On being introduced to the brief, ‘reconnecting with nature’, I originally felt a bit sceptical. My initial reaction to the topic was that I did not know much about how digital interaction, product design and interior design could be used to reconnect people with nature – I personally never thought I use any products that help me reconnect me with nature, as well as most of my own hobbies focusing on being indoors e.g. gaming and reading. Nevertheless, I really do enjoy being in nature and would love to spend more time in it, so I did understand the purpose for the brief and how it could benefit individuals.

The day project relieved the majority of the doubt I initially had about the project. My research into the three companies – Beyond Meat, Naava and Energime University – was the main reason for this. Beyond Meat helped my realise how life style choices can aid in improving the current environmental crisis, with the companies use of bold and eye-catching infographics to explain why eating plant-based meat it so much better for the planet. Moreover, Naava showed me how people can bring nature into their workplace in a way that improves their health. I noticed that on their website, they not only emphasise the health benefits of their product, but also how aesthetically pleasing and beautiful it can make your home look – I think it makes you feel like you have a bit of nature in your home. Finally, Energime University helps people reconnect with nature through a career in the STEM subjects, with a focus on using the skills you learn to help solve our current environmental issues. Their website isn’t like the other companies. Instead of using lots of high quality images to sell their product, they talk about how important it is to learn these skills that will help us in the long run. Even though plant based meat and filtered air are impressive products that will help our planet, it is these skills that will change the way our future is looking.

Overall, my main take-away from such research is that Beyond Meat, Naava and Energime University, whilst all have different approaches, have a common goal- to help our planet by encouraging people to reconnect with nature. Whether that is making more environmental lifestyle choices, taking nature into your home or starting a career in the environmental sciences.  I was very inspired by my research, seeing the many different ways a person can choose to reconnect with nature that goes beyond simply ‘spending more time outside’ and also how crucial reconnecting with nature is going to be to help save our planet.

What helped in coming up with ideas for the brief was the class trip to Tentsmuir forest/ beach. Visiting Tentsmuir was a very enjoyable trip, which helped me get into the mind set of how I could help others reconnect with nature. It emphasised to me how enjoyable and relaxing spending time in nature is, fully understanding why it would be beneficial for people to spend more time outdoors – it helps to clear your mind and appreciate the world we have. I thought that if people learn to appreciate the world they live in more, that hopefully in turn they would want to help it.

Moving on to the ideas and concepts development stage, I wanted to continue with the understanding I gained that helping people to reconnect with nature will in turn help the planet, combing such with the modern and fun website designs and infographics used by environmentally friendly companies already out there.

Firstly, taking the perspective of a product designer, whilst I was able to use natural materials to create household products such as chairs and tables, I wasn’t sure how this would fully connect people with nature in a way I wanted them to. I felt like creating nature-based furniture was not going to achieve my goal as we are so use to seeing objects made from natural materials in our everyday lives.

Next, whilst taking the perspective of an interior designer, I felt a bit more enthusiastic about how this could be used to reconnect people with nature, as my main idea was to create a hut in a location where it would be impossible to ignore nature – directly on top of water. However, I also noted the issues with this, as having a floating hut would in fact disturb the natural environment, so I finally decided on having a hut overlooking a lake, but which also was partly on the water at the same time. Furthermore, I continued with the idea of using natural and environmentally friendly materials for the building.

Finally, I was most excited for taking the perspective of a digital interaction designer. As I really enjoy photography, I wanted to find a way of using such to reconnect people with nature. I was inspired by TV shows such as ‘Nature Watch’ on the BBC, as well as project #WildOz on Twitter. Both of which, have encouraged people to document nature in their area. I thought of some basic ideas which involved using different kinds of cameras – from Go Pros to cameras on mobile phones – to document wildlife.

