Scope
Concept Product
Timeline
12 Weeks
Role
Full-Stack Designer
Team
Solo Project
— We Design Green
Problem
In a dystopian future, furniture production has all but ceased due to the EII (Environmental Impact Initiative) to stop global destruction. Citizens of society inhabit sterile concrete dwellings, and are only allowed a bed, a table, and a set of chairs. A room without color or personal flare makes for a sad existence. Unless...
How might we
design an interior decorating experience for a society who no longer has access to physical decorative products?
Solution
InDec is a speculative device that provides users with a holographic interior decorating experience.
A real problem in a fictional scenario
Fast furniture is an epidemic of poorly manufactured items that are produced at a mass scale. These pieces are inexpensive to the buyer, and are made of such low quality materials that they end up in landfills soon after purchase. This in turn causes cyclical abuse to the environment, and eventually to us. The alarming statistics of furniture waste helped me to form a narrative, and gave me a problem that needed to be solved.
The future is digital
In my hypothetical dystopian future, physical decor is out of the picture; the only options left would be virtual or augmented reality decor. VR would require everyone in the space to have a headset, and when the user removes it, the experience disappears. With hologram-based AR, the experience is permanent. All of the users in the room can see and interact with the decor, and only one device is needed.
Who is InDec for, exactly?
While InDec can technically be for anyone, it primarily targets the average middle class citizen. It’s no secret that even in the future, high-class citizens will have more access to physical product and decor items, unlike those who can’t afford to bypass societal rules. InDec’s users would likely be comprised of creative people, artists, curators and collectors. People who use InDec might work-from-home or be in their space often. The core user group are those who value adding some flair to their surroundings.
Ideation
A visual language
I took a lot of design cues from from science-fiction media and a few similar products that are on the market today.
InDec’s Console
A fun part of this project and something I had pretty limited experience with, was visualizing first what InDec’s console would look like. Although I was unable to fabricate anything physically, I did want to design a console under principles of functionality and not just form. In other words, if this physical product existed– I would want it to work.
Shape
Style
Color
Function
InDec’s Dashboard
InDec’s dashboard is a holographic-projection. Since devices like this either don’t exist or are still in their infancy, a lot the visual references I collected were from science-fiction media, such as movies and tv. Although there was a lot of variation within the appearance of the interfaces, I did find the colors to have a consistent theme. Most all of the holographic menus had visual components that were either white, neon blue or neon green in appearance.
Form
Function
The Device
THE PHYSICAL CONSOLE
The main console consists of the hologram-lens on top, five lights that represent charge-level, an on/off button, and a USB port for charging. Beneath that are 3 discs, that attach to the main console via magnetization.
Each disc has a hologram lens on top and are powered via the magnetization. They are controlled through the console alone, and do not have any interface controls of their own.
The Dashboard
THE DIGITAL INTERFACE
The holographic dashboard operates within three sections. The floater on the left hosts the navigation, the middle will display a list of the items that are in the room at present, and the window on the right will showcase the selected item and allow the user to rearrange that selection or clear the disc.
Challenge accepted, and accomplished.
InDec was a rewardingly challenging project and I am more than happy I attempted it. Although I was able to design and visualize both parts, there’s still so much of InDec’s concept that I wished I had time to examine.
Some key takeaways from this process:
More visuals!
Re-design the charging port!
“Thinking will not overcome fear, but action will.”