Project deliverables include slides appropriate for a pitch to potential investors as well as supporting documents in the spirit of "design fiction," a playful research method that invites designers to blend design innovation and science-fiction in imagining the broad social and technological contexts in which their services will be deployed, e.g., the trends that fuel the proposal or even the opposition it might generate.
The Ampeer Personal Energy Monitor (website) allows the user to visually monitor the energy use of devices and appliances in the home in real-time or over an interval of the user's choosing. The device also allows the user to share his energy consumption online, allowing the user to compare his energy use with that of other users. The device helps reduce energy consumption by highlighting wasteful activities and incentivizing reduction in usage. Energy companies may also use the data to enable new kinds of differential pricing.
The Kidiaband is a wristband designed to be worn by children with diabetes. It tracks glucose levels using sweat metering, provides children with visual and auditory reminders to eat or inject insulin, and sends text message notifications to parents if glucose levels are outside normal levels for over an hour. The accompanying Kidiaband App for parents and other caretakers tracks glucose levels over time, so parents can be aware of trends and share them with pediatricians.
WiseWalk is an app that we designed to help pedestrians navigate a city safely. We attempted to build a self-reporting platform that would allow community members to talk to each other about infrastructure and safety issues while also building in features that would correct prank or erroneous reports, like voting and flagging features. The taxonomy also tries to control what and how people report, but we included open comment sections to gain as much insight as possible into each reported incident. All together, the app is meant to help pedestrians make informed decisions as they move about their city.
