PENPAL

Challenge

"Creative block" is one's inability to generate new ideas. For a creative professional, a creative block isn’t just frustrating — it’s potentially career-damaging. When you rely on your creativity you can’t afford to be short of ideas or the energy to put them into action.

Solution

PenPal explores how to enable people to be more creative. The concept explores the use of color and light as a motivation tool. PenPal enables a circle of friends to see what each other are working on and provides the extra nudge to help them get started on their own personal projects. The pen records the duration of time a person writes and can recommend the best times throughout the day for its user to be productive.

Insight

Through various interviews and observation sessions, it was observed that social pressure can be an effective form of motivation. People often go to a café or library to be around others who are being productive. The sheer presence of others can be enough to motivate people to be productive.

Prototyping

The form factor of a pen was designed using solidworks, 3D printed and coded using arduino. The interface of the product was designed using a storyboard approach that combines sketching techniques used by engineers, cartoonist and movie directors.