When Design Understands That Starting Is the Hardest Part - Yanko Design

"The concept behind Momenta is rooted in a simple but profound observation: incompleteness bothers us. Think about a crooked tile on a sidewalk or a puzzle missing a single piece. Something in your brain just wants to fix it. The designers tapped into this instinct, using what they call 'deficiency triggers,' small physical cues that signal something is out of place, to make starting a chore feel less like a decision and more like a natural response."

"The tape cleaner is the most visually striking of the three. It mounts on the wall via a magnetic board, and at whatever cleaning interval you set, a small trigger pops out from the panel at a random spot. The visual effect mimics the look of a dusty, untidy surface. It doesn't scold you or send a notification. It just sits there, slightly off, until you push it back in."

"The cabinet follows a similar logic. When you take something out and don't put it back, a spherical trigger drops down into the empty slot, making the absence visible. It's the physical equivalent of a raised eyebrow."

Momenta is a concept collection of household products designed by Gun Park, Gain Lee, Yangwoo Choi, and Jinha Hong that addresses the psychological barrier preventing people from starting chores. The collection includes a tape cleaner, cabinet, and detergent dispenser, each employing 'deficiency triggers'—physical cues that signal incompleteness. These triggers tap into the human brain's natural desire to fix things that appear out of place. The tape cleaner uses a randomly positioned pop-out trigger on a magnetic board that mimics a dusty surface. The cabinet drops a spherical trigger into empty slots when items are removed. Rather than using notifications or scolding, these products make starting chores feel like a natural response to visual incompleteness.

Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News