Plan B. (Plan Balance)
Johnny Chen
2023
Project Description:
The balance of nature is a popular idea across human history, cultures, and civilizations. However, according to years of study, scientists have long abandoned the idea of a "balance of nature" in favor of nature as dynamic ecological frameworks. Therefore, there is no perfect balance in nature. Reflecting on this ideology, what if the shift of nature becomes more and more frequent? What if repaid climate change becomes permanent? How can humans be aware and adapt to the changes?
The scenario occurs in a future world where sudden climate changes become usual. Plan B. (Plan Balance) is a design system across digital and physical products that can track different environmental elements to help people understand their surroundings. Based on a series of research, the concept of sensing environmental factors is to provide essential information in daily life. Due to the rapidly changing climate, raising awareness of different environmental statuses is more and more critical. Under this condition, intangible elements, such as CO2, O2, humidity, temperature, etc., are critical in humans' living environment. These invisible substances are vital to our bodies, and either an excessive amount is hazardous, or too little is also harmful.
From the balance of nature to understanding people's mindset of the repaid changing climate, we created and imagined a new design experience that helps people to visualize the invisible elements to provide information about their current environment and prevent danger indoors and outdoors.
Integrating and visualizing the concept of intangible elements is a challenge for our team. Plan B. has a physical design composed of a home station and three portable sensors. Our team created a new diagram to understand the shifting environmental elements, providing a clear visualization of three different environmental statuses.
See the Work In Progress version of this project here ︎︎︎
