GR1 - Analysis

Point of View

Arjun is a 40 years old father living in Mumbai, India whose son Raj is a working professional recently moved to San Francisco

• wants to be able to recreate the narratives of his son's stories with immersive visual representation.

General Problem Statement

Parents and relatives living apart want to get a better experience of the stories of their loved ones.

• Experiences are difficult to communicate
  • What is it like to walk around Harvard Square or jong along the Charles river?
  • How does MIT campus look like?
• Textual description/Images/Videos don't give a great idea of what the place is like solely.

Need-finding (Observations + Interviews)

Phone call with Arjun

* Personal Details

• • 40 years old
  • lives in Mumbai, India
  • works in a bank (a clerk )
  • has never been to US before
  • has travelled to three other countries (Dubai, Singapore, and Kenya)
  • has only one child (Raj, 25 years old)
    • Raj works for a software company in Banglore

* Context

• • feels lonely because his son has recently moved to San Francisco
  • they both talk over phone almost every day
  • his son tells him interesting stories (some sample stories below)
    • his son told him how amazing it was to drive to LA from SFO through Highway 1 along the pacific coast
    • a story about his son's hiking to glacier point (Yesomite)
    • a story about his visit to Google's Mountain View Campus
    • a story about Stanford University's beautiful Palm Drive entrance and the oval

* Breakdowns/Workarounds

• • after the phone call, he often goes to web and tries to look up images, videos, etc.. of the place to relate the stories with a visual representation
  • he feels that had he been at the place before, he would be able to 'experience' the stories
  • he often tries to imagine - what it would be like to be driving on Highway 1 along the pacific coast. 

* Opportunities

• • these breakdowns clearly suggest that it is difficult to communicate experience and there is an opportunity
  • we want Arjun to be able to experience what it is like to be driving on Highway 1 or walking over the crooked street at SFO?

User Groups

Two user groups

• People back home
  • Parents 
  • Relatives
  • Friends
  • Tourists (planning a tour)
• People living abroad
  • Visitors
  • Students 
  • Professionals
  • Tour Guides

User Goals

Parent, relatives, and friends back home

• experience the place where their children/relatives/friends are living
  • recreate the narrative of stories with immersive visual representation
• Person living abroad
  • ability to share his experience in a visual way
• Tourists
  • experience what the tour is going to look like beforehand
• Tour Guides
  • ability to better convey the tour experience to prospective tourists