I decided that for my final idea, I wanted to make it more accessible. That needing to own expensive equipment such as a Go Pro or an advanced camera shouldn’t be needed to connect with nature. I noticed that a lot of companies out there at the moment tend to focus on adults as their main target group, so I decided that I wanted to aim my product at young teenagers, an age where many start disconnecting from nature, no longer spending time playing outside, but being indoors playing with video games and spend a lot of time on social media.  To achieve such, I decided that I wanted to create an app which encouraged teenagers go out outdoors. I thought this would be easily accessible for them, and also as teenagers tend to be on their phone a lot anyways that it wouldn’t be outside of their comfort zone. To help with my idea development, I went out and explored nature with some of my course mates in our free time. Such exploration helped me to see more potential for the app.  I realised that I could make it so players could interact with their friends on the app, so that they could compare scores – if they are able to play with their friends, they would be more encouraged to use it.

This brings us onto my final design which I felt was one of my stronger projects from this year. The brief was very much an open book allowing me to use my skills and passion to come up with an idea I believe in. Also, being the only brief of the year that has been more directed at the course I chose to study I was confident by the end that I have chosen correctly. The best part of the module for me was the photography aspect as I love to take landscape photos, and having the ability to use this skill in my course work was a great joy. Improvements I could have made to my work would be around the experience prototype. Being the first prototype I have done it may be acceptable but felt I didn’t put as much energy into it. I thought that a physical object that represents the experience would be ideal but the nearer I got to the deadline the more worries I got. Then after speaking to my lecturer it was confirmed. She felt that a digital product should have a digital experience to immerse yourself in. I have learnt that I should use my time more effectively and ask myself if this is the best idea I can come up with. To conclude I originally found this brief to be a challenge but felt as though I have produced a concept that has successfully achieved its goal – reconnecting teenagers with nature. With more time I could expand the concept by creating a functioning app that I would then test on the target market and see their responses.

Concept Development

My final idea was one that I had played around with since the early stages of the module. When coming up with several ideas for the Digital Interaction concepts I ended up picking an idea that was one of several. It was just a non-developed notion at the time, but one that I believed could be taken to the prototyping stage. The main motivation for my idea being that people have become too reliant on technology. Parents now stick a device in front of a child and hope for the best. I now have a concept which allows them to take said device to ‘discover, capture and learn’, about nature.

The idea i decided on is a nature scavenger hunt app. It takes the fun and excitement of nature, and combines it with technology. Having the module stay true to the brief is an essential part of the design process – one I feel I adhered to. The concept is to get young teenagers (12 -15 year olds) outside and exploring instead of exploring their computers and games consoles. Instead, users would travel to their local park or forest trail where they will discover posters with the Nature Hunt information. This will direct you to our application that can be downloaded from the app store. Open up the app and it will show you a screen similar to that of a bingo card but instead of numbers on each tile, you have an animal or object. The aims of the game is to find what is on the tile and photograph it using your smart phone. Once captured the image saves onto your app and the corresponding object/ animal will be ticked off. To complete location, the user must tick everything off on the card. Players gain points for each object they find, the more difficult the object the higher the points awarded. This totals to an overall score. Moreover, how quickly the user completes a location is also recorded. Furthermore, players can add their friends, and can compared their scores and time for each location. Overall, such will hopefully encourage the users to go outside and explore, as they can get competitive with their friends.

When developing my final idea I found it difficult to transfer the concept in my head onto paper. Once I discussed it with my peers, as well as my lecturer, I found it easier to visualise and plan my idea. The more I talked about it the more excited I became about my idea. Such enthusiasm inspired me to think about different directions i could take to develop the project, and how such could translate into a potential real life app.

Next, i began creating a storyboard. The narrative is the most important part of a Digital Interaction Project in my opinion, so I spend most of my time completing this to a standard I am proud of. As i decided the target market to be young teenagers I kept the theme fun, bright and engrossing throughout my work. I decided on a comic book style storyboard which I thought would be more intriguing. For example, a comic book style includes interesting text choices such as overlapping onto the next scene, and illustrations that are zoomed in. This style kept me away from the classic, boring square shaped boxes.

Storyboard02 – Copy-vrrb22

Such development led me to explore nature myself and I used the resources I had around me to help. A couple of class mates from the product design assisted me with gathering nature shots. This really helped me show how the app would work within nature. We explored Dundee looking for scenery that would look great for visuals. Having never went much further than the city centre I found this helpful not just with my project but to get to know the new city I now reside in. We visited the botanical gardens which we found the best for little more obscure plants making the images more interesting.