The Outcome

With the current Covid crisis limiting travel and leaving people confined to their homes, we explored how sound could transport users to faraway destinations.

The Challenge

Globe.fm offers an audio experience that transports people to different parts of the world. People can immerse themselves in the sounds of a bustling night market or the rainy season in Japan.

Prototyping for sensemaking. Creating and iterating prototypes to understand ideas, test assumptions, and discover opportunities.

Rapid prototyping

Within our limited 2-week timeframe, we heavily relied on rapid prototyping to assess diverse design options and alternative directions.

Gaining inspiration from existing tools

To inform our research, we analyzed existing world map visualizations and drew inspiration from apps like Google Earth and Apple Maps.

Hardware navigation

After several iterations, we used the globe as a metaphor and incorporated its spherical shape as the core navigation element using trackballs to create an intuitive and playful experience.

Early testing

Through testing, we validated our assumption that combining sphere input with visualization was intuitive and promoted playful exploration.

Mapping sound to visualization

We experimented with various levels of abstraction to map the sound to the visualization and found that a more abstract world map reduced map bias and enabled exploration.

Unpacking hidden bias

Recognizing the Eurocentric bias in our globe visualization after student feedback, we experimented with different map projections to foster inclusivity.