INDUSTRY:
MARKETING
YEAR:
2024
EXPERIENCE:
SCENES
SOFTWARE:
House
Flexible Area Models offers a diverse range of high-quality mockup scenes for creators who want to showcase their work in real-world contexts. This collection includes mockups of various environments—offices, coffee shops, studios, and more—designed to present digital and printed materials, such as posters, screens, or stationery, in natural, aesthetically pleasing setups. By providing realistic, adaptable scene mockups, this project allows designers, photographers, and marketers to visualize and elevate their work in true-to-life settings.
about.
Loneliness often reveals itself in ordinary routines. Nearly 1 in 3 adults feel lonely at least once a week. Everyday rituals like drinking water – frequent, repetitive, and usually unnoticed - become moments where connection feels absent. In my family, hiccups were seen as a sign that someone was thinking of you. This small superstition shaped how I understood connection, and it became the foundation of my design problem: How might I transform ordinary hydration into a moment of care between people who care about each other?
The challenge was to create a device that:
Felt emotionally present without being intrusive
Was intuitive and dependable in everyday use
Built trust through clear, unambiguous feedback
challenge.
The primary challenge was to capture the right balance of realism and versatility in each scene, ensuring the mockups would complement different design styles and industries. Lighting, angles, and depth needed to be carefully controlled to create visually engaging setups without overpowering the displayed content. Additionally, each scene had to be adaptable, with customizable features like backgrounds, surfaces, and lighting adjustments, to allow users flexibility in tailoring scenes to their needs.
research.
To ground the design in real behavior and emotional needs, I conducted a series of qualitative research activities:
Cultural probes to understand hydration habits and personal rituals
Hydration often happens in quiet, transitional moments rather than social settings
Users associated care with with intentional pauses
Small, repeated rituals held more emotional meaning than occasional grand gestures
Scenario-based testing to explore use case, personalization, and long-term use
Emotional value was amplified when the sender could encode meaning into the interaction
Users preferred open-ended personalization and minimal explanation over prescriptive instructions
User experience testing focused on intuitiveness, gesture discovery, and emotional response during interaction
Subtle, ambient feedback was preferred over explicit alerts
When gesture recognition felt inconsistent, trust dropped quickly
Clear confirmation of activation was critical
System Usability Scale (SUS) assessments to validate usability
The system scored high on perceived ease of use
Users described the experience as calming rather than effortful
Reliability mattered more to users than feature richness
iterative process.
Prototype 1:
Tested basic gesture sensing and LED response
Revealed issues with accidental activation and unclear feedback
Prototype 2:
Improved sensor placement and enclosure
Introduced clearer gesture-to-light mapping
Users requested stronger confirmation of activation
Prototype 3:
Refined gesture accuracy and LED animations
Integrated planter structure to soften the technological presence and generated CAD and low-fidelity models
Supported more intentional, repeatable interactions
result.
The Flexible Area Models collection quickly became a popular tool for creatives across industries. Its realism and customization options enabled users to effortlessly integrate their designs into stunning, on-brand scenes. The mockups have been widely used for client presentations, social media campaigns, and online portfolios. Feedback highlighted how these mockups significantly enhanced design presentation quality and created a cohesive visual narrative for brands and personal projects alike.
Physically, the final prototype brings together refined gesture detection, adjustable LED animations, and a structured and cohesive planter enclosure. The enclosure was developed through iterative CAD exploration in Rhino, while rapid physical prototyping supported testing sensor placement, enclosure proportions, and interaction ergonomics. The form is intentionally restrained, allowing the interaction and emotional experience to remain central rather than performative.
MODE 1
Swipe right/left
Fast LEDs
Fast pour
Soothing color
MODE 2
Swipe up/down
Slow LEDs
Slow pour
Soothing color
MODE 3
Hover/push/pull
LED loop
No pour
Rainow colors
testimonial.
The Flexible Area Models are a game-changer! They easily showcase my designs in a professional way.