Every Year, approximately 10,000 babies are born. Giving birth is a miraculous process of bring life to this world that changes lives of others all around. However 65,000 abortions were performed on Canadian women as reported by hospitals and clinics. That means for every baby born, six are killed from abortion. If those baby’s fate were not decided for them, he or she will someday become a part of our world.
The Challenge
The purpose of this project is to raise awareness of abortions with critical design (Design Noir). This design approach uses design fiction and speculative design proposals to challenge assumptions, conceptions about the role of objects play in everyday life.
Our design revolves around the issue of abortion, and is targeted towards teenage and young adults. We have built a user test to evaluate the effectiveness of our design.
Tools
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Final Cut Pro
Roles
I worked with two other designers on this project. I was responsible for the team management, theory development, UX strategic planning, prototyping, and Storyboarding for the video.
Media
Product Design Process
The everyday household item we selected was a bar of soap, inspired by the Design Noir. There are three stages of this product. When the soap is new, it looks like a regular bar of soap with marbled texture. But if it is held up to a light, one can see the shape of a fetus inside an embryo. As the soap gets washed down to the inner fetus, it will dye the user’s hand blood red. Lastly when the red gets washed away, pieces of bones slowly appear inside the fetus.
We hope to raise awareness of abortion critical design product and to visually communicate the abortion issue.
User Testing
We designed the soap in three different stages to see how each stage effects the users.
After our initial research, we prepared questionnaires and designed a real world prototype testing with five individuals for a week. Before deployment, we interviewed each individual. Then we gave each participant a prototype package, which includes a PreLife Soap, a notebook, and a pen. We asked the users to place the soap where they will use it daily and note down any thoughts and experiences.
Interviews
One of our participants, Frankie, was happy to be part of our video and share her thoughts and experiences through the week of deployment.
After our initial research, we prepared questionnaires and designed a real world prototype testing with five individuals for a week. Before deployment, we interviewed each individual. Then we gave each participant a prototype package, which includes a PreLife Soap, a notebook, and a pen. We asked the users to place the soap where they will use it daily and note down any thoughts and experiences.
Interviews Questions
Before prototype package deployment: 1: Introduce yourself.
2: What they thought about sex and having a child?
(Then we hand over the prototype package)
3: What is your initial thoughts and impressions.
After one week, we revisited each participant. We did our second interview: 1: Where did they put it?
2: What was it like at the beginning and how did you feel?
3: How did you feel when you got to the fetus part of the soap?
4: What did you feel about the bones?
5: What is the overall experience throughout this deployment?
6: Did the prototype get the message across?
7: How do you feel about abortion now?
8: Suggestions to enhance our prototype?
Summed up the interview by telling them some information of abortion in Canada and around the world.
