Create Your Dream Design on Your time, Your budget, Your terms...
“Time is money.”
Nowadays, many people are looking for simpler, more time-efficient methods to execute daily tasks, or even larger projects. Such tasks can be made more efficient through creativity and innovation. This is where designers come into play: to ideate and create solutions that come to life.
At The University of Texas at Austin, there is a course that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to solve problems and showcase the digitized world. ITD 111: Introduction to Design and Artificial Intelligence allows students to gain a thorough understanding of design thinking and gives them an opportunity to put it into practice by ideating and presenting a solution to a problem.
During my time in this course, my group and I brainstormed three pain points in people’s daily lives; the biggest one being lack of time. One opportunity that stood out to us was home remodeling and interior design when designing with little time. This then led us to one big question: how can we reduce barriers and make renovation a stress-free and fulfilling process?
After progressing through the first stages of the design thinking process, we dove into the prototyping phase. The first step was to make sure our team addressed our target audience. This consisted of adults between the ages of 27-55 who could not devote time to design their home, yet still wanted to create their dream space. This is where our solution, uDesign, came into the picture.
uDesign is a mobile application that combines both augmented reality and artificial intelligence to make home remodeling simple. Nowadays, artificial intelligence has the potential to solve many day to day problems. Home remodeling is a struggle that many people face because they do not feel that they are designing their dream home. Because of this, there is a lack of personalization when it comes to home remodeling and designing. In addition, it is often difficult to visualize the end result and estimate a budget during the planning process. Our team has created a system that not only puts the user at ease with personalized interior design solutions, but also allows them to see what their finished home will look like.
To create the prototype, we wanted to implement six key features: user data collection, user survey, augmented reality, visual models, budget estimators, and purchasing benefits.
User Preferences: This will gauge the user’s stylistic preferences so that the system has a good idea of the aesthetic they are aiming for.
User Survey: Allows the user to select their style, budget, and key goals when it comes to the design process and plan.
Augmented Reality: The user can visualize their new room and the new furniture and design through AR. It gives them a better idea of what changes will be made and whether they are the right fit.
Visual Models: Through the app, this feature pairs with the AR to allow users to select different floor plans and then pick what furniture they want to create their final “dream model”
Budget Estimator: Finds items available and adds in contractor fees from the local area to estimate budget for the project
Purchase benefits: Not required, but if devices such as Amazon Echo or Google Home are located within the household then the user can connect it to their uDesign system and have the AI place their order and wait for any deals or promotions, to maximize time management and reduce cost.
To showcase all of these features together, we used Figma, a vector graphics and prototyping tool, to create a mockup of what the application will look like. This collaborative software allowed our team to work together online, making prototyping simpler. A key note to remember about prototyping is that it must get the message across, but does not necessarily have to be fully functional; as long as the target audience can visualize the solution and its usefulness then the prototype is purposeful.
Through the use of AI, users will be more satisfied with the remodeled home. In addition, customers can comfortably stay within their budget and easily calculate their expenses. Lastly, designs will be completely personalized based on the user’s interests and preferences through user preferences and analysis. By providing this prototype to prospective users, they can visualize their dream home and can not only make home remodeling accessible and fun, but also time efficient and easy.
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