Most products sold on the market, generally come with a short paper or digital guide, aimed at facilitating use, maintenance and, in some cases, the assembly of the object purchased.
Why doesn't this happen when buying a house?
In this project is possible to see what happens when an instruction manual accompanies the use of an apartment and all the elements within it.
On this basis, a research project on the Home HandBook has been carried out at Politecnico di Torino. The handbook wants to accompany users in...
This project involved cooperation with Euromilano SpA, a leading company in the real estate sector, which enabled the design team to interface with a real case, that of a Smart Uptown District (Milan, Italy).
UpTown is a new district, designed by EuroMilano, that is building within Cascina Merlata neighborhood. A building project was developed, providing users not only with accommodation but also with a series of services to implement the living experience, with a view to increasing the level of wellbeing of the tenants.
Here, there is an overview about the methodology.
After the objective identifications there are been two important steps: A Desk Research phase and a Field Research phase. On the basis of these findings it was possible to draw precise guidelines, essential to elaborate a first structure of the manual.
Clearly this choices were perfected during the whole design process with some step between concept validation and the project implementation.
To work on the user it is fundamental to analyze the context within he moves by a Gigamap. This analysis examined not only the actions carried out within the individual apartment, but also those fulfilled in larger shared spaces, such as the condominium, the district, the neighbourhood.
The inspections allowed an in-depth analysis of the local neighbourhood and of the individual domestic environments. A strong integration between components and systems was found in the apartments, which provide a coordinated response to user requirements.
"Without a clear communication, this interdependence is hard for the end-user to understand."
In conclusion, together with these on-site inspections, it was essential to organise individual and collective meetings and brainstorming sessions.
On this basis, it was possible to elaborate a first structure of the manual, which was perfected during the whole design phase.
The Smart Life Book is currently designed as a paper tool that every resident of the Uptown district (Milan, Italy) can consult inside their own home. It has been structured in three files but is presented as a single box, to help create a unified idea of the product. Moreover, there is a digital version in the Uptown Application.
THE SMART LIFE BOOK - WELCOME KIT
Designed to accompany users during the first interaction with their domestic space. It has been conceived as a starter pack, with a set of basic information on the residence, to gain an initial knowledge of the main aspects of the apartment and condominium.
THE SMART LIFE BOOK – CONSCIOUS LIVING
This section has been designed to help the user to fully understand the operation of the utilities in the residence and the relative components.
They are identified 4 micro-systems that power the apartments and the condominiums: the Electrical System, the Climate System, the Water System and lastly, the Construction System. Graphic maps have been designed to communicate extremely complex concepts in a very simple way and guarantee a high level of domestic comfort.
THE SMART LIFE BOOK – YOUR HOME
This section has been designed to provide assistance during the use and customisation phases of the spaces. These instructions not only guide the user to the correct use of the products, but also offer very useful information for the management of numerous aspects of daily life, such as domestic hygiene, waste management, the preparation and consumption of meals and much more.
Some kind of content, which is often not included in traditional manuals, could risk being ignored if portrayed with an arrogant and authoritarian tone. Consequently, it was essential to use friendly language and give advice and suggestions that could encourage the user to perform a spontaneous and conscious action. The development of guide characters designed according to the type of content that they communicate was extremely useful.
The project conveys content that focuses on achieving behavioural change by including people in the value chain generated, explaining how a sustainable lifestyle can directly affect the levels of comfort and wellbeing within the apartment and the district.
Another strength of The Smart Life Book was the development of systemic representations to facilitate some goals.
The Smart Life Book has been designed to be delivered when buying an apartment in the Uptown district (Milan, Italy), and particularly to accompany tenants throughout their lives inside the house.
