Keynect

An in-home product for keys that cultivates a sense of comfort for people in long distance relationships.

Design Challenge

Many people live far from their loved ones. How do people who care about each other stay in touch over distance? In what ways could design support these relationships better?

Our Solution

Our design concept is a set of interconnected platforms that lets others know when you are home. When keys are placed on the device, a section on all of the products will glow. If there are keys on all devices, the entire ring glows.

During our research, we found that people miss small moments during long distance relationships. The product is intended to create a subtle, yet warming feeling of company in the home. It helps supplement other mediums of communication by operating in the background when people are not available to be communicating directly.

Interviews
We interviewed four participants to further develop our research and pinpoint a problem area to focus on. We intentionally selected our participants to cover a variety of backgrounds and relationships. Our interviewees included a 53-year-old woman who sends letters to her mom in Texas and an international student from China who struggles to find time to talk to her parents.

After each interview, we reviewed their answers and made appropriate adjustments to our questions. Throughout the process, we were able to create more targeted interview questions that could yield deeper insights into the topic.

Research Analysis

While apart, people miss the small moments of their relationship the most, such as bonding over a common hobby or cracking an inside joke. We found that current mediums of communication are effective at sharing major life events, but they lack don’t adequately replace the feeling of spending quality time with someone. When we analyzed these mediums, synchronous communication methods, such as live voice and video calls, allow for more intimate conversations because they can add more personality into their conversations. Finally, we recognized that there is a limit in designing for long distance relationships; while we can not replicate some feelings and experiences that people share when they are physically together, we can mitigate some of the challenges that they face from being apart. With these insights, created a “How Might We” statement:

How might we enhance the shared, small experiences of everyday life?

Design Principles

Permanent
Our product will help aid long distance communication throughout the duration of the relationship. The product should become ingrained into the relationship and create memories over time.

Fun
Our product will be enjoyable for all parties and supplement the shared connection that both people already share. The product should be engaging and motivate users to share moments with their significant other while they are separated to develop their relationship.

Reassuring
Our product will help mitigate the challenges of long distance relationships and highlight the comfort of their own relationships. We strive to develop a solution that allows people to feel the comfort and security of their relationship. In doing so, our solution will help build trust amongst all parties and mimic some of the qualities of having them by their side.

Ideation

To target small moments in long distance relationships, we developed 60+ ideas. Collectively, we grouped them into categories and looked for opportunities to combine or pull from each other’s ideas. Categories included: hobbies, safety, and schedule planning.

Downselection
We gradually downselected our ideas until we reached three unique ideas that we could further develop. With our guiding design principles, we selected our strongest concept to move forward with.

Concept
After a long day, coming home to an empty place can be lonely at times. We wanted to mimic the feeling of coming home to loved ones with a gentle reminder that they are still there by your side despite the distance. By using a familiar interaction, we can create a product that is unintrusive to the daily routine, yet ushers in a feeling of warmth and companionship to the user. The product can be a vehicle that encourages synchronous communication by helping to coordinate appropriate times to talk.

Storyboard

We created a storyboard to illustrate how a user would interact and benefit from our concept.

Participatory Design Workshop

This workshop allowed our participants to become collaborators in the design process by offering new ideas based on their own relationships. We divided our session into three main sessions: Make, Enact, and Tell. In this workshop, they received a brief explanation of our concept, but were free to explore form, features, and integration.

Make
Participants used clay to design their vision of the physical product. Two participants designed products in shapes of things that were meaningful to their relationship (hearts and plants).

Enact
Participants showed how they would use their clay product in their homes. Participants either placed or hung their keys on the product. They demonstrated how their design would interact with a pair of keys and their preferred environment for the product. During this interaction, people prioritized a quick drop-off and pickup experience.

Flexible to environments
During our participatory design process, we learned that people tend to keep their keys on countertops, desks, and nightstands. To accommodate multiple environments, we kept our device sleek and minimal. The rim of lights surrounding the wooden platform allows users to see the visual indicators from all angles.

All types of relationships
Our circular form allows any number of users as the circle of lights can easily be divided into sections. The product is compatible with family, friends, and significant others.

Designing the Mobile Experience

The mobile app is primarily designed for users who are away from home to see a live status of the product and how long people have been home.

In our settings page, we give users the opportunity to toggle notifications if they prefer only the physical interaction. If desired, users can customize the notification messages for specific people to personalize the experience.

Video Demo

For our final showcase, we created a video to show one scenario of our product being used. In this scenario, three friends are using the Keynect to keep in touch despite being in different cities.