VR-GROOVE is the result of the User experience and aesthetic research in order to design a smart, multifunctional and sophisticated treadmill with integrated Virtual Reality.
The product is aimed at people who like to play sports and go to the gym.
The client’s request was that the design should be adequate to be inserted both in a gymnasium context and in luxury homes.
MP_NR is a device designed to restore importance to gestures and the time we spend using digital devices.
Its shell shape hides the temptations of the virtual but by opening it, inside we find ergonomics and IT efficiency.
The general trend in technological production is to make increasingly thin devices.
With this logic, the software interface is replacing the hardware interfaces by shifting attention to visual dependence and eliminating the other senses from the experience of use. Furthermore, constantly repeating the same gestures creates an experiential loop similar to that of slot machines, bringing the user into an endless digital tunnel. How many times do we not remember why we picked up the smartphone 15 minutes before? My intent was to return to the communication device a form that is transformed and that accompanies its various functions. In this way, bringing the user’s concentration back to what he really wants to do with his device, and removing all the other various distractions. Each function has a different dimension and excludes the others, its monolithic shape and the absence of bright LEDs do not recall the temptation of use, but gives the eyes a vision of a simple and minimal, anonymous but elegant, object.
In this case the new technology is the return of all the senses to the user, senses that he no longer uses but with which he is equipped. The ergonomic shape of MP_NR hides and reveals different dimensions, restores the emotion of use for the user (almost like a child’s game: open and discover, transform the shape to use it as you wish). Three different functions: when it is closed, on the one hand it is completely anonymous and promotes digital detoxification, on the other it shows its “phone” function (bringing the smartphone to what it was at the beginning: a means of voice communication). When you open it instead, it becomes what a smartphone really is: a mini pc in our hands. But how many pains and incorrect habits are we causing to our muscles due to the lack of ergonomics in the design of this object? With its inclination, reminiscent of that of laptops, MP_NR meets the user’s health: in fact, we can use it holding it with both hands or place it on a flat surface. In “phone” mode, a part of the screen shows us only important information about the call, no announcement of incoming messages or notices on social networks. The same screen, but the other portion, then becomes the monitor in “mini pc” mode.
Digital detox is the new frontier for society’s health. Digital has invaded our world by totally changing our social and even postural habits. This growth will not stop but will continue exponentially in the near future. To guarantee a “positive” evolution, it is necessary to invest in the ergonomics of the devices and in the protection of human moments without digital things, which guarantee serenity and relax for the person.
