Unis
Unis is a home safety companion designed to prioritize the safety and well-being of families, especially those with children. By alerting users to potential passive hazards within the home, it provides parents with peace of mind, enabling them to leave home confidently, knowing their loved ones and environment are protected. Unis offers reassurance and support, helping families navigate the challenges of daily life with greater confidence and ease.
Project Information
Sound Design Project
Collaboration
Advanced Product Design, Umeå Institute of Design
Role
Ideation, Sound Design, Visual Design
Team
Siri Müller, Johannes Rothkegel, Xingyu Liu
Context
User Scenario
The project aims to turn home security into a proactive measure. Unlike traditional alarms, Unis doesn't react to ongoing incidents but instead prevents potential dangers. Traditional smart homes often emphasize convenience and control, automating appliances or remotely monitoring behavior. We sought a different path—one that would amplify human attentiveness and foster collaborative habits in domestic life.
The auditory feedback system creates a cohesive sound family. Striking the right balance between pleasant chimes and attention-drawing alerts posed a challenge.
Key Aspects of the concept
Preventative Measure
Having the possibility to prevent dangerous situations before it occurs.
Teaching Responsibility
Giving a possibility to the parents to teach the children about security and responsibility within the home.
Reducing Anxiety
Reducing possible anxiety regarding forgetting to turn something off when leaving the home.
Visual feedback
Sound feedback
Interaction
To encourage users to engage with the objects identified by Unis rather than the Unis device itself, a LED matrix screen was selected. This choice ensures there is no ambiguity about it being a touchscreen, directing attention solely to the potential hazards. A single button fulfills two key functions: toggling between multiple issues, should they arise, and, with a long press, dismissing an issue when appropriate.
The product focuses on visual and audio feedback.
Visual Design
A dot-based text and icon system was designed specifically for the LED matrix display. The animations deliver cheerful, intuitive feedback, enhancing the learning experience and making it both engaging and enjoyable for children.
Concept
Tracking Passive Objects
Unis is different from conventional smart home monitoring by tracking non-connected devices. It sensors passive objects, such as candles and taps that are not connected to the network. Unis categorizes alerts into three areas: water-related issues, heat-related issues, and open entrances.
Heat
candles, stoves, toaster,
fireplaces, hairdryer
Open Entrances
doors, windows
Water
taps / showers
How does it work?
Unis uses infrared sensors, precision microphones and advanced computer vision technology to detect potential hazards effectively. Users are gently reminded as they leave the house to attend to any items they may have overlooked.
Physical Form
The Unis device is thoughtfully designed to harmonize its sound output with a home environment, ensuring it remains unobtrusive. Its compact size facilitates effortless interaction for both adults and children, while the soft backing adds a comfortable, tactile experience when held.
The Process
Sound positioning
Wizard of Oz
Prototyping
What should safety sound like?
We began by defining a sound persona—a character for Unis that could gently guide attention without inducing anxiety. Drawing on calm technology principles and affective sound design, we mapped out sonic characteristics across three emotional states: playful, technical, organic, and serious.
Each sound had to do more than alert—it had to suggest and invite.
Before embedding sensors, we used Wizard of Oz methods to simulate interactions in real homes.
We faked sensor feedback by manually triggering sound and pixel animations while observing users’ reactions.
We developed multiple iterations of the Unis device to integrate:
An infrared sensor array for heat detection
A directional microphone to detect water flow
A pixel-based LED matrix for low-res feedback
A tactile button for cycling and clearing alerts
Form explorations ensured that the device could blend into domestic spaces while remaining legible and approachable—particularly for children. Materials were chosen to feel soft, warm, and trustworthy.
Reflection
The core UX challenge for Unis was redefining how families — especially those with young children — experience and respond to home safety alerts. We knew from the start that Unis couldn't behave like a typical screen-based device. It had to feel ambient, approachable, and trustworthy. Sound and visual language became critical — not just in clarity, but in emotional tone. Through iterative testing, including Wizard of Oz trials and child-focused studies, we landed on a low-resolution LED matrix that communicates with warmth and precision, without overwhelming the user.
A pivotal moment came when users instinctively carried our mobile mockups toward potential hazards. That simple action sparked a major shift in our thinking: Unis needed to be portable. This unexpected behavior guided our redesign and transformed user engagement — especially among children, who began treating Unis as an active part of their routine. On the flip side, balancing safety functionality with privacy was a real challenge. Our solution: Unis stays passive until it’s needed, scanning the home just as you’re about to leave. It became a guardian, not a watcher.
Looking ahead, we see Unis setting the benchmark for inclusive, proactive safety in the smart home space. With a rising demand for intuitive tech that supports neurodivergent users and families alike, Unis doesn’t just respond to emergencies — it prevents them. As our environments grow more intelligent, we believe safety design should do the same: ambient, respectful, and always human-centered.