EMAIL SYSTEM "KIZUNA VISUALIZER" DESIGNED BY USING MULTISPACE DESIGN METHOD

Abstract

A prototype of an email system has designed to sustain and deepen “KIZUNA,” by which we mean the precious bonds that exist between individuals and human relationships, based on a design concept of a KIZUNA Visualizer, intended to satisfy the user’s need for spiritual richness. In the design process, we introduced a timeaxis design approach based on multi-time scale and a value growth process, as the design viewpoint to deal with the changes undergone by KIZUNA over time. We also introduced into the email system a self-organizing form-generation system based on cellular automata. These design developments resulted in us determining to visualize KIZUNA through self-organizing, transforming icons. We therefore created 6 functions to show changes in the state of KIZUNA through changes in the shape and color of icons made in correspondence to the exchange of emails. After considering the effects of the system and its prototype, the potential of this system in maintaining and deepening KIZUNA was indicated.