Ove

Bottle-feeding for visually impaired parents.
Group

Iris Ritsma (Interaction Design)
Ivan Kunjasic (Interaction Design)
Ricardo Verheul (Advanced Product Design)

Project

Sound design
Master Interaction design
Umeå Institute of design
2 weeks, winter 2018

Awards

Core 77 Consumer Product
student runner up award 2018


Braun Prize
Special mention 2018


IXDA Interaction award finalist 2019 (Empowering)

Keywords

Multi-sensory design, Design for inclusion

SOUND DESIGN

The aim of the course is to explore how sound and light can be used in product and interface. Our group focussed on inclusive design for people with visual impairments.

CONCEPT

For parents with visual impairments, feeding their baby with a bottle can be a struggle. What if we could make these parents independent and give them a tool that supports them to feed prepare the food.

Our solution Ove is a feeding bottle preparation station where the parent is guided by sound and bright visuals to mix the correct amount and heat the bottle to the right temperature. With this concept, we want to make the whole journey easier and make visual impaired parents more independent.

CONCEPT VIDEO
FEATURES

Weighing

The visually impaired parents that we interviewed had troubles with measuring the right amount of water, their partners need to prepare the right amount of water in advance. Ove solves this by giving sound and light feedback to the user, for the right amount of powder and water. In this way, these parents can deal with unexpected situations and are more independent.

Heating

Most babies prefer having warm milk, for this reason Ove can heat up the bottle to room temperature, so the baby doesn’t have to get cold lips.

MY ROLE

User research & concept creation

In the beginning, I contacted different user groups and called them, to learn what topics could be improved. Through these phone interviews, we gathered more information about visually impaired parenthood.

Sound design

I've been working on sounds that work on small speakers, but don't sound too cheap, while making them coherent and fitting to the context and design. I used Massive and Audition to generate and refine the sounds.

Prototyping

We wanted to make a fully functional prototype, to cover the whole scenario. I worked on getting the prototype to measure the weight, recognize water/powder and make the light and sound work together in a coherent way.

PROCESS