Design sketches
Group Meeting:
我們小組設計提案的目標對象是遠距的家人，他們或因疫情被迫分隔異國，或因孩子外出求學與家人分離，或因父母在不同城市工作難以團聚。無論何種原因導致分離，通過我們組員的觀察得出，這些相隔千里之遙家人都十分思念彼此，並希望能在日常生活中增進情感的連結和交流。但因為缺席了彼此的生活情景，以及不同世代的家人之間代際差異與溝通難度的存在，他們往往不知如何恰當地向遠方的家人表達自己的情感、傳遞思念與關懷。
基於這些痛點，以及對智能手機普遍適用於遠距家人間的溝通的觀察，我們計畫設計一款人性化的Mobile App來增進遠距離的家人之間的情感連結，不使「距離」讓家的溫暖減損。我們小組通過10+10草圖法進行腦力激盪，構想App可能具備的功能，以及手機軟體與生活中常用物品的連結（如智慧家居）。最後我們從近50張個人草圖中挑選了10張作為我們的design ideas的雛形。這一過程中我們也發現一些組員的想法不謀而合、或是互為補充，因此也對一些相近的ideas進行了合併和創新；一些組員的草圖雖然看起來簡單，但構想非常新穎或與design requirement十分契合，因此我們也對這部分草圖進行補充和完善。通過投票表決敲定10個ideas之後，5位組員一起將這10個ideas以較為完善的草圖方式呈現出來（每人主筆2張新的草圖）。最後我們得到的涵蓋不同方面的10張最新草圖如下。
1. Send Signals to your Loved Ones (Celine)
Strength
1. 該設計能讓對方十分直接地明白我們此刻的心情。（婷美）
2. 我覺得這是一個簡單的設計，但卻能表達很多意思，藉由不同顏色的燈去表達，真的很可愛，而且只有彼此懂。（Joanna）
3. Sometimes it’s hard for us to express ourselves and this feature helps us a lot by sending signals to our loved ones. I believe your bad day can just turn into a good one in a blink of an eye when you see your loved ones sending you signals. (Yi Yong)
4. 它比其他設計更優越的點在於巧妙地與日用品檯燈相結合，有智慧家居的感覺，讓App的功能不僅停留在冷冰冰的屏幕後，而是通過直觀的設計來親近使用者，頗具啟發性。而且燈光顏色的選擇很具視覺吸引力。（洪揚）
Weakness
1. 改變燈光顏色是很好的創意，但實際上並非所有顏色的燈光都適合日常生活使用，對眼睛友善的光色的選擇也許較為有限。（洪揚）
2. sending signals to your loved ones using different color lights require them to remember what each color means. they either have to keep a note on the colors and their meaning or else they wouldn’t get what’s being signaled to them.（Yi Yong）
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3. Family Schedule (Hong Yang)
Strength
1. 在沒辦法一一説明行程下，有了這樣的設計更能讓家人明白我們在忙什麽，遇到考試家人也能給我們鼓勵。（婷美）
2. 我覺得這樣可以讓彼此知道近期在進行什麼活動，而且還可以留言，像是在期中考的那一天，家人可以在旁邊留言加油，很可愛！（Joanna）
3. We sometimes get too busy that we forget about important dates, starting from; assignment deadlines, birthdays and your loved ones’ special dates. this is where the feature comes in really handy. not only that, when the other party notices that you’re going to have an upcoming exam, they can you send you special texts like “You can do it!” and many more. (Yi Yong)
4. I think this design can help people to remember and cherish every single day more, because we often forget about dates and even regard dates as deadlines. (Celine)
Weakness
some users may prefer jotting down notes on their book planner. this feature can only be accessed digitally so some might think it’s inconvenient to do so. （Yi Yong）
Strength
1. 讓家人和我們一起種植，一起建構屬於我們的花園，是很棒一種互動模式。（婷美）
2. 真的超喜歡這個設計，因為可以讓在遠方的彼此，彷彿在同一個時空，透過一起養電子寵物及植物，也可以維繫彼此的感情。（Joanna）
3. Playing a virtual game together with your loved ones is another way to have some quality time. the game offers a lot of features starting from a map which tells you the location of your loved ones until growing a virtual garden together. there are still other features which is really interesting. (Yi Yong)
4. Celine最初的草圖中有許多有趣的零散小功能都可以匯總到一個遊戲之中。將手機遊戲與家庭生活相連結確實是很新穎的發想角度，是其他組員的草圖中未曾涉及的。之前好像尚未聽說過有適合全家人一起玩的遊戲，而且還可以根據不同的家庭來客製化內容，確實很值得研發。（洪揚）
Weakness
at first, it must take the adults some time to understand how the game works. how to function the feature. adults spend lesser time on their phones so the younger ones might end up playing on their own. it might get boring after playing on their own for too long.（Yi Yong）
4. Stable Video Call (Hong Yang)
Strength
1. 我們常常在與家人視訊的時候常會遇到這樣的問題，如果有了這個設計，可以跟家人達到更好的遠距溝通，與我們的requirement契合。(婷美)
2. 我覺得可以知道是哪一方的網路不穩定，是很有用的設計，因為這很常發生，然後兩方都會換地方或是重新連接網路，都會造成視訊／通訊品質的下降，是如果可以知道是哪一方需要做調整的話，就不會一直讓通訊／視訊處在不穩定中，而且有提供哪一個方向較佳，真的很貼心，相信會為通訊品質提升許多。（Joanna）
3. Internet connection problems happens often and is something we can’t always avoid, especially when making a call. with the help of this feature, we would be able to know which of the parties’ connection is unstable. a compass is also provided in order to give you directions in which the internet works better. （Yi Yong）
4. When communicating through the internet, connection problems often occurs. sometimes the messages we wanted to deliver got cut off and in order to redo them all, we are wasting our time. （Celine）
