Designing an Ecosystem of Connected Services
Live Project - L’Ecole De Design, Nantes, France, 2018
Team Members: Alice Habay, Elisa Bernard, Yipo Hong
DOME by ERAM is an app connected to ERAM shoes that in addition to enabling personalisation of colours enables users to indulge in fitness, gaming or dance activities, conquer virtual territories in the physical world and form a community of their own. The rewards earned from these activities can be redeemed to access mobility services in the city.
Role: User Research, Defining User Flow, User Interface Design.
Éram is the French leader in high street and shopping center shoe retail. It shares its shoemaking expertise through its offer of high quality dynamic and innovative products.
Being a pioneer in innovation for fashion, Eram envisioned to create a community of connected devices by providing a customised experience for its users. They launched #Choose by Éram, a limited edition connected shoe designed to change colour using a mobile app.
#CHOOSE by ERAM
#Choose by Éram, is exclusively available on the e-shop and at the Éram Paris Forum des Halles store. Equipped with an intelligent LIGHTEX (Brochier Technologie) fabric band on the surface, the users can adapt the color of their shoes to match their outfit and style.
However the high price for the product emphasised the need for the creation of a system with additional services to provide teenagers with an incentive and make Eram an attractive buy.
The Challenge
Highly Priced
The product does not provide enough services for the price it is being sold at. Price - 289 Euros
Target Audience
The target audience is teenagers who seldom spend so much money on just shoes.
Online Shopping
People are uncomfortable buying shoes online and prefer trying on the shoes to ensure comfort and fit.
Uncertainty
The product did not attract enough attention and buyers were uncertain of its use.
Design Process
EMPATHISE:
GATHERING INSIGHTS
Understanding Business Requirements
Extensive research was conducted to understand the brands market standing and the product competitors
Analysing User Needs
User research was conducted to analyse the perception of users with regards to connected shoes and their expectations.
DEFINE:
SYNTHESIS & ANALYSIS
The data collected was analysed and the scope of the project was defined.
User Journey was mapped to understand user experience and facilitate persona creation.
DESIGN:
BUILDING SOLUTIONS
Information Architecture was designed for the app to enable task flow optimisation
Wireframes & UI were created accordingly keeping in mind the brand ideology and personality.
DEVELOP
EXECUTION AND VALIDATION
The design was prototyped and tested with the users for feedback.
Considerations
FUNCTIONAL
Shoes have a great advantage in terms of mobility and access. There is a lot of potential for data collection with respect to territorial mobility as well as physical and health attributes of the users.
SOCIAL
Building social relationships has become a primary want amongst the teens of today. Shoes are also known as a fundamental product with respect to forming first impressions. Shoes have a social connotation to them.
EXPERIENCES
Todays people don’t just buy products. They buy experiences. The want value addition to their purchases. Teenagers especially lean towards products that provide a holistic social experience.
Our Strategy
An app connected to Eram shoes that in addition to enabling personalisation of colours enables users to indulge in fitness, gaming or dance activities, conquer virtual territories in the physical world and form a community of their own. The rewards earned from these activities can be redeemed to access mobility services in the city and thus better connect with the city.
01.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
The app offers the users to indulge in fitness, dance or gaming related activities by setting up challenges and competing in teams. It encourages teens to venture into the physical world from the virtual world.
02.
MOBILITY BENEFITS
The rewards collected through each activity can be redeemed to purchase transportation tickets, free service cars/ bikes or get access to a certain city area for a limited time. This takes the service a step towards contributing to a smart city.
03.
PERSONALISATION
There are 3 ways the users can change the colour on the shoe. One way to do that is by manually selecting the colour.
Users can also change the colour of the shoe by selecting it from an image or record a sound and the app will suggest a colour palette based on the tempo and vibrations.
04.
LOCATION BASED SERVICES
Navigation plays a key role in the app. The users no longer need to look at their phones to navigate through the streets. The shoes provide haptic feedback for directions thus eliminating the risks of accidents.
The app provides notifications of live events based on the users interests that the users can participate in thus promoting social interactions.
App Features and Technology
1. FITNESS
The user selects and sets the level of the activity. They can set a target and challenge peers working towards a shared goal to achieve it. The GPS and Pedometer in the shoes can analyse movement and count the users steps, and calories burnt to give accurate results.
The shoe can analyse the fit of the shoe and with the help of pressure sensors as well as the territorial area to identify if the user walks with the right gait and posture. This data can prove insightful for the user in the future.
2. DANCE
Having the benefit of a connected shoe the app provides users the opportunity to step into the shoes of a dancer, literally. Being attached to the body, the shoes can be used as a guide. By providing haptic feedback, the shoes can guide the users through each step.
Activities like dance (Hip-Hop, Freestyle), that are influenced by the street culture and is largely community based. The app allows troupes of dancers to set a dance battle for the street and make it a live event. This ensures social interaction. Similarly, the shoes can analyse the movement and energy in dance steps and convert them to the perfect music.
3. GAMING
Social Media plays an essential role in community building. The app acts as a social media platform by bringing to reality activities from the gaming world where teens generally interact virtually.
A live game of Monopoly, Treasure Hunt where users have to capture territories and treasure in the real world by completing different challenges. This also encourages physical activity in teenagers.
The app provides collaboration with games like Pokemon Go and Call of Duty where the users can sync their profile to the app and experience the game differently.
App Prototype
Potential Partnerships
City Infrastructure and Mobility Rewards
Mobility Intelligence, and healthcare services
Street-level imagery for more robust information, to effectively allocate resources
DOVU lets individuals have a positive impact on their cities while earning a number of rewards along the way.
World’s fifth-largest transportation company innovating everyday for implementing tailored solutions for smarter, more sustainable cities.
Combination of technology and transparent policies for cities. Collecting, protecting and applying data to improve city living.
Collaborations With Existing Gaming Apps
Future Scope
For this project we were bound to the specifics of target audiences and inbuilt technologies. However, a connected shoe has immense potential to solve a multitude of problems. It can be used for various security and healthcare services, analysis and is an essential entity of the Smart City Ecosystem. Since shoes travel with us it can play a major role in access control.
In the future, #Choose by Eram could be a product that caters to a diverse audience and will be tailor-made to suit their specific needs. For eg: Guiding mechanism for the visually challenged, a system of analysis for athletes, a transformation in the gaming industry and an element for social collaboration.