Yingjie Liu_Portfolio

Forgotten Land

speculative design & Public Space Design

Overview

This project is based on a real existing village, and by dismantling the behavioural patterns of the elderly and children, different interactive devices are designed to facilitate the normal functioning of the community in which they live, and to promote emotional interaction between the elderly and children.

Timeline

Sep 2022 - Mar 2023 (7 months)

Role

UX Designer; Researcher

UX Designer; Researcher;

Design Process

Background

Field Research

Resource

DISCOVER

Design Strategy

Co-Design

Speculative concept

DEVELOP

Final Output

DELIVER

Discover

Background

The State of Rural China: In terms of local analysis, exodus, ageing and degradation are the current trends and characteristics. The young and strong or somewhat capable rural people have emigrated to the big cities, the elderly have become the mainstay of the countryside, and the houses left empty have become dilapidated over time.

ANHUI

According to the results of the 7th National Population Census in 2021China's total population was 141,178,000.

509,790,000 people living in the countryside, accounting for 36.11%

From the survey sample, the proportion of people aged 60 and above in the resident population reached 23.99%,

and the number of rural children left behind under the age of 16 was 9.02 million, with 8.05 million , which reached

89.3% under the supervision of grandparents.

Discover

Field Research

I grew up in a small village in Anhui province, and when I returned to the village many years later, I found that despite the material abundance of the people, the countryside had lost its "popularity". The composition of the resident population in the countryside was becoming older and younger, with the middle-aged and young people mainly working outside, and many villages were in decline. So I began to think about this project: if one day there were only old people and children in a village, how would they live in harmony and happiness?

Human factor

Enviromental factor

The natural elements of the rural ecosystem have a rich and diverse texture that is fascinating.

Develop

Design Strategy

As for Chinese local Village, the current situation—decaying countryside, backward health care and schools, cannot meet local young people’s growth up needs, which lead to the young force leaving. Only the old people and children to guard the old houses and land handed down from their ancestors. The village is full of groups of old people piling up on the paths in the fields, chattering and resting, sometimes they look twice when they see strangers coming, and the countryside seems to have become a forgotten corner. The old people and children support each other and try to keep their lives in order. What would their lives be like if there were only old people and children here?

What we do

Overview

Discover

Develop

Define

Deliver

*Desktop Research

*Field Research

*Questionaire

*Resource Analysis

*Behavior Analysis

*Location Analysis

*Co-Design

*Speculative Design

*Environmental Design

*Final Display

*Detail Display

Ecosystem Map

An Ecosystem Map serves as a visual tool to comprehensively understand the structure and relationships within a specific domain or industry. It aids in identifying key stakeholders, depicting participant relationships, and analyzing trends to support decision-making.

This tool facilitates the recognition of opportunities and challenges, fostering collaboration and innovation. Overall, Ecosystem Maps contribute to the formulation of strategies and plans by offering a comprehensive perspective on complex ecosystem relationships.

Develop

Co-Design

I created a few questionnaires and some frames and asked the children of the village to doodle their ideal village.

Develop

Behaviour Analysis

During the field research i also studied people's typical activities and behaviors during their daily life，and then reordered these activities into the infogragh below.

Activities

Typical activities are related to farming activities, domestic work, educational activities, and recreational activities. recreational activities, etc.

Develop

Location analysis

Enviromental factor

Based on the previous research and co-creation, I reorganised some resources that had never been envisaged in the village and made them rethink educating children and raising the elderly, two activities that have a profound impact on rural life and development. By reorganising seemingly unrelated elements of the rural population and children's resources, they were able to create a mutually beneficial mechanism to transform the future development of the village.

Develop

Speculative Concept

Enviromental factor

Typical activities are related to farming activities, domestic work, educational activities, and recreational activities. recreational activities, etc.

Develop

Modeling iteration

Deliver

Final output - Interactive

Inspiration

Introduce

This is an interactive installation where old people used to burn incense and worship Buddha to send their blessings, praying reverently for peace and health for their families, good weather and good crops, the smoke is dense and full of serenity, when we collect the smoke from the incense burner to the glass room, you will see magical scenes, they form all kinds of shapes, like clouds in the sky, children use their imagination and scribble and create to their heart's content.

How To Interact

STEP 1

Praying

Old people burned incense and worshipped Buddha, praying reverently for their families and food, the smoke was full of peace.

STEP 2

Painting

The smoke from the incense burner leads to the glass room, where they form all sorts of shapes, like clouds in the sky, and children use their imagination to scribble and create

Deliver

Final output - Storytelling installations

Inspiration

Introduce

This is a story collecting device, shaped like a gazebo on the outside for resting, with a recording device shaped like a fruit hanging from the top that retracts for easy grasping. When the elderly gather together to reminisce about the past, their stories can be collected and children listen to them by grasping the fruit.

How To Interact

STEP 1

Gathering

Older people can collect their stories when they get together to reminisce about the past.

STEP 2

Listening

Children play in the installation area, grabbing capsules and listening to stories of the elderly's past.

Deliver

Final output - Irrigation installations

Inspiration

Introduce

This is an irrigation installation where children have endless energy and their energetic running can be transformed into kinetic energy to drive the waterwheel and irrigate the farmland, with high and low pipes so that children can play with water to their heart's content.

STEP 1

Playing

Children have endless energy and their running can drive the waterwheel.

STEP 2

Irrigating

The waterwheel irrigates the farmland and the high and low pipes allow children to play with water to their heart's content.

How To Interact

Deliver

Final output - Play creation area

Inspiration

Introduce

The fields are transformed into a natural playground for the children. When the grain is ripe, the straw material left over from the harvest becomes a source of creativity for the children, where they play and create their own toys using materials that can be found everywhere in the countryside. They use straw to make slide supports, small stools of various shapes and find "weapons" to guard the castle and the territory.

How To Creat

Children use the natural materials of the countryside, straw, wood and bamboo poles, to create fun playgrounds that not only delight life, but also enliven the land.

STEP 2

Creating

When the rice is ripe, the old man starts harvesting the rice and the children help pile up the straw as they work together.

STEP 1

Harvesting

Deliver

Final output - Mutual aid device

Inspiration

Introduce

This is a mutual aid device, placed at the crossroads of the community, when the elderly and children need help, they can speak their needs to the device and people nearby can hear the needs through the device and thus give help, at the same time this device can also serve as an information collection system for the community to help identify difficult areas.

How To Interact

'Inverted' horn

The base is fixed to the ground and can be swivelled around to suit the height, with a range of 90°.

90°

45°

'Microphone' horn

Base fixed to the ground, height adjustable by pulling up and down according to height, range 400mm.

Develop

Future reflections and outlook

This project was an interactive installation designed in a discursive way. I learned that by thinking differently, the future could be infinite. How to improve rural village vitality, stimulate creativity and enhance social, and cultural diversity locally, are issues in need to deeper research. How to gather stakeholders into an energized ecosystem to discuss the preferable future country living. The essence of local rural problems is the problem of mutual prosperity and sustainable coordinated development of urban and rural areas, and in the face of policy opportunities for rural revitalization, design may be able to play a leading, coordinating and promoting role in solving local rural problems.