For my thesis project, I am considering a few very different ideas. Parts of them were inspired from the pandemic.

1. The pandemic got me thinking about safety and then how much driving and traffic decreased because of quarantines and then reverted to almost normal, so I got to thinking of car safety. There are already apps and things that exist to try and keep drivers focused or same to some extent, but I wanted my project to explore car features specifically. I am not by any means an expert on cars, and a lot of people like me are sometimes confused by what their cars can do. For example, there are different buttons within cars that each make something happen or can change the way your car drives. Like the button for a window makes it go down, a knob may change your drive type from Eco to Sport. I find certain features in my car unknown even after years of having it, and I don’t want to press something and mess with it. I was reminded of the app “Flora Incognita” in which you can take a picture of a plant and it will identify it for you. I think this would be an interesting app to use for cars where you can choose your exact car type/year and it would tell you. Similarly, the app could tell users other things about their car, like how to change their tire, that would be easier than googling.

2. Another idea stemmed from the pandemic is noticing the surge in pet adoptions. It seems like nearly every week someone different posts about the pet they just got. There doesn’t appear to be a universal app or website which allows users to search for their pet. I would probably focus on just one type of animal, like dogs. There are different websites for individual shelters, stores, and breeders, but not an all in one. I would take inspiration from existing listing sites like Craigslist or Cars.com so that people can list animals they have available, and people could search by breed or weight, gender, shedding, color, and other filters. I think this would really simplify the search process for finding each person’s perfect pet.

3. Due to coronavirus, millions more people in the United States have depended on food from food banks due to unemployment. This made me think of the already existing homeless problem in the country, so I would want a product that could help people in some way. I’m not sure specifically what I would narrow in on but I know they could always use food and beverage, hygiene supplies, and clothes. At the same time they need places to get clean for job interviews or even begin work, so some way to help with this until they have a job/residence. This was inspired by the food sharing app “Olio” which is more for people who can afford to buy food they see listed on the app from stores or people, but instead I was thinking of having it redesigned for people who need further assistance but can’t afford it. I feel like this issue while very important may be more difficult to narrow in on and create something for but I am open to further discussion.

4. Both because of the pandemic and in general, making friends or having some type of human interaction can be difficult for a lot of people. I wanted to come up with something that could connect people based on common interests. For example, many people play videogames and make friends online through that and regularly play or talk. But for people who don’t like that, there can be something else. Going off personal interest, I really like television and movies, so I imagine something where it would be a platform just for people to be able to discuss TV and/or movies they enjoy. This comes from inspiration by Reddit, however Reddit is very broad and people can ask questions or post about any topic. Often, there are many repetitive posts within the same or similar categories. Instead, this other platform would have just one title option for each show or movie and then people could choose what to ask or chat about within that. I think it’d be a great way for people to connect especially if they don’t know anyone already with similar viewing taste.

5. My last idea is based off the mask wearing in the pandemic. A lot of people pull their masks down if they’re walking in public, if they think they’re far enough away, need a little more air to breathe, or if they need to drink something. I was thinking about designing a mask that would have a zipper or Velcro so that most of their face is still covered and only just enough can open for when they want to drink something. And in this way it would be easier than pulling the mask down then having to readjust it back on the face. My only concern with this is it’s a physical item and I’m not sure of the guidelines and if that’s an acceptable route to take or if it has to be something more like an app/website.