ColourSense

Focus points:

  • User research
  • Prototyping
  • Material exploration

  • Project goal

    Kangaroo care is a term for holding a baby chest-to-chest and skin-to-skin. This has many beneficial effects on the child. Even though the effects are known, not enough kangaroo is provided in the NICU. The goal of this project was to explore how soft materials and technology can be used together in the context of the NICU.

  • Process

    During this project, two solutions were proposed to make the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit less stressful by using thermochromic ink. Thermochromic ink was chosen as the main material as it was hypothesised to be an unobtrusive and ambient way to display data, one of the more natural ways to communicate and easy to implement in the context of usage. Thermochromic ink was used to dye fabric (modal) and embroidery thread, which were used to create the following two concepts: a blanket to encourage Kangaroo Care and a patch to display data. The concepts were validated with two experts.

  • Result

    The first approach was the thermochromic blanket that encourages Kangaroo Care. The second approach was to develop a new way of displaying information, inspired by ‘calm technology’. The thermochromic ink is controlled by applying heat with a heating pad. The goal of the concept is to create an aesthetic and friendly way to keep the nurse updated about the child’s medical status. The data is displayed continuously and nurses are enabled to notice the medical status in their periphery vision, which makes it easier to plan their actions during the day and save them time. The design works as a scale, for example, to indicate the child’s body temperature.

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