Publications

Abstract: This report takes a fresh look at mobility by the critical exploration of the theme of “frictionless mobile lifestyle” resulting in product and interaction design. The concept of a mobile lifestyle is defined and we identified families with working parents as a relevant example population leading to a rich picture of their lifestyles.Scheduling and coordination activities, with a focus on the usage situations of scheduling a new appointment and staying synchronized in a changing reality, emerged from the user studies as resonating most clearly with the concepts of friction. This report presents two products that embody this resonance through their design. The “long-term planner” is a large dynamic display that visualizes entangled family schedules and provides shared tangible interaction when scheduling a new appointment. The “coordination watch” is a mobile device that provides awareness of and distributed haptic interaction with changes in routines.