Case Study | December 2021 | 4 weeks | Individual Project
Case Study | December 2021 | 4 weeks | Individual Project
Vaan.
Amazon Alexa x Saregama Caravaan
Vaan.
Amazon Alexa x Saregama Caravaan
Project Overview
Project Overview
With technological advancements, we've begun to live our lives more digitally than ever before. We've come a long way in terms of making our lives easier, progressing from keyboards to touchscreen to voice-based interfaces. Despite the fact that there are hundreds of interventions, none of them are without flaws or failures.
After conducting primary research and interviewing people in my community, I've discovered that we, the millennials and GENz, find it easier to access, and use these services than previous generations. They value services that are simple to use while still accomplishing their goals. Narrowing down the services and technology part, I chose to work on the latest inventions of virtual assistants and Bluetooth speakers. After learning about the same, from secondary and primary data, I understood how Virtual assistants irritate the older generations, especially when there are too many switches/features to make the task complicated. Not to mention the fact that the assistant seldom pays attention to the elders all at once!
Through 3d product renders, sound composition, research, and possible interactions and a video, the project focuses on learning about the two most often used applications/products/services in today's era and making them user-friendly for a specified target demographic.
With technological advancements, we've begun to live our lives more digitally than ever before. We've come a long way in terms of making our lives easier, progressing from keyboards to touchscreen to voice-based interfaces. Despite the fact that there are hundreds of interventions, none of them are without flaws or failures.
After conducting primary research and interviewing people in my community, I've discovered that we, the millennials and GENz, find it easier to access, and use these services than previous generations. They value services that are simple to use while still accomplishing their goals. Narrowing down the services and technology part, I chose to work on the latest inventions of virtual assistants and Bluetooth speakers. After learning about the same, from secondary and primary data, I understood how Virtual assistants irritate the older generations, especially when there are too many switches/features to make the task complicated. Not to mention the fact that the assistant seldom pays attention to the elders all at once!
Through 3d product renders, sound composition, research, and possible interactions and a video, the project focuses on learning about the two most often used applications/products/services in today's era and making them user-friendly for a specified target demographic.
Project Focus
Project Focus
Steming from the aspect of generational gap in terms of technical advancements, the project focuses on thinking of new areas of opportunities for the existing technology.
New pathways for existing technology
Sound-based technology
Making it easier for a particular age group, other than the millennials and GENz.
Support the design solution with 3D Rendered prototypes.
Steming from the aspect of generational gap in terms of technical advancements, the project focuses on thinking of new areas of opportunities for the existing technology.
New pathways for existing technology
Sound-based technology
Making it easier for a particular age group, other than the millennials and GENz.
Support the design solution with 3D Rendered prototypes.
User Scenario
User Scenario
Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research
Product Research: Saregama Carvaan
• What it is: The Carvaan Music Bluetooth Speaker is a portable music player that comes pre-loaded with mostly old Bollywood music. It's an easy-to-use device with built-in stereo speakers. Saregama Carvaan Music Bluetooth Player has been available in various languages from its beginning, including Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali, and Marathi.
• What it does: It performs everything the Echo does, but with stronger audio that fills a room and better Zigbee compatibility, making it more probable that older smart devices will operate with Alexa. With a three-inch neodymium woofer and 0.8-inch tweeter, this is Amazon's best-sounding standalone speaker.
• Who are its users: Carvaan is aimed squarely at people in their forties and fifties? It's for music fans who find downloading their favourite tunes too inconvenient. The aim was simple: fill the device with tunes that appeal to people in their 40s and 50s.
• Why the sudden hype? Anyone selling a box full of old songs with the design of a 60-year old recorder/speaker would've been shut down if it wasn't for the lockdown. Lockdown 2020 felt the gap between elders, technology and inability of spending their time while the young ones are busy on Spotify, Gaana, Wink, YouTube, etc. This was further filled up by Saregama Carvaan. Carvaan was surely a risk in the marketing industry. It's had two sections - Buyers and Consumers. The idea of the product was to be sold to the elders, or to the younger generation as a gift to their parents/grandparents.
Product Research: Saregama Carvaan
• What it is: The Carvaan Music Bluetooth Speaker is a portable music player that comes pre-loaded with mostly old Bollywood music. It's an easy-to-use device with built-in stereo speakers. Saregama Carvaan Music Bluetooth Player has been available in various languages from its beginning, including Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali, and Marathi.
