Restoring Meaningful Communication
IxD 330 & IxD 360 | Covid-19 Challenge
The Context: In the midst of the pandemic, we were challenged in our Interaction Design class to create a device meant to alleviate the pains and challenges of specific users around the social distancing and “stay-at-home” lifestyle brought up by the Covid-19.
Introducing Emory, a home scale device that allows users to send and receive printable images from their loved ones. Imagine a polaroid but with a unique feature to attach recorded clips to the printable which lets users listens to those precious moments when they need them the most.
Project Type: Branding | User Interface
Team: Ami Kubota | Bryan Juteau | Will Gamez | Ruby Storey
My Role: Art Direction, User Interface Design, Project Management, UX Research, Wireframe, and Prototype
The Branding
The overall branding design for Emory was a response to recognizing that the people will be using the device during a frustrating and stressful time. Our approach was inspired by the sun and the warmth it emits which gives life and positive energy to everything it touches; similar to how we want people to feel when they interact with their family and friends through Emory.
The overall color combination contrasts the doom and gloom feelings people were experiencing during the stay-at-home orders at the beginning of the pandemic.
The Logo
The logo plays around with the word ”memory” and how we remember people through our senses. This project focused on the auditory senses as we found that at a minimum, people find comfort in hearing their loved ones’ voices. As the memory fades in the background to form Emory, the goal was to create a more personal connection with the device by giving it a name.
The lines, colors, and gradients from the logo are an interpretation of the sun adopting the some of the 70s retro style of design.
The UI
With social media and mobile devices playing a key role in a person’s long term mental health, we played around with the idea of slow communication and physical artifacts to keep these memories accessible.
The polaroid printable allows people easily store these memories anywhere they want and access its audio contents anytime.
We kept an overall bright and warm theme to provide contrast with their current negative emotions and to create positive associations when thinking about the product.
Video Demo
