Gabriel De Guzman
awe
Industrial Design
awe: Designing for Peak Experience in Everyday LifeThis project was born from the realization that life is short. I witnessed someone close to me go through a life-threatening emergency and face regret over not living fully. With ~4,000 weeks in a lifetime, much consumed by routine and distractions, how might we redesign technology to live more meaningful lives?For people overwhelmed by routine, distraction, and stress, this project uses an ambient, human-centred technology that integrates seamlessly into daily life. Instead of competing for attention, it works quietly in the background—sensing context, interpreting emotional states, and understanding the surrounding environment to gently reveal moments of presence, awe, and meaning already embedded in everyday life. Unlike other passive wellbeing tools that require user effort, it quietly supports attention without demanding it. By guiding awareness toward potential peak experiences, it helps transform routine activities into opportunities for reflection, connection, and growth—enabling a more intentional, present, and fully experienced life.The Insight The core insight is paradoxical: while technology promises efficiency and connection, it often fragments attention and erodes meaning in everyday life. Digital tools frequently interfere with peak experiences; even documenting a moment can disrupt lived flow. Most interfaces impose continuous perceptual and cognitive load on already distracted users. In an attention economy, the challenge is not time management, but attention design.The IdeaThis project challenges that model by redefining technology’s role—from capturing attention to quietly restoring it. Instead of screens, notifications, or content streams, it introduces an ambient, human-centred system that integrates into daily life, sensing context and emotional state to gently guide awareness toward moments of presence, awe, and reflection.The DifferenceUnlike existing tools that rely on deliberate use, habit-building, or self-discipline, awe removes the burden of engagement entirely. By shifting technology from foreground to background, and from consumption to awareness, it transforms everyday life itself into the interface.The ImpactIts impact is both personal and societal: fostering emotional resilience, reducing stress, and shifting cultural norms away from screen-driven living toward meaningful existence. By challenging the attention economy and redefining how technology integrates into life, awe proposes a disruptive alternative—one where life is fully lived, not optimized.
