Industrial - Bachelors

Slow Dwelling With Adesse

Life today is fast. Adesse leverages the principles of Slow Design to facilitate homes which can be disconnected from the overwhelm of today, allowing for social connection, presence and the improved wellbeing of people in their homes.

Sarah Jaffrey

What is Slow Design?

Slow Design and more broadly the Slow Movement is a counter culture to the ‘Fast’ of today’s world (Straus and Luke, 2008). The six principles of Slow Design developed by Straus and Fraud-Luke were created to provide designers with a set of guidelines for an alternative approach to designing which focuses on “slowing the metabolism of people, resources and flows… to engender positive behavioural change.”. This change is both for the benefit of individuals but also the planet and others.

Some researchers have examined the usefulness of the original 6 Slow design principles for commercial product design, reframing them and introducing a new principle.

The principles of slow design

The 7 principles of slow design. As follows: 1. Creating awareness, uncover the functions and essence of a product. 2. Give a bigger picture: Zoom in (what is it made of) and zoom out (where does it come from). 3. Provide time for the user to think and reflect aout his of her actions, visualise processes and create narrative products. 4. Create Do-it-yourself concepts; the user becomes a designer; the user is active in the creation of the product. 5. Create opportunities, supporting the user to personalise and reconfigure the products; the user is active during the use of the product. 6. Create products that are changing or growing over time. 7. Create ritual for a better user experience, stimulating social interaction and provide security and stability in a hectic society.

Ritual and its significance

Rituals play a vital role in managing stress, processing emotions, and promoting “me time” by adding symbolic meaning to ordinary actions, distinct from flexible routines. Rituals regulate emotions and reduce anxiety through focused, structured actions that engage the working memory. Often established in childhood within families, rituals reflect personal philosophy, values, and identity, solidifying a sense of self.

Research outcomes

For my research I conducted 5 semi-structured interviews with psychology and interior design professionals and had 21 responses to my survey. This research was vital to understanding our relationship to home, the ways in which people build relationships with products and the role that rituals play in personal wellbeing.

Chord diagram from primary research findings

Results

1. Wellbeing often included discussions of self awareness and reflection. This concept was strongly influenced by all others.
2. Behaviours such as ‘living in the moment’ and being ‘present’ were revealed as vital to wellbeing with rituals as an enabler and technology and a disrupter.
3. Natural lighting, green spaces and places to dwell are key for good health and can act as a catalyst.
4. Technology was revealed to be a strong disrupter to all themes, impacting mental cognition, creativity and control over life.
5. Rituals were found to be very important for grounding, sense making and reducing decision fatigue to improve overall wellbeing.
6. Social connection was closely linked to wellbeing and was strongly impacted by changing living and higher online presence.
Name
Slow Dwelling – Research Report
File Type
application
File Size
1 MB
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Design implications

From my research and findings I was able to identify 4 possible design directions which informed my initial concept development moving forward. Concept 2 – Slow entry – was chosen to be the strongest idea and is what eventually evolved into Adesse.

Meet adesse

Technology plays a pivotal role in the wellbeing of individuals, most often disrupting healthful behaviours and enabling poor ones. Our phones in connecting us, have also isolated us, reduced mental wellbeing and our ability to be present in the moment.
Adesse is designed for simplicity, only notifying users of priority messages and is reminiscent of a calmer, simpler time. Adesse enables a slower life, lived in the present moment.

key features

Adesse is designed to target the ritual of entry into home and draw upon the natural psychological shift from the public to the private realm. Now introducing an additional shift, one that the home is a space to disconnect and relax.
Adesse can be wall mounted or placed on a table, making it flexible to the needs of the household and entryway of users. It also features a modular design which enables multiple phones to be connected as needed. Once connected users can simply slot their phones in and walk away, knowing they can still be contacted in an emergency, but without the overwhelm associated with modern communication. To further prevent the need to remove phones, Adesse wirelessly charges devices to ensure they are ready to be used when leaving the home.
Home should be a place to disconnect, a space to have conversations, reflect, make and play. The mobile phone distracts from all of those things, lessening their value and impact. Adesse is meant to be a catalyst for new living in the home which does not alienate the benefits of communication in the modern age.

SDS App

Users download the SDS App and can connect to Adesse via Bluetooth.
Once connected the app allows users to select up to 4 key contacts. They can set up whether they would like notifications based on calls, texts or both for their contact. The limited number of contacts, and methods of communication forces users to prioritise and distinguish between what is most important to them.
Adesse recognises when a phone has been placed away and tracks usage, allowing users to set goals and monitor how much they are actually disconnecting from their phones.

impact

Adesse allows people to live in the moment, be present and disconnect from the fast pace of today. It is designed to be nostalgic yet modern and be a feature of the home. It is intended to compliment and improve the wellbeing of individuals by providing a small reprieve from the constant need to be connected and ready to respond which mobile phones enable.

prototype

Sarah Jaffrey

Sarah is an industrial designer and mechanical engineer she strives to combine her passion for beautiful, meaningful and quality work with her technical mechanical knowledge. She is particularly interested in design which is timeless, thoughtful and considers both people and planet.