As introverts, we understand the importance of alone time and personal space, which inspired us to create the Awkward Social Escape Kit. This kit is designed to help introverts gracefully and gently avoid unwanted socializing
But we don't want introverts to be even more ignored and marginalized, so this kit also comes with an option for you to become OPEN when you want to socialize.
Our goal is to create a more comfortable and inclusive world for introverts, and we don't want to tip the scales in favour of introverts by overkill. Given the above research, we found that there are different levels of things that make introverts less comfortable in different scenarios, so we wanted to try a gentler way of responding to some of these scenarios and fighting for introverts' personal space. The most central source of inspiration for our group was a small product like this:
We didn't want to render a bias that introverts resist socializing and don't want to communicate, but it's also true that introverts are the ones who need more private time compared to extroverts. The original intent of these gadgets was to provide the subject with a GENTLE communication option when they need to be alone.
It's not a very aggressive "conversation", but rather a short, bold, gentle way to inform those around the introvert. It avoids the introvert's discomfort at being interrupted, and the difficulty of saying no. The introvert will be able to communicate with the people around them that they need to be alone at that time.
One of the cores of our project is called Resisting Awkward Social Texture Design. The subtlety of the design is that we designed the textures to be just plain textures when read and scrutinized from a greater distance. It is only when you are too far away from the user of the product that you can access the detailed information on the texture, triggering a silent dialogue that gently informs the owner of the product of their vision of wanting to have their personal space. With borderless design in mind, we used various graphic forms to express our claims, and a humorous design tagline inspired by the conversational scenarios in British restaurants where users are often asked if they have allergies.
Our primary consideration when selecting awkward social emergency escape items is the adjustability of the item's use; ease and frequency of use, etc. We don't want to create an interesting ornament that sits in your home like an offering, with no real purpose, or one that can't be used at a high frequency because of its specificity.
