Problem/Thoughts: As a study abroad student that has been away from home for a full year I find myself struggling to keep in touch with my friends and family. I realized that I wanted to focus on creating a product that will allow us to increase our ability or remind us to stay in touch or remember to make human contact since technology surrounds us and puts us in this narrow tunnel so often. I even thought about how a lot of us are unwilling to make phone calls because of how deep we are in this technological hole where text messaging, snapchatting, and instagram has become the core of our communication ways.
Inspiration: I think for my inspiration, I was thinking about a design that was a hybrid between Enchanted Objects and Persuasive Design. I want to create a product that is enchanted in the sense that it will be able to cross mix the role of technology with human/physical interaction in an interesting way. Enchanted objects (digital/technology) that will actually increase our physical interactions with the world rather than deter us. I will be looking at a lot of the products created by David Rose for inspiration as well as the techniques and process of persuasive design through BJ Fogg in order to ensure that human interaction becomes a constant in our lives again.
Solution: I’ve been thinking about a variety of ideas such as an enchanted alarm clock that would automatically unlock your phone to check your messages or display your notifications in front of you as a way to have the user always check their messages when they wake up. Another thought was to have a watch that lights up or alerts the user when their friends or who they want to contact is at a suitable time zone to chat. These are some rough ideas that I have as I begin to plan out the details of the ideas.