Thought-to-Thought

Conversation is something unique — it is what unites people and establishes friendships between them. But what about people with speech or hearing disabilities; how do they engage in conversation? In UC Berkeley's two-day intensive Jacobs Design Charrette on The Future of Technology with Storyblok, my team and I explored different communication methods between other types of living organisms to design an enhanced way of conversation for the future.

Duration

February 2023

Roles

Conducted research to determine possibilities for the future of digital content and technology.
Created an inspirational mood board to reflect potential ideas.
Developed a story spine to convey product importance.
Designed a user persona to convey the target audience.
Produced visual storyboards for scenarios.

Skills

Product-centered research
Broad ideation and vision
Collaborative decision-making
Innovative moodboarding
Creative storytelling and storyboarding
Collaboration and communication

Background Research

Having sustainability and plant technology as our main focus, our group researched on new products and technology that are currently on the market, which could help us in envisioning something for the future.

After learning about plant communication and signaling, we decided to change paths and focus on using this as inspiration to design a form of technology for the future that could improve our experiences with human communication.

Design Challenge

How might we leverage technological products to enhance communication between humans, specifically with individuals with disabilities?

Design Process

Mood Board

Narrowing down our focus to human communication, we gathered images of brain signaling, plant communication and signaling, and other related ideas as inspiration.

Story Spine

We wrote a short story to convey the problem, primary target audience, and the importance of this new form of technolgoy.

Personas

of various cultures and languages

trying to explain something

People

with disabilities

in Space

Amy Kusmin

Age: 12 yrs
Occupation: Student
Education level: Middle School

Amy is a mute and deaf 12 year old girl. She is often frustrated and throws tantrums because she is unable to communicate well and feels left out in conversations.

Needs:

Amy yearns for a new form of communication. Currently, her only means of communication are sign language and texting. She wishes there was a way for her to be heard.

Frustrations:

She doesn't like having to carry a card to tell others that she is mute. Because she cannot speak, people tend to make assumptions, diminishing her confidence.

Settings

Long term- 50+ years

Motivations

Possibility for anyone to communicate with someone with a speech/hearing disability.

Effectively communicate thoughts and ideas (and in any language) without having to verbally explain.

Quick, efficient, and effective communication.

Future form of communication in Space.

Challenges

Some of the defficiencies people face in conversation include:

Difficulty engaging in conversation with people who have speech or hearing disabilities.

Difficulty conveying thoughts and ideas to people of different cultures and languages.

Inabilty to effectively communicate thoughts and ideas to others.

Inability to effectively communicate with each other in Space.

Resolution

Thought-to-Thought is a neural interface that allows people to communicate with each other without having to speak. Instead, this neural interface allows people to communicate with one another through thoughts. This neural interface is especially targeted towards those with hearing or speech disabilities, allowing them to engage in conversation despite their differences.

By simply inserting a chip into the brain, a conversation through thought can occur after pairing with an individual through a five-second eye contact. Then, thought messages are sent to the person, allowing for meaningful nonverbal conversation