MemoRI

During my time living in Shanghai, I resided close to my grandparents on the city's outskirts. Back then, I couldn't have foreseen that staying in touch with them would become a significant challenge, especially when I moved abroad. Despite the language barrier – my grandparents don't speak Mandarin – we managed to communicate using sentence fragments and body language. However, our connection was strained by their inability to use phones and my grandmother's illiteracy, which left me unable to communicate with them for a prolonged period.​In the course of my growing skills in design over the past few years, I embarked on a mission to create a product that would not only help me stay connected with my grandparents but also provide an avenue for other young individuals from our village who lived far from their families to maintain contact.​My solution took the form of a traditional Chinese calendar, a hallmark of every household in our village. Within this familiar shape, I designed a simple device that enables me and my grandparents to exchange voice messages and check-in each other. But this calendar held a unique twist: each page was not only biodegradable but also contained seeds. This ingenious touch meant that every piece of paper could be grown into a plant. Each year when I visited my grandparents, we could reflect on our past year by observing the plants that had sprouted from the calendar's pages.​Although the product is currently in the prototype stage, it has generated considerable interest within our village. Over 200 individuals have expressed their desire for this innovative calendar. Through this creation, I have endeavored to make a positive impact on my community, overcoming widespread communication challenges in rural China.

MemoRi mainly consists of 2 interactive features: 

• Behind the pages of the calendar, there is a LED screen that displays different patterns and colors according to the inputed mood of the other user. For instance, the state of "calmness" is represented by green while "happiness" is represented by orange and yellow. Thus, grandparents would be updated upon the well-being of other family members without using complex technology such as a mobile phone.

• A speaker and a recording device are installed inside the calendar to allow users to send voice messages to each other.