The LuvMug Project
Course: Information Design Studio III: Designing Interactive Systems
​
We were challenged with designing a technology involving a household object that would enable loved ones to stay connected when living apart, and creating a video showing how the technology works. Using Adobe Illustrator, Animate, Audition, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro, I created a video of the LuvMug, a smart mug with a digital, touch-sensitive exterior that allows loved ones to communicate via the mug.
LuvMug Technical Details:
-
When one loved one traces on the mug with their finger, the traced image will appear on the other loved one's LuvMug
-
Tracing on the LuvMug is only possible while it's on a flat surface, and picking it up clears messages on the LuvMug
-
When both loved ones are touching their respective LuvMugs simultaneously, they start glowing
​
The Design Process
​
Initial Design Ideas
Before settling on the smart mug design, I considered "IoT-ing" a wide variety of household items.
IDEA CHOSEN
DESIGN
VARIATIONS
CHOSEN
Finalizing the LuvMug Design
​
I decided to combine 3 of my design variations for my final design:
-
loved ones can trace on the mug with their finger (variation #2)
-
when a loved one touches their LuvMug, their hand-print is seen on the second LuvMug (variation #3)
-
a reset-button can be used to clear the current messages on the LuvMug (variation #4)
​
After my professor encouraged me to consider an alternate solution for resetting the messages on the mug, I came up with the idea that lifting the mug will reset the current messages. I also added another idea: when both loved ones touch their LuvMug simultaneously, it starts glowing.
Creating the Video
​
I learned to use a variety of Adobe offerings to create individual parts of the video, and to stitch them all together.
Adobe Animate - Created animations for the video
Adobe Photoshop - Created images for the video
Adobe Audition - Recorded voice recordings for the video
Adobe Premiere Pro - Put the video together
Final Product
​