• What it does: It performs everything the Echo does, but with stronger audio that fills a room and better Zigbee compatibility, making it more probable that older smart devices will operate with Alexa. With a three-inch neodymium woofer and 0.8-inch tweeter, this is Amazon's best-sounding standalone speaker.
• Who are its users: Carvaan is aimed squarely at people in their forties and fifties? It's for music fans who find downloading their favourite tunes too inconvenient. The aim was simple: fill the device with tunes that appeal to people in their 40s and 50s.
• Why the sudden hype? Anyone selling a box full of old songs with the design of a 60-year old recorder/speaker would've been shut down if it wasn't for the lockdown. Lockdown 2020 felt the gap between elders, technology and inability of spending their time while the young ones are busy on Spotify, Gaana, Wink, YouTube, etc. This was further filled up by Saregama Carvaan. Carvaan was surely a risk in the marketing industry. It's had two sections - Buyers and Consumers. The idea of the product was to be sold to the elders, or to the younger generation as a gift to their parents/grandparents.
Product Research: Amazon Alexa
• What it is: An improved version of the Echo, a speaker with a smaller profile, better sound, a temperature sensor built-in, and Zigbee connectivity for smart home automation.
• What it does: It performs everything the Echo does, but with stronger audio that fills a room and better Zigbee compatibility, making it more probable that older smart devices will operate with Alexa. With a three-inch neodymium woofer and 0.8-inch tweeter, this is Amazon's best-sounding standalone speaker.
• Who are its users: In terms of age, the optimal user is ages between 18 and 44. The Amazon Echo market segmentation with the highest percentage of users is 18-29 years old (24%), followed by30-44 years old (20%) and then above 44 years old (20%)? Project focuses on 44yrs+ age group.
• Why the sudden hype? Not only has Lockdown 2020 kept us away from social occasions, but it has also brought us closer to our family and the folks with whom we share a home. Amazon Alexa, Google Mini/Home, and Sarema Carvaan have all acquired popularity as a result of theircapacity to engage consumers, keep them informed, and, of course, be the centre of attention!
Product Research: Amazon Alexa
• What it is: An improved version of the Echo, a speaker with a smaller profile, better sound, a temperature sensor built-in, and Zigbee connectivity for smart home automation.
• What it does: It performs everything the Echo does, but with stronger audio that fills a room and better Zigbee compatibility, making it more probable that older smart devices will operate with Alexa. With a three-inch neodymium woofer and 0.8-inch tweeter, this is Amazon's best-sounding standalone speaker.
• Who are its users: In terms of age, the optimal user is ages between 18 and 44. The Amazon Echo market segmentation with the highest percentage of users is 18-29 years old (24%), followed by30-44 years old (20%) and then above 44 years old (20%)? Project focuses on 44yrs+ age group.
• Why the sudden hype? Not only has Lockdown 2020 kept us away from social occasions, but it has also brought us closer to our family and the folks with whom we share a home. Amazon Alexa, Google Mini/Home, and Sarema Carvaan have all acquired popularity as a result of theircapacity to engage consumers, keep them informed, and, of course, be the centre of attention!
Gaps found:
Gaps found:
Amazon Alexa Echo - 2nd Generation
1) Users get annoyed when the device doesn't listen to them. It's probably because of their feeble speech.
2) Inability to access the device without help, since it needs an app to run.
3) The requirement of a socket plugin for the Alexa to play irritates the user.
Saregama Carvaan
1) Though it is specifically meant for elders, people above the age of 44years, it doesn't satisfy their needs of playing music without anyone else's help.
2) The number of complexities the device has is beyond measure, it's mostly because of the number of buttons.
3) Too many cooks, spoil the broth. Similarly, too many features and buttons for a specific generation can make the experience cumbersome.
4) Because of its size and weight, it's not handy and hence cannot be carried everywhere.
Amazon Alexa Echo - 2nd Generation
1) Users get annoyed when the device doesn't listen to them. It's probably because of their feeble speech.
2) Inability to access the device without help, since it needs an app to run.
3) The requirement of a socket plugin for the Alexa to play irritates the user.
Saregama Carvaan
1) Though it is specifically meant for elders, people above the age of 44years, it doesn't satisfy their needs of playing music without anyone else's help.
2) The number of complexities the device has is beyond measure, it's mostly because of the number of buttons.
3) Too many cooks, spoil the broth. Similarly, too many features and buttons for a specific generation can make the experience cumbersome.
4) Because of its size and weight, it's not handy and hence cannot be carried everywhere.
Why Voice Assistants?
Why Voice Assistants?
