Dru
Storytelling and emotional design
The brief was to come up with a product based on a storyline which connects with users and adds an emotional value. This project is a slight rework of the initial project done for the storytelling course.
Class project / 3 weeks / initial project done in group
Topic
We first selected a variety of topics, shortlisted it to Indian culture and combined it with human senses. Indian culture is very vast with thousands of customs and traditions which people can relate quickly. These customs tend to have a sense invoked when performed, we tried to explore this area further.
Indian Culture
Human Senses
Brainstorming
We did some brainstorming via word excursion exercise to dive deep into whatever came to our mind. We shortlisted incense sticks, damru, and shunk and explored them further in regards to senses. Our final exploration was for damru from it we arrived at beats, tribal, and then anger. This gave us great clarity on what type of product we could make. We brainstormed some product ideas at last.
Direction
The sound from damru symbolizes the sound that originates creation and perpetuates the universe. In Hinduism, especially by Shiva devotees, it is believed that the beating of the damru by Shiva produced the very first sound. This first sound was made in the void of nothingness. Shiva began his dance of creation to the rhythm of the damru. From his dance, the world came into being. In some stories, it is said that lord shiva would play his damru when he became angry so it as well as became mean to show his anger to his emotions. The damru is generally placed with Trishul, lord Shivas weapon.
Concepts
Started sketching and conceptualizing, making a damru for the new world keeping in mind the emotional connection people have to the instrument. We tried new ways to interpret the traditional form.
Exploration
Explored the product in different combinations to find the best possible design. Made some mockups to validate with users which denotes a damru, how ergonomic is it while holding and ease of use.
Detailing
Once the final form was decided, the detailing of the product began, the cmf was selected by keeping in mind the warm color palette of traditional damru, few pattern options were explored to make the product more relatable with the users and still be unique as its own product.
Prototype
Dru is a new age damru that can produce beats based on the intensity you shake it, it is a great tool to learn beatboxing. The device can also be used to take out one's frustration and calm themselves with the joyous beats it produces. It can also be used as a portable Bluetooth speaker.
