Connecting Friends and Family Through Voice and Emotion
Type of project:
Individual class project
Date:
Winter 2023 (1/12/2023 – 3/5/2023)
Tools:
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Sketchbook, Notes
Memos Stick is a product where users can connect with their friends and family with the main features being record their voice and emotion.
Our task at hand for this project is design a product which can break the students’ habit of using their phone.
Break student’s habit of using phone
How might we design a product that reduces students' phone usage and encourages them to spend more quality time with friends and family?
Brainstorm and Defining problem
At 8 AM, I wake up feeling tired, spending up to an hour on my phone in bed, both morning and night. This habit leaves me tired and unproductive.
I want to stop checking social media right after waking up and before bed, as this usually takes about 30 minutes.
I want to stop checking social media right after waking up and before bed, as this usually takes about 30 minutes.
First Idea Sketch: An Emotions Speaker
My product helps replace phone time with energizing activities or quality time with my roommate. It prevents excessive phone use and boosts my mood with music and dance. I enjoy the fun and accuracy of the mood cards.
With this product, I now wake up feeling energetic and fall asleep faster with soothing music, enhancing my daily routine and sleep quality.
Second Idea Sketch: Ring Ring Bear
Understand the problem space
Understanding primary users
I was inspired by the shape of my night lamp and its convenient small size
The Wi-Fi icon here sparks an idea for connecting to an online music playlist
I was inspired to add play, pause, and on/off buttons on top of the product
The Fire TV stick inspired me to make the buttons round, consistent with the shape of the round speaker
By observing surrounding objects like my night lamp that helps me sleep, a speaker that hypes me up, and a mood ring to see if it guesses my mood correctly, I was inspired to create the Emotions Speaker. This multifunctional product improves the user's daily routine and mood through music and light based on emotional input from the emotion cards. Its compact design and non-slip silicon base also make it perfect for on-the-go use
By observing surrounding objects like my night lamp that helps me sleep, a speaker that hypes me up, and a mood ring to see if it guesses my mood correctly, I was inspired to create the Emotions Speaker. This multifunctional product improves the user's daily routine and mood through music and light based on emotional input from the emotion cards. Its compact design and non-slip silicon base also make it perfect for on-the-go use
I drew out a storyboard to tell a story of how users would interact with the speaker memos and how the product would help users avoid using their phone.
I drew out a storyboard to tell a story of how users would interact with the speaker memos and how the product would help users avoid using their phone.
A Junior at University of Washington
Lives with her roommate
Has a busy academic schedule
Age 20
Minimize morning distractions from social media to start her day productively
Feel more energized and alert in the mornings
Spend more quality time with her roommate or on personal activities before her day begins
Feedback and Incorporation
Overwhelmed by the functions
Final Round of Design Sketches
How Memos Sticks help Dani
An instruction to how Dani could use Memos Sticks
How Memos Sticks would look like in the real world
AI Communicating with friends
AI Speaker Emotions Sensor
“What if they lost the emotion cards? ”
“Change the shape of the product, think about the user.”
An AI speaker can guess your mood by your footsteps and body temperature, without the need for emotion cards.
I changed from a bear shape to a cup because it is more user-focused and resonates with users' daily lives, such as sharing a cup of a drink.
“The bluetooth system would give users the chance to use their phone and forget that they suppose to choose a song.”
“Focus on one thing only communicate with friends or measure mood by temperature.”
“While it is a portable product, it does not resemble a typical speaker and appears friendly.”
“What will make them feel connect and resonate?”
An AI speaker can talk to and comfort users about their emotions.
A product with a more focus on maintaining relationship through voice messages.
A teddy bear-shaped speaker will offer users a more friendly approach, and the ears represent where the sound is coming out.
Back in high school, there was a random name picker. Bringing this idea of recording voice memos through a name stick will foster connection.
This is the first version of my Ring Ring Bear speaker.
Since I received feedback from my peers about the possibility of losing the emotion cards and concerns that connecting via Bluetooth would be the same as using their phones, I have upgraded to an AI speaker that can talk and comfort users based on their mood.
I chose the bear because it symbolizes a comfort object for all users.
The bear detects the user's mood when they touch the speaker, and it guesses the user's emotion based on body temperature and footsteps.
The bear changes color according to the user's mood, with each mood associated with a specific color. It also serves as a night lamp due to its color-changing feature.
