ERadical ReDesign is a final project conducted in the context of Bert Bongers' class on Integrated Product Design, Theory and Practice at the University of Technology Sydney. Our team (composed of Conrad, Joseph, Scott and myself) focused on exploring new interactions in the kitchen and particularly the fridge.
Our e-radical concept of the kitchen of the future focused on different aspects working as a whole;
1. a round fridge (equipped with a radiator on the bottom, 4/5 compartments with each compartments having their own atmosphere and selected temperature, sliding doors to open, haptic feedback when spinning and touch interface to adjust settings),
2. a half oven half microwave (with a glass lid that lifts to prevent burnin, an easy to use touch screen next to it, instant heating and auto-washes),
3. a car-wash styled dishwasher (equipped with an open box to place dishes, it washes and drys dishes/ cutlery, sorts plates and bowls and stacks them away for you), and
4. an induction iPad (with visual feedback, special pans, can work anywhere on the bench, can have more screens on cooktop, giant Ipad / cooktop and measures ingredients).
Our team decided to focus on one important appliance in the kitchen, the refrigerator. It it one of the most used and important assets in our kitchen, and ensuring it keeps running smoothly is vital to keeping food (and some non-edible items) in your home fresh.
Our current fridges may accommodate various issues such as inconsistent temperatures, noise due to compressors, energy loss every year, malfunction when closing the door and incapacity of reaching the back of the fridge (resulting in food waste).
Through a radical redesign of shapes, forms and affordances we were able to come up with a new fridge concept focused on the language of form, and dedicated to suggests, guide. This allows and supports scenarios of use and possible behaviour change in the kitchen.
A very important approach we took was to break away from mere incremental development and include the historical, practical and social context of a task/product/behaviour/activity. These strategies alongside a focus on human factors (multimodal and interactivity) helped define our radical concept.
With this prototype of a round fridge, we allowed a radical change of ideas and behaviours surrounding diverse types of interactions between the machine and user. By being aware of the full possibilities of interaction between people and their technological environment (all the sensory-modalities, all the expressive modalities, and the different modes of interaction), we were able to come up with an innovating new product, with new assets.
The round fridge;
- gains space in the kitchen area, and is not treated as a burden
- pushes the user to now slide the doors to open the fridge
- is equipped with tamed glass allowing users to see the contents of the fridge, reducing the energy loss from opening it every time
- is equipped with a touch sensor allowing each sections of the fridge to be turned around with minimum effort
- is smart, divided in sections allowing the user to change the temperatures of each sections to their liking
- doesn't limit the user from reaching the back of the fridge
- evenly distributes the food, preventing food waste