SWITCH: case study of an edutainment kit for experience design in everyday life

We introduce a method to stimulate and catalyse the creativity of students and the general public in the field of experience design. The research is centered on a product design called SWITCH: a simple creative prototyping platform for everyday use which can be likened to picture frame containing a picture with two states, an on and an off state. The states are switched by one of three types of adjustable sensors (light, human, sound) and mechanism. The pictures can be easily customized with analogue art materials like pens and brushes. Our core motivation was to design a product that would bypass the inherent complexities of technology as much as possible, and directly engage the student in creating their own experience design concept with SWITCH. In this paper we introduce our motivation, methods, design and workshop strategies, and evaluations from workshops with the general public.