having penetrative sex with anyone who has a penis, Catherine is not necessarily using the app on her phone to make sure that she is on menstrual schedule. In fact, she is not sure why she even bothers to try to keep up with the notifications. She knows, however, that it is a good practice to keep track of her periods, but she wishes that there was an easier way.
How – Catherine does not like to wear too much jewelry throughout the day, so she wears the crimson wave sensor to bed so that, first thing in the morning, it may measure and record her basal body temperature. When she gets out of bed, Catherine walks over to the crimson wave mirror and drops the sensor into the plate attached to its base, which will read Catherine’s physical vital signs as they were recorded. As Catherine is going about, getting ready, the mirror displays the most important things about Catherine’s menstrual cycle, such as the fact that she is ovulating, that she may experience some bodily discomfort, and that she may feel an increase in sexual desire.
Where – Catherine is able to use the crimson wave TUI in the comfort and privacy of her own dorm room.
Why – Catherine finds that compartmentalizing this particular task of keeping track of her menstrual cycle within the confines of her vanity gives her the ritualistic space to check in on her periods regularly. By embedding the period-tracking process in her routine in a new way, crimson wave has helped Catherine find the time to take care of herself.
Nat – As a 26-year-old software engineer at Google, Nat is happily settling into their new life in San Francisco. They are especially excited to be living in a new place because it gives them a chance to introduce themself to new people with the pronouns they prefer. They do have to keep track of their period. As a digital native and a software engineer, Nat is very comfortable with technology, and they enjoy learning about new user interfaces.
What – Nat is frustrated that most (if not all) period tracker apps on the market are pink and coded with “feminine” characteristics. While they could conceivably engineer their own period tracker app, they also wish that period tracker apps would offer more privacy. For example, Nat’s friend from back home was trying to find Snapchat on their phone when that friend saw their period tracker app, which made Nat uncomfortable.
How – With the crimson wave TUI, Nat does not need to worry about people discovering any sort of period tracker app on their phone. Instead, Nat wears a discreet yet fashionable ring that senses their basal body temperature, which is information that is relayed to the crimson wave mirror. Because mirrors are commonplace objects, their mirror sits on the bathroom counter and informs them what their body is doing.
Where – Nat is able to use the crimson wave TUI in the comfort and privacy of their own apartment.
Why – Most people who are able to afford one will own a mirror, and most people can wear whatever jewelry they want without people noticing. Because the crimson wave TUI is also designed without noticeably gendered characteristics, nobody has any reason to assume that the ring and the mirror belong to either a man or a woman.
Irene – As a 38-year-old single mother, Irene works as a nurse, and though she is often occupied, Irene has started dating someone. Irene lives a balanced life; however, her periods throw everything out of whack. Due to reasons unknown to her, Irene’s menstrual cycles are very inconsistent, and she can even skip her period three months at time. Whenever she does have a period, however, Irene gets painful cramps that sometimes cause her to have to call in sick to work. She wishes that she could see these things coming. Irene is comfortable using a computer, a tablet, and a laptop; however, learning new user interfaces is not the easiest thing for her.
What – Because all of the period tracker apps she has tried assumes a normal, 28-day cycle, Irene finds that they are relatively useless in helping her stay on top of her. She hears about this crimson wave, which measures a person’s basal body temperature and other vital signs in order to measure on a day-to-day basis what is going on in someone’s menstrual health.
How – As an early riser, Irene puts on the crimson wave ring, holds her hand to her chest for a moment or two, and places the ring on the specially-designed ring holder at the base of the crimson wave ring. As she gets ready to head out for work, she glances at the mirror display for all of the information she needs to know about her period.
Where – Irene is able to use the crimson wave TUI in the comfort and privacy of her own home.
Why – Irene knows that period tracker apps are not flexible enough to keep up with her life, and she believes that crimson wave’s algorithms offer a new way of thinking about and tracking menstrual health.
Mary – As a 51-year-old curator of a successful gallery in New York City, Mary is going through menopause. While she is able to handle the hot flashes and other physical discomforts, she is having a hard time dealing with her mood swings. She often finds herself calling the doctor’s office in order to ask what she can do to combat her depressive symptoms to no avail, and her older friends do not like to talk about their experience with menopause. Mary is comfortable using a computer, a tablet, and a laptop; however, learning other user interfaces is nearly impossible for her.
What – Mary hears about crimson wave, a smart mirror that is easy to use that informs people about their menstrual health.
How – While Mary does not feel compelled to use the crimson wave wearable, she does use the crimson wave’s mirror to keep track of her menopause and learn methods of coping with her depressive symptoms.
