Project CoCo
Project CoCo challenges the detachment that exists between people and the natural world by rethinking the role of UX design in products. It does this through three devices that encourage their user to cooperate with the ecosystem around them to achieve their function without the use of electricity.
HMW change people's perception of small home appliances by designing the information and experience provided by the product to build a bridge between the user and the ecosystem around them？
CoCo_Sun
A device helps people collaborate with sunlight, providing the functionality of a toaster.
Through the magnifying glass with different focal lengths, the toast on the circular plate is baked by sunlght. The plate can be rotated by clockwork to enable a uniformly- distributed toasting process.
CoCo_Air
A device helps people collaborate with airflow and providing the functionality of an air purifier.
Triboelectrification, causes the metal to generate static electricity and attracts particles in the air. In CoCo_Air, there are aluminum rollers, Teflon rollers, and rubber strips. After starting the device, they will rub against each other and generate static electricity.
CoCo_Water
A device helps people collaborate with water molecules and providing the functionality of a humidifier.
After collecting the moisture in the environment inside a container, the user can use the pump to increase the pressure of the container and then release the air pressure in the container through the device to turn the water into a mist.
After collecting the moisture in the environment inside a container, the user can use the pump to increase the pressure of the container and then release the air pressure in the container through the device to turn the water into a mist.
In order to change the user's perception, the user experience (UX) design for these devices has been optimized to attract multiple senses, which might include smell, vision, sound, etc. The final result of the device is also intended to highlight the impact of the environment.
Background
This project started with a discussion of electronic waste. I focused on the behaviour of users and found that people lacked an appreciation for the fact that the materials in the products they use come from nature and will need to return to nature.
We create detachment between human society and the natural environment which kind like isolate us from nature.
We would not treat ous stuff as we treat nature. Although everything belongs to the environmental ecosystem.
We would not treat ous stuff as we treat nature. Although everything belongs to the environmental ecosystem.
I came to the conclusion that this detachment between people and the natural ecosystem they live in is a result of the current form of UX design which focuses on usability and allowing people to use products almost without thinking.
Early Experiment
An exploration of how users’ perception and behaviours would be influenced by the information and experience mediated by the products. According to the outcome, a significant correlation between behavioural patterns and information expressions of the products has been identified.
Users have different perceptions of objects, and such perceptions will huge affect their behavior.
Human perception is built on multiple senses and experiences. Just as eating is an experience composed of taste, smell, hearing and sight, a single sense cannot constitute an "eating" experience.
Exploration
Exploration01-Explore the possibility of turning living plant parts into electrical appliances.
Exploration02-Here, I was doing trials to explore interactions with sunlight, air and water to produce the same functionality as using home appliances. The left one is using sunlight to bake a toast. The middle one is testing triboelectrification for purifying the air. The right one is using a pressure change to create the mist.
Conclusion
This is a project about awareness: an object could convey much more than we normally perceive. How to provide information, explore experience, and rethink the UX design of the product itself? How to improve people’s perception regarding the product? Taking people and the environment into consideration, not just focus on human centred design. This is something that my project aims to explore.
