Final Project: KNEON

An interactive project was set as the final project for this module. The initial idea was to set up a website introducing existing products (the Samsung D900 slider phone). We hoped to build an experience of sleeked sophistication around the product,evoking emotions of desire within audiences, and making a visceral impact on them to achieve the intended experience. This was, however, a mistake as the experience would be built around the existing image of the product, itself already fiercely marketed through UX, branding and marketing strategies of the parent company. Since an experience was already built for the product, and we are only focusing on one product without considerations for others in its range, the project would be severely lacking in depth; we would basically be imitating (or plagarising) existing works.

Thus the concept of KNEON was born. Alcohol is a product that creates strong experiences with its consumption, either through the socio-pleasure of socialising or the physio-pleasure of the 'high' that it gives. In fact all 4 pleasures can be addressed duely. Although we are promoting a drinking culture in our project, alcohol consumption is no longer seen as a social vice today, but rather as a 'tool' towards a multitude of objectives from stres relieve to building social networks.

In conceptualising and creating our product we need to know who we are creating it for. Thus target user segments and profiles are identified and drawn up, using surveys and face to face informal interviews. From the information collected, needs and wants of our primary and secondary target users (market segments) are listed and analysed. We also identify our purpose in creating the product, which is to introduce a drink that would appeal to all senses of drinkers. Current offerings on the market such as Martell carries a 'stuck-up old man' connotation. With KNEON we hope to make drinking fashionable and trendy again and inject greater vibrancy into the nightlife scene. Such is the market potential of our product. Intrinsic needs of our target users, image-conscious professionals and executives aged between 18 to 50, are to gain social recognition, be noticed and to derive pleasure from consumption (to name a few). They are the influencers and early adopters who are status and action-oriented in their attitudes towards consumption. Apart from the social drinkers, KNEON also aims to attract th lone drinker who consumes for personal pleasure. KNEON provides for this with the assortment of flavours in its labels. Tastes would generally sweeter than most existing offerings, so we hope to attract non-drinkers to try out our product as well.

Packaging of KNEON would be done in bold colours with special features such as an LED light at the bottom of the bottle. Because KNEON comes in various colours (primarily red, blue, green), the LED light would make the bottle glow, treating consumers to a visual display of colours and improving the overall experience for them. We aim to evoke a sense of awe and mysticism with our glowing bottles, as well as fun and thrill with our bright colours and flashy labels.

The deliverables for this project are the fully interactive website for KNEON, as well as the physical product itself (bottles of KNEON filled with coloured drinks). Being the only group with a physical product, we spent considerable amounts of time creating the look and feel of our bottles to evoke the right kinds of senses and emotions. A heavy focus was also put into our website. Considering the fact that our website was a shallow one with at most 2 levels in the information structure, our focus was not on creating functionalities (like other groups), but with aesthetics of the web layout and graphics. The website is meant as an information site, so presentation would be important in conveying our intended experience across to our users. After user reviews and paper prototypings, we finally set our presentation on rotating panels atop a reflective black surface, to create a sense of dark sophistication. The colours used are primarily in tune with nightclub lightings. Finally it is our intention to build the website so users may immediately recognise it to be a symbol of trendiness and associate KNEON with that kind of quality, and allow rapid adoption for KNEON, a newcomer in the market.