Design a water-based cultivation for the kitchen to allow people to be self sustainable on fresh herbs
Research what plants need, how they can thrive without soil, and what common mistakes we make when caring for them.
How do we deal with light, seeds, water, pH, nutrients – can we automate?
We went for a design that would hang in the window, we built it, it worked great!
Then continued market researched showed us people care about it taking space, also aiming for everyone meant our design did not really fit “anyone”.
We decided to solve one problem first: fresh herbs for the kitchen.
We did many concepts to explore the possibility space.
This is the draft we liked the most. Since the bottom part is filled with water, we chose glass for it to really make the product stand out as a premium kitchen accessory, despite not being the most optimal for algae growth!
The initial design concept for customer trials
Turns out that “wave” in the design does not looks so special in real life. So it was cut. Also the air-pumps we bought from china was WAY too loud. Sound-design proved to be quite important, also to eliminate noise from water drops.
I hope this shows that I have experience that goes beyond the software world. I think that an important part of being a designer is the ability to actually convey awesome ideas, which in this project got us first price in “Environment and Energy” in a big swedish business competition called Venture Cup.
I hope it also shows I know my way around 3D printing, 3D modelling and electronic engineering.
I also hope it shows that being each finished product lies drafts that did not go anywhere, that I can work with design as a process.
Hydrocultivate
Startup 2014-->
Team size: 2 people
Time: 1 year
My roles: {
Business,
Marketing,
Copy writing,
Product Design
}
Link (In Swedish): Froda