Biolitt

A speculative design project that showcases a peak of a faraway future with weird weather and energy crisis
Timeline
Oct 2020 - Dec 2020 | 2 months
Project Type
Speculative Design, Service Design
ROLE
Contribution to design research, wireframing and led video making process. Done in a group of 2
Services
Information Architecture, Design Research, Ideation, Journey Map
Tools
Adobe XD, Adobe After Effect, Blender, Sketch
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What will happen if we are running out of energy in the future?
Speculative design is a design method addressing big societal problems and looking towards the future—and creating products and services for those scenarios.
Our speculative design project started with building a future scenario basing on some random words. The scenario should be futuristic but remaining in a reasonable area. After settling down the environment, we brainstormed with imagination and the guidance of design thinking.
Biolitt is the final outcome of this speculative design project. It's the representative piece for our imaginary future, a faraway future with weird weather and an energy crisis. Biolitt is a glowing plant-based light source, to fight against the energy crisis. This project is for reviewing our behaviors, environment and addressing waste problems through-provoking reflections.
To present our final outcome, we designed the information architecture and generated the explanatory video of the product.
Background

Random Future

Speculative design is a design method addressing big societal problems and looking towards the future—and creating products and services for those scenarios. In this case, the scenario was generated based on 4 words - Housing, Physical, Weather Weirding, and 2065 - 2070.

Research

To build up a convincing future, we did some further research on related topics and areas.

Analyzing the Future with Future Triangle and Future Cone

Future Triangle and Future cone are two of the methods we used in the process. The future triangle played a guiding role in our derivation process and the Future cone helped us to identify the future the design would fit in.

Outcome Map

The outcome map is a visual guide towards the end result. By laying out the possible factors and trying to connect them creatively we are able to map out the detailed future scenario.

Story Background

In the next few decades, new materials are still developed and used on a large scale to promote technological development. However, people did not realize that the chemical products contained in these new materials cannot be completely decomposed by nature, and they have caused great damage to the ecosystem years over years. It was not until 2065 that the plants growing on the roadside began to emit a faint light, and people realized that the new material produced in the past were the garbage to nature. Just as human beings don't know how to deal with these chemical wastes, scientists discovered that these luminous plants not only have strong vitality, but can also decompose stubborn chemical substances and convert them into light energy. Therefore, the government encourages people to use these luminous plants to replace the traditional "high-tech" light sources in their homes. So that people don't have to continue to produce more chemical waste, and also the chemical waste can be consumed by the plant.

Design

Design Concept

We design 3 related objects for the luminous plant, the Bio-Light Chandelier as the carrier of the luminous plant, the Chemical Solution Injector for taking good care of the plants, and the User interface notifying the plants' condition.

Experience Flow and Journey Map

To finalize the design we brought in the experience flow and journey map. The experience flow is divided into 2 parts, the overall user flow and the flow of applying the chemical solution injector. Both experience flow and journey map are helpful for explaining the design.

Design Outcome

We made the 3D model of the injector and prototype the interface and the chandelier

Video

The video showcased how the Biolitt System works.

Team members

Group Lactose - Ziying Fan & Shiyu Wang

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