Expanding design spaces beyond screens
Qualitative Research
UX Design
Product Design
Connecting remote designers with a highly interactive space for enhanced creativity and collaboration. Designed meticulously for individual use, increasing idea generation by 50% and 125% creative contemplation.
My Roles
User Research, Surveys, Interviews, Qualitative, Thematic Analysis, Product Design
Time
2024, 4 Months
Opportunity
The aim is to revolutionize remote design frameworks to boost creativity and collaboration in distributed teams by integrating the often overlooked advantages of physical design spaces with digital brainstorming tools.
Solution
Introducing Orca - a hybrid design workspace that transforms modern interfaces. By offering an expansive and interactive environment, Orca provides the flexibility needed to overcome creativity bottlenecks and unlock the full potential of a design team's innovative capabilities.
Highlights
150%
Idea generation
60%
Users found enhanced creativity
+40%
Alignment for Remote Design Teams
The added layer of interactivity layer allows users to use gestures, moving beyond basic actions into abstract soft interactions to showcase iterative nature of the Design process.
With a visual depiction of others' thoughts and ‘reading between the lines’, designers can now interpret unarticulated ideas. Imitating traditional brainstorming done in physical settings, this fosters enriched communication with non-verbal cues.
An added layer of Interactivity
Gestures for semi-concrete thoughts
Purposeful Modes
for Conscious Collaboration, Reducing Unintended Silos
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Reject
Cut to the chase
Unveiling the Soul
An ideal design process depends on brainstorming, body-language, face-to-face interactions to drive creativity and problem-solving. Digital tools have created challenges for collaboration, leading to unintended silos - isolated work environments.
Remote work worsens this further by interrupting ‘spontaneous’ interactions, affecting the quality of idea generation and the overall team alignment.
Needs | Ideal Design Process
Collaboration is the Key
Discussions and team efforts drive innovative solutions adding many dimensions to planar ideas
Minimizing Asynchronous Brainstorming
Digital tools like Figjam and Miro reduce real-time collaboration affecting team alignment
Pain Points | Creative Loss in Remote Work
Limited Complex Operations
Automation and simplification may increase efficiency but stifles innovation
Lost Unintended Interactions
Casual, spontaneous interactions spark new ideas, crucial in remote settings
Creativity Bottlenecks
Remote work silos reduce feedback loops, hindering idea generation
Design Implications
Balancing strength of both setups
Combines digital tools with flexible physical space, boosting ideation and collaboration.
Enriching interactivity
Adds gesture-based interactions, enabling richer communication and creative discussions.
New avenues for creative Thinking
Promotes idea sharing and reassessment, encouraging everyone to contribute and engage.
line between silos and collaboration
Encourages users to choose between working alone or collaborating, reducing isolation.
The design directions identified it is necessary to retain the benefits of remote collaboration while reintroducing body language and informal discussions. To reduce silos and enhance engagement in design processes, it is critical to reduce task fragmentation and encourage reflection.
Screenshare
(Figma)
(Miro)
Spotlight
Follow
A
B
C
D
E
F
A
B
C
D
E
F
A
B
C
D
E
F
= team member contributing to the collaboration (affecting shared ownership)
= the creativity (efforts and board)
Ideal
D
A
B
C
E
F
The gap lies in replicating ‘spontaneous’ and ‘complex’ interactions essential for creative brainstorming, currently missing in Figjam, Miro, and other digital brainstorming tools.
Primary Research
Moving back and forth between literature review of 20+ relevant studies, my design process was full of reflective loops that focused on answering and re-questioning multiple possible directions.
To understand current industry trends, I conducted detailed user research with over 40 participants, followed by qualitative data analysis. The inductive thematic analysis performed on interview insights yields clear directions for improvements in both physical and digital setups.
The target audience focuses on UX designers with remote work experience and roles not limited to UI. Demographics are open, yet age constraints range from 22 to 35 years, reflecting the relatively recent emergence of remote work in the design field.
