Jie 借

Supervised by Prof. Carola Zwick
Semester 4

Tools:
Ionicframework, html, css, angular Js

Teamwork:
Xinyue Yang, Hanwen Cheng

Idea:
To organize and get impromptu help discreetly within your neighborhood.

Motivation
I had the embarrassing problem to ask somebody for sanitary napkins when my period came, because I didn‘t have them with me. So I was thinking, how could I get help from my direct surroundings as quickly as possible and at the same time discreetly?

Storyboard showing a person who needs help

Paper Prototype

The one who needs help

The one who offers help

Paper prototype flow for the person offering help

App Flow

The app has no customer account, it protects users’ privacy and make everything happen only in the moment. The location and photo datas will disappear automatically after the action ended. The app has no customer account, it protects users’ privacy and make everything happen only in the moment. The location and photo datas will disappear automatically after the action ended.

Ask for help

To send a request, an asker will
1. post what his/her need
2. choose a searching diameter
3. take a photo of a visual cue to be recognized by the helper.

Offer help

To help the asker, a helper will
1. accept the request
2. pin his/her location
3. take a photo of a visual cue to be recognized by the asker. Then he/she will receive the visual cue of the asker.

Meet helper

The asker receives the visual cue of the helper, and is navigated to meet him/her.

Use Case

It is Sunday Juli in Berlin, Lisa is sick at home and needs aspirin, but she doesn‘t have it. She wants to ask for help with Jie. She sents a request for aspirin, and she will go with a rose in her hand as her meeting signal.
David is working in the office closing to Lisa‘s house. He received a push notification which says ‚ a lovely neighbor in 150m needs aspirin‘, he does have aspirin with him and confirmed to help. He takes a photo of his sneakers to help the asker recognize him. In 10 min he sees a girl with a rose and gives her his aspirin. Lisa thanks him and walks back home.

Through this project I had the basic understand of how an app was built. I attended a workshop building a prototype with sketch and invision. But in the semester project I decided to try Ionic Framework, which is a tool for building mobile apps with html css and angular Js. Because I can write Html and css, so it’s a pretty good tool for me, I think I already have the ability to build a static app by myself.

What’s more, motion design is more and more popular, in this project I wrote several CSS animations, like the rotating request to convey an urgen feeling that someone needs help, or an appearing heart to thank the helper for offering help. And a graphic demonstration of showing the location of the users who are around you in the moment. The motions in my app are not just for fun, but for their semantic meanings.