System of objects that aid family communication.

Inspired by parent-teen relationships, TouchStone aims to facilitate storytelling and a deeper sense of connection within families.

Duration: Spring 2024, 8 weeks

Tools: SolidWorks, Keyshot, Adobe Illustrator, Figma

Intro: How does it work?

A family diary.

Intended for high-traffic areas in the home such as the dinner table, TouchStone is a checkpoint where family members may leave notes or drawings for others - similar to a communal diary.

Two modes of communication.

Often times, teenagers don't have the energy or ease to fully communicate their thoughts, so Touchstone provides two ways of communication: stress level signaling + drawing/writing.

Lowering the barrier to storytelling.

Portables that dock onto Touchstone are meant to be carried with the user throughout their day. They track the carrier's stress level and displays it through color.

Portables signal stress, and the display signals a story or 'snapshot' of the day. These communicators lower the barrier for storytelling and conversation.

A simple UI for focus on the physical.

With a simple UI to help focus on the interactions outside of digital, Touchstone acts like a sheet of paper that may be stored, or shared to other devices for memory keeping.

The screen is paper-like, using technology from Remarkable, to help keep the interaction more physical than digital.

Storyboard of a teen:

How does this relate back to family?

Typically, there is a disconnect between teens in parents in that teens may lack the energy/ease/comfort to open up, and parents may find it difficult to recognize why their child isn't communicating.

Providing forms of communication that aren't as direct as speaking makes it easier for teens. For example, some teens may text their parent "I got into a fight with a friend" rather than speaking.

Process: Problem Space

Often, both parents and teens wish for more connection.

I was drawn to parent-teen relationships due to my own tumultuous one (lol). With the rise in fast-form media, family members are more physically isolated in their own spaces. "How could I bring a family closer in an increasingly isolated, tech-filled culture?"

Insights: What I Found From My Research

"There's something about not face-to-face where our conversations are deeper.”

Through affinity mapping, I found that different types of conversations are greatly affected by the environment, and both deep and light conversations are important for being connected.

A key insight was: conversations are more comfortable for teens if they're done casually. That could mean no eye-contact, each person doing something passively (cooking, driving), or non-verbal communication.

Process: Object Criteria, Ideation

Addressing areas for improvement.

Areas for design include improving on existing connection spaces, mitigating the fear of vulnerability, and overall promoting both deep and light conversation.

[1] Building on existing connection actions.

Food was a key vessel for allowing connection. Signaling through these small gifts was an option, but complicating the interaction drew away from actual communication.

[2] Mitigating the fear of vulnerability.

For teens, showing vulnerability is 'weird', or even scary. This solution transforms a fidget into a signaling device, aiding in conversation initiation and talking. This is specific for difficult conversations, but I was aiming for encouraging both.

[3] Providing different forms of communication in communal spaces.

Environment is important for encouraging communication, so building on existing spaces was an option. How could I make communal spaces help spark conversation?

Light Usability Testing.

Landing on an idea that addressed improves on an existing communal space, I user tested with a house of college students (couldn't get a family to test in-person).

The form slowly inched towards a more flat, higher-tech look to reflect the high tech used in the product.