Global Innovation Design (MA)
Xinru Xie
My interest in Design has been developed by taking Marketing and Design for my undergraduate in Lancaster University.
I would regard myself as an opportunity finder in the design field. My passion for design drives me to actively do research and analysis to come up with innovative ideas in the process. Behaviour Change is my main design interest, and around that field I am also exploring Experience design and UI Design. My work focuses on combining technology and design to create a better life for users through innovative products, services, or systems.
Two years of GID study has trained me to be a skilled tool designer. I will work as a UX designer in the Huawei User-Centred Design department and continue working on the behaviour change field.
I came to GID with a desire of doing something good to make a difference and to improve people’s lives in the future. I wanted to become a designer that could actually solve problems and make changes. My journey in GID:
Helped me identify my Vision
I recognised that I am passionate to use the power of design to solve challenging problems in Health. And I believe design could be applied to prevent people from lifestyle-induced diseases. So I set my vision as Behaviour Change. Within two years, I was able to dive into the fields of #health and #Behaviour Change. Throughout different projects, I developed and pursued design knowledge and skills. Along the way, I have also had the chance to explore studies like social sciences and behaviour science.
Broadened my horizon
GID gave me the chance to explore new areas (fashion design, interaction design, community sustainable design etc.) and to work with different people and institutions. These experiences have let me bring innovative ideas in developing Experience Design projects.
Made me well equipped to deal with challenges
Moreover, GID let me see the various possibilities in Design. The courses, life, and cultural immersion trips in Beijing, Guangzhou, Singapore and Thailand showed me the important role culture plays in design. And for the first time, I combined Chinese culture and design in my project. GID has also made me discover the possibilities in myself. I developed skills in handcrafting and prototyping, and more importantly, had the understanding of physical product design and programming which would not have been possible in before.
Flip — By containing a projector, Flip can transfer any surface into a workout interface
Experience Storyboard — Flip is designed to encourage low-intensity workout breaks by making the experience easy, fun, and without preparation.
Experience Example — Examples of gamified low-intensity workout.
Digital Interface Design — To support the behaviour, the digital interface design helps the user set up the trigger, provides feedback, and has a reward system to motivate the user to repeat the behaviour.
So far, there wasn't any physical product to encourage people to take low- intensity workout breaks at higher frequencies available in the market. Now, there is Flip: Flip is a desk-companion that encourages users to take several low-intensity workout breaks over the course of the day, helping them reduce the disease risks that come with a sedentary lifestyle.
The goal of this project was to find a design to encourage people to take low-intensity workout breaks at higher frequencies. Key to achieving that is designing a clever interface to help users form new habits.
I started by collecting insights from user interviews and building up a design-hypothesis that could be tested. To change the behaviour the design would need to be able to:
- Indicate, detect and judge the behaviour to provide a gamified workout experience.
- Require minimal effort for users to get started with the low-intensity workout.
Flip can transform any surface into a workout interface. Flip is a projector with an implemented kinect, connected to an app. The device encourages low-intensity workout breaks by removing the need to prepare and by making the experience easy and fun.
The design of the physical product allows for it to be used in various scenarios. It easily transforms surfaces like the floor or walls into gamified workout interfaces.
The design of the digital interface supports this behaviour. It helps the user set up the trigger, provides feedback, and has a reward system to motivate the user to repeat the behaviour. This way, Flip helps people break up their sedentary routine and mix it up with regular workout breaks.
Medium:
A projector connected to a motion sensor with a complementary appSize:
6 months
NEXTBOX — ‘NEXTBOX’ is a professional educational kit for Chinese parents and their preschool kids to have proper and guided sex education at home.
Product Display — This educational kit includes open-side vest, soft organ toys with a complementary app
Garment Design — Cloth design and material tryout
Application Design — With help from Sexuality, we summarize and organize the sexual knowledge that preschool children need to know and designed an application.
The project has an emphasis on figuring out real-world solutions to deal with a universal issue, in this case, sex education, in a specific cultural context. To understand the pain points we have done both primary research and secondary research including case studies, street visits, in-depth interviews, and contact with the existing organisations in China. Based on the research we identified the needs for both parents and preschool children and came up with the design of NextBox.
NEXTBOX as an educational kit is designed to help parents to transfer sexual knowledge without embarrassment. With the synergy of open-side vests, soft toys, and an application in the kit, parents and their kids could have a more relaxing and effective interaction in the education process.
The design of open-side vests and soft toys meets children’s need for physical exploration but also avoids parents from being embarrassed in the education process. The digital application is designed to guide and help parents in the process of sex education. This application is able to deliver an AR learning experience which helps parents clearly present knowledge to children through vivid graphics and animations.
NEXTBOX - the solution aims to tap the deeper potentials of the existing and innovative combination of interactive modes in optimizing information transmission and information perception between people.