Chenchen Shen
Experience & Interaction Design
CALMI
Tactility-Based Design for My Quick Temper
Project " Tactility" | May 2013 - Jun. 2013
The aim of the project was to redesign an unpleasant product of my own. The redesign should focus on the tactual aspects of the product. This is a quite personal project, the success depends on whether the designer himself/herself gets the pleasant feeling or not.
My watch
The object I chose is my watch. Since I was a child, I have a quick temper. When I am waiting for someone or something for a long time, I would get irritable. Now I can control my temper very well, but deep in my heart I am still the same.
My watch draws much more attention during the waiting time. I would look at the time frequently. Actually this unnatural gesture seem to force me to pay more attention to the time, and makes me even more irritable.
My watch also has his own fault. It’s just like an outsider of my life, watching everything happen, but not reacting at all. That's related to its temperature, metal material, and the fact that it doesn't have much to play with.
My Goal
I hope my watch can in some way tell me:
“Hey girl, waiting is not so bad, just calm down & relax, do some daydreaming…”
What feels relaxing & calm?
I explored the tactual world around me to find out what makes me feel relaxing and calm, some objects or activities out.
Concept
Inspired by previous exploration, I came up with 3 concepts, and chose concept 3 one to go further.
The concept was inspired by the gesture of sewing. The user needs to pull the string out to watch the time. This gesture makes me calm & relaxed.
Detailing
To enrich the personality of the watch, which involves the design decision of mechanism, structure, texture, material, I thought of my grandpa, who is the person who makes me feel the most relaxed & calm. I translated his relevant qualities into my watch design.
Material exploration
Final Design
