The brief of the IxD week asked us to explore the tension between the natural/emotional and the constructed environment. Specifically, how might we make a user aware of it. We iterated on ideas and metaphors that are found in everyday life that might transfer to the problem we were trying to solve. We arrived at the concept of Keri.

Keri is a paired device. You pair your Keri with a significant other’s Keri who lives far away. 

The question to be solved was: “how might we replace the physical interaction for loved ones  that are in different countries?”. By using Bill Verplank’s Interaction Design Framework, each stage of the ID Framework was worked through starting from the question we put forward. 

Keri is a reminder of a person’s presence. It is an ambient light that relies on your loved one living far away to light up. The intensity of which is determined by how close the both of you are to your respective Keris. And when both of the users have this common moment of being close to each other’s Keris - the Keris start to celebrate this moment of shared time across the world.

Inspired by the metaphor of a candle that represents  light, warmth  and  movement, to make a meaningful connection between the natural environment and your life in the built/synthetic environment, Keri light “dances”.