YORO
A PRESENCE which helps Improve Sleep by Reducing screen time before bed
Industrial Sound Design project run as a collaboration between the Interaction and Advanced Product Design master programmes at the Umeå Institute of Design
Duration: 10 days, February 2019
Team: Paolo Camerin, Jenny Johansson, Daniel Diermeier
My contribution: Research interviews, concept ideation, development and consolidating, mockup and prototype making, sound design (Massive, Audition).
OPPORTUNITY
As our world become more digitised, our days are largely spent in front of a screen. Research shows that this affects our sleep and ultimately it also takes away from other activities we wish we could focus on more. In the long run, our addiction to the interactions with have with our phone has a detrimental effect on our wellbeing and sense of self.
Introducing YORO
YORO is a friendly supportive device which encourages you to put your phone away so you can focus on reading before going to sleep. By putting your phone to charge for the night, you are nudged to pick up the book you planned to read earlier. The items in our lives are important to us and YORO reacts according to how we interact with them. YORO encourages our self motivation to put the phone away rather than nagging you to do so.
“Would it be possible to use the symbiotic relationship we have with our phone to foster the habits we feel it is taking away from us?”
an Exchange of Focus
YORO makes use of the importance of the objects in our lives. As an induction charging station, it acts as a reading light once you have placed your phone to charge. In exchange Yoro nudges you to take the book you had placed there earlier. Phone and book are used as switches for the different modes that YORO provides.
Placing book
An encouraging tone to show support, for your intention.
2. A nudging presence
A pulsating soft tone that signals YOROs presence but is unobtrusive
3.Putting the phone to bed
An energy transfer through the device a change of focus from the phone to the book
4. Taking the book
A two tone opening tone that is positive and encouraging
5. Returning the book to go sleep
A conclusive sound, expressing the end of the day and time for sleep
6. Morning phone pick up
YORO shuts down, energy rises to phone to start the day, refreshes after a good nights sleep/
How We got there
Research
Interviews
Several interviews were carried out with mostly students but also parents and people with different bedtime routines. Many people expressed an awareness that using screens before bed time was bad for their sleep but found it difficult to establish better habits around bed time.
““I don’t want something telling me what to do.””
““I know that I shouldn’t look at a screen before bed but its difficult to find the self motivation.””
Survey
As part of our research we launched a online survey to quickly get an impression of people’s sleeping habits. 265 people responded to the survey over two days which in itself demonstrated an obvious interest in sleeping and improving sleep habits.
“How might we acknowledge the importance of the phone and use it to foster self motivation through this attachment?”
Concept Development
Initial ideation explored different ways of encouraging people to motivate themselves away from their phones rather than a reverse alarm which would ‘nag’ users to put it away. We also wanted to acknowledge the importance of the phone and include it somehow in the interactions - we explored the concept of ‘putting the phone to bed’ when you put it to charge and wanted to see how this could encourage a level of detachment when you want to read.
Testing two concepts
THE TIMER Lamp
A platform which acts as a phone charger and switches on as lamp once you have put the ‘phone to bed’ . Includes a timer that can be set to fade the light to signal bed time.
THE TRIGGER EXCHANGE SHELF
A shelf that allows a space for a book to be kept. Once you have placed your phone to charge it activated and nudges you to pick up the book you had placed their earlier. Once you removed the book the light brightens and dims to dark when you place the book back and are ready to sleep.
Wizard of Oz
User testing was carried out using the Wizard of Oz technique. This guided the development of YORO and helped us define the concept further. The concept exchanging the phone for a book was something that seemed to resonate with users so this guided us in shaping the final concept.
“‘I like the fact that you can exchange your phone for a book’”
“‘I don’t think I want to have a timer for the light - it would feel too restrictive.’”
Form exploration
We wanted to look explore different forms for including the phone and the book. We looked at physical hierarchy between the book and the phone. The phones placement on top makes sense when standing but when in bed, the book is more level with you at the table level - the hierarchy changes when you are in physical spaces.
DesigninG sounds For a sleep zone
Developing the sounds for an object that is in your space of sleep was an interesting challenge. However it felt important as an expression of the Yoro’s personality.
Yoro's reaction to placing the phone on the charging surface represents a positive transfer of energy and focus from the phone to the light and book. The light can be seen moving from the charging platform down the device towards the book.
Yoro's sounds are unobtrusive, friendly and encouraging. Because it is a device that sits by your bed or next to an armchair, we wanted the sounds to be subtle but without taking away from Yoro's personality as supportive friend.
What I learnt
This project was very short and intense and from this I learnt so much about both working in a team but also the value of being able to make quick decisions. I also really enjoyed working in a multidisciplinary team with product designers and learning about how different ways of thinking can come together and both challenge and feed into each other.