HIHO is a conceptual Industrial Design project that studies how products might change in the future of the Share and/or Access Economy. This project envisions the types of tools people will be using in the future by designing an example of one, a smart power drill. In addition to this, speculations towards how these social changes will affect the workflows of future makers is embodied in an over-arching systems design.
The Sharing/Access Economy has begun, and is changing the way users will interact with, use and access products and services. It's also changing the way products are going to be designed and developed. This project explores how products might designed differently at the peak of this type of Economy. It argues that to truly be accessible and capable of being shared on a large scale that the products utilised within these systems must be designed for sharing instead of sole ownership.
In designing a product, the context and system in which it is a part of is also important. A system that allows people to easily access the resources and tools they need to complete their projects has been designed to complement the product. This is executed through the help of an app, with features such as Augmented Reality as well as access to tutorials and on demand to help users plan their projects.
This tool uses an OLED touch screen interface to translate important information to the user. This screen controls information output and aims to prevent new users becoming confused or disheartened by the array of physical switches present on most power drills. The main touch interface is available through the frame which houses the screen. A combination of taps and slides are used to navigate through the menu system. This menu system minimises itself when the drill is in use, to enable a clear view of immediate information.
We were really intrigued by this concept, designing things ground up to be shared, and HIHO is addressing this in an interesting and new way.