Duration
10 weeks, Jan - Mar 2020
Team Members
Jocelyn Afandi, Kylie Helton, Andre Magallanes, Adam Pupuntis, JoJo Saunders, Even Whitcomb, Tiffany Wong
My Role
UX designer
Tern OS - Developing a Design Language
For this class project, my team and I were tasked with creating a completely original mobile operating system and all of its core applications. The first question we needed to answer was: What did it mean to create an original operating system? Operating systems are often gateway to other, more specific apps, so they focus more on function and ease of use rather than originality.
Our team interpreted originality in an operating system as having a theme or focused purpose other than being able to easily access the next app.
Over the next 10 weeks, we ideated, researched, prototyped, and pitched our solution to 5 UX professionals.
How can we create a multilingual mobile OS that is able to incorporate multiple languages into a single, fluid experience?
Our initial problem statement
Finding our Theme
One thing everyone on our team had in common was being multilingual. Many of our parents and relatives had different native languages, so we saw first hand how difficult it can be to have to use phones not in one’s native language.
No mobile operating system (that we found) was multilingual. In fact, almost all apps on our phones are monolingual. We decided that it would be exciting to explore a multilingual OS and learn more about our problem space.
Initial Research
Before diving head first into design, we wanted to validate our identified problem and get a better idea of specific pain points that needed to be solved, so we did some research.
We conducted 23 semi-structured user interviews with individuals who were either multilingual or lived with non-native English speakers. Our main takeaways included:
80%
Prioritized navigation and translation apps when abroad in a country that spoke a different language
87%
Utilized their phone or technology for help when encountered with language barriers
100%
Experienced cognitive overload when abroad in a country that spoke a different language
Initial Brainstormd
Our initial research validated our concern that language barriers can be a huge blocker in any experience. With that in mind, we immediately focused on translation features. Our ideas included:
a physical button to change the language of our OS instantly
an OS that gradually transitioned to a new language as your understanding increased
an auto-translate feature.
Something isn’t working…
In the middle of our next design review, we realized: Something isn’t working. What it came down to was:
What makes this collection of translation features an OS rather than just a feature?
We realized that we were balancing too many different ideas around language. We had quick translations as a key feature, but it’s uniform application across all of our apps made translation feel like a gimmicky feature rather than an entire OS. With our main translation feature in question, we were left with a series of otherwise disjointed ideas.
Going back to our research
With 5 weeks left in our 10 week long project, we felt like we were starting over again from scratch. We didn’t have enough time to completely start over, so I suggested referring back to our experts: our users.
Going back to our research gave us a new direction: travel. We realized that many of the users we interviewed mentioned stories about language barriers when traveling. In hindsight, our sampling of interviewees that were ‘multilingual or lived with non-native English speakers,’ was too vague, but it worked in our favor. Our new target group would be young adults (18-35) who were traveling to a new place and didn’t understand the native language of the area.
We developed 2 personas using our research with our new target group in mind. From here on out, all decisions would be made with our personas in mind.
Our 2 well-travelled personas: Melissa and Josh
How can we create a mobile OS to help travelers in new countries overcome language and cultural barriers?
Our new problem statement
With less than 5 weeks to go, another thing we did to prevent completely starting over from scratch was to build upon that we had thrown out earlier or hadn’t fully developed. In that process, we found one idea that stuck out: A contextual toolbar at all times.
What if our OS was a tool for support - an assistant? What if our OS adapted to the contextual needs around it? As travelers, it can be difficult to anticipate problems that will come up, but technology can help with that. Context is key for understanding, and our OS would help be the smart tool that helps bridge that gap. It would give contextual understanding a new meaning.
Thinking about context brought us back to one of our original use cases: how would an OS help travelers navigate somewhere? We continued to have our user research guide our decision making, but now with user journeys leading the way on how to design for specific contextual scenarios.
An early lo-fi prototype of using a camera in a translation context.
Our Solution
Meet TernOS
TernOS is named after the arctic tern and its annual migration from the north to south pole. It is a contextual OS designed to support travelers and remove language or cultural barriers during their travels.
Contextual Help - Tern Tips
Tern tips act as a contextual guide, popping up as notifications or as helpful banners to help you solve conflicts as they come up. This automatic helper integrates seamlessly with apps that users are already using during their travels such as translation or navigation.
Camera
The TernOS camera not an ordinary camera. It translates objects and text directly in the camera app. Travelers no longer need to stop taking photos to get a better understanding of their surroundings.
Wallet
It can be very difficult to keep track of foreign exchange rates or tipping culture when traveling. Our wallet is an all in one solution to help you keep track of what you’re spending and why.
Navigation
Navigation can be one of the most time consuming and frustrating things to do while traveling. TernOS eases that frustration by suggesting where to go next and how to get there.
Check out our final pitch deck below:
