What is my concept / individual focus for the project?

Emily is an energy-saving product that monitors the users' energy consumption and alerting them of any misuse. My main focus is on families who are familiar with technology and are likely to incorporate it into their house and interact with it frequently. This alters the assumptions that may occur about the users and the way the product is designed for the user to interact with Emily. As many adult users are aware of what is good and bad energy use, my focus is more on constant reminders and changing of habits rather than learning about it. The user will be able to interact with the product via sight, sound and potentially touch. The user would be able to alter the inputs and then respond to the outputs. Whilst the outputs should be annoying to the user, it should still be perceived in a playful manner so that the user doesn't just dismiss the product and stop using it.

This is a sketch of my planned form with the inclusion of materials that I have proposed to use and technology that I hope to incorporate into the form.

What is my ideal finished product?

My ideal finished product would be able to detect multiple misuses of energy such as: if the airconditioning/heater is on and it's the same temperature outside, if a door to outside was left open while the airconditioning was on, if the lights or TV are left on when no one is in the room or if the shower was run for too long. I am currently envisioning a snowman that users can incorporate into their house and create a connection to. Ideally, the product would be made out of a hard plastic that is translucent enough so that users can see light colour changes and hear sounds but not see the contents inside. The device will react by flashing/changing LED lights, making noises and vibrating to attract attention in a playful yet slightly annoying way. The user could respond to the device by touch and then have a change of action (ie. stopping the bad habit). It could also react to voice commands but still requires the user to stop the energy consumption habit immediately otherwise the device will react again.