Azu: The Anxiety Relief Buddy
In this project, I was tasked with creating a toy with sustainability in mind. It started with some light brainstorming and a research plan. I was very interested with making a soft-good toy since I'm very adept at sewing.
It was further refined into a toy for stress/anxiety relief for teens. I made a concept map to help organize my thoughts.
From there it was a matter of drawing out some ideas and some personas and getting some feedback.
Based on the feedback, I decided to pursue Azu, a soft toy with a softer expression and a pocket in his back. The idea was to have reheatable rice pillows and essential oil infused sachets that could be inserted based on the user's wants and needs with comfort in mind.
His default symbol, a sun, is meant to be a symbol of things getting better. He's a stress relief toy, so I wanted him to embody relief and hope. I named him Azu for two reasons. The first is from my own history as a design student. When I drew and designed products for class, I would put most, if not all of them under the "brand" name Azumane based off a character from a show I loved at the time. Azumane, in this context, means daybreak, or sunrise. Azumane was too long a name for a toy so I shortened it down to Azu, which can be further broken down to mean bright light and longevity, two things I wanted Azu to represent.
I then began to prototype.
Fun fact: This character has been with me for years. I would casually doodle him in the margins of my notebooks throughout high school but he never had a name until now.
I made his face and chest pieces in Fusion 360 and painted them. I wanted them to add to the comfort by including different textures. To also appeal to a wide audience, I thought having themed collections of Azu's would be cute.
Here's my user scenario.
My final poster.
