Lif: A Movement Prototype
Designing gestures to make Lif usable for a wide array of plants and human plant-owners
Lif is an IoT device that facilitates a healthy and fulfilling relationship between humans and their house plants. With many prototyping methods and iterations, including analog, 3D model, and fabric prototyping, Lif has been investigated with a wide scope. This movement prototype intends to uncover further the aspects of Lif that may enable enhanced usability for a wider array of human users.
I will elaborate on the movement prototype by explaining the design rationale, the prototype itself, and lastly, the analysis of testing.
Design
As explained in earlier prototyping blogs, Lif functions as a health device for a plant. It allows a human to monitor a plant’s health and deliver those needs when prompted. Though the device is explicitly for the benefit of the house plant, the human owner will ultimately be the one engaging with the product. Thus, there are two important user groups to keep in mind throughout this exercise.
The human user will be completing the following gestures to complete their related actions:
- Clapping with their hands as to activate (or turn on) the Lif device
- Waving using one hand over the Lif device to transition between the varying screens
The plant user will be completing the following gesture:
- Phototropism is the process in which a plant moves its leaves in response to the sun. This acts as a communication gesture to the human user and the Lif device. The device will detect this gesture and alert the human to either give the plant more sun or bring it out of direct sun contact.
This movement prototype will be testing desirability, usability, and feasibility. With prior iterations, the specific desire was there. However, I am unaware of the desire for users to interact with Lif via gestures. This prototype will also detect the usability and feasibility of the gestures.
Prototype
With the prototype's design laid out, I used my already constructed analog prototype to carry out my movement prototype. Therefore, my materials were my analog prototype and a house plant. These materials were chosen to best display the interaction that would likely take place using these gestures. With this being a gesture prototype, I also needed a human tested to go through these motions to complete my prototyping process.
Analysis
Testing for the Lif gestures can be viewed in the following video:
The movement prototype was successful in testing how the gestures may be completed in one’s home. Without accounting for edge cases, my testing did not include how someone might use this in a different setting. These gestures are indeed feasible to complete in one’s personal space because there is minimal social pressure to behave or move a certain, prescribed way.
Also, these gestures make it possible for people with limited hand strength to interact with Lif as they would not necessarily enact the motor abilities it would take to touch the small Lif screen. However, a person without arms would certainly have a much harder time completing these tasks, if at all. This raises the question of what counts as a clap or a wave and does it have to be an arm/hand explicitly.
Additionally, some plants do not engage in phototropism, making a gesture that is not inclusive of all plants. I believe these gestures and testing of them was useful in exposing these limitations and allows me to think about how I might approach this problem differently in the future. I would certainly explore the range of gestures because I think my understanding was more limited than it should have been. With a wider range of gestures, I would understand all of the possibilities for movement prototypes for the Lif device. Additionally, I would continue to push for universal design for all humans and plants to ensure a variety of users can use the device.
I think Lif's gestures are viable for many users but not for all, making it not viable. I think these gestures are viable while there are no accessibility measures currently in place for the Lif device. I am still unsure if these gestures are desirable, and this would require further testing with more humans to confirm if it is or is not. Lastly, I do not know how to implement gesture technology therefore feasibility remains unclear. Though, if iterated on, I would include undoubtedly viable, feasibly, and desirable gestures.
