VISUAL SYSTEM DESIGN | INFORMATION DESIGN | UX DESIGN
How might we build a language at the intersection of mobility and transaction to facilitate services and activities on micro and macro levels?
Team: Individual Project guided by Brian Huffines
Duration: 8 weeks | Volvo Cars | Summer 2019 Internship | San Francisco
Role: Research, Concept Development, Visual Design
From field observations, cab waiting to pick up a passenger in a bike lane
Long-haul trucks wait in line to exit the Port of Los Angeles in California. source imagery: @nearmap
The Challenge
Curb space in city centers is a scarce resource. Seaports are under unprecedented pressure with the rise of urban deliveries.
How might we make spaces of mobility and transaction safer, more efficient and more productive?
Outcome
The project was an exercise to understand the micro and macro ecosystem and draw connections to identity a systematic and sustainable scalable communication framework —so that the language could be meaningfully executed across services and products and address requirements of different user types such as port operators, city delivery truckers, a cyclist or a self–driving truck.
A design vocabulary and a language built by researching into micro spaces—curbs and macro spaces—ports to facilitate the flow and communication within the ecosystems.
A vocabulary and visual language of mobility and transaction—
Applications
Translating the language of mobility and traction for port users and products.
Dashboard for a port operator
The language helps to communicate actives such loading, unloading, blocked, grooming – a process of ordering and stacking containers or flowing trucks inside port warehouses—indirectly accelerating activities for vessels, logistic trucks, and international transactions.
We identified languages such as uncoupling and combining for a port system when third party trucks have to fix chassis and disconnect chassis for to load containers. Incomplete information while making chassis appointments causes a long wait time for logistic truck companies outside ports.
Self driving truck
A self–driving truck communicates to the environment.
An application for a yard trucker.
A yard truck is a truck owned by the port that is driven all day and night.
The language helps yard truckers to locate type of containers, identify activities listed and also helps in communicating directions as there are no signages due to the vertical nature of movements of containers in air.
Process
Research
A. Curbs
How does a micro space such as a curb orchestrate the flow of people, modes of transportation, zones, exchange of information, objects and friction?
I picked three streets which are unique from each other and which overlapped with San Francisco Curb Study Report conducted by Fehr and Peers on below streets. Thus the observations were conducted to delve deeper into the report and to look for actions and stories .
OBSERVATIONS
I observed to look for end to end stories for 3 hours on each street on two days at different times.
San Francisco
FINANCIAL DISTRICT
Clay Street
BICYCLE CORRIDOR
Polk Street
TRANSPORTATION HUB
Townsend street
DWELL
UBS delivery man seen unloading goods at the commercial zone (front of the bus stop curb) for 15 mins.
UNLOAD/EMPTY & SWITCH MODES
He scans each box as he unloads them on a cart (last mile).
ZAGGING
Crosses the road from the middle of the street. Pulls the cart from the street over on the sidewalk. Uses the the sidewalk to pull the cart and deliver goods to the GQ hotel.
DWELL
After deliver, driver seen eating inside his truck. Food from the hotel.
B. Ports
What are the challenges along the journey of a single container that holds packages coming across continents?
The business and operation team conducted interviews and field visit to the port of Charleston and Volvo warehouse.
With the team flow or a path of a single container was mapped.
Challenges
Limited truck tracking system
Unproductive moves, operators irrational in locating container
Less productive trips
Incomplete information while making appointments
Long waiting lines
Delay in arrival of vessels
No signages used inside ports
The port operators use over ten different softwares to manage the flow of mobility and transactions.