To check in on how their friends are doing and how they are feeling, users can record their voice and send it to their friends.
This is the first version of my Ring Ring Bear speaker.
Since I received feedback from my peers about the possibility of losing the emotion cards and concerns that connecting via Bluetooth would be the same as using their phones, I have upgraded to an AI speaker that can talk and comfort users based on their mood.
I chose the bear because it symbolizes a comfort object for all users.
The bear detects the user's mood when they touch the speaker, and it guesses the user's emotion based on body temperature and footsteps.
The bear changes color according to the user's mood, with each mood associated with a specific color. It also serves as a night lamp due to its color-changing feature.
To check in on how their friends are doing and how they are feeling, users can record their voice and send it to their friends.
How product would look like in the real world
This version of the Ring Ring Bear is more focused on gamification.
Users hug the speaker for it to detect their emotions, and the face of the bear changes to reflect their mood.
The purpose of designing this product is to encourage users to stay away from their phones and move around.
As a reward, gamification features match your mood with a game that could improve it, and you can also play with your friends.
This version of the Ring Ring Bear is more focused on gamification.
Users hug the speaker for it to detect their emotions, and the face of the bear changes to reflect their mood.
The purpose of designing this product is to encourage users to stay away from their phones and move around.
As a reward, gamification features match your mood with a game that could improve it, and you can also play with your friends.
This is Friend Memos.
Users can send voice recordings to their friends.
Each name stick is associated with a friend's name.
Once the friend receives and sends the message, the stick will be color-striped.
Users can choose to play or pause the recording by clicking on the play/pause icon on the name stick.
This is Friend Memos.
Users can send voice recordings to their friends.
Each name stick is associated with a friend's name.
Once the friend receives and sends the message, the stick will be color-striped.
Users can choose to play or pause the recording by clicking on the play/pause icon on the name stick.
I upgraded Friends Memos to Memo Stick.
The product is more focused on relationships with friends and family.
Its main feature is to record and receive voice messages from friends and family.
What's special is that you can hear their voice, and their actual mood is represented by the color on the name stick.
As a reward, sending 10 recorded messages to a friend earns you a coupon.
I upgraded Friends Memos to Memo Stick.
The product is more focused on relationships with friends and family.
Its main feature is to record and receive voice messages from friends and family.
What's special is that you can hear their voice, and their actual mood is represented by the color on the name stick.
As a reward, sending 10 recorded messages to a friend earns you a coupon.
Users will be given both a mood color board and the Ring Ring Bear Speaker
Paper prototype of how the bear would look in real life, created using Adobe Illustrator
Put it into the play section
The voice will be played through the speaker
Hold the stick and tell the AI cup who you want to send the message to.
Once the name appear the AI will say start recording.
You then place the stick inside the record section.
Once you have played you message and want to listen to it again, put the stick in the replay section the audio will be play outloud.
Each message has its own time limit to open it
Throughout this project, I have put in a lot of effort and gained valuable insights, notably in product design
User Storyboard: Sketching out how users would interact with the product is helpful to understand how the product would help in their daily life and what could be improved about the product.
Teacher Assistant and Peer Feedback: Receiving feedback from both peers and teacher assistants is important as both have different viewpoints. Peers, on one hand, have the same experience and can provide insights that resonate with them in their daily lives as students. Meanwhile, teacher assistants can offer more guidance as they are more experienced in the field.
Surroundings Matter: The inspiration for all the stages and iterations of my product, from the Emotions Speaker to the finalized Memo Sticks, came from the objects I regularly use or have around my house. I combined these into a new product that could enhance a user's life in meaningful ways, similar to how these individual products have impacted mine.
Throughout this project, I have put in a lot of effort and gained valuable insights, notably in product design
User Storyboard: Sketching out how users would interact with the product is helpful to understand how the product would help in their daily life and what could be improved about the product.
Teacher Assistant and Peer Feedback: Receiving feedback from both peers and teacher assistants is important as both have different viewpoints. Peers, on one hand, have the same experience and can provide insights that resonate with them in their daily lives as students. Meanwhile, teacher assistants can offer more guidance as they are more experienced in the field.
Surroundings Matter: The inspiration for all the stages and iterations of my product, from the Emotions Speaker to the finalized Memo Sticks, came from the objects I regularly use or have around my house. I combined these into a new product that could enhance a user's life in meaningful ways, similar to how these individual products have impacted mine.
