The 'Idō' Table
User Interaction Design | Masters Course Group Project | Interaction Foundation Unit
Brief:
Develop a product/system to support meditation, relaxation, or stress- reduction (you specify the kind of activity with research supporting the efficacy of these kinds of activities for improving some specific aspect of the user’s health and wellbeing) Your design needs demonstrate your ability to research, interpret and apply an understanding of the technical principles and approaches from human-computer interaction and interaction design.
Concept:
Based on the concept of the zen garden, my initial idea was to create a A4 sized box like device which has either a LED light matrix or a digital display. Three sensors would be placed at 3 different places of the display and once a hand hovers over it, a pattern would emerge around the sensors, as you keep moving your hand patterns and colours of the pattern would change. The colours would also be an important aspect to this as. colour therapy can have soothing tendencies to help your mind relax. I
wanted create something that was portable and be easily stored away.
Following ininitial idea testing, I decided to expand the device into a full fledge workstation table-top that’s fully interactive. Allowing the users to immerse themselves in a larger format. To let them stretch their arms and conduct the motion to help create a more impactful experience. This would indirectly encourage people to keep only important documents on their desktop– Zen way of keeping things minimal so that it does not trigger patterns on the table while working.
Snapshots of sketches and prototypes done
Further developments and considerations:
This table -top could be further developed into a digital display when tech advances in terms of in built sensors in screens. In terms of the product itself, large organizations that have funds to invest in their employee’s wellbeing could purchase these products to be placed in offices. However, I would think that these table should be used by people who have their own cubicles or spaces. The movement of the hand might have the tendency to distract co workers sitting next to each other – hence enclosed areas or cubicle desks would work better. This design has the potential to be improved in terms of functionality. In terms of inbuilt drawers or lockers of some sorts to help users keep their personal belongings – to avoid cluttering the space on top of the table.