Duration
4 Weeks

Team Members
Individual

Type
Student

Tools
Design Sketching
Prototyping
Model Making
Foam Modeling
Sandblasting
Product Photography

The Prompt
Design for productive breaks within the office. Based on many user tests, I defined productive breaks to be breaks that help people get refreshed, inspired, and refocused on the work they’re trying to accomplish, usually through interacting with a community.

The Solution
I designed a motion sensing bubble machine that activates in-between spaces within the office by providing a quick break for people passing by.

The Design Process
01. Testing Experiences and Interactions
02. Ideation
03. Sketch Models
04. Fabrication
05. Final Model

01. Testing Experiences and Interactions

I sat on the second floor of the industrial design building to observe how people would react to bubbles being showered down at them as they walked by. Most people stopped and smiled and some even danced! Other people just kept on walking and ignored the bubbles and went on with their normal business.

02. Ideation

Concept Sketches
In these concept sketches, I want to explore different ways bubbles could be experienced within the office and what form this object might take. I also kept in mind all the users of this object and not just the primary user. For example, who is going to fill up the bubble machine and how? Probably the janitor. If the bubble machine is hanging from the ceiling, to rain bubbles, will it be difficult to refill? Will the bubbles get annoying? Where does this object live in the office? How will the object be powered? Does it need to be close to an outlet? etc. etc. etc.

03. Sketch Models

to test interactions and form

04. Fabrication

Started off with some blue foam and cutting it with the hot wire foam cutter. Then moved on to carving away at the foam to create the desired form. I layered on some spackle and got to sanding! and sanding and sanding and more sanding. Sprayed on some gray primer to find any imperfections and back to spackling and sanding and spackling and sanding until I was happy with the finish. Took a very much needed break! Picked a blue spray paint to paint my model but the spray paint exploded and went all wack so I had to come back the next day to try again with a new bottle. As we all know, making the final prototype doesn’t usually go as planned… I then took apart a bubble machine, sand blasted the outer shell areas to prep for a coat of paint. Put it all together and … Voilà!

Now the next step was to figure out the electronics and proving that this can actually function!