Sooth mirror
A smart mirror helps users gain better relaxation in their bathroom.
Duration
5 weeks
Designer
koan sun
zelda chang
Collaborative Parts
research
ux design
wireframes
prototype
usability testing
design iteration
My Role
ui / visual lead (ui visual style, final prototype)
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Secondary research helps us shape our HMW. After thoroughly reviewing numerous papers and literature sources aligned with our research questions, we have better-understood individuals’ bathroom habits, motivations, personal hygiene practices, and the latest technological solutions in the bathroom.
OVERVIEW
The Soothe Mirror aims to enhance relaxation in the bathroom with two modes: Refresh Mode to boost energy and Relaxation Mode to soothe moods. Depending on the selected mode, the ambiance, lighting, and music adjust according to user preferences.
Additionally, it includes a shutdown button to revert to a normal mirror without any functions.
INSIGHTS from
AFFINITIZATION
The simple and primary environment of the bathroom makes it an ideal place for relaxation.
Personal hygiene leads to unwinding.
Lighting, temperature, humidity, smell, and sound contribute to bathroom relaxation
Bathroom relaxation is often interrupted by messages and calls, yet people are reluctant to miss emergency notifications.
Soothe Mirror offers four other functions: oral healthcare, visual fun, self-massage exercise video, and phone.
- Self-Massage Exercise Video -
- Phone -
- Oral Healthcare -
- Self-Massage Exercise Video -
- Visual Fun -
- Phone -
comprehensive user research...
PRIMARY RESEARCH
We conducted user interviews to gain a deeper understanding of people's relaxation practices in their bathrooms.
Then, we did affinitization to organize interview information and form insights.
USER JOURNEY MAP
Through primary research, we found out people seek three types of ideal relaxation in the bathroom:
Resilience, Elation, and Equanimity < Learn More >
Using our simplified user journey map, we identified that people seek increased resilience and elation in the morning and increased resilience and equanimity at night. We also discovered that most relaxing activities happen in front of the bathroom mirror.
MIRROR CONTROLLER:
3 MODES,
6 FUNCTIONS
Since most activities happen in front of the mirror, which impacts relaxation, we made the mirror the central interactive element.
It has three modes: Relax Mode, Energy Mode, and a Normal Mode that turns the smart mirror into a standard one. Additionally, it offers six functions, including lighting adjustment.
embrace users' perspective...
IDEATION
Among the five elements—lighting, temperature, humidity, smell, and sound—that contribute to relaxation in the bathroom, we’ve chosen to prioritize lighting and sound. This decision is driven by the ease of adjusting or turning off these features to accommodate shared bathroom use without impacting others’ experiences.
Why lighting and music?
To help users achieve their desired relaxation through different modes, we need to collect data from them. This includes preferred lighting and music for each mode. By gathering this information, we can create an ideal bathroom ambiance that offers the relaxation users want.
User Data Collection
USER TESTING
Things we want to know from the user testing:
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Can our soothe mirror help users relax better in their bathroom?
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How does each function work, and is it helpful?
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User's music listening habit
PAper PROTOTYPE:
3 MODES, 6 FUNCTIONS
We used stickers on the mirror to make the intelligent mirror prototype.
The mirror has two relaxation modes, Relax Mode and Energy Mode, and a Normal Mode that switches the intelligent mirror to a standard mirror. It offers six functions: lighting control, music player, visual effects on the mirror, stretch video, Breathing exercise video, and phone call integration.
before
Before
after
After
Iteration
We did iterations according to user feedback from usability testing.
The main iteration parts that we focused on are: 3 modes and 6 functions.
Users want to boost their energy in the morning, but they don't want to press on "Energy Mode" because the name makes them feel overwhelmed. Therefore, we changed the name to "Refresh Mode," which makes users feel satisfied and delighted.
The "Normal Mode" button on the left and the turn-off button in the right corner serves the same function: they both deactivate all functions and revert the smart mirror to a regular mirror. During user testing, we observed that users preferred pressing the turn-off button, so we removed the "Normal Mode" button.
Initially, users must press the "Relax Mode" and "Energy Mode" buttons to switch between relaxation modes. According to user feedback, they hope these two modes can switch automatically based on time.
OUTCOMES from TESTING
According to the user testing, we removed the ineffective breathing exercise video and identified that the stretch video needs more improvement.
Additionally, we leraned how to improve other effective functions from good to great.
# 3 modes
MUSIC PLAYER
# 6 functions
before
Before
after
After
- Oral Healthcare -
- Visual Fun -
Three Playlists:
People prefer different types of music in the morning and at night. Therefore, we created three default playlists: a night playlist, a morning playlist, and a favorite playlist.
Spotify and White Noise Knob:
Research and user testing showed that white noise helps users relax. Therefore, we combined it with Spotify music. Users can use a knob to adjust the mix of Spotify music and white noise.
Collapsible Interface:
Users can swipe right to collapse the music player interface.
SITEMAP
DELIVERABLE
VISUAL FUN & SELF-MASSAGE
Visually immersive bathroom routine-related effects provide tailored enhancements for different user routines in front of the mirror.
Additionally, the Self-Massage feature provides guided videos for users to follow and perform self-massage
ORAL HEALTHCARE
Recognizing the connection between personal hygiene and relaxation, we've integrated a toothbrush tracking function for monitoring brushing habits.
PHONE
Lastly, to address the common interruption of phone messages during relaxation, Soothe Mirror includes a phone function allowing users to receive emergency notifications without needing to bring their phone into the bathroom.
Automatic Mode Switching
The Soothe Mirror transitions to "Refresh Mode" in the morning and "Relax Mode" in the evening, offering personalized lighting and music based on user preferences.
