FLUSH IT OR TOSS IT is a sensor based interactive game, designed to teach children about flushing correctly.
PROJECT DETAILS
PROJECT TYPE:
Interaction Designer, Group Project
Designed with Leonor Coelho and Pauline Brideron
YEAR:
2019
WHO IS VAKIN?
VAKIN is a company based in Umeå, Sweden. The organization deals with food waste, water filtering and sewage waste throughout the city.
PROJECT BRIEF
Design an interactive concept for VAKIN that teaches children about where to recycle metals, plastics, paper, and where to put food. We were also given the task to teach them about flushing correctly, as VAKIN has to deal with a lot of wrong things going into the sewage.
THE TOPIC
Flushing incorrect objects down the toilet is a major problem sewage companies such as VAKIN have to deal with. Not only can this affect the environment, but it harms our the water supply, and clogs drain pipes.
USER RESEARCH
One of our group members (Pauline) visited a local elementary school in Umeå to interview children in the target age group. On this trip we wanted to know what they did for fun and what were their hobbies.
For the initial ideation stage, we sat and discussed as a group instead of sketching. The objective was to keep the kids engaged and have fun. We also wanted them to register the information and learn about the subject (recycling properly and flushing correctly).
Through the information gathered from the interview with the children, we narrowed our ideas to 3 concepts:
1. DIY YouTube Videos
2. Video Games (Fortnite, Minecraft)
3. Physical Activity/Sports (Basketball, Hockey)
These 3 concepts were organized into 3 parts of the house (this allowed the children to take back the games they were learning to home).
IDEATION/MOCK UP
USER TESTING
We then tested our idea with the kids at the school. Through the user testing we found that the kids were quite aware about the sustainability impacts, and knew how to recycle correctly. From the user testing they seemed to have more interest in the physcial activity and the video games.
The kids also had a great deal of knowledge on the topic of food waste, making the DIY concept less interesting to them.
FOCUS ON FLUSHING
We shifted our focus onto the flushing game. The final concept is an interactive swiping game where you would swipe left or right depending on if the item belonged in the trash can or the toilet. The game was designed to teach the kids what not to throw in the toilet.
FINAL DESIGN
