easy news

EasyNews is a digital newspaper reader designed for the modern commuter. It creates a hassle-free experience for commuters who wish to read the newspaper on the bus or subway, so they don’t have to deal with carrying a cumbersome newspaper with them at all times. EasyNews also provides helpful stop alerts to make sure commuters don’t miss their bus or their stop ever again.

videosketch

watch flash video

methods employed

user interviews
current market analysis
passive observation
video sketching
gestrual interaction
physical prototyping

collaboration with

Beverly Hsu
Paul Rubritz


Easy News
Research
User Interviews
We interviewed eight different commuters, all from various cities, to find out what their typical habits are on their ride to work. We asked them to describe a typical day’s journey both to and from work. The average commute time of all the people we interviewed was about 22 minutes. Common items carried included newspapers, magazines, books, briefcases or bags, coffee, and an mp3 player. There didn’t appear to be a substantial difference in the activities of commuters on their return commute compared to their ride to work.
Passive Observation
We also hopped on a couple different Pittsburgh buses to observe the habits of commuters. We saw that the majority of travelers do not actually read while on the bus, and the ones that did primarily were sitting down, not standing up. The people we saw with newspapers typically did not have the whole paper out on their ride; they only brought a section or two with them.
Current Market Analysis
We started out by looking online at the different types of eReaders available on the market today, such as the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Digital Book Reader, to see what sort of features and functionality they have to offer. We also went to a few stores to get a feel for the products first hand. Overall, we discovered that the eReaders on the market today try to mimic regular books. The primary navigation system used is comprised of a physical button system, as opposed to a touch screen and they utilize eInk display technology.
Easy News
Concept Generation
After we completed our research, we came up with 50 different concepts for our eReader. We tried to keep in mind all the things we learned from our research to think of ideas which would provide a commuter with a hassle-free reading experience. Below is a picture of the whiteboard where we came up with all of our ideas. Finally we decided on three ideas to develop further.
Easy News
Design
Stop and Destination Alert
We decided to use ambient lighting on the edges of the device to indicate a users stop is approaching so people wouldn’t be interrupted while they read. When the user is very close to their an active message appears on their device.
News Paper Format
We designed our own format for a newspaper, which is similar to an rss feed online, but with tabs along the bottom to select the category of articles you wish to see. The physical dimensions of the device mimic a folded newspaper.
One Hand Control/Frisbee Page Flip
Since some people were unsure of how the page flip would work, we added two squeeze buttons to the sides of the device, which would have to be pressed in order to flick the device and advance it to the next page. This motion could also be used to advance to the next category of articles while on the main screen of a newspaper.
Easy News