What is the #1 phrase you hear during a Zoom call? “You are muted!”
A Stabilo for Zoom calls
Redesigning the Zoom call experience through tangible interactions
So, what’s the problem?
In COVID-19 times, the online channel we use almost daily for calls is Zoom. We believe everyone has heard the phrase “You are muted!” from their colleagues. It happens so often and it’s so damn annoying. So you unmute yourself and repeat what you just said.
For our project, we decided to build Zoom Boss — a device that’s number one function is to effortlessly mute or unmute yourself without the need to use your mouse or keyboard. Also, to quickly turn your video on or off. Finally, to end a call.
Initial ideas
Having an Arduino kit in our hands, we let our imagination run wild and thought of ideas from kids toys to the nuclear bomb button in a suitcase. Our inspiration board ranged from Appleesque product design to colourful plastic items.
Although many ideas had great potential in our eyes, the (paper) prototyping phase took us back to reality. We need something that would be easy, quick and maybe even familiar to use. We also had to think about what sort of feedback the device gives the user when using it. Also, how would the prototype be built and what are the technical aspects. After all, one goal of this course is to actually build a physical product.
The main inspiration for the design came from something that was already on our tables: a Stabilo marker.
Functionality
Personal experience and quick interviews gave us insight into which functionalities are most used during a Zoom call. From this, we decided to go for mute/unmute, turn the video on/off and end the call. To do this, we will use a simple button, slider, and covering a light sensor with the cap to end the call.
The biggest pain point with Zoom is that people forgot to unmute themselves when talking. To fix this, our solution was to use an LED light that is on all the time when the user is muted (which is in most cases) and with pushing the button, the light goes off.
Feedback and testing
In every product development process, product testing is a crucial phase. This is something we couldn’t do as we would have wanted to. We tested the idea of the product on our friends showing the prototype through the screen and got some positive feedback. Although this gave us some insight, we clearly had a hard time conducting typical user testing.
Building and technicality
In Estonia, there is basically an emergency situation. Therefore, we limited our contacts by working remotely and sending only one of our team members to school. Remote people worked on writing the code and preparing the 3D model in Sketchup while soldering, keeping an eye on the 3D printing, and assembling the device was the responsibility of the team member at school.
For the product itself, 3D printing was required. Fortunately for us, we found a template file of a 3D Stabilo marker. Nevertheless, we needed to modify this to match all the incisions and other requirements.
To make the functions work as intended, we needed two objects that people already know how to use: a button and a slider. For a more special surprise, we used a light sensor on top of the product. Also, a blue LED light to visually indicate when muted. All of the items are actually cheap and easy to order online.
Our product works by sending keyboard shortcuts from Arduino to the computer — Arduino Micro has the capability to present itself as a keyboard. For curious minds, this is the code we used to make it work. It is a combination of heavy googling and trying to understand what each line actually means to change it accordingly. Annoying at first, but rather simple!
Our challenges and learnings
The biggest challenge for us was working remotely. Everything takes more time plus needs more organising and project management. At the same time, it was our biggest learning and takeaway. We managed to divide our tasks and help each other when needed, leaving us with a feeling that the process actually went quite smoothly.
Other takeaways were learning how to code for Arduino and 3D programs (such as SketchUp), also things about soldering and hardware. For example, there is a difference between a USB cable and a USB cable: the headphones charger failed us with our Arduino. Also, paper prototyping is a useful method to quickly get an understanding of a product’s shape, size, and feel.
Final words
We want to thank our mentors, Anna and Ottavio! It was definitely a challenging, but valuable learning experience not only because of working semi-remotely but by actually going from a problem to a functioning product.
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Team: Karolina Lehtma, Jakob Päll, Kaisa Kervinen
Course: Tangible Interactions
Time: 4 weeks
