Type:

Academic Project

Credits:

Vania Amer, Mahyar Ghorbandaiy, Stacey Wu

Role:

Concept Art, Interaction Designer, UX Design

Tools:

Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Figma

Duration:

1 week

GOTCHI is a speculative design project made to incentivize a prolonged state of play via a quirky interaction method that encourages the user to manage their electronic footprint on their cellphone or computer.

We carry more digital waste than ever before (outdated pictures, documents, videos, etc). This hoarding of digital files and lack of organization is called Digital Clutter.

Enter GOTCHI, a homage to the traditional Japanese game Tamagotchi. He incentivizes the user to periodically delete data from their devices. By feeding GOTCHI digital clutter, the user is forced to brush through their data to decide what files to delete.

Check out the video advert edited by Stacey here.

IDEATION

My team and I began the preliminary design stage on the online platform Figma. We wanted to create a design that tackled themes of consumption and waste. This topic branched out into conversations regarding the management of physical waste and digital waste.

One of my teammates expressed the desire to incorporate Tomogochi, a digital toy from her childhood into the design. I pitched the idea of combining it with a smart trashcan idea that we ideated over previously. This was where the idea of Gotchi originated.

MOODBOARD

I was charged with the task of creating the design of GOTCHI. I created a mood board consisting of the conventionally adorable characters used in animation or marketing towards children. The idea of the 'Kawaii' aesthetic from Japanese culture came up frequently in conversations regarding GOTCHI's overall appearance.

We wanted a design that was easy to remember. This came with the added benefit of GOTCHI's emotions being more expressive.

DESIGNING GOTCHI

My team decided that the target audience for GOTCHI was going to be young adults who don't like to clean up trash data. We wanted to instill a sense of nostalgia; simulating the feeling of taking care of a Tamagotchi when they were children. The design aims to encourage these young adults to throw away unnecessary files and achieve digital minimalism by feeding GOTCHI.

I Ideated on GOTCHI's look trough design sketches. The initial design for Gotchi made him look more like an astronaut. But we decided to simplify the form factor further. The end result looked like a red blob that lived in a pink house with a dome for a window.

INTERACTION

My team also decided to ideate how the interactions with GOTCHI worked. GOTCHI is a bring-along device that can connect to digital devices using Bluetooth and acts as a digital trash can. To appeal to the younger generation, its design mimics a digital pet that users can hold dear and take care of by feeding it no-longer-needed digital files. Users could put it on their desk next to the computer as it reminds them to regularly clean up their digital space.

3D MODELING

Finally, I assisted a hypothetical marketing campaign with billboard ads, and instruction manuals showcasing how GOTCHI worked. I created a 3D model of GOTCHI on Autodesk Maya to place it within one of the several marketing materials we made.

The final product was received quite well from the class. This project was awarded best-in-class for its creativity, execution, and critique.