14. Midterm presentation
Concept
I am creating a couple of communication devices that improve the connection between family who lives far apart.
It encourages users to get in touch with their loved ones every day with interesting interactions.
Why Does it matter?
There’re a lot of communication devices and application, but I feel communication is still not easy. Especially, When I contact my parents who live in South Korea, I have no idea what to say. We have 14 hours time difference between us. I normally call my mother every Sunday. My father is always out of the house. So, sometimes it takes few months from the last call to contact my dad. My idea comes from the thought. “What if I could contact my father every day?”
Test I: My family
From Oct last year, I started recording one minute video and shared with family for three months. I record one min video and send it at 10 PM NY time, My parents watch the video at 10 PM Seoul time and record and send it to me at 10PM NY time. My family started sharing experience, hobbies, and working place that we did not share when I was in Korea.
I found out patterns from researching my family.
- Dad never smiles
- Mom checks her appearance when she starts recording
- I am always tired
I created first prototype based on my family’s patterns. I wanted to make the recording behavior not only as simple as possible, but also induce my family to do a positive action, such as sharing smiles. Also I want to make this behavior fits into people’s daily routine. I found out many people check mirror before they go out everyday. So this IOT camera located on top of the wall mirror. Before the user goes out, when the user smiles, the camera starts recording for few seconds automatically and sends video to another family member’s email.
Prototype I
What I learned from Prototype I
- Smile is not helpful for building deep relationships. > I thought about adding an every day conversation topic suggestion feature.
- Some are worries about their privacy. Camera can be triggered accidentally. People cover laptop cam with something. > Camera needs a cover
- People feel rushed before they go out in the morning, so locating the camera on top of wall mirror is not a good idea.
Prototype II
I created a prototype II. Idle screen displays dual time and weather. You can put it on either desk or bedside table. When you tap the screen, it provides today’s conversation topic. When you raise up the cover, it starts recording for 20 seconds.
What I learned from Prototype II
I tested the prototype II during Science Fair. I got feedback from other International Students. I got many quick simple answers. I still have this feature, but I will provide it more subtle way. My product needs to be more simple, fun, and close to instinct interactions. Since I decided to create a physical comp project, I actively applied physical and analog inputs for creating more connection with family.
Prototype III
Based on the feedback, I made a prototype III. Just as the Prototype II, the idle screen provides dual time and weather. I added two more features as a supplement of communication, which are sharing emotion and sound of wind.
1.Sharing video
When you raise the cover up, It will display todays topic. When you tap the screen, then it records a video and send it to partner. When you close it, it will stop recording. Partner’s device displays the notification until the partner taps and watches the video.
2. Sharing presence(sound)
When you blow air, your partner’s device plays a wind chime sound at the same time. The volume is not too loud. It won’t bother the user. I want to provide an impression that I am thinking about you without much effort. Maybe they can sense they are in the same place.
3. Sharing emotion
When you rotate dial, another device will display the emoticon. This emoticon will be displayed for 5 hours in your partner’s device. People can exchange their emotion. It can be a trigger to start a conversation.
