Prism Camera
Be your own photographer
Background
Project Overview
Team: Myself
Duration: 2.5 months
Role: Research, ideation, user flows, wireframing, visual design, prototyping
Tools: Sketch, Invision Craft, Photoshop, Draw.io
Deliverable: Mobile app design
Problem
How can people regain control over the photos taken of them when they are taken by someone else?
SolutioN
I gathered user feedback about common paint points derived from the lack of control people experience when having others take photos of them. With that data, I worked through a case study to produce a mobile app design around the concept of syncing with another person’s camera app to control and see on your phone what they see through their’s.
With access to the camera’s controls and the ability to see what photos look like before they are taken, the subject can instruct their photographer on how to best frame the shot while they take care of the rest if they choose. The result is that photos don’t come with any unwanted surprises and the subject gets exactly the shot that they are after.
Scenario
Jessica meets up with her friend David to take photos for her Instagram. As someone who takes her social media presence seriously, she is very particular about her photos and wants them to look precisely how she envisions them.
She pairs up with David and uses the Prism Camera app to give her control over how her photos turn out.
Jessica and David both open the app to the main camera viewfinder in Solo Mode.
Here, they can use their own camera with access to manual controls and can toggle between standard photo, portrait, and looping video modes.
Jessica taps the Photographer Finder button in the lowest right corner of her screen next to the gallery preview.
Jessica is now in the Find a Photographer screen where she can request nearby Prism users like David to link cameras with her.
The proximity map at the bottom of Jessica’s screen indicates to her who and where other users are relative to her. Each numbered figure on the map corresponds with a user displayed on the top portion of the screen. She utilizes this tool see who else is using this app and worth going up to for photography assistance.
Individuals can only see and be seen by others when their Discoverable toggle is set to ‘on.’
She taps on David’s user icon to get his help.
By tapping on David’s user icon, Jessica initiates a camera link request.
Her request shows up on his phone prompting him to accept or deny.
Since he has agreed to help her, he accepts her request by tapping on the green check button.
Their phones are now in Linked Mode. Jessica’s phone displays identical camera controls to David’s along with what he sees through his viewfinder. Any adjustments made are reflected live across both phones.
They can quickly identify that their cameras are linked due to the shift to a blue interface and the button to flip to the front camera on the top being replaced with David’s user avatar indicating that he’s the active photographer. This is flanked by buttons to Unlink cameras or Switch whose phone is the active camera.
While he is the photographer, all photos taken are only saved to Jessica’s phone.
She can control all aspects of the camera if she chooses and by seeing through his viewfinder can direct him how to best frame the shot.
After seeing how great the photos turn out, David decides that he would like some of his own and taps the Switch button.
Jessica switches into being the active photographer, which is indicated by the change in the user avatar at the top to her’s.
Since at this point any photos taken are only saved to David’s phone, the gallery preview is no longer visible on her end.
Now, David can see what Jessica sees from her phone’s perspective with the capability to use the same camera controls through his own phone.
He only needs to instruct her how to hold the camera to get the composition to his liking.
David ends the session by tapping the Unlink button causing both their cameras to revert to Solo Mode. Both come out pleased with the shots they received since they were able to dictate how they were taken before they were actually captured.
Personas
Use Cases
Incorporating the personas, these are potential use cases to illustrate how Prism Camera can be helpful in common scenarios where users have photos taken of them.
1) Previewing how a photo of you looks before it is taken to adjust yourself accordingly
Ann links with her photographer to model for photos. She references her phone to preview the composition of the photo and see how her pose comes across on camera. This allows her to fix her pose and instruct her photographer on how to reposition the camera to get the best shot.
2) Ensuring everyone in a group photo is captured properly
Ryan goes on a trip with his wife and children and asks a fellow Prism Camera user to take photos of them. Since this will be a photo that he will look back on for years to come, he references the photographer’s viewfinder through the app to ensure that everyone is appropriately captured in the photo without being cut off.
