Client: Greener (hypothetical client)
Duration: 8 weeks
Team: Solo Project
Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe XD,
Aftereffects, Cinema 4D
Greener is a smart plant pot that aims to relieve the millennial and Generation Z’s loneliness. The user can order various type of seed package on the website and cultivate in the smart pot. The smart pot will have a different voice depend on the seed inside. The smart pot helps the user automatically feeding the plant, and at the same time serve as the chatting robot to communicate with different voice packages
INITIAL PROBLEM DISCOVERY
According to the research, young people are easier to feel lonely compare to older people, millennial and Generation Z are the two largest group which easy to feel lonely. Young people in the city, lack companionship in their lives, have an overwhelming workload, and frequent use of social media, resulting in less interaction with the outside world and become more lonely and stressed.
I. Research
I conduct the survey among the 55 people whose ages from 20 to 40. There’re 86% of participants have experienced depression and loneliness. The goal of the research is to find out what causes young people’s negative emotions and trying to find out the way to deal with them.
II. Ideation
My approach is a smart plant pot which is also a life companion robot that can entertain people, talk to people and help people have a closer connection.
Through the research, we could tell that the companion is the main point that people need to relieve the loneliness. Moreover, entertainment and social connection are also very important. I want to make a vivid living companion which implements social connection, entertainment, and companion to relieve the millennials' loneliness.
I refer to many companion robots in the market, for instance, Tamagotchi, the lovot robot, the puppy robot, however, they lack social connection. Moreover, they don't give people a companion feel. Therefore, it is hard to use them to solve the lonely problem.
Plants are mood enhancers
Scientific research tells us that green leafy plants help boost our mood. If there are nearby plants, we also seem to get along better with others. For many of us, most of the time, those two benefits are reason enough to test out our green thumbs with a few houseplants. The presence of green leafy plants has also been linked to enhanced creative thinking. Moreover, the recent research shows that millennials are buying more plants than other generations. "With many millennials delaying parenthood, plants have become the new pets, fulfilling a desire to connect to nature and the blossoming 'wellness' movement," Matthew Boyle for Bloomberg wrote. "For a group that embraces experiences and travel, moreover, plants give Gen-Yers something to care for that won't die — or soil the rug — when they're not around."
Moreover, the process of feeding plant from a small seed to a mature plant is also meet people's satisfaction need, enable them to has a sense of achieveent. Therefore, plant is a good way to deal with busy young people's loneliness.
Nowadays plants serve a new form of pet. The popularity of indoor plant brings more opportunity for smart pot industry, there’re many smart pots on the market favored by young people