Weakness
there’s a compass provided in the feature that could give us directions in which the internet works better but there might be an error like; going further way but there’s no changes in the internet connection and it’s still slow. it will take time and when the users don’t feel like walking, they might end up talking to their loved ones through text. （Yi Yong）
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5. Good Morning (Ting Mei)
Strength
1. There are times where we don’t feel like scrolling through our phone. with this feature, it’s never been easier to send a morning text to our loved ones. I believe waking up to a morning text sent by your loved ones can make your day brighter. （Yi Yong）
2. I think this is a simple feature but it can really help us feel our family’s presence. it isn’t complicated so our parents probably wouldn’t have a hard time getting used to it. （Celine）
3. 增進家人的連結有時不需要挖空心思，設計怎樣複雜的功能，有時候只需要簡單的一個訊號，像是知道遠方思念的人已經起床，就會給家中人帶來滿心的溫暖。婷美的創意給我們的設計提供了一個新的發想角度，從日常生活中去發現可以連結的點。（洪揚）
Weakness
婷美的設計目前只停留在手機App上，可以效仿Celine的燈的設計，與家中物品結合，例如起床後房間裡擺放的太陽花盆栽上的LED燈自動亮起，會更加直觀。（洪揚）
6.What’s the weather in your place? (Ting Mei)
Strength
1. The feature helps to know the weather in our loved ones’ area which is really thoughtful because it helps us remind them to bring the things they need, like an umbrella or a raincoat. for example, when it’s a rainy day, we can tell them to eat something warm. （Yi Yong）
2. Like the sunflower, it is a feature that can help us feel our family’s presence. we can also remind each other to bring our umbrella, wear an outer and so on. it is simple but can make a significant impact. （Celine）
3. 自己在草圖發想時也想設計可以提醒家人帶傘、加衣等的功能，而沒有想到合適的表現方式，所以看到婷美的創意時有驚喜感。很可愛的設計，同樣與日常生活緊密結合，很適合我們的project。（洪揚）
7. Music Sharing (Joanna)
Strength
1. 分享音樂也是一種很棒的互動方式，可以創造跟家人的共同歌單。（婷美）
2. 音樂本身是一種重要的情感連結方式，App應該會需要音樂分享的功能。（洪揚）
3. knowing what songs your loved ones are currently listening to can give you hints of how they’re feeling throughout the day. if you think they’re having a rough day, you can listen to a cheerful song together before bed which has a high chance of making your loved ones sleep with a light heart, knowing you’ll always be there for them. can also express your feelings to them by selecting songs you want them to listen to. （Yi Yong）
4. this is also a great way to connect with each other. when we are sad, our family can play some songs to cheer us up. again, it is simple but we can feel their support through this feature. or just simply enjoy the music together.（Celine）
8. Photo Sharing (Joanna)
Strength
1. 即時的動態分享可以促進遠距之間的交流。（婷美）
2. having this feature is such a good idea because it’s one of the ways to keep our family updated on the things we do daily. not only with texts, but also pictures. plus, it’s private and only your loved ones can see the stories you posted, compared to instagram story which can be seen by so many people. this time you can post freely and do as much updates as you want! （Yi Yong）
3. it is a simple and efficient way to keep our family updated about our daily lives. we can take photos and simply upload it to let our family members know what we are up to. （Celine）
9. Logo Design for Family App (Yi Yong)
Strength
1. 繞著地球的兩顆愛心，就像我們和我們的家人一樣，很有距離感，但是使用app，能讓我們的心在一起。（婷美）
2. we obviously need a logo to represent our application. i think this logo suits our app well.(Celine)
3. 這是一個很明瞭的圖示，畢竟我們的客群就是那些遠距離相處的親人／朋友們。(Joanna)
4. Occupied now but still love you (Yi Yong)
5. 遠距的通話肯定會遇到時間上的問題，可以改成之前討論的，在不能接聽通話的情況下，發送動態圖示給對方知道我們正在幹嘛而沒辦法接聽電話。(婷美)
6. 有時候很忙，可能會拒絕父母的來電，雖然他們也知道是在忙，可是心裡還是會小小的失落，所以我覺得透過一個按鈕，利用傳送過去的可愛卡通影片代替文字的「忙碌中」，真的會讓彼此的心理都舒服很多。（Joanna）
7. we sometimes got so busy doing our assignments to reply messages. to prevent misunderstandings, it is a simple way to show that we are currently available to talk or not. (Celine)
8. 視訊框中一般只有冷冰冰的接聽和掛斷，怡蓉的設計讓我們能多一種選擇，多一份巧思，讓家人之間的通話更加溫暖。（洪揚）
