collex v1

Collex Version 1

Original design and research for Collex

Collex is an app I designed to provide a digital space for communicating the importance of collecting in ways that may not have been considered before.

I conducted many types of research from January until June about the habits of people who enjoy collecting. Among my research, I found the psychological aspects to be the most interesting.

Almost every person who collects does it for personal reasons.
Some of the reasons a person can collect are:

to remember a time and place they miss (reminisce)
to have a physical anchor to ground them in life (existential)
a way to invoke memory & feelings onto the collection
for pure happiness & pleasure
to make meaning in life

Additionally, people who collect tend to be part of certain communities which have their own culture. The culture can include phrases and names given for pieces of the collections, gatherings and conventions to meet, ways to organize their collections, and so on.

However, I noticed that about half of the people I surveyed in my research did not associate themselves with any collecting community. I thought that was interesting, and was curious if there was a way to bring people together in a non-invasive sort of way.

This is when I decided that the most appropriate design solution would be to make an app that allows people to connect with each other on their individual collecting narratives. This would give people the ability to communicate with each other on what makes their collections so special, while also abiding to COVID-19 restrictions, and using the app as a game would make it fun for each individual.

Collex allows the user to place items of their collection digitally in a public location of their choice on the map. Then, other users find the collection with GPS. Once they are near the collection, the augmented reality screen would appear and show the collection they found, as well as the added story the user provides.

Promotional Video visually explaining how collex works in real time.