Echo case study exploration
Early 2026 / 3 Weeks / Umeå Institute of Design Course Project
Introduction
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Echo encourages you to re-experience joy, harmony, nostalgia, excitment, sadness, melancholy all through sonic memories.
Observe
Observe a sonic environment you wish to capture, from the everyday like bird song when out on a walk, or a special family gathering over the holidays
Capture future memories
Capture the sonic environment with Echo's mobile app. Visually designed to align with the LED matrix of Echo's player.
Player & memory Collection
Echo is composed of the player and six physical collection pebbles housed in the collection library. The player & library are designed to be stacked on top of each other for safe storage when not in use.
Transfer your memories
Transfer your sonic memories to Echo’s collection pebbles. The app takes distinct inspiration from Echo’s physical visual design to support user’s mental model of which memories are synced to which collection pebble.
Re-discover memories in your collection
Sonic highlights of memories play when a collection pebble is placed in Echo. Not only helping you find the collection you'd like to sync or listen to, but supporting re-discovery memories you might have forgotten.
Playback your Memories
Ambient playback
Toggle Echo's switch to playback in ambient mode.
Ambient playback elevates the recording by overlaying a background soundscape.
The core memory's "sonic highlights" are then brought to the foreground using spatial effects, like reverb, blending them seamlessly into the ambient environment.
Choosing soundscapes in ambient playback
Rotate the inner dial to choose between varying soundscapes with different emotional intensities.
Finding the physical form & interactions
Rotate the inner dial to choose between varying soundscapes with different emotional intensities.
