Connecting mothers and sons: a design using routine affective rituals

Beauty is in the details. Often small things carry an important emotional undertone that determines whether or how we enjoy an event or a product. In this article, we describe how small details of everyday routines were incorporated in the design of a hi-tech communication appliance. As ID-StudioLab’s entry to the Microsoft Research Design Expo 2003, the student team “Mamasboys” wanted to design a communication appliance that would enhance the affective value of the communication between relatives living far apart. The students all had experienced such situations when they left their parents behind to pursue their university education. Most communication devices we use nowadays are designed for focused, conscious use. Often the primary concern is functionality: telephones with voicemail, for instance, are designed around the process of sending and storing fragments of audio. However, people typically communicate in a richer context, where functional, emotional, and social relationships are interwoven. Products which do not take this into consideration in the design process, and which are purely functional, fail to fulfill our needs. Communication devices, in particular, need to reflect and support the emotional bonds between family members, rather than only transmit factual information. Such a device would have to be less imposing, but fully engaging and flexible enough to blend in with the everyday rituals of parent and child.