Thesis Proposal 1: Car

WHAT IS YOUR THESIS QUESTION?

Many people own a car, use it on an almost daily basis, and yet are still unfamiliar with certain aspects of it. For instance, how to change their radio setting, what happens if they press certain buttons, how to change their tire.
Is there a way to skip all the online searching for an answer to one simple question? Can it be specific to any car?

WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO MAKE?

At the moment the most logical form is a phone app; almost everyone has a smart phone and takes it everywhere with them, so if someone in the need for assistance the first thing people do is reach for their phone.
It would be an application that simplifies fulfilling needs of drivers who are unsure of parts of their vehicle.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

I have been in situations where I didn’t know what to do when it came to my car. For example, I had a flat tire and couldn’t find how to change my tire for my exact car and others were a little different. Or there was really bad rain or snow and I wasn’t sure how to turn on the 4 wheel drive. How to turn cruise control on and off? I think the one thing that really prompted me was a button in my car which is an icon of a car driving on what looks like a rough road, I’ve asked multiple people in my family and my friends “From looking at that, what does that do?” Some guess it might change how your car drives like if it’s going downhill, maybe on tough roads, etc. But for the most part no one was sure. I got “why don’t you look it up?” but how do you look up “what does this button of a car on a road in my car do”? And “can you press it while driving fast or should the car be stopped”?

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS WITH THIS PROJECT?

My goals are for this project to become a useful tool to at least some car owners. It would provide confidence and allow people to comfortably navigate their car in different situations. You can never be too safe when it comes to driving so it’s better to have knowledge in a simple, easy way. Especially because most people are too impatient to flip through the large car manual to find one thing.

INFLUENCES OR INSPIRATION?

https://driving-tests.org/beginner-drivers/how-to-change-tires/ “How to change a tire” This is potentially something I would include in the app, and I would need to look into how it varies based on different car brands.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/3094874/warning-symbols-car-dashboard-icons-lights-explained/ “What do warning symbols on your car’s dashboard mean?” This would be helpful in creating the guide to defining the common symbols in people’s cars.

I (currently) don’t really know about any publications or projects that fit within what I am trying to accomplish.

HOW DO YOU ENVISION REALIZING THIS PROJECT

I will need to figure out what exactly I want the functions of this app to be. For instance, knowing how to change a tire is important, but does it fit in with what I mainly want it to be which is sort of a diagram of the insides of different cars and what they can do.
I need to figure out realistically how much I can accomplish, see what resources I need to look into, what’s the oldest car, how many makes and models I can do. I think because of time and resources and ability to function, this could end up being a prototype app where I use one or two cars as examples and focus on getting those to work, rather than throwing a wide net and trying to include the abundance of cars that are out there.
Since I’m not an expert I plan to use a variety of online resources to clearly define the parts of the diagram.
At this time I’m not sure if there is a specific community or audience I need access to beyond people to test with and provide feedback on prototypes I go through.
I need to skill-build on creating an app and figure out how to actually launch one in order to make it at least somewhat usable for this project.

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

I think my strength is being able to define the parts of the function for this app, and designing the visuals for it. But my biggest area of concern is how to actually make the app working and who to go to for help in making it come to life beyond just designing prototypes. So along those lines, I definitely need to explore different technology and figure out what goes into creating a working app especially one like this.

TAGS

“application” “car” “safety” “dashboard” “diagram”

 

Thesis Proposal 2: Dating

I don’t know what the exact restrictions are for this thesis project, but I have always been fascinated by dating apps/online and I think this could be an interesting topic to focus on and read about because there’s so much out there on dating, so if it were an acceptable direction to take I probably would choose this.

WHAT IS YOUR THESIS QUESTION? 

There are already some popular dating apps used by millions of people, and each have their own unique twist to them. However, there is still some stigma about meeting people on a dating app and the idea that no one takes them seriously or generally that they’re not a great way to meet someone as a long term partner. My question is how can we change the format of online dating to build better connections with people?

WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO MAKE? 

I would use the form of a phone app. I would change the system for how people can find someone they may match with. Most place emphasis on the photo and profile of a potential match, but I would make something that mainly focused on the profile and later revealed the photo.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO YOU? 

I’ve always believed that dating apps are one of the best ways to meet somebody, and I know of several success stories (i.e. dating for longer than 6 months) that other people still get shocked by because they tend to look down on dating app relationships. I want to help remove stigma, and especially with the covid situation, it’s not wise to go up to strangers in public to try and meet, and safer to do so by phone. I have a lot of thoughts on forms of dating and want to research what I think/assume versus what’s actually happening and what people really think.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS WITH THIS PROJECT? 

I hope that this will open people who doubt the success of dating apps, and that they will be interested in using a different method to connect with people and meet rather than what they’re used to using. So using personality and emotional or intellect rather than just someone’s face to determine interest.

INFLUENCES OR INSPIRATION?

https://tinder.com/en
https://bumble.com/
https://hinge.co/
https://www.happn.com/
https://www.app-birdy.com/

Here I’ve listed several apps which are popular or unique in how they work. The first four, tinder, bumble, hinge, and happn all essentially put photo first then you can scroll to see a bio. Happn is different because it’s something that’s continuously working when you’re out in public so if you see someone you’re attracted to, if they have the app as well, they will pop up as someone you can match with. The birdy app is different in that it uses an algorithm to match people based on taking a personality test -Meyer Briggs- and then deciding if someone sounds interesting. This is the most similar app I found to what I am thinking of creating but still different.

HOW DO YOU ENVISION REALIZING THIS PROJECT?

I will need to do interviews and research about how people dated pre and during covid. I will look up research and publications on in-person versus online dating, and if there is any clear difference between them and success rates. I will look at success stories.
Aside from the challenge of building any app, I need to look into how to incorporate location services because that is the key to creating a dating app is choosing people around you.
The community/audience is pretty wide, it’s anyone who is single to married and being able to speak with them and their experiences.
And finally I need to do skill-building on creating apps and incorporating the appropriate technology.
What further research and/or skill-building will you need to do?

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS 

I think research for this topic and designing the interface and all of that will be the parts I am confident in, because of my interest in the area. However I am most nervous about how difficult it will be to create the working parts of this which is location and ability to navigate through different profiles, so I need to look into the technology of creating dating apps.

TAGS

“dating” “app” “personality” “pictures” “matching”

 

Note: These are the two ideas I thought about that I am most interested in although I am debating updating this with a 3rd proposal that does not require an app, and is possibly a website or physical product because I am not at all confident in my ability to create any level of a functioning app for the final project.