The Hyperloop Challenge

Baggage Experience Research and Design / Design Research Project @ California College of the Arts / Instructor: Christopher Ireland, Elizabeth Glenewinkle, Katy Mogul / Team Member: Dashiell Corvin-Britten, Krishna Sistla, Jitpanan Jaturuntawanichya, Bo Peng, Ling-Jiang Lai

Project Brief

The Hyperloop Challenge is a team project for the Design Research class at CCA. The project gave us an opportunity to explore Design Research methods by focusing on a real-world problem — the SpaceX Hyperloop challenge created by Elon Musk. During the process, we aimed to inspire design direction, generate value for the end-user, in addition, improve the satisfaction from the users’ point of view.

Part 1: Research

Teamwork with Dashiell Corvin-Britten, Krishna Sistla, Jitpanan Jaturuntawanichya

In the first part of the project, we did a series of research ranging from journey map, interviews, observations, pattern analysis, and summarized key findings.

Identifying Problems

The project began by creating an Experience Map. We tried to map out the key steps of riding on the Hyperloop. Because it is not yet possible to ride on the Hyperloop, we had to use our imagination and model it on a similar transportation experience. For our team scenario, we chose a trip via an airline as our reference.

Experience Map

In the process of developing the Experience Map, we started to come up with questions and potential user problems/pain points. We identified three user's “pain points” that we thought could be improved by design. Finally, we decided to focus on:

What will make bringing baggage on Hyperloop a more successful experience?

Key Questions

After we identified our problem area and framed our research objective, we came up with key questions that our research will seek to answer.

1. Do potential riders consider the Hyperloop to be a commuter or traveler experience?

2. What are riders expecting to be able to bring with them on the Hyperloop?

3. How accessible will riders want their baggage to be?

- Is security a concern with your baggage?

4. How much time will riders need to get their items on, stored & off?

Interview

Screener

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Screener_1

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We wanted to focus on the users who are the most impacted or influenced by the problem area we are studying. As a result, we created a screener that we used to recruit people who are likely to be “Early Adopters” of the Hyperloop to interview.

Guide

Interview Guide_1

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Check list

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We had developed an interview guide and stimuli that we used to interview people. We then conducted 30 minutes long interview session with each of our participants to find out how their traveling experiences differ from their commuting experience. The goal was to help gain insights that would answer our Key Questions.

Analysis

Group Brainstorming

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Group Brainstorming

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We had several brainstorming sessions to narrow down all the data we had collected from our interviewees about their user patterns while traveling and commuting.

Result

We interpreted our interview results and synthesized our findings into a storyline, and condensed this story and our key findings into a poster that visually communicates what we have learned.

Insights

- We consider the Hyperloop experience more of a commuting experience.

- Users’ baggage storage needs differ by the length and purpose of a trip.

- Since the duration of a Hyperloop trip is short, we suggest they may not need to incorporate storage compartments. If they do, they can be minimal.

- To attract both commuters and travelers, Hyperloop may need two different types of seating areas.

You can find more details about this class from a Medium article written by our professor Christopher Ireland

Part 2: Prototype

Teamwork with Krishna Sistla, Bo Peng, Ling-Jiang Lai

In the second part of the project, we focused on developing rapid prototypes that would depict our concept well enough to elicit feedback from others. The insights we had learned in the earlier phase also helped us to translate our ideas into an actionable format.

Design Prompt

Prototype and rapidly test a concept for a new way for riders to store baggage on the Hyperloop.

Assumption

According to the Hyperloop White Paper, the maximum width of the passenger capsule is 4.43 ft (1.35 m) and maximum height is 3.61 ft (1.10 m). With rounded corners, this is equivalent to a 15 ft2 (1.4 m2) frontal area, not including any propulsion or suspension components. So we made an assumption that the space for baggage storage would be very limited.

How to utilize the limited space for riders to store baggage in an easy, accessible, and secure fashion will be our challenge.

Observation

Since we considered the Hyperloop experience as a commuting experience, so we took a round trip by subway from San Francisco Downtown to San Francisco Airport then back to Downtown, in order to observe and gain some insights of how passengers place their carry on.