Empowering breast self-awareness: integrating augmented reality for comprehensive breast self-examination

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-12-13) Wang, Yijing

In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) has seen a growing application in the healthcare industry, revolutionizing patient care, medical training, and diagnostics. In alignment with this technological trend, this thesis explores the development and evaluation of an innovative mobile application that harnesses the power of AR to enhance breast self-examinations. This application offers real-time, step-by-step instructions projected onto the user's body to ensure precise self-examinations, supplemented by personalized feedback and guidance for follow-up actions. Through this research, we have gained valuable insights into the fundamental pain points users encounter in breast self-examination, user attitudes toward the application of AR technology in this domain, and their reactions to the newly designed experience. These findings provide a wealth of information and assistance in shaping the future of breast self-examination, offering a more informed and enhanced user experience.
Designing an Interactive Experience for Local Elections Information to Increase Civic Participation Amongst Young Adults

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-12-13) Park, Chaeeun

Americans are uniquely situated in that they have more opportunities than people in other countries to vote due to the combination of municipal, state, and national elections. However out of these elections, local elections suffer from the lowest voter turnout despite the fact that these elections hold major influence in the daily lives of local residents. Paired with this, young, voting-aged adults (aged 18-29) have different frameworks for understanding and engaging with politics from previous generations. This divergence is rooted in their reliance on trusted personal networks in a vast sea of political information as well as their interest in specific social causes as opposed to the mechanisms of traditional political institutions. This study examines how young, voting-aged adults (ages 18-29) are both motivated and demoralized from civic engagement. Through design intervention, it explores how interactive games can help motivate young adults to become more civically engaged in their local elections through demystifying the perceived complex hostility of politics by utilizing roleplaying and gamification, helping young adults learn more about what is happening in their local environment, and fostering a cooperative model of civic engagement based on guided discussion. Finally, a tabletop game, Denizen, was developed in order to help facilitate political discussions amongst young adults and also help them learn more about local issues. The outcomes of this study underscore the importance of utilizing new engagement methods for young adults, especially for re-engaging young adults into traditional electoral duties. It also highlights the importance of knowledge-building and political expertise in improving overall civic motivation.
UX guide to microinteractions : Establishing a classification system to enable microinteraction design literacy among novice UX designers

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-12-11) Shankar, Abhishek

This study explores how identifying and classifying various animated microinteractions can help improve design literacy among UX/UI designers by integrating motion design elements. Microinteractions are small, task-specific actions that a user can trigger or experience within a user interface, such as liking a post, setting a status, or receiving a notification. They play a crucial role in providing feedback, guiding users, and adding an element of delight to the user experience. In this thesis, the focus is on the importance of microinteractions in enhancing the user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. To better understand how designers work with microinteractions and motion in product design, subject matter experts (SMEs) were interviewed who revealed that non-motion designers often need help understanding microinteraction design language. To address this, a classification system was developed and hosted online, which permits UX/UI designers to access microinteraction design language. Microinteractions are classified into a visual design system based on triggers, functions, and principles of motion. This classification system was validated by UX/UI designers using interviews and questionnaires. The results showed that the system promotes cross-disciplinary communication and collaboration among design team members by introducing motion design language and terminologies through an organized classification system.
A Comparative Study: Influence on Real-World Consumer Perception of Products Presented in Augmented Reality

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-08-18) Chen, Kaiyuan

With the development of the mobile device, augmented reality (AR) is moving from the laboratory into the consumer market. Product presentation in the augmented environment has become a compelling function that helps consumers have a better perception of the product. In this article, we proposed a comparative study to figure out how users perceive the product model in the AR environment and the difference compared with the real-world product. Through this research, we will further understand which attributes of the product can be better perceived in AR. The product semantic differential method was used here to build the product evaluation metrics and compare the user perception of 3 types of product presentation based on product semantic.
Design Opportunities Tracking Related Cues to Support Remote Psychotherapy

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-07-26) Gao, Lan

Remote psychotherapy has been growing rapidly. Despite its increasing prevalence, it presents challenges such as privacy concerns, technological familiarity, and interaction blockers. Most significantly, it often compromises the therapeutic alliance—a key factor in effective psychotherapy—due to a lack of non-verbal cues and a perceived distance between client and therapist. This research aims to address these challenges through the integration of sensor tracking systems, which offer the potential to improve online interactions and support a stronger therapeutic alliance. We begin by exploring the opportunities and challenges of deploying sensor-tracking systems in remote psychotherapy, through qualitative analysis of interviews, card-sorting activities, and co-design sessions with 9 clients and 10 therapists. We subsequently propose a sensor-based remote psychotherapy platform, informed by the findings from these activities. Finally, we ran a user testing session conducted with 7 clients and 3 therapists to evaluate the feasibility of our proposal. This work offers insights into the deployment of sensor-tracking systems in remote psychotherapy, presenting valuable directions for enhancing the therapeutic alliance and overall experience for both clients and therapists.
Development of a priming package to aid in overcoming the experiential gap between student designers in a capstone course and users to improve quality of generated concepts

