Course project · Valand, University of Gothenburg · 2022
Låtsaskompis
A soft robot a child can tell the hard thing to first, before telling a parent.
By Sabina Nordell, Senior UX/UI Designer
- Role
- Concept, character design, illustration
- Tools
- Sketching, Character design, Illustration
Where it came from
As a kid I wrote secret notes to my parents when I could not say the thing out loud. Låtsaskompis means imaginary friend in Swedish.
“How was school?” is a hard question to answer directly. It is much easier to tell a friendly object about your day and let it do the telling.
How it works
A child and a parent talk through the robot and a microphone. The robot is the intermediary, so the conversation happens as roleplay rather than as an interrogation.
The distance is the point. Speaking through a character lets a child say something they would not say face to face, and gives the parent a way in that is not a direct question.
The form
An abstract shape with long arms, good for hugging or hanging around your neck or waist. Soft and squishy. Textile or silicone. Definitely not hairy.
I got there by sketching. A lot of shapes, a lot of faces, looking for one that reads as friendly without reading as a toy that talks down to you.
Project images
About the author
I’m Sabina Nordell, a Senior UX/UI Designer in Stockholm. Want to talk about this project, or one of your own?