Allen Smith

For this prototype, the FLO TV executive team wanted to showcase the datacasting capabilities of the FLO TV network. Our team had approximately four weeks to design and build a compelling datacasting experience on a prototype Lenovo Skylight smartbook device running a proprietary OS and UI. Needless to say, it was a challenge. In my role as the lead UX designer, I had the responsibility for defining the applications and UI direction. Because the FLO TV network is broadcast I wanted to capitalize on its strengths (low latency and scale) while minimizing its weaknesses (no back channel).

There were two stand out applications: the contextual TV and Local Buzz. Keep in mind in the video of the datacasting prototype that all data is being sent over the FLO network and not wi-fi or http based transport.

The FLO TV RSE System is an in-vehicle video product featuring the FLO TV mobile broadcast service with dual remote controls and multiple screens. This product is available as an option at new car dealerships nationwide through our partnership with Audiovox, retail electronics stores and as a factory installed option with select manufacturers. I was the lead user experience designer managing all aspects of product and interaction design.

An interesting design challenge was uncovering the consumption content model for in-car video. I was able to work with Chrysler's design team, frog design, and the FLO TV user experience team to prototype and test various interaction models. This work resulted in a week of user testing where I created a life-like prototype in a rental minivan. The UI was prototyped in Flash by frog design and I wired the car to support front and rear seat viewing, remote control events, and a server to run the prototype. Additionally, the car was outfitted with multiple cameras to track user behavior.

This is the real-time mobile telemetry application NASCAR fans can use to experience the race when they are not in front of the TV or at the track. This was Digital Orchid's most successful product and as Creative Director I managed every detail of product definition, design, and content management through nearly four race seasons (2003-2007). Our entire development team introduced a number of firsts in the U.S. mobile application market with this product; e.g., first asynchronous push application, first real-time telemetry application, first audio-streaming BREW application, and first re-usable container client. The application was available on over 100 handsets running J2ME, BREW, and Windows CE.

NASCAR.com TO GO was nominated Best Entertainment Application at the 2006 BREW Conference.

NASCAR.com TO GO won Best CMX Multimedia Ringtone from a joint contest held by Qualcomm and Verizon.

NHL To Go featured real-time hockey action on the cell phone. The application allowed the user to view upcoming game previews, news from nhl.com, schedules, standings, and IceCast. IceCast is th event-based server that updates mobile clients with real-time information. Shots and passes are plotted on the rink and a corresponding game log updates with detailed play information. Additionally, each application can be customized to the user's favorite team.

With this version of the Digital Orchid client software, our team worked together to introduce animations and sounds keyed to real-time events.

YouBet Anywhere was a Pocket PC application that allowed users to view and place wagers on hundreds of horse tracks across the U.S. and Australia. It was the first OTB (Off Track Betting) and mobile wagering application in the U.S.

There were numerous design challenges, primarily with how to manage the display of dynamic quantitative data on such a small screen. Through many iterations and user testing, our final design was well received.

Our integration into YouBet's servers allowed us real-time access to each of the tracks' tote systems which we then pushed out to the devices via a JMS Bus. This meant we could change odds information nearly in synch with the track.

The design was beautifully engineered by Digital Orchid's small two man team at the time. It was amazingly fast with updates, and placing bets was really fun. Although we had video feeds available, our testing revealed the network was unable to support the demands of streaming video.

Caliente Movil launched in Mexico on the Telcel network and was exclusively available on the Nextel i90 and i850. In addition to the well-documented limitations of these devices, there were other serious design problems to solve: authentication, debiting, adding funds, displaying and updating odds, spanish only, and navigating the many simultaneous games available to the user.

I approached the design through a period of immersion into the world of sports wagering and extensive interviews with heavy and moderate gamblers. Throughout the process I frequently iterated the design and tested with my user group. My goal was to bring as much of the necessary information for wagering up front as possible, avoid depth of navigation, and make each wager as easy as possible.

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MobiLink Lite is a brandable desktop widget connection manager. Customers connect their MobiLink enabled laptops with a MobiLink data card and send/receive data over the nearest cellular network. Using MobiLink Lite, a user may configure their client and connect/disconnect, view details about their current connection, and manage their used minutes/bytes. This product was primarily sold in Europe and U.S.A.

I worked with Novatel's MobiLink team to design the connection manager and create the final production graphics, including carrier approval for logo usage.

Toshiba's Active Notification is a secondary external display used to display dyanmic information such as new emails, calendar updates, time, connection status, etc.

A.P.E. is a computer vision system that displays personal metadata about people it recognizes. This is a two-step process whereby individuals are introduced to the system via a series of four randomly selected questions (plus their name) and then prompted to have their face scanned. Once they are in the system, whenever they walk within the field of vision of a camera a projector will display them with the augmented metadata display.

For this project our team implemented the design using OpenCV, Processing, MySQL, and C# running on two windows laptops with attached HD webcams. The output was projected onto a 12ft screen in real-time.

For a final project our team built and coded an repurposable interactive system that can be loaded with multiple types of games and media experiences. The team handwired the system and built all physical pieces controlled by an Arduino Mega board, in addition to coding the game logic using Processing.

In the "Food For Thought" project, I designed the CO₂ Sniffer and accompanying label system for identifying environmentally low-impact foods in a retail experience. This project was particularly valuable in affording me the opportunity to devise a design program and apply a group of design methodologies I was interested in exploring further.
This project and the design process illustration were partial requirements for the final project in "Design Methodologies".

Communicating design is an ongoing interest of mine. The files I have here represent a small piece of the work I've done over the years in communicating various facets of the design process. Included here are my design process, a video detailing how to create a design program, and various papers and online content I've created.

Below are some of the books I've taken particular inspiration from:
Notes on the Synthesis of Form (Alexander)
Sketching User Experiences (Buxton)
About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design (Cooper)
Design Methods (Jones)
Designing Interactions (Moggridge)
Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning (Rittel & Webber)
The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (Schön)
Designing for Interaction (Saffer)
Designing for People (Dreyfuss)
Icon Design (Caplin)
The Art of Interactive Design (Crawford)
Visual Explanations (Tufte)
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Tufte)
Envisioning Information (Tufte)
The Color Compendium (Hope & Walch)
Supply & Demand (Fairey)
The Origin of Things: Sketches, Models, & Prototypes (te Duits)
Digital Folklore (Lialina & Espenschied)
The Grammar of Architecture (Cole)
Information Graphics (Wildbur & Burke)
Content (Doctorow)
How Buildings Learn (Brand)
Designing Brand Identity (Wheeler)
Universal Principles of Design (Lidwell, Holden, & Butler)
The Humane Interface (Raskin)
Understanding Media (McLuhan)
The Design of Everyday Things (Norman)