donutholes

Katherine Lee Midterm Mania March 26, 2009

small things that fill little voids

More Customizability

•  Shoes •  Cars •  Electronics

Thesis Concept

An effective customization tool must empower the user to make something they personally

connect with.

Customization that incorporates some element of the user’s feelings or persona fosters a

sense of ownership.

Proposition

A web-based customization tool that allows users to design plush creatures or soft objects using…

–  A selection of base body shapes –  Facial features like eyes, mouths –  Appendages like legs, arms, tails, etc. –  Skins from existing color/print selection & from custom uploads (custom digital printing)

Why I Am Doing This

•  There is currently nothing like this –  Closest things = Build-a-Bear Workshop (shudder) and super-expensive monster kit

•  People feel an affinity for soft, plush things –  they’re comforting and can assume many identities

–  they can have a personal value separate from your public persona

Design Questions

•  Why do people customize things? •  Who customizes things? •  What kinds of things do people customize? •  What makes a customization tool fulfilling or satisfying to use?

•  What makes people like what they’ve made? •  What gives people a sense of ownership over something they’ve customized?

Make My Own Monster

Dunkin Donuts Make Your Own Donut

Marvel Create Your Own Super Hero

Spore Creature Creator

Why People Customize Stuff

•  to make things they care about or are proud of

•  to make something that reflects something about themselves

•  to feel rich •  to have something unique •  because it’s fun

Goal: to design a joyful interactive experience in which everything the user chooses to do feels like the

right thing to do

Target Users

•  Designer toy enthusiasts

•  Kids •  People who give really personalized gifts

Prototype Testing

Considerations

•  Make it easy to “try things on” •  Making the creation process less structured

•  More options for everything to enable more personalities –  More flair –  Ears and noses –  Themes?

•  Color

For Symposium

•  Demo of customization tool •  5 examples of objects created with tool •  Project vision

Schedule

Week of: March 21 – create forms and MCs for all forms in Flash

March 28 – make more forms, concept testing + program selection tool

April 4 – program selection tool, visualization tool

April 11 – scale/rotation + QA testing April 18 – QA testing, fine-tune site, make more demo products

April 26 – QA for site + Symposium

Life After Symposium

•  Online customization tool •  Ability to order your creation and have it made and sent to you

•  Interactive environment for the community of user creations

•  Crowdsource to make the most popular creations available

Thanks!