Today was sort of the "first" day for our actual project idea to start forming. We started the day off by making note of all the behaviours we already had, and then we added other behaviours that we have come up with meanwhile. This is the list of behaviours that we came up with:
- Putting the bin out on collection day (which we already covered yesterday with Bob the Bin)
- Off-peak electricity usage
- Eating unhealthy food
- Waking up without an alarm
- Sitting down for too long
- Using phone while driving
- Boiling the kettle after someone else just boiled it
- Cars splashing pedestrian after it rains
- Not closing a pack of biscuits
- Iron
- Organiser-shelf system in the bathroom
- Buying too much unneeded food
- Forgetting to take clothes out of the washing machine after a cycle
- Multi-screening
Because there are 3 of us in the group we decided the best way to pick would be to cast 2 votes each. The topics came in the following order:
- Forgetting to take clothes out of the washing machine after a cycle
- Buying too much unneeded food
- Using phone while driving
We also wrote down some emotions, functions and behaviours that the object or design would have, put them in a pile and picked one out for each topic. So with everything in mind, we began to brainstorm and think of concepts for each one.
The washing machine concept had authority, it reminds the user, and there is also excitement involved. We spoke about things like having the door of the machine pop open as you walk past it as a "gentle" reminder and the longer you left your washing in the machine, the more "aggressive" the door would get. Or else at some point the door would pop open to remind you and you wouldn't be able to close it until you took all the clothes out. What if the machine was able to throw your clothes on to the floor if you didn't take them out fast enough? What if there was a longer washing cycle next time you put on a wash, almost like a "punishment" for not respecting your clothes the previous cycle. There was also an idea about having your washing machine being able to communicate with the clothes horse/ drying rack. So if you have clothes already drying, the door of the washing machine would be harder to close, as if its telling you, "Maybe wait a couple of hours to put on the next wash?". Or if the clothes on the drying rack would start to fall off once they got dry, a reminder to take them off in order to free up space for the next load. This kind of communication would allow a synchronisation between the 2 objects and might help the user be more organised too.
The next topic, buying too much unneeded food, was honest, he wants to stop and could get angry. We realised that buying unneeded food related to waste and cost so those would be major factors hopefully somewhat influencing the user to stop doing that. The idea we came up with was to have a product range consisting of a shopping trolley, a basket and a shopping bag. The shopping bag might have a weight sensor at the bottom and you might be able to preload the shopping list so that the bag knows approximately how much it should weigh and if its heavier then it gives feedback through the handles by making them uncomfortable to carry etc. We also thought about having some sort of notice board at home, or a white board, where you can write down your shopping which sends the information to the bag or trolley but something that would also be small enough for the user to take with them. The shopping basket and trolley would too send feedback to the user if they pick up items that were not on their list, and would suggest healthier foods to buy.
The third topic, using the phone while driving was annoyed, it detected movement but it was also cute. Somehow all of the emotions, behaviours and functions that we picked randomly from the piles, seemed to go so well with each topic!
So for this concept we thought about having a cute stand, a "house" where the phone lived in the car. Every time the user would get into his/her car, they would have to place their phone into his home (this arose the question of what happens if you don't have your phone with you?). As a group we thought that social consciousness and social awareness would be the best ways to encourage the user not to use their phones. What is overtime you used your phone while driving it sent a message from your social media sites saying "Hey, John is driving and using his phone at the same time. Not keeping his eyes on the road!" Naming and shaming would probably be the best ways that we thought of, to get drivers to behave. Then we had a bit of an issue of answering or making emergency phone calls. which could potentially happen. We didn't want to lock the phone away while the car was moving so we thought voice recognition (along the lines of Siri) would be the best solution.
In the end, after going through the 3 topics (btw we did about 10 minutes on each), we noticed that the mobile phone was quite difficult and not a favourite within the team because there is some much more to it like the law and lots of what ifs, and it involves driving unsafely. So there was a mutual decision that out of the other 2 left, we would go with the washing machine idea.
The next topic, buying too much unneeded food, was honest, he wants to stop and could get angry. We realised that buying unneeded food related to waste and cost so those would be major factors hopefully somewhat influencing the user to stop doing that. The idea we came up with was to have a product range consisting of a shopping trolley, a basket and a shopping bag. The shopping bag might have a weight sensor at the bottom and you might be able to preload the shopping list so that the bag knows approximately how much it should weigh and if its heavier then it gives feedback through the handles by making them uncomfortable to carry etc. We also thought about having some sort of notice board at home, or a white board, where you can write down your shopping which sends the information to the bag or trolley but something that would also be small enough for the user to take with them. The shopping basket and trolley would too send feedback to the user if they pick up items that were not on their list, and would suggest healthier foods to buy.
The third topic, using the phone while driving was annoyed, it detected movement but it was also cute. Somehow all of the emotions, behaviours and functions that we picked randomly from the piles, seemed to go so well with each topic!
So for this concept we thought about having a cute stand, a "house" where the phone lived in the car. Every time the user would get into his/her car, they would have to place their phone into his home (this arose the question of what happens if you don't have your phone with you?). As a group we thought that social consciousness and social awareness would be the best ways to encourage the user not to use their phones. What is overtime you used your phone while driving it sent a message from your social media sites saying "Hey, John is driving and using his phone at the same time. Not keeping his eyes on the road!" Naming and shaming would probably be the best ways that we thought of, to get drivers to behave. Then we had a bit of an issue of answering or making emergency phone calls. which could potentially happen. We didn't want to lock the phone away while the car was moving so we thought voice recognition (along the lines of Siri) would be the best solution.
In the end, after going through the 3 topics (btw we did about 10 minutes on each), we noticed that the mobile phone was quite difficult and not a favourite within the team because there is some much more to it like the law and lots of what ifs, and it involves driving unsafely. So there was a mutual decision that out of the other 2 left, we would go with the washing machine idea.
COMMENTS