Where – Mary is able to use the crimson wave TUI in the comfort and privacy of her own home.
Why – While this may not necessarily be a replacement for a doctor or a therapist, Mary enjoys having this convenient mirror on her vanity advising her to go for a walk or try out yoga or take a nap in order to moderate her mood.
Low-fidelity prototype:
Figure 1: Prototype as it would look before the user interacted with it. The base has an empty ring holder.
Figure 2: Prototype lit up with the lights that will eventually change color to suit the user’s cycle. The ring holder now has a ring.
Feedback reflection:
Feedback: “Jewelery isn’t for everyone: it can be hard to remember, I don’t wear it to sleep, it can get lost easily, and it does not include people with certain disabilities.”
What we’re changing: We recognize that jewelry can sometimes be a hard item to integrate into your life if you’re not used to wearing that item. That being said, items like fitbits have become commonplace in people’s lives because they feel it’s important data that they want to track in their life. We feel that this product will be important enough to users that they will actively integrate it into their life to the point that it becomes a common everyday item, like fitbits or apple watches. While users may not wear jewelry to sleep, we’re hoping to make it comfortable enough that they forget it’s there. Additionally, even if they don’t wear it to sleep, they can place it on their nightstand as long as they remember to check their basal temperature before they become active in the day. They can put it on when their first alarm goes off, hit snooze and have the data when they wake up again. We believe they will remember to do so because of the importance of the data in their lives. Additionally, we received input that rings are easily losable. However, we believe since this is important and expensive technology, users will be cautious about their ring usage. Unfortunately, if they lose it, it’ll be same effect of losing your iPhone or fitbit and will have the consequences of buying the expensive technology again. We will attempt to integrate a backup system in the scenario of losing the product. Lastly, we recognize that jewelry may exclude people will certain disabilities. We hope that, over time, as we gain users and attain grants, that we would be able to expand our products into other forms that include people with various needs.
Feedback: “What will the user do if they’re traveling or are on the go and therefore don’t have access to the information because they aren’t near their mirror?”
What we’re changing: Ideally in this situation, the user would have a smartphone app that would allow them to stay on top of their data no matter where in the world they are. However, because we are currently focusing on the TUI part of the product, we have decided that GUIs, like an app, would have to wait for future iterations of the product.
Feedback: “Your TUI seems more like a GUI.”
What we’re changing: While the mirror will have a data display, the main goal of our project is to take interaction beyond normal screens in everyday life, like smartphones or laptops. By using wearables, we are making this interaction a more personal and integrated part of the user’s day. Additionally, items like jewelry or mirrors are not usually used in this manner so we believe that we’re bringing technology to less explored materials. We believe that this moves the product away from the GUI framework. This TUI allows the user to enter data and receive feedback without actually doing more than removing jewelry and looking at a mirror.
Feedback: “There were a ton of features described, maybe scoping down the idea would help make on particular feature super great.”
What we’re changing: As we do have a lot of features in our product pitch, we believe it may be better to focus on core features in this iteration and leave some other ideas for future versions. Therefore, for right now, we are planning to cut out both the audio and facial recognition features in the product. Users will not be able to interact with the mirror by calling upon it and the mirror will not speak out loud to the user. Instead, we will focus on the visual aspect of the mirror. Aggregated data, like the calendar and user input, will be done by using the mirror as a touch screen and a visual board. Additionally, the mirror will not have a facial scanning feature that will recognize the user as a privacy measure. The mirror will recognize the user and clarify the user’s identity by recognizing the individual id of the wearable.
Feedback: “How is your TUI different from a normal period tracker?”
What we’re changing: Our TUI is different from a normal period tracker because it collects physical data everyday to provide feedback to the user in a more accurate, and less time-consuming manner. While period trackers use mathematical estimates of when a period is due, our bodies are not always consistent. Some individuals always have an irregular cycle, some people have occasional irregular cycles due to stress. Either way, by collecting basal body temperature we are measuring the body’s response to changes in the cycle. As one’s body temperature rises, they begin to menstruate. Period apps also require user’s to be consistently inputting data, often bogging them down with notifications. Our TUI provides a way to measure your body temperature without even thinking about doing it.
Feedback: “I don’t think a ring is the right type of jewelry for this product.”
What we’re changing: We originally started with a ring because it was something that can be worn to bed without being a choking hazard. Moving forward it is difficult to prototype with such a small surface, so we will be starting with a felt bracelet. Once we have introduced all the functionality we will consider minifying the object and possibly changing it to a ring again.
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