Fibbly

Fibbly was a tangible prototype created in a course called “IN1060- Bruksorientert design” at the University of Oslo. Our theme was “loneliness” and our chosen target group was “young gamers”. We used a participatory design approach, focusing on co-creation and collaboration with our users. This method allowed us to connect directly with gamers and understand their feelings about loneliness as we emphasized mutual learning. Throughout the project, we followed principles of openness, flexibility, and honesty, which helped us work together effectively. This was strengthened by our work structure, which was agile and based on rotating roles during weekly meetings.

The project involved several phases, including data collection, workshops, and prototyping. I contributed to identifying key findings, such as excessive screen time, escapism through gaming, and the low threshold for online gaming with others. Based on these insights, we developed prototypes that were evaluated through user feedback and iterative testing.It was built through the use of basic electronic components and Arduino.

The concept of Fibbly was simple. A pair of friends had one each. You would shake it and it would light up blue. If it lit up green, then that meant that your other friend had recenetly activated their Fibbly. This was meant to be a low threshold way of signaling to your friends that you want to socialize.