Overview

For ten weeks, my team and I worked hard to develop O₂ for one of our Master of Human‑Computer Interaction + Design classes at the University of Washington. As a team, we ideated, conducted interviews, developed prototypes, and completed specifications for our product.

The Problem

Amid the pandemic, stay‑at‑home orders, and the move to remote working, many individuals started to lack and miss their connection to nature that they once had. The concept of households for many had changed suddenly.

My group and I developed a product that would help individuals connect with nature and improve their well‑being by cultivating healthy habits in their households through interactive experiences that will take them out of their current spaces.

The Challenge

How might we help individuals connect with nature and improve their well‑being by cultivating healthy habits in their household through interactive experiences that take them out of their current space?

Research

Primary Research

These assumptions helped us narrow our stakeholders down to adults who remotely work/study full‑time, work long hours (not remotely), or experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Our team remotely conducted three contextual inquiries and semi‑structured interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the lives of our stakeholders. The focus of these interviews was to understand our audiences' current connection to nature and if they faced any challenges within their households.

Contextual Inquiries

Primary Research Quotes

I am going to be more stressed. Having as many plants as I do right now is a pretty significant commitment. — T

My lights are timed to come on every day at 7:00 am to replicate natural light from where I would usually see the sun — D

Primary Reseach Insights:

• Having too many plants can potentially increase stress levels by adding responsibility. There is a desire for a passive routine.
• The presence or lack of nature can have a significant impact on an individual’s well‑being.
• Setting distinct and physical boundaries between different spaces in the household is healthy for one's well‑being.

Ideation

Our research solidified our problem statement. How might we help individuals connect with nature and improve their well‑being by cultivating healthy habits in their household through interactive experiences that take them out of their current space?

Design Principles

Using the insights from our research, we developed four design principles to help address the needs of our stakeholders.

Personalization + Engagement.

Personalization will create an immersive experience, allowing the individual to interact and engage with the product on a level of their choice.

Comfort + Reduce Mental Load.

A solution will alleviate stress for the individual through experiences that do not create added responsibilities and amplify a positive outlook.

Form a Healthy Connection.

A solution will aim to create interaction and connection with the user’s environment, contributing to overall well‑being.

Set Healthy Boundaries.

A solution will aim to create healthy boundaries mentally or physically, which will reduce stress and mental clutter.

Brainstorming Concepts

To help visualize potential solutions for connecting people to nature within their households, our team ideated, sketched, and generated 90 potential products. Because our team was so in sync some of our ideas were similar.

Down Selection

For the first round of down selection, we dot voted on the 90 products using the criteria of green: yes, red: no, and blue: partial.

We affinitized the remaining items in the second round of down selection based on if the product was digital, interactive, passive, and physical.

We used our design principles to further narrow our concepts down to 17 that kept our audience's needs at the forefront. Our team continued downselecting until we found three potential solutions. These concepts addressed our concerns of bringing nature into the household without adding pressure to a person's well‑being.

Pivoting

After feedback and re‑evaluating our choices, we virtually walked back to our drawing boards to ideated once more until we found a solution that complemented our problem space. The new concept combined the nature subscription box, a smart terrarium, and a plant sticker collection booklet.

We would create O₂, a smart terrarium personalized with a SAD lamp, an aromatherapy diffuser, and filled with various handpicked succulents delivered in a subscription‑type manner. The user could then collect stickers in a booklet based on the plants they receive.

This pivot was an obstacle but a vital move to keep our solution focused on our potential users.

Lo‑Fi Prototyping + User Testing

To see if our solution answered our design challenge, we decided lo‑fi prototyping was the best option to test O₂ with our stakeholders. We created a paper prototype for the mobile app, a lo‑fi version of the terrarium and SAD lamp, and the sticker collection booklet.

I designed the prototype for the terrarium aspect of O₂. Funny enough, I recycled cardboard so much that I had no extra cardboard laying around the house. So instead, I made a scrappy prototype with a large glass bowl, taped a small flashlight to the lid of Tupperware to represent the SAD lamp.

User Testing

Our user testing helped us gather initial thoughts on what role our product would play in their lives and the look and feel of O₂. I user tested the terrarium and told my participants to imagine a stationary 360^o camera and scent diffuser.

User Testing Insights

• Step away from the “freemium” idea by avoiding prompting users to buy/add newer items without concrete reasoning.
• Scents, lights, and visuals in the terrarium prototype would create an ambiance of nature within your household.
• General background information on Seasonal Affective Disorder should be available.
• Building a sticker collection motivates participants to construct their terrarium + gives them a sense of accomplishment.
• And the built‑in terrarium camera might cause privacy issues.

User Testing Quotes

I do feel like there’s a disconnection between the product and the booklet, only because I feel like you can do also add the booklet information on the app.

Every time that I water it [plants inside terrarium], I feel like I get closer to it. It's like you might forget about it, but every time you have to water it. It’s not really a job, it's more like, ‘hey I have a thing here that’s living’, and it sort of brings me peace and all these things. Your focus goes like, ‘yeah I’m glad it's here.’

I feel as if it is like a freemium game in some ways. Once you have made the initial purchase, the product will continue to try to sell you more add‑ons. I would say once again, inform the user on why you are prompting these customized suggestions.

Pivoting ... Again

The insights directly influenced the finalized version of our solution: O₂. We nixed the physical sticker book and implemented it within our app. To up the immersive aspect of our design, we upgraded to a movable 360^o camera inside the terrarium to allow for virtual reality capabilities from the accompanying app.

Since our prototypes were scrappy, we easily moved on after pivoting once more after user testing.

Information Architecture

To show the all the integrations and connections of O₂, we created a site map that includes our mobile app, the smart terrarium, and the SAD lamp add‑on.

Reflection

Obstacles

Two of the main obstacles I encountered while working on this involved the multiple but valuable pivots our team made throughout the creation of O₂. These pivots at the time stuck my teammates and me in a brief rut, but pivoting is what helped us address our problem space and provide a solution.

Teamwork

Secondly, we learned how to communicate and be flexible teammates while adjusting to life on zoom, the pandemic, and working across different time zones with my teammates/participants. These constraints and the knowledge I learned while working through them helped me grow as a designer.

Impact

We could not user test a finalized Hi‑Fi concept of our product. Yet, we believe O₂ will promote positive interactions between nature and the individual using the product. This connection to nature will help reduce anxiety and stress for individuals who use this product based on our research and prototyping insights.