Neo is a deployable, personal working space created to facilitate and enrich the working experience. Our goal was to design an environment that would be comfortable, stimulate creative thinking and give a possibility of personalization. We based our idea on the growing need of having space to work, especially in universities. An experience of studying in different universities made us realise the importance of environment you work in, and since needs differ from person to person we decided to design a deployable piece that would cater to all of these needs.
Essentially, we took Design Department at the University of Aveiro as the focal point of our research. In the first stage, we introduced few ethnographic research techniques (questionnaires, observation notes, photographs), which became a solid base for further development of the project. That later guided us towards first concepts and further on to the final idea.
Getting to know the exact needs of design students made it easier to pick up elements that should be incorporated into our design. We decided, apart from the comfortable desk and shelf, to include a felt section with pockets to pin up drawings and store necessary objects, which also plays a role of a divider that gives some privacy to the user.
We aimed to create a product that would provide solutions to the users’ needs because of the significant importance that human-centred design has for us as designers. It is translated through its ergonomics, choice of sustainable materials and attention to detail. Another fact worth mentioning is a product manufacturing. Carefully chosen materials enabled us to decrease the production costs and amount of waste to a minimum. Every piece of the structure is cut from the same plank of plywood, leaving only a minimal offcut that can potentially be used to strengthen the whole structure.
Our vision is to introduce Neo into the places such as co-working and office spaces, airports etc. Relatively small space that it needs to be set up, creates a great opportunity for people working in these types of places.
