An RFID object management and reminder system
Capstone Project @ PolyU 2020 - 2021
⏱ 7 min
KWUN - Full ReportDesign Brief
Aims and Objectives
In life, losing things is a frequent occurrence. Is losing your cell phone, wallet, or keys part of your daily routine? People with ADHD frequently misplace common items. Aiming to design a hallway that let users have a designated space for their personal items, together with smart RFID technology, the object micro-management system should in the end build habits and awareness of users on their behavior with things.
Who? - Users
- Middle to high-income Hong Kong citizens who value smart technology and design aesthetic
- ADHD Adults in Hong Kong in the age between 18-50
What? - Tasks and goals
- How can we help ADHD adults organize their personal belongings?
- How to help ADHD adults to figure out and understand their own ability and disability regarding their symptoms, to improve their self-awareness and a better lifestyle?
Requirement Statements
Personal management
The product should be able to facilitate the in-home and out-home routine regarding the organization of their personal belongings. It should also improve the user's sense of time and schedule. It should lower the chance of losing or missing of items thus less chance to waste time on finding things.
Awareness
The product should be able to raise the self-awareness and self-understanding of the ADHD user, the social understanding including ADHD family and friends, as well as the social awareness and stigma on ADHD groups in Hong Kong.
Design Criteria
- Function for shoe changing and storage area for go-out items
- Easy reminder
- Aesthetic
- Compact
Research Methods
- Literature review
- Interviews with ADHDs
- A Day in the Life and Shadowing
- Personas
- Webinar (ADHD Awareness Week 2020 by Let’s Talk ADHD HK)
- User Journey + A Day In Life
Research
Post-it Analysis on ADHD adults
Based on secondary research, I categorize the symptoms and problems of ADHD adults using this posit analysis. I found certain areas more interesting to work on, which is on the left side including the needs for self-organization, self-discipline, and self-motivation.
I also look at the different life scenarios. and the existing tools that are helping ADHD are not limited to meditation but also tools like timers, adding rewards, post-it, fidget toys, making the task urgent, or even gamification of tasks.
Personas and Interviews
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Mind Map
Click “See the board” below to view on miro.
How to motivate an ADHD?
How to lower the chance of losing things in ADHD adults?
Ideation - A Utopia for ADHD
Initial Concept - CheckYa
An RFID scanner and a handy CheckYa app get you equipped for every journey.
The CheckYa app
- Reminds you what to bring every day. Send a notification every time you miss something. If you forgot to bring your wallet with you, it will make your phone ring, to remind you to get back your missed items.
Reflection and comments
- Concepts focus mainly on engineering design and solving technical problems whereas product design should be the initiative instead.
- Will the intensive use of technology make our life more complicated and unproductive? How to organize objects in an easier way with fewer procedures?
Final Design Direction
User Road Map
Click “See the board” below to view on miro.
What kind of personal belongings are there in a family on a daily basis?
What can happen in an entryway?
Concept Sketches
Putting a shoes-changing stool and items storage space together at the entryway served as a shoes-changing seat function and a home for items that need to be brought away from home.
Some Tech Insights - with RFID experts in PolyU
Consultation with University experts on RFID was held in order to learn more about the feasibility of the technology.
- The tag can be hidden inside paper/ washable fabric/ stickers/ plastic
- Metal can interfere with the performance and the radio wave received by the reader and antenna
- Reader size and frequency coverage needed to be tested in the specific environment
Exploring forms and CMF
Branding design
I named the product as KWUN which is a Chinese pronunciation of 管 manage. Taking the sleek language from the stool and rack, it replaces the N letter in KWUN.
Smart mirror reminding system
The Prototype
Reflection
The capstone project was not an easy one when you needed to do everything on your own. I feel like I am a much stronger person who can handle the pressure and learn more about myself after this project, especially my family and friends who are also ADHD. The MAYA principle, "Most Advanced. Yet Acceptable." means that Raymond Loewy sought to give his users the most advanced design, but not more advanced than what they could accept and embrace. I found that as a newborn designer, it is quite impossible to design something completely new. But what I learned from "The Creative Brain" from Netflix is that creativity is not completely novel. Instead, it is to keep trying, not giving up, to search around in our daily life for our inspiration library. Everyone has a unique life experience; thus, every design has its own uniqueness. We struggle, we fail, and people criticize. But don't let that get you down. Just keep pushing forward and never lose that fire. There are always people out there supporting you, whether it be your friends, family, or even strangers, so that you never have to walk through life alone. Thank you for the invaluable lessons learned and experience gained in this product design capstone project.
