Derek
張德文
This project was a team project of 3. We had eight weeks of time to work on divergent and convergent. First, we worked on the research and concept development process together. Toward the end of the project, I focused more on creating the artifacts, the screens, the diagrams, the deck, while my other two teammates focused on writing the script, and preparing the stories for presenting our project. I did a revision early 2021. I flash out the flow, and apply a new visual design.
Instead of sending packages to specific locations, sending them to friends is now the default option.
Inputting the actual address is now receivers’ task. Users are already familiar with this model by using online retail services, and it opens up to more possible future delivery options.
Use AR to measure the dimensions of items you want to send and automatically select the appropriate box size.
FedEx Next’s new model is designed to incorporate future delivery/pick up methods, like drones and FedEx partners.
When we were brainstorming our topic as a team. Someone asked us how to send his work to a friend to show his gratitude. We tried to recall our experiences sending packages, but realized we couldn't explain better than "just go to the office".
This little incident reminded us of the humanism aspect of sending packages and led us to look into it. The process seemed really overcomplicated, and we thought "hmmm, we can think of something better."
We conducted initial interviews with 10 friends/family members and CCA students we reached out to. We confirmed and narrowed down pain points we wanted to work on:
Preparing a package for delivery is challenging. Not any step that is too hard for someone to complete, but friction from numerous tiny tasks add up.
Learning the address for receivers, choosing the correct-sized box as well as knowing how certain objects should be wrapped to avoid damage along the way are all very intimidating for first-time senders.
Senders need to choose from countless shipping plans that they don’t really understand the differences.
Based on the interviews we created two personas that we want to target. One represents a returning user of mailing services, the other represents a completely new user.
With the insights we gained, we went through a couple of iterations of HMWs.
Looking back to our personas, and research findings, we decided we should focus on reducing the friction for preparing the package and drop off/pick up it. Because this is what matters most for returning long time users; for new users, a better onboarding experience may solve the problem now, but we believe resolving the problem from the root is ultimately more effective than curing the symptoms.
We brainstormed over 50 ideas, some (most) of them may not make sense. We had a foundation to start narrowing down.
We narrowed downed to the final four features we want to include in our project: Send to a friend instead of a location. Choose the location you want your packages to be sent to. Measure the size of your items with AR. Open to possibilities of new pickup/delivery methods, like drones and FedEx partners.
Our taskflow diagram covers the process from knowing whom to send to and having the item at hand to actually sending it out. We divided it into three main stages, select whom to send to, measure and input information about the item, and choose how the package will be sent and picked up or dropped off.
The plan is to divide tasks into screens with the wireframe. However, after critique, we realized that there is still room for improvement about the assignment of task, and made adjustments in our final design based on feedback we get.
FedEx already has a well-established brand identity with a nice looking visual style. We wanted to preserve that clear, flat printing theme throughout the application, but not standing out too much.
FedEx already has a well-established brand identity with a nice looking visual style. We wanted to preserve that clear, flat printing theme throughout the application, but not standing out too much.
From pretty early on into the project, we realized that we’re not able to build usable prototypes to validate our concept within the time frame. The goal for us then leans more towards pitching the concept. I think we did a good job and feedback we got from the final critique suggests that too. The biggest challenge for us was we had little prior experience with the design process. We went through every step but sometimes short of a sense of how each step contributes to the final goal. How one step is built on top of the previous one is not fully thought through, and the logical continuity could be improved. This is the area we learned the most too. If we are spending more time on it, the first thing we need is a plan to realize the concept. It could be either collaborating with a company as we already hypothesized, or any other form for example start our own business. Then we can define our objectives and work toward them.