Month: March 2017

After a few weeks with blender, I finished the conceptual designs for the Comm-Unity ‘Puck’, a beacon that utilises the NFC chip within modern day wireless technology to access certain information. For the design, I found that a circular puck provided a nice aesthetic that would be pleasing to look at for many people interacting with the device. The ring LED also makes for a welcoming look rather than looking like a solid plastic case with a logo on it. Should this go into production, the casing itself would be made out of a matte plastic that can come in a variety of different colours. This keeps it contemporary and appealing to a younger audience. The LED ring would be made using a thin, semi-transparent material that allowed the lights to shine through. These would be able to be mounted anywhere by anyone, however, the issue of mounting the product would be addressed once this project gained more funding. Keeping the look to a minimum keeps the clean and modern aesthetic and doesn’t seem overloaded with information and buttons.

Here I have the initial designs for some of the app screens and logos as well as possible information and options for the menu within the app. With more time, I’d like to leave the option open to continue the progress of the app so although I may not get all of this done for the deadline, I would like to have the option to continue this. I think that the app uses a very simple design that would allow me to provide an accessible and easy to use app that people would find easy to use and relatively simple to interact with. Keeping the design simple broadens the target audience and allows for a better app lifespan.

When I started designing for the puck, I thought of its shape and how it would look in person. I immediately thought it should be circular and none threatening. People often dislike sharp edges and corners on things and so the round edge would seem more friendly. I’ve already started to work on 3D model of the device using some of these designs and have ended up going for something quite simple, the basic round edge on the top right, the first on left of the top face and the middle light. Some of the design ideas seen here just look either too complicated or too intimidating and aggressive. Planning it out definitely helped with the process as it allowed me to pre-visualise before I sunk my teeth into Blender to 3d Model it.

NFC or Near Field Communication is a new technology that is slowly entering the market and has already seen use on the newer models of the iPhone with Apple Pay. What it allows is for authorised devices to connect with one another if they are in close proximity. The technology itself is an update on the already existing RFID chips or Radio Frequency Identification chips. NFC is limited to about four/five inches which is perfect for what I’m proposing with the Comm-Unity project. This means that people have to be involved and actually find the beacons themselves rather than passing by and gaining access to the data. With NFC, a connection is established once the device is close to it, meaning that where Bluetooth has to be manually searched for and paired, NFC does it in a much more easy and accessible way. As it is currently, Apple only utilise the NFC chip for payments, it doesn’t actually shift data in any capacity. In order for my product to work on Apple devices, Apple would need to open this up and allow for a much more accessible version of NFC, something that can be developed for. Besides this, certain Android devices use NFC to transmit data as well as making payments meaning that it would be relatively straightforward to develop for. That being said, it would be hard to push for a project on this scale without utility on Apple devices as currently they still maintain the largest portion of the market. If the app was exclusive to Android, more phones would be able to access the app however it still wouldn’t have the same drive and buzz as it would do with the Apple userbase.

Digital Trends – What is NFC?

9to5Mac – Apple and Android User Data

The Verge – History of Apple and Android Shipped Units

Beacons are small pieces of technology that allow for Bluetooth connection to modern day devices. They’re relatively cheap to purchase and run well with low energy inputs. They can be used to provide information or for location services. As they typically work on Bluetooth, it means that it has a rather limited range of connectivity. This means that people may disconnect from the beacon as they move or if there’s more than one beacon active, certain physical spaces can confuse the data or the consumer as they decide on which beacon they should be connecting too. As of right now, the main use is retail, providing customers with information about the products in the shop. This is fine but I don’t believe it’s using the beacons creatively. It’s thought that within the near future, beacons will have taken off and will be everywhere, airports, post offices, schools all providing users with necessary information, relevant to the location. The downside to these beacons is that for them to be utilised, people have to have Bluetooth on and be searching for the device which may not even connect properly. As well as this, users may have to turn on location services to access them, the use of both of these can severely affect battery life in smartphones, as location services have been found to decrease battery life the most out of the key utilities on the smartphone. Currently, Apple is trying to roll out their version of the technology so that all of their devices are both transmitters and receivers or iBeacons. This would allow for better connectivity peer to peer. However, this may allow for back door entrances to users private mobile devices to people with the appropriate knowledge.

Business Insider’s Report on Beacons

Apple’s iBeacon