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SOUL
A smart wallpaper seamlessly integrated into future smart homes, offering personalized experiences.
My Roles
Speculative Designer UI/UX Designer
Product Strategist UX Researcher
Visual Designer
Goal
This speculative design project aimed to delve into concept development and design while exploring the intricacies of visual design and data visualization. My role spanned the entire process, from user research and concept exploration to product strategy and interaction design.
Duration
12 weeks
Collaborators
Team: Shruti Jain, Arunima Walimbe
Mentor: Blake Hudelson
Tools
Adobe XD After Effects
Photoshop Illustrator
Adobe Firefly
Context
Background
WHAT'S GOING ON?
In today's tech-savvy world, with IoT revolutionizing our interactions and smart homes becoming standard, many applications still lack personality, offering a uniform look despite the uniqueness of each home.
Problem
WHAT NEEDS FIXING?
The uniformity of smart home devices lacks personalization, making it hard for homeowners to create unique experiences tailored to their lifestyles and preferences.
Opportunity
WHERE'S THE VALUE?
There is a huge opportunity to enhance user experience and create meaningful interactions with smart home devices by infusing their design with spirit and soul.
Challenge
How might we craft a more personalized smart home experience that seamlessly integrates technology, making it an invisible yet integral part of our future homes?
Introducing
SOUL - The Future of Smart Homes
What is SOUL?
Soul is a smart wallpaper that revolutionizes home automation by seamlessly integrating into the walls of your future smart home. It offers an immersive and personalized experience, diverging from the monotonous landscape where every smart device appears identical. It can be controlled via mobile app, voice commands, and gestures.
A Day in the Life with SOUL
Process of creating SOUL
Concept
HOW WE WANT OUR PRODUCT TO BE?
We envisioned creating a product that seamlessly combines entertainment, wellness, and personalization to provide a truly immersive experience.
Entertainment
Immersive experience
Personalization
Wellness
Research
TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT THEIR SMART HOME
We conducted several interviews, both in person and virtually, to gain insights into the scope of our idea, identify pain points, target users, and explore the futuristic visions of our interviewees. We refrained from directly introducing our product, allowing them to respond without any preconceived bias.
07
08
22
Describe your image
07
1/6
Primary user
archetypes
Tech Savvy
Interior Designer
Family Man
User Archetypes
WHOM ARE WE DESIGNING FOR?
After conducting interviews, we identified three primary user archetypes: Interior Designer, Tech Savvy, and Family Man. We sought to understand their views on the personal experiences they envision for their future smart homes.
Key Insights
FINDINGS FROM THE RESEARCH
Personalized Narratives &
Adaptive Environments
A family man believes that homes should adapt to the preferences of each family member, creating a comfortable atmosphere that narrates their unique stories.
Invisible Integration of Technology
Seamlessly blending technology into everyday life without wearables blurs the line between the digital and physical realms, making tech-savvy individuals effortlessly navigate and enhance their surroundings.
Immersive Experiences
Interior designers look for a central focal point, such as a dedicated wall for memories and personal culture, to enhance a home's immersive ambiance.
Mapping out the Journey
CREATING THE EXPERIENCE MAP
Experience Journey Mapping
Experience Journey Mapping
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Experience Map Takeaways
Users often don't have the time to create a personalized space, so it's essential to deliver personalized value visually and quickly.
Users are seeking meaningful connections, so we need to design the smart screen to be more engaging, relevant, and enjoyable.
To meet users' demand for invisible technology, we need to design wallpaper that blends seamlessly into the smart home.
Building the Brand
WHY SOUL?
We understand that your home is more than just bricks and walls, it's a reflection of your innermost desires, your aspirations, and the place where your soul finds peace.
Our brand
values
Expression
Trust
Human
Brand Values
FACE OF SOUL
Three major pillars that we decided would be our guiding principles for our brand experience are,“Trust”, “Expression”, “Human”
Write your
own story
Web Experience
We crafted a web experience to engage users by providing insights into the product's functionality, operation, and usage. The design captures users' attention and sparks curiosity.
