My name is Gráinne Shortt, and I am a product design graduate. I am a human-centred designer. I design to forge a connection between the user and the product. My design style evokes feeling and creates a unique experience, different for everyone. Understanding and being mindful grant me the ability to be thoughtful and gain a deeper understanding of the interactions between the user and the product. Staying present and grounded allows me to design with sensitivity, ultimately creating a product with a deeper connection and an intimate relationship.
Idle: A somatic tool for users to embrace boredom
Idle is a handheld, ritual-based object designed to reframe boredom as a meaningful and productive state. In a culture shaped by constant digital stimulation, moments of idleness are often filled with compulsive phone use. Idle offers an alternative, helping users engage with these idle moments rather than avoiding them.
The Idle Stone is made from a smooth wooden form with a bearing and a magnet slot that allows a gentle scrolling motion. Subtle resistance and feedback from the magnet provide low-level sensory engagement, allowing the hands to be lightly engaged while the mind is free to wander. This interaction draws on principles of motor meditation and ritual design, encouraging a shift from passive consumption to intentional stillness. It plays on the idea of a shower thought; when your body is engaged in a low cognitive task, the brain can begin to wander. Idle invites users to reconsider boredom; not as something to escape, but as a space to think, process, and simply be.
