I’m Drew, a New York City-based interaction designer and developer.
I’m especially interested in mobile applications and emerging markets.
Check out my resume (pdf) and examples of my work below.
Please contact me at drew[at]drewcogbill.com or DM @drewcogbill.
Skills Used
Design Ethnography, Iterative Prototyping, PHP/MySQL Programming, Call XML Programming, Wireframing, Project Management, Business Planning
Question
Pigeon began by imagining a little girl living in Belize missing her father living in Los Angelos. International communication is expensive and difficult, especially for immigrants with little resources to reach out to their far away family and friends. To develop Pigeon, I asked how affordable, accessible technology could be used to provide intimate communication.
Answer
Pigeon is a social network accessed through a local phone call. Pigeon allows users to connect easily, affordably, and more often by giving each user space for a one minute audio recording they can broadcast to a group of their choosing.
Pigeon is available by calling (713) 574-9488 in the United States.
Process
This project was my MFA Design and Technology thesis project at Parsons, on which I spent a year and a half of development. I developed early storyboards into a more complex visual language for explaining the system - always returning to the story of the girl and her far away farther. Role prototypes in the form of storyboards are an important part of my design process. They allow me to situate all of my design with a particular human experience.
Simultaneously while developing the language to explain Pigeon, I went through many iteration of the implementation of the system. Pigeon is in audio interface and required serious user testing to ensure ease of operation. Everything from assignment of functions to particular keys to the length of users' login number were considered and tested.
Lastly, I wrote a detailed business plan of Pigeon under the the advisement of a business mentor that considered the system's sustainability. The market opportunity for telecommunications in the developing world is huge, both economically and in terms of social impact. My work on Pigeon helped further my ongoing interest in the use of design in emerging markets.
The process of Pigeon's development was documented on my Thesis Blog.
