‘GU’ is an interconnected device that helps team members be more aware of each other’s emotions while creating a stimulating environment working from home.

Tasked to explore “seeds” of positive experiences sprouted during the pandemic, the team chose to focus on the topic of working from home, in particular how people are managing the shift from work to home, and vice versa.

Seven in-depth interviews were conducted with participants aged mid 20s to mid 40s with a balanced mix of gender, locations, living situations, and industries. The goal was to understand how each participant perceived the functional and emotional impacts of working from home. Participants were invited to partake in two activities during the interviews - emotional seismograph and emoji card sorting. Emotional seismograph helped identify changes in participants’ emotional state throughout the day, and emoji card sorting helped participants express their feelings in a visual way. 

Based on insights generated from the research, the team identified two areas of opportunity with people looking for ways to immerse in a dynamic environment to feel stimulated and facilitate more empathy among team members while working digitally. 

With life-centred design in mind, the final concept ‘GU’ (Cantonese for mushroom) was inspired by the mycelium network, where fungi help out their neighbours by sharing information and nutrients, making the whole system more resistant to disease. Emitting sounds from nature based on people's emotions, tone of voice, and number of hours worked, 'GU' injects sensory stimulations while working from home through soundscape and helps uncover team members’ emotional state, creating a sense of community. 

This project was developed as part of the 2-week Life Centred Design class where the the first and a half week focused on design research and insight generation with the last three days dedicated to brainstorming, ideation, and conceptualisation.