The Ex Forgetting Tree

Intention

The goal of the project is to reframe the emotional process of forgetting an ex-love. Rather than going through the painful process alone, the viewer is able to visualize how their intention to forget is helping them grow. A person must first upload and delete digital possessions from their past relationship to the plant interface. Once they've let the possessions go, the plant will be able to receive water, fertilizer, music or light.

Prototype

Cardboard boxes were used to contain the hardware parts and the clear acrylic boards were used to encase and protect the plant but allow the users to see it. It had embedded fan to spray water, speaker and a little outlet for the fertilizers to come out. LittleBits were used for electrical parts, which were controlled by the interface at the front. The interface is can be connected to the user’s phone so they can dispose the digital memories in exchange for the plant’s energy sources, check the growth of the plant and what stage they are in terms of letting go of their memories.

We also decided to include a user instruction manual as shown below:

Precedents

Our project was inspired by planting methods that are generally associated with zen meditation, such as bonsai and terrarium. One particular project we were interested in was Project Oasis, created by Harpreet Sareen partnered with Google. It is a hybrid terrarium whereby the user can control the condition inside the container by Google assistant. We wanted the same hybrid process, but wanted to attach the process of ‘letting go’, for the user to associate the process with peace and mindfulness rather than with pain and despair.

Process

While looking for the initial concept of the project, we were particularly captivated by the idea of converting negative thoughts into positive ones rather than completely casting them away. We were intrigued by the idea of creating a medium that would help the user to convert the negative memories to a source of growth and renewal.

At the beginning of the design process, we had already decided what our input and output sources will be. We decided that the input sources would be the digital legacies that represent negative thoughts, i.e. photos of the ex-significant other, that may be somewhat hard to let go all at once. And we decided the output source to be a plant, which would represent a growth and renewal, as mentioned before.

Next up, we had to come up with an idea for how to convert the input sources to output, and how to naturally and directly manage the process. We brainstormed for ideas of using these sources as an energy source for the plant to grow, and we decided to make a little ‘game’ where when you delete certain number of the pictures, text messages or any digital legacies related to negative memories, the pre-programmed pot would provide the plant with source of energy, such as water, sunlight, fertilizer, and music. However, later in the process, we disposed the idea of ‘game’ and made it into more of a solemn process of self-meditation to emphasize the seriousness that the life of the plant entails as a stake. We made that the plant itself to would not be interactive, because it serves as a ‘symbol’ representing how much you’re growing through the process of letting go, and should not be tempered with for the sake of an accurate representation.

Open Questions and Challenges

As we developed the project further, we were faced with the question of: what do we do with the plant once it’s stopped growing? Once it blooms? We had to figure out what could come after and what it would mean in a broader context. We decided to envision the product as a part of a bigger movement, where the company owns multiple gardens across the country, or the globe where the users can donate the plant to after they have completed the process of letting go. We thought that it would bring closer the people who have suffered from the loss of a loved one, and hoped that it would bring them a sense of consolation and unity, that they are not alone in the process.

Reflection

The project was successful and we were happy with the concept and the theory behind this project. However, we wished we could work more on the technical part in order to really make the product complete. With the time and skills we had, we could not figure out how to actually connect the interface to the electrical parts. With one member dropping in the middle of the project, we were faced with even larger amount of work that we did not know we could handle. However, we figured out another way to help the audience become immersed in the process - which was the instruction manual. We believe that the manual was helpful in walking them through the process, explaining what we intended our project to be and showed them the ultimate concept behind it.