New Phone Who Dis?
ROLE
Product + Experience Design
Interface Design
Visual Design
2022
PROBLEM STATEMENT
WHAT DO I WANT TO KNOW
DURATION
Three weeks
Figma, Adobe Creative Suite
Through quick interviews of 11 participants of ages ranging from 25 to 70 years.
Using the form of a Princess Landline phone as a low-fi prototype
I remember talking to my then girlfriend, on a landline, just fiddling with the cord, and calling her house with 2 rings, so she knows it’s me. It was such a fun experience.
Owns a landline phone for office use in Mumbai, India
Nandu, 50
Mapping different use cases of the telephone for different age groups in 2022
All participants are very dependent on their mobile phones, call themselves out on the exceeding dependency, but are unmotivated to take steps to reduce/change it.
The box acts as a limitation from all the other apps and distractions and is made to temporarily disables all notifications other than calls.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
WFH employees could really benefit from a product like this, and be able to differentiate their work and personal life
TOOLS
How might we understand the problems, opportunities and joys of our interaction with a phone to use it productively, without distractions.
What are the motivations, reasons, feelings and thoughts of people towards the use of a landline? What light do people view a telephone and what are their opinions of a mobile phone in comparison to a landline.
KEY FEATURES
Acts as a charger
Disables other notifications
Retains the joys of using a landline
VOICE NOTE
Quick audio messages, taking the task of texting away
Talking on the landline is kind of like going to see a movie in the theatre versus watching it at home, without distractions.
Owns two rotary phones in Manhattan, a Pink Princess and Baby Blue phone
Nicole, 32
OBSERVATIONS, QUOTES AND OTHER INSIGHTS
“I work from home, and my (mobile) phone is just there. I constantly have to turn notifications off. Sometimes I pick up the phone to call a client, and my hand by reflex just taps on Instagram. It’s all down hill from there.”
SKETCHES
FORM
INTERFACE- CONNECTING TO THE HANDSET
Exploring the form of merging the telephone and mobile, inculcating the joys and excitement that comes with the experience
Box + Handset device with cord
HOME
Limiting the use of the phone to just four functions
Carrie, 27
All of the participants were excited, gleeful and interested in the aesthetic or nostalgia of a telephone, in either an aesthetic or usefulness quotient.
CONTACT CARD
Showing Contacts that you frequently contact, specifically work related
Working within a framework of an existing design system can be challenging and pushes you to harness different forms of creativity
Talking to people and user testing is a great way of removing your own biases
REGULATION
Reduce distractions without taking the phone away as an important personal device
CONVERGENCE
Unifying the benefits and combining different uses within a singular device
Tapping into the trend that brings back “the familiar” to instill joy
APPROACH
NOSTALGIA
Other Works
Comic Sans
Don’t put yourself in a box
WeRadiate