September 2024 - December 2024
Transforming time spent waiting.
Public waiting spaces are often dull and isolating, leaving individuals to pass time with passive distractions like scrolling through phones or watching repetitive screens.
StandBy turns transition & waiting times spent alone in public spaces into engaging social experiences and conversation starters.
Public lobbies like elevator areas are high-traffic but socially disconnected.
Most people fill the time by staring at their phones, avoiding eye contact, or attempting small talk. We saw this as a missed opportunity to transform a passive, often isolating experience into one that fosters spontaneous interaction and shared fun.
Inspired by collaborative games and the growing use of kiosks in public spaces, our team set out to design something playful, social, and highly accessible.
Design an interactive interface for shared public spaces that could turn brief, idle waiting periods into social engagement opportunities, particularly for strangers.
The solution had to:
An example of these "socially awkward" situations represented by Spiderman.
We started with a survey (n = 35 UCSD students, aged 19–22) exploring elevator behavior.
Key findings:
We also conducted:
Early ideas focused on:
We prioritized cooperative play, drop-in/drop-out flexibility, and low cognitive load so strangers could join without pressure.
What happened:
Validated insights:
“I like the collaboration between groups, and the option to do something fun and creative during a moment of downtime!”