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05-23) Drawdy, Morgan Sophia

The primary objective of this thesis is to evaluate the extent to which priming packages overcome the experiential gap between student designers and pre-determined end users, with the ultimate outcome of improving the quality of concepts generated by the students to address the needs of the end users. This thesis was divided into two parts: 1) development of the general priming package structure/content and evaluation tools to grade the concepts on their adherence to the needs of stakeholders, and 2) an assessment of concepts generated by teams with and without access to the second-iteration priming package, with refinement based on feedback collected during the preliminary trials.
Nets and Knots: Techniques for Scaling Netted Lace

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05-02) Johnston, Margaret

Traditional handcrafts have potential for a variety of applications in the modern field of industrial design, from their historic function in the creation of everyday objects to recent applications in projects that leverage modern technology to push the boundaries of a craft. Previous work has demonstrated success in projects that adapt craft techniques at a large scale to create new products or architectural designs. This study explores options for scaling up netted lace-making techniques for use in a Georgia Tech Research Institute project that intends to send a net into space to collect space debris. Though fishing nets and sports nets are already mass-produced at a large scale, the machines that make them lack the nuance to make more than a single type of net from a machine. They impose limits on the material of the net, the scale at which it is made, and the ability to incorporate unique design choices, such as crossed or gathered stitches, into the pattern of the netting. At the other extreme, small-scale handcraft methods of making netted lace allow for a wide variety of pattern choices but are labor intensive processes for the crafter. The traditional tools of netted lace become unwieldy at the scale necessary for this project. This thesis therefore proposes a new technique for net-making which fills the gap identified between industrial machines that mass produce fishing nets and the method that handcrafters use to make small lace samples. The tools and techniques created for this purpose, developed through analogy to a number of other textile crafts, decrease the labor required on the part of the crafter while preserving their ability to make a variety of pattern choices in the design of the net.
How to improve collaboration with Lego-style bricks

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05) Vieira, Pedro Henrique de Medeiros

Collaboration can be defined as the act of working together with one or more individuals or groups towards a common goal, with the aim of achieving a shared result. At its core, collaboration is about leveraging the strengths and abilities of all team members to achieve a better outcome than any individual could on their own. Bloc Co-op is a game designed to incorporate Lego bricks and a companion app to improve collaboration within teams in a seamless and playful way. Teams will get together and compete in weekly building challenges, upload pictures of their structures and rate others builds, while exercising their communication, trust, creativity, and accountability muscles.
Exploring the Gig Economy to Create a Connected College Ecosystem through Service Exchange

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05) Holmes, Cam

This project direction is directed towards improving student’s transition into their careers by leveraging the gig economy to create connection and cash flow with an intent of finding a scalable product market fit on the Georgia Institute of Technology's campus. This project utilizes a common startup practice by condensing the design process to more of an iterative approach to problem solving. The design cycles start broad and become more defined as the project progresses based on feedback received from students and eventually local businesses around campus. The three main themes around each design cycle are as follows: 1. A Student to Student Gig Exchange, 2. A Text-based Freelance Marketplace for Students, 3. A Scalable Platform and Ecosystem designed to help build small business, Student Experience and Expand the University Community. This iterative process of “failing fast” has enabled Gigsurf to strengthen it’s product market fit through the entirety of the project. Gigsurf is a marketplace for top talent students to provide contract work to start-ups while expanding the start-up presence on campus and within local communities.
Turning the Wheel: Addressing Barriers to Micromobility Transportation for Underrepresented Groups

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05)

The use of micromobility devices is on the rise, especially in denser urban environments, as people choose cycles, scooters, skateboards, and their electric counterparts to travel between destinations. While numbers vary by mode, ridership tends to be highest among white males and lower among women, black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), and persons with disabilities. Inadequate infrastructure and parking, safety concerns, and societal expectations are among the many reasons cited for these disparities. Initial research identifies end-of-trip facilities as an opportunity area where improvements can be made to support underserved and underrepresented populations. The aim of this project was to collect feedback from these groups which informed the design of a multifunctional storage device. Current users of micromobility devices were surveyed to ascertain what amenities have had the greatest positive impacts on their transportation experiences, as well as those that are still largely missing but desirable. Concepts were developed, visualized, and presented to target audiences for further feedback used to improve the design and validate the solution.