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Design As Catalyst

Jiayuan Lyu

Jiayuan Lyu is a product designer and a researcher in the art of origami. She enjoys exploring the combination of science and art, such as incorporating the functional structure and geometric beauty of origami into product design.


She likes to study different materials, which can make the same structure have completely different functions. These will be the directions she has been exploring moving forward.


Researching social issues and designing responses to social phenomena is also the direction she pursues. She does not pursue a complete solution to a social problem, she hopes to provide more possibilities for people to solve problems through her own design.

Show Location: Battersea campus: Studio Building, Third floor

Jiayuan Lyu-statement

At the beginning, I wanted to use my favorite origami structure as my main means to complete the project. I started thinking from myself. What changes can I bring to myself through design? What key role can the origami structure play in this design? How can it better help me or even more people? And the shortcoming I want to change most is "procrastination".


I conducted in-depth research on "procrastination", and I found that it is a very common social phenomenon, and people of any age are troubled by it, especially among young people. I changed the design purpose from "for myself" to "for the public".


How to make time convey emotions? I want to materialize time so that people can truly feel the passage of time, amplify the feeling of time passage, and let users feel the pressure brought by the passage of time, and convey a sense of time crisis. Users can rethink their time allocation after experiencing the time crisis. How to make their time use more valuable? How to better manage your time?


The passage of time is nothingness, invisible and intangible, it is a concept of time. With the development of the times, there are more and more interesting things around us. We often fall into the "time trap" brought about by entertainment, unknowingly wasting time that should have been more valuable and meaningful. I can't save the time I wasted in the past, but I hope that through this project, some new time experience can be created, allowing people to have more possibilities for their time management by feeling the new time experience.


BE IN THE MOMENT_Image 1
BE IN THE MOMENT_Image 1
BE IN THE MOMENT_Image 1
BE IN THE MOMENT_Image 1
BE IN THE MOMENT_Image 3
BE IN THE MOMENT_Image 3

BE IN THE MOMENT is a series of time devices that respond to procrastination with the aim of creating new time experiences to provide more possibilities for people to manage their time.


BE IN THE MOMENT abandons traditional numerals, hands and other elements used in existing time devices, and instead uses the color contrast of black and white and the constant change of area to express the passage of time. Black represents the past, white represents the future, and the handover position is the present.


These alternative timekeeping devices replace traditional time devices to encourage users to BE IN THE MOMENT.

CHASING_Image 1
CHASING_Image 1
CHASING_Image 2
CHASING_Image 2

CHASING is a 24-hour countdown device that shows the time scale changes throughout the day. The time experience it brings is: the "Past" chases the "Future" and never stops.

Medium:

Tyvek, MDF, Metal, Arduino

Size:

50mm*250mm*500mm*2q
OBSERVING_Image
OBSERVING_Image
OBSERVING_Image 1
OBSERVING_Image 1

OBSERVING is a short-term timing device with a duration of 10min-3h. The time experience it brings is: Every moment is now. The fixed junction represents the "present" so that people can observe the future passing and becoming the past.

Medium:

Tyvek, MDF, Metal, Arduino

Size:

200mm*200mm*400mm
SQUEEZING_Image 1
SQUEEZING_Image 1
SQUEEZING_Image 2
SQUEEZING_Image 2

SQUEEZING is a long-term timekeeping device that lasts from 3h to 12h and repeats every day. It can be used for time-keeping such as school time, work time, etc. The time experience it brings is that the "future" has been squeezed by the "past".

Medium:

Tyvek, MDF, Metal, Arduino

Size:

250mm*250mm*700mm
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