TableKast
01.
Overview
Completed as a capstone project for the Applied Experience Design course at The University of Texas at Dallas — in partnership with Alcon, a global leader in eye care. Alcon challenged students to explore how Generation Z views eye care and design solutions that encourage healthier habits and engagement with vision wellness.
02.
Our Team
Roles were flexible allowing team members to leverage their strengths.
Michelle Akanno — Project Manager
Judy Le — Lead Designer
Harmony Pena — Lead Developer
Mayra Alvarez — Lead Researcher
Alejandro Torres — Research
03.
Process
Step one.
Research
Explored user needs through secondary research, surveys, and interviews.
Step two.
Problem Definition
Identified pain points, developed user persona, and defined the problem statement.
Step three.
Design Exploration
Explored solutions, received feedback, sketched concepts, and design mid-fidelity prototypes.
Step four.
Deliver
Developed hi-fidelity prototypes, defined branding, created a marketing plan, and established success metrics.
04.
Research
We began our research by reviewing existing knowledge in the field. This included academic journals, medical publications, and industry reports to gain a deeper understanding of the eye care space and emerging trends among Generation Z.
To gather firsthand insights, we developed a survey focused on how Generation Z views eye health—including their knowledge, habits, barriers, and attitudes. The online survey, designed to take 5–15 minutes, was shared via social media, personal networks, and campus outreach, yielding 204 responses.
Our next step was to conduct individual interviews, giving us the opportunity to move beyond raw data and hear real experiences. Our team conducted a total of 10 interviews, with each member responsible for completing two.
05.
Research Insights
Our research highlighted key obstacles faced by Generation Z related to vision. Here’s what we uncovered:
Problem 01.
Myopia Surge
Myopia has risen 59% among U.S. teenagers, indicating a troubling trend likely driven by modern lifestyle factors.
Problem 02.
App Fatigue
Generation Z feels overwhelmed by health and productivity apps, prefer non-digital, low-effort tools that don’t add screen.
Problem 03.
Lack of Natural Light
Generation Z spends less time in sunlight. Lack of sun exposure can lead to eye fatigue, dryness, blurred vision, and higher risk of long-term problems.
Problem 04.
Extended Screen Usage
Generation Z spends more time on screens than past generations, causing eye strain and increasing myopia risk.
Interviews revealed many of these obstacles, particularly concerning screen time. Below are some quotes from our interviewees.
After identifying these pain points, we asked how to turn our findings into a meaningful design solution and what the product should focus on. To guide our efforts, we created a user persona representing our target audience.
06.
Design Goals
With our persona in place, we defined our design goals around three recurring pain points.
Eye Strain
How can we help reduce eye strain and protect vision during long periods of screen time?
Digital Overload
How can eyecare be encouraged without adding more apps or digital distractions?
Convience
How can we make eye care easy, convenient, and seamlessly fit into daily routines?
With a clear focus, we translated our goals into a concrete problem statement — “Generation Z faces growing eye strain and vision challenges from prolonged screen use, creating a need for a innovative solution that safeguard eye health and encourages healthier habits.”
07.
Ideation & Mid-Fidelity Prototypes
With the problem defined and our goals in mind, we began exploring a wide range of ideas and possibilities — here are some of the ideas we considered.
Tracking Tool
Keep track of vision changes and daily habits to stay proactive about eye health.
Projections Device
Project screens onto surfaces to reduce direct eye exposure and promote healthier viewing.
Screen Overlays
Customize displays to improve clarity, comfort, and support long-term eye wellness.
Smart Glasses
Monitor vision health throughout the day and provide actionable insights.
Adaptive Lighting
Automatically adjust lighting to maintain optimal conditions for healthy eyes.
Home Test
Quick and convenient vision checks from home to catch changes early.
In the end we decided to design a projection device as our final solution — but why was this solution chosen over the others?
We next defined our product’s core features and functions.
Next, we translated finalized features into visual sketches — we use FigJam to collaborate our ideas.
We progressed from sketches to 3D renderings to refine the look and feel of the design — (3D Images by Judy Le).
08.
Building Our Brand & Identity
With the design taking shape, we began shaping our brand identity—we started this phase with name ideas and ultimately landed on TableKast, a name that captures the product’s ability to cast digital content onto any flat surface. From there, we developed a logo and color palette to visually reflect the product’s innovative, accessible, and forward-thinking nature.
Color Palette
Shades of green in our palette symbolize growth, calmness, and eye-friendly interaction.
Logo
Using input from our team, I designed the logo with a modern font called Leixo , and used a two-tone color enhances readability — the split “K” represents the products detachable feature.
Tagline
We also developed the tagline “Where projection meets protection” – to support marketing and communicate TableKast’s value.
09.
High-Fidelity Prototypes & Product Walkthrough
As we worked on branding and identity, we also finalized the product design.
09.
Marketing Strategy
Once our product was finalized we created a small marketing plan.
Storefront Marketing
Our in-store marketing strategy for TableKast targets Generation Z by placing the product in tech and wellness sections of major retailers. Interactive displays and trained staff offer a hands-on, engaging experience that highlights key features.
Online Marketing
Our online strategy for TableKast features a dedicated website with easy purchasing, product info, reviews, FAQs, and color options, offering a simple and engaging user experience.
Website
To support our marketing efforts, I designed a conceptual small homepage to support a hypothetical online presence for our potential product.
We also evaluated methods to measure success for both TableKast and Alcon.
TableKast
To measure the success of TableKast, we would track sales revenue to see how well it’s performing, monitor customer engagement to understand how people are using it, and collect feedback through surveys and reviews to learn about satisfaction, ease of use, and its impact on eye health.
Alcon
For Alcon, success would be measured by increased brand recognition among Gen Z, clinical trials showing fewer eye issues for users, and strengthening the public perception of Alcon as a company committed to public health and positive societal impact.
09.
Project Reflection
Here are my key takeaways from this project.
Rsearch
Deep research into user needs is essential for creating impactful products.
Team
Effective teamwork is essential for taking a complex idea to a finished design.
Branding
Thoughtful design and branding increase the product’s appeal and usability.
Iteration
Iterative design and prototyping refine usability, functionality, and overall user experience.
Several key opportunities could have further enhanced the project —
01.
Testing
Conduct user testing to gather feedback and identify pain points.
02.
Development
Develop interactive prototypes to simulate real-world usage.
03.
User Instructions
Allocate more time to refine user instructions and tutorials.