Strengthen relationship between spouses through the opportunity of house chores
Target Audience is dual income families with young children.
Initial Brainstorming ideas:
- Spouses always think that they are doing more than they are.
- We think as our family as granted.
- Parents want to teach children responsibility by giving responsibilities.
User Research
Directed storytelling on 3 dual income families. Our major findings are Division of chores (gender lines, whoever has time, bonding tool), Different chore schedules (mountain of laundry, nothing to wear, twice a day), and Communication (refrigerator is family board).
- Appreciate only when expectations are met or exceeded.
- Gifts for chores and chores as gifts.
Breakdowns: (design opportunity)
- Expectations are not met.
- Busy schedule, miscommunication, monotony.
Media Research
Self help book: Babyproofing your marriage.
Suggest solutions to maintaining the marriage, don’t play the victim, show appreciation, and set expectations and plan.
Parenting magazines: Storage, Parents, Working mother.
Storybooks: Berenstein bears, If you give mouse a cookie, Hoover's bride.
Ideas from household products: Picture frames, vacuum, drier, mirrors, life game, etc
100+ Ideation
Frame & mirror: Frame achievements, pictures of family helping each other out w/ chores
Bonding: Ceramic table – In living room, shows pictures of family helping each other out
Bonding: Pillow – Pictures of family – huggable
Mood: Candle of a weather-stat = gives a wiff of other spouse’s mood
Mood: Planetarium could project pictures or colors of cleanliness / neglect
Stress Relief: Men can control cleaning products w/ there video game console controller
Appreciation: Game boards that reflect family member’s activities
Cleaning products that thank you and make cleaning fun: Talking vacuum, mower
Schedule: Harry Potter style Clock, Clock showing what everyone has done
Concept Validation
Focus area after ideation:
Mood, Appreciation, Bonding, Stress relief, Scheduling, Awareness, Coordination
Click for 15 storyboards for concept validation
Our findings:
Relaxation Reward
- Relaxation is a luxury
- Stressful week, departure from routine deserves reward
Coordination
- Necessary in stressful situations
- Important to know the state of your partner
- Very smart agent! Cannot be another chore
- Central messaging system
Partner ESP
- Don’t always know what partner wants
- Nice to have a heads-up on partner’s mood
Final design idea
Agent manages stressful events
System learns the family’s routines & external factors
Something unexpected / stressful
- System helps coordination and makes spouses aware of each other's state
- Suggests appropriate relaxation reward
Spouse queries system for suggestions
- scheduling
- reward type
Video Sketch
Three short movies which show how users might actually interact with a product. Although similar to video scenarios, video sketches significantly lower the production threshold by replacing video footage with photos.
We demonstrated OnTheEdge using a video sketch with three illustrative scenarios.
Video1: Learning Routines
Video2: Getting It All Done
Video3: Finding Time Together
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