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Pod Qu; Interactive Speaker

Sound systems (3 months) | 2015

A speaker designed to link the digital and physical, through playful interaction. Flip the speaker onto a different hexagonal face to change genres!

The speaker's basic controls (play/pause, volume, skip) utilize a multi capacitative touch fabric on the front face of the speaker. For finer control, such as assigning playlists/podcasts to a genre, auto-sync, or settings, the user pairs the speaker with the Pod Qu app.

Design Opportunity

Based on market analysis and mapping out a timeline of assault, I found that majority of products only address the time between when a threat becomes apparent and the (potential) attack. Current solutions also had their own reasons that made them less effective/popular. There was an opportunity to create a non-violent product that initiated a system to address multiple stages of the assault timeline, through the local community.
Look Book
Process Highlights

Background and Problem Space: -Research -Interviews Understanding Context: -Interviews -Mapping -Documentaries -UN reports Ideation and Concept Generation: -Sketches -Prototypes -Probes -Analogous Objects Product Creation: -Material Investigation -Screen Printing -Flat Pattern -User testing Link to process book here (hyperlinked)
Key Takeaways

1. Concept lives beyond the product: In designing for such a nuanced space, the concept requires as much (if not more) design than the product itself. In this particular case, the concept can be adapted into the local ecosystem (through local tailors, weavers, sewing shops, etc) even if the product is not available. 2. The user is also the designer: Ongoing re-design; users (communities) may create alternative or new meanings to the signalling modes, based on their personal needs and the needs of others in their community. 3. Social sustainability: By designing a product or concept that is capable of changing to meet current and future needs (through the user's ongoing re-design), the product becomes a living system that sustains itself.