'Focus Cocoon' Final Project

For our final project, we decided to create a ‘focus cocoon’. Our focus cocoon is a portable accessory for those who like to be surrounded by their friends and others, but need something that blocks distractions when they have work to do. We chose to do this because it is something that we are personally interested in and affected by ourselves. At school, we tend to be conflicted in choosing where we should do homework and study, because there is no good balance between complete silence in the library or the noisy cafe. That is where our focus cocoon comes to use - creating the perfect balance at any location and at any time! When you open the focus cocoon, it allows you to be physically surrounded by people, while being able to tune them out and focus on what you need to. Best of both worlds!

• Cardboard [ 20 x 4mm (100x100) ] 
• LED lights [ 2m ]    
• Cardboard tape [ 3 x 8cm x 23m ]
• Rivets [ 8 in total ]

For our inspiration, we initially were looking to create a portable shelter for those who are homeless, especially in the cold, where you are able to close and open the shelter. After thinking about how we can user test and collect data, we decided it is not reasonable to choose something like a shelter because we are unable to collect data and feedback from the target users. Therefore, we decided to shift the idea of our project to something that we can test out ourselves, and gain feedback at the school. That is when we thought about the portable study cocoon, which in terms of design is similar to the portable shelter. We wanted to cater to the audience we were able to collect user experience and data. Link to Pinterest.

Sketches and pictures from the design process...

We were trying to make a semi-sphere to enclose a student under it. To make that happen using cardboard, we needed to make rhombi connected by edges. To implement the digital designing requirement, we tried to make a design inspired by two connected butterflies.  After printing and testing it out, we found out that the design would not be sustainable at scale, due to the weak edges the model has. We settled in the end with the final design that encompasses a blend of growing  butterflies inside a rhombus.

To start our fabrication process, we first started by creating an Adobe Illustrator file to design the triangle that our module consisted of. Due to the fact that our cocoon consisted of one triangle, we wanted to make sure our design represented the our idea of the cocoon. To represent our idea of a ‘cocoon’, we wanted to use butterflies in our design to incorporate this idea. [ I was using the blend tool to incorporate the idea of a butterfly growing ] To use our cardboard most effectively, we used the laser cutter to cut a butterfly blend in the triangle, which we would later put all together using cardboard tape. 

Files of past and used prototypes.

When measuring the size we wanted to achieve for our cocoon, we calculated the amount of triangles we needed in length and width. Since we divided our model to one triangle when printing, we started off by taping triangles together to get the initial rhombus shape. When assembling our model, we made sure to keep a 1 cm difference between each printed out triangle in order to be able to fold them. After taping it all together, we were able to fold the structure as we expected. After we had a foldable model, we drilled the ends and added rivets to connect the pieces and to keep it stable. We used strings in order for our model to be flexible and durable. To add more to our project, we decided to add lights on the bottom to create more of a space and environment that was tailored to the user. Therefore, we decided to add in green LED lights because studies show that green light is helpful for focusing. To develop our idea of it being portable, we decided to add a strap onto our project using fabric. We did this by using a hot glue gun to connect the fabric on the cable to add aesthetics and complete the idea of it being portable.

We asked some of our classmates to test and gain some feedback. Here is an example of a student using the cocoon.

Pictures of the final project.