Voice assistants have made our technical lives a lot easier, and they've generally assisted us in the situations below:
People with disabilities:
Voice assistants are helpful to the ones with physical and mobility disabilities, it allows you to set reminders, schedule appointments, set alarms and much more.
Language barriers:
Communication has been simplified, particularly for the elderly and those who do not speak English. Elders in India struggle with language, whether it's at their children's schools or when travelling alone without their children. Assistants have made it easier for them to communicate and have forced them to stand on their feet.
Learning:
Voice control is also an excellent resource of online learning. It allows you to interact more with the material vocally, provides knowledge about anything possible, which can help your memory of those items.
Being able to use voice control without the internet is important and a need nowadays. Since voice control is hands-free, it is versatile. When you couple that with the above-mentioned benefits, you have a great feature that can be used anywhere at any time.
Can they be used offline?
Yes! It can be. However, one needs to compromise on a few features like
online weather updates, online maps, live news etc.
Loopholes:
1) For maps - If you keep a downloaded/offline map of your neighbourhood
in your device, then only it will be able to instruct you while driving.
2) For music - Downloaded/pre-loaded music can be played via virtual
assistant.
Voice assistants have made our technical lives a lot easier, and they've generally assisted us in the situations below:
People with disabilities:
Voice assistants are helpful to the ones with physical and mobility disabilities, it allows you to set reminders, schedule appointments, set alarms and much more.
Language barriers:
Communication has been simplified, particularly for the elderly and those who do not speak English. Elders in India struggle with language, whether it's at their children's schools or when travelling alone without their children. Assistants have made it easier for them to communicate and have forced them to stand on their feet.
Learning:
Voice control is also an excellent resource of online learning. It allows you to interact more with the material vocally, provides knowledge about anything possible, which can help your memory of those items.
Being able to use voice control without the internet is important and a need nowadays. Since voice control is hands-free, it is versatile. When you couple that with the above-mentioned benefits, you have a great feature that can be used anywhere at any time.
Can they be used offline?
Yes! It can be. However, one needs to compromise on a few features like
online weather updates, online maps, live news etc.
Loopholes:
1) For maps - If you keep a downloaded/offline map of your neighbourhood
in your device, then only it will be able to instruct you while driving.
2) For music - Downloaded/pre-loaded music can be played via virtual
assistant.
The Idea:
Whilst researching and talking to users about the products discussed above, the major focus was leaning towards the physical object and how it can be made easy to use for the selected audience (50-60years) in terms of less interaction (the number of buttons), use of speaker without wi-fi, and comfortability. Hence, the project focused on working with 3D software to provide a glimpse of a new speaker designed with the idea of 'new pathways for the existing technology' in mind.
The project focuses on coming up with solutions in order to make the technical world easy for the selected age-group. The design is a fusion of Saregama Carvaan and the Amazon Alexa. I have tried to involve the main and useful features from the same and have added two new features (buttons) to the final design.
These include:
‘Start Over’ button which enables the user to skip the explanation given by the virtual assistant and gives he command again.
'Language’ button which enables the user to choose another language except the default language (English).
It aims on making the device user-friendly, easy to handle, and less complicate. This feature together will help the user become technologically independent.
In the future, I intend to build upon the project with an ergonomic lens which can further help me study about the comfortability and the human behavior attached to the project.
Whilst researching and talking to users about the products discussed above, the major focus was leaning towards the physical object and how it can be made easy to use for the selected audience (50-60years) in terms of less interaction (the number of buttons), use of speaker without wi-fi, and comfortability. Hence, the project focused on working with 3D software to provide a glimpse of a new speaker designed with the idea of 'new pathways for the existing technology' in mind.
The project focuses on coming up with solutions in order to make the technical world easy for the selected age-group. The design is a fusion of Saregama Carvaan and the Amazon Alexa. I have tried to involve the main and useful features from the same and have added two new features (buttons) to the final design.
These include:
‘Start Over’ button which enables the user to skip the explanation given by the virtual assistant and gives he command again.
'Language’ button which enables the user to choose another language except the default language (English).
It aims on making the device user-friendly, easy to handle, and less complicate. This feature together will help the user become technologically independent.
In the future, I intend to build upon the project with an ergonomic lens which can further help me study about the comfortability and the human behavior attached to the project.
Storyboarding:
Storyboarding:
In order to make the experience closer to the heart of my target audience, I started with choosing songs from the 80s-90s - Roop Tera Mastana by Kishore Kumar.
In order to make the experience closer to the heart of my target audience, I started with choosing songs from the 80s-90s - Roop Tera Mastana by Kishore Kumar.
