Experience Design, Speculative Design, Wearable Design, IoT
Collaboration between Royal College of Art x OPPO, Awarded for further development. Featured in London Design Festival.
TEAM Independent Project
DATE 2021
RCA X OPPO: The pandemic has brought into question the stability of the systems we depend on. Not just the technology we use, but also the most fundamental social constructs of family, community and state. Explore the application of disruptive technologies in reshaping the physical world. Aim to reconsider the way we relate to one another, other non-human entities and the wider society as a whole.
People at home now try to learn yoga poses while staring at their tv, laptop or phone screens which can detract from body awareness. The stakeholders in this use case were not only at-home yoga practitioners but also yoga instructors who felt hindered by online learning and would like to supplement their instruction with additional tactile guidance for their students.
Aura is an interactive device and wearable system that enhances the yoga practice through tactile assistance allowing people to feel posture adjustments in asana, breath, and meditation practices. The design process utilized user interviews and co-design workshops and iterative expirimentation to come up with a viable and mindful solution.
Aura is an experience design consisting of an app, ceramic based sensor and haptic wearables. The device translates audio based guidance from an app or a remote teacher into haptic feedback through wearables on the body which cue the user on how to adjust or where to direct their attention. Aura hopes to bridge the gap between studio based exercises and home alternatives by creating an experience for a more mindful practice.
This video highlights the main frustrations of virtual learning and the importance of trained yoga instructors and how their teachings could be supplemented with the Aura system.
Aura was chosen among three of OPPO's prize winners and was featured in London Design Festival during the summer of 2021.
Designing for our health has recently become more important with new challenges of maintaining and regulating people’s mind and body holistically. Due to the pandemic, many yoga studios have closed down and are shifting to remote learning. This has distanced the student from the instructor’s ability to adjust and align during in-person sessions. People at home now try to learn yoga poses while staring at their tv, laptop or phone screens which can detract from body awareness.
Interviews were conducted to collect insights from yoga teachers and at-home students in order to bridge the gap between virtual and in-person studio learning.
Cutting-edge research on wearable technologies informed the design of the system, specifically looking at IoT solutions.
It became clear that the tech needed to be nonintrusive and intuitive on the environment or human for a nonintrusive and hassle-free experience.
After the initial concept of smart textiles was created, a co-design workshop was conducted with yoga students to garner more insights around stakeholders and potential directions for the next iteration - helping validate parts of the original concept and building on new ideas.
The concept originally developed during my time at Keio University in Japan, had evolved through a series of expiriments, culminating in the final concept.
