4 QUICK QUESTIONS: TEAM FEEL.FLIGHT

As the third and last team of the finalists of the Telekom Fashion Fusion & Lufthansa FlyingLab, it was time for team Feel.Flight now to answer some of our questions. Enjoy the read.

Which are the methods that you use to develop prototypes? Do you do researches or do you use any modern approaches like, for example, „Design Thinking”?

Basically we work combining different methods. At the beginning we do a lot of research work. Market analyses help to find innovative products and to get to know where the social and technical development goes, so to say, to find out what the actual „state of the art“ ist.

Parallel we do analyze what the daily problems of our users are. Therefor we do contextual interviews and questionnaires of users and clients. We then double-check and refine the requirements of operational fields. Therefor we usually go through different scenarios. For example, if I am a passenger in Business Class – what is important to me? If I am going on a holiday trip – what matters then? On basis of this knowledge we then approach to our first solutions. UX- and UC-orientated design is really important as well. Which solutions do make the most sense? Last but not least, there’s the „testing“ phase.

How do you test your prototypes? Are you going into the field or do you do test in laboratories?

The testing happens at this moment mainly in the FabLab – reasons are truly pragmatical ones. By doing comparative tests, we test different variants and we also extend our knowledge. At this point, we realize that there’s some synergies within the different approaches to a final solution. Also the UX- or UC-approach matters here. We always see through the user perspective and ask ourselves, which solution might be the best. What is a really big advantage to our team is the interdisciplinary fields our team comes from. We do not all come from fashion or product design, but have software developers, a communication designer, an architect on board. In frequently happening meetings we look a out tests from different perspectives. Sometimes, what’s makes a lot of sense for the product designer, is impossible for the software developer so that we have to figure out another solution.

Do you already know by now, how the time after the Telekom Fashion Fusion & Lufthansa FlyingLab should ideally look like?

Time after the challenge is still very open for all of us! At the moment we really enjoy being and working together and this broad knowledge that we can extend every day. You have to know that we’re a collective that has gotten together just for this challenge. There was no team before – or even a start up. After the challenge there might be working individually again, which we nearly don’t have any time for right now. Three of our team members for example are writing their thesis right now or start to do so soon. Long term thinking we will surely find together again in this constellation. There’s always an amazing project around the corner!

Looking back on the last few months – do you have one special tip that you would like to share with designers or developers to be?

We have to stress again on how important and amazing the interdisciplinary work is. Having the opportunity to think outside of the box is now automatically part of the job. And this part does hold so much knowledge and learning potential of every single member of the group. A second tip is to use the FabLab as work base. There’s so many different possibilities of producing like laser cutting, 3D printing or sewing machines and many more innovative technologies. And last but not least we would like to say: It’s easy to get lost in thoughts and ideas – it’s only the tests that prove the usability of a potential solution.