3) Specifying what and/or how background elements should be included in the photo
On his travels, Ryan comes across many beautiful landmarks that he wants to commemorate through photos with his family. When he links with another Prism Camera user he is able to make sure that the picture taker not only includes everyone but also adequately frames the shot to include the desired landmark in the background as well.
Ideation & Research
Screener & Interviews
From my screener survey, I received answers from 39 respondents. I observed that the majority prefer to have photos taken of them when in a group setting with also most preferring to help others by taking photos for them. This showed me that Prism Camera has a potential market for people that want to be either photographers for others, included in photos, or both.
From those respondents, I was able to conduct interviews with 6 individuals mixed between in-person and over video chat. Across the board participants complained about how they don’t trust people they ask to take photos to return pictures that are desirable.
The most common complaint was poor composition and framing by either cutting off important aspects and/or bad angles. There was a split between comfort on asking strangers for photos however most expressed displeasure as to the uncertainty around whether they were being a potential bother.
Including any form of social media such as Stories, about how many days a week do you capture photos of people including yourself?
When you’re in a group of people and want a photo, do you typically prefer to get a group selfie or a photo taken of the group?
When given the choice, do you typically prefer to be in photos or the one behind the camera?
(Optional) Age
User Stories
As a user, I want a way to see what my photos look like before they are taken to be sure that nothing is cut off and composition is right
As a user, I want to be able to see how I look like on camera so that I can adjust myself accordingly
As a user, I want a way to easily find people that are willing to take photos for me so that I don’t inconvenience the wrong people
As a user, I want photos captured save to my phone so that I can keep them for use or viewing
As a user, I want to ensure that my photos are not saved to anyone else’s phone to preserve my privacy
As a user, I want my camera to be have zoom functionality so that I can capture the right content in my photos
As a user, I want the option to use manual camera controls so that I can get photos to look exactly how I want them
As a user, I want the option to have my camera display a grid to assist my photo composition and framing
I created my personas as archetypes derived from the responses I received from the interviews I conducted and kept them in mind as I created the user stories. From the interviews I tracked trends in what participants expressed as their frustrations that repeatedly came up during conversation, converted those into user stories, and focused on what features could be implemented to best address them.
User Flows & Wireframe Sketches
When planning out the flow of Prism Camera, I focused heavily on ensuring all interactions would make sense reflected across 2 devices simultaneously since the core functionality is contingent on 2 linked users. To achieve this, I incorporated a User A and a User B in the user flows to determine at what points their inputs would connect.
This user flow demonstrates how Users A and B go from the Solo Mode state to Linked Mode. Steps between User A and User B that are touching on the diagram indicate that they are dependent on each other.
This user flow is what follows once Users A and B are in Linked Mode. At this point, all steps between the 2 users directly affect the other and only ceases when the cameras are unlinked.
Proximity Linking
I carried the same sentiment of designing every aspect for 2 users at the same time when I began sketching preliminary wireframes as well. By going this route, I could account for how each interaction from one user would affect the other.
These sketches show how both users (divided by the center vertical line) go through process of linking their cameras via the proximity map, initiating a camera link request, and being linked thereafter.
QR Code Linking
In recognizing that not everyone wants to be wirelessly discoverable by other users at all times or have their location services on, I planned to integrate a secondary method of linking with another user via QR code scanning (referred to as Prism Code within the app).
Results
Prototype
User Feedback
challenges & Next Steps
The most challenging aspect of this project was designing a product that integrated 2 device inputs at the same time. I had to continually think about how any change on one user’s interface could potentially alter the experience the other user. Handling this was also further complicated by the nature of this app being focused on switching perspectives. Every design decision I had to make was was essentially doubled throughout this case study. There was also the limitation of not having prototyping software that could properly convey the that input of another user was what led to the on screen calls-to-action to display.
To expand on this product in the future, I would like to design a seamless way for users to select and easily verify who would receive the photos as they are being taken. Doing this would take into consideration the complexities of interacting with strangers, privacy, user error. While this feature was part of my original idea when ideating this product, I ultimately decided that it was not a core functionality that needed to be included on its first iteration.