Per Nilsson

friend.phone

Using technology to bring people together. Users enter their interests into a profile in their mobile phone, and are notified if they get close to a person with similar interests.

Description

The result of a two-week innovation workshop called "Designing Desire", on the relations between users of handheld technology and their devices. Here is the concept description, or manifesto, as it was originally written:

Welcome to a Social Revolution.

For most of history, men and women lived close together, forming tribes and larger groups. The conditions of life was simple: either make it together with other people, or don't.

Today, we live in a society where it is the individual that matters. Sure, the nuclear family is a highly acclaimed goal, but the prospect of making your own is as feared by some, as it is dreamed of by others. It is also a poor substitute for the old tribe. Something has been lost along the way.

In modern society, social paranoia is abundant. Fear prevents most people from even looking a stranger in the eye, not to mention actually starting a conversation. It has become difficult to find friends you can trust, much because your choices are so limited by our modern ways of life!

We are still tribal people with a need to surround ourselves with others. Have you ever noticed how exhilarating it is to stop for a while to talk to a stranger, to get to know the thoughts of another person? Wondering if you will ever meet again, or even become friends? The friend.phone does the hard work for you. Constantly on the lookout for possible friends, it will allow you to explore a world of human interaction!

Concept Illustrations

Flash Illustration

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