40+
Participant Designers
32
Survey Responses
8
20-minute Observations
8
30-minute Interviews
10
Usability Tests (+2 Pilots)
Themes and their Tendencies | Inductive Thematic Analysis
Ideation
Collaboration
Tool dependency
Documentation
Tending toward:
Physical Space
Neutral
Digital Platforms
Conceptualization
Through the design process, I explored diverging design directions, through rigorous sketching and rapid prototyping. Idea 1, a tabletop setup with a camera and projector loop, allows real-time data transfer between two users but risks creating ‘infinity loops’.
Idea 2 uses AR goggles and physical whiteboards for a blended physical-digital collaboration but lacks direct editing capabilities. Idea 3, a table-sized virtual whiteboard, shapes the main concept.
The Main Dish
Introducing "Orca" – the ultimate hybrid design solution where tradition meets innovation. Inspired by the intelligence and collaborative spirit of majestic killer whales, Orca connects minds, fosters richer thinking, and enhances collaborative interactions.
A 4’x3’ Digital whiteboard
A Marker
Sensors
Wall mounted mode
Average human height 5’4”
3’ from ground
Table top mode
3’ from ground
Average human height 5’4”
Large Interactive Screen
A 4x3 ft interactive screen for intuitive brainstorming expanding dimensions beyond screens,
Pen + Touch + Gestures
Along with touch and pen inputs, use gestures to manipulate content intuitively like real world.
Pen Tool
Sticky Notes
Shapes
Connections
Sections
Suggestive
Mode
Voting
Comments
Contemplate
Create
Connect
Analyse
Mode
Large Icons for larger screen size
128px x 128px
Default placement
Sensing user’s proximity
Versatile Toolbar
Including freehand drawing, arrows, sectioning and more, the bar dynamically adjusts to user proximity.
Integrated Digital Tools
Seamlessly import resources, annotate and document design processes, from brainstorming to data analysis.
An added layer of Interactivity
Gestures for semi-concrete thoughts
Move elements
Make Connections
Gestures
Stylus
Sketch and Prototype
The added layer of interactivity layer allows users to use gestures, moving beyond basic actions into abstract soft interactions to showcase iterative nature of the Design process.
With a visual depiction of others' thoughts and ‘reading between the lines’, designers can now interpret unarticulated ideas. Imitating traditional brainstorming done in physical settings, this fosters enriched communication with non-verbal cues.
Comments
New Note
Create
Mode
Connect
Plugins
Create
Shapes
Frames
Drawing
Particpan
The real Novelty
Enriched Collaboration
Gestures enable anyone to build upon each other's ideas, facilitating deeper understanding, even passive users' thought processes.
Purposeful Modes
The default ‘Create’, a ‘Suggestive’ for changes and a clear review process and the ‘Analyze’ that facilitates conscious collaboration.
New Avenues for Creative Thinking
Discussing these new gestures, users reflect "what if"s "why not"s and explore multiple possibilities. Generating more ideas, it reduces team misalignment, and promotes equal contribution, boosting brainstorming and engagement in the Design process.
Create mode
Default
Supports both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, allowing users to create and edit content freely. Real-time updates and ghost images of edits ensure transparency and clarity.
This mode is perfect for the initial stages of brainstorming, enabling spontaneous creativity without constraints on individual contributions.
Suggest Mode
Inspired
Powerful for enhancing asynchronous collaboration. It allows users to propose changes with a review mechanism for board owners, ensuring that all modifications are considered thoughtfully. The mode's focus on individual changes rather than the entire diagram promotes detailed and informed decision-making. Marking modified elements with badges and ghost trails of previous states, it enriches the brainstorming process with deeper and visual thinking.
Show
Previous
Accept
Reject
Show
Previous
Accept
Reject
Analyze mode
New
Ensures effective and structured collaboration with real-time interaction among multiple users. It prompts participants to join the session, fostering active engagement. The mode creates a static view of a selected board section, eliminating zoom to maintain focus. Users who join can edit the shared viewport, while others can only view or work independently. Eliminating unintended silos and ensuring purposeful collaboration, this mode emphasizes equal contributions from all team members.
Garnishing
Killer whales, or orcas, are renowned for their sophisticated communication, which mirror the platform's goal of blending traditional and digital methods, fostering richer thinking.
The name Orca reflects the platform's dedication to enhancing interactive and intuitive brainstorming sessions enabling effective collaboration, much like the cooperative and familial nature of killer whales.
Launching your personal brainstorming space
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