In-app Experience
We designed the app in such a way that, for a new user, it features a neutral theme by default. However, users have the option to select a specific theme that will be integrated throughout the entire app, providing a more personalized touch.
User Job: Exploring Product Features
When I download the app for the first time, I want the app to guide me through its product features so I can start exploring the product right away.
When I log in as a new user, I want the app to ask me questions and understand my personal home decor style so that the app can personalise my Soul.
User Job: Personalizing your Soul
Soul Experience
After several unsuccessful attempts to capture the desired Soul look and feel, we have finally crafted the Soul interface to be easily navigable through voice and gesture commands, providing users with an immersive experience.
User Job: Voice command
When I want to relax after a busy day, I want Soul to display my “calm space” so that I can engage in mindfulness activities.
User Job: Gesture command
When I use Soul to change the mood of the room, I want to see the artistic wallpapers that Soul has created so that I can browse through them during gatherings with friends and family.
User Job: Connecting smart device
When I connect my smartphone or watch to the soul, I want to see my memory wall, allowing me to revisit cherished moments with my family and friends.
Design System
We have curated an elaborate design system that unifies our product experience, enabling our brand to maintain a consistent representation across various platforms.
Geometric Elements
#FFFFFF
#000000
#5EBE74
#EA8947
#F57564
#8988FE
#6DC5D9
#EBEDEE
#D0D1D1
#676767
#2E2E2E
Gestures
Real Life immersive, 360 videos & imagery. #0000 glassmorphism transparency on mobile application
Midjourney generative imagery.
Prompt Key words:
Immersive wallpaper, modern architectural photography, landscape, luxury living room.
Typography
Icons
Imagery
Imagery
Drop Shadow on black
backgrounds & images
Without Drop Shadow
on non-digital merchandise
Soul Icon
Illegible, do not use on white BG without glassmorphism
Glassmorphism BG
for visibility
Do not use in other brand colours except white
Favicon & App Store
The Technology
How does it even work?
WHAT TECHNOLOGY GOES BEHIND CREATING THE SOUL?
Soul is a groundbreaking smart wallpaper that transforms home automation. Seamlessly blending into smart home walls, it features AI, a 4K ultra-slim display, radar for gesture tracking, and a surround soundbar for high-quality audio. Control it via an app, voice commands, or gestures.
Experience outside the platform
Achievements
Adobe Awards
Digital Edge Awards Winner 2024
Winner for Art & Design and Product Prize Winner for Firefly.
The judges were particularly impressed by how Arunima and Shruti personalized and narrated the user experience, effectively communicating the product’s value-add to key stakeholders. They also noted the excellent use of Firefly in generating visual mockups that significantly augmented the design.
~Edge Award Judges
Learnings and Refinements
AI-Fueled Creativity
Experimenting with AI prompts enhanced our conceptualization process, leading to a more innovative and practical project outcome.
Collaborative Learning & Adaptation
Integration of Visual & Interaction Design
I discovered the profound impact of visual aesthetics on user experience, solidifying the importance of integrated visual and interaction design.
Effective storytelling, feedback, and continuous improvement were key to success. Close collaboration and quick adaptation fostered a dynamic environment.
What my mentor has to say
Shruti was one of my standout graduate students during the Fall semester of 2023.
During her time in the course, Shruti demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for visual design and innate talent for storytelling. Her dedication to honing these skills was evident in all her projects, culminating in her final project – a smart wallpaper product. This project pushed the boundaries of design and showcased her ability to marry big conceptual ideas with practical functionality. It was, without a doubt, one of the most impressive projects I've seen in my years of teaching.
Based on her performance in my class and her evident potential, I am confident that Shruti will be a significant contributor to any professional endeavor she undertakes. I strongly endorse her for any opportunity she chooses to pursue and am certain she will excel and bring a unique perspective and skill set to her work.
Co-Founder, Chief Design Officer at BoomPop
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