U-Digit
“U-Digit’ aims to solve the increasing sneaker trash problem by proposing a new business model, designing a new appearance of sneakers, as well as a new APP community for sneakerheads with technologies of NFT concept and flexible screen.
Every year in the US, people throw away over 300 million pairs of shoes, 95% of which wind up in landfills. But what happens after that, and what can we do to reduce these damaging effects? We did research about ‘from cradle to grave’ for the sneaker life cycle which was inspired by the theory ‘ From cradle to cradle’.
Research
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Research ----
Through the above information, we conclude that the environmental pollution and resource waste caused by the production and consumption of sneakers mainly occurs in three stages: production, user process and waste disposal.
Ideation
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Ideation ----
We discussed the feasibility of applying the newly emerged technologies to sneaker uppers and then chose to start with NFTs and a flexible screen. We brainstormed and sketched the overall structure of sneakers with these two technologies.
We explored the structure and shape of the sneaker even further based on screen size and removability. The final sketch started with the summarized characteristics above, We conducted a stylistic exploration and finally created a satisfactory stylistic drawing.
Product
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Product ----
As a pair of sneakers decorated with digitalization, in addition to having a screen that displays images, it also needs an application that matches it. We designed an online digital closet based on the users' need to purchase and replace NFT assets onscreen.
Users can:
Use the app and connect to the sneaker via Bluetooth
Purchase and replace the upper decoration
DIY their digital upper
Post it to the community
