Case Study
Vacuumon
How a 10-Year-Old's Question Made Me Become a Designer
#1
Highest Rated
6
Countries United
2
Major Pivots
Team Leader & UX Designer · RWTH Aachen University · 2012
Prof. Dr. Jan Borchers' "Designing Interactive Systems" course
Vacuumon is Happy!
Fed 3 hours ago • Room is clean
The Moment
Four Words That Changed Everything
"Do cats eat dust?"
The 10-year-old stared at our prototype, then looked up at me with genuine confusion. Six weeks of work.
Dozens of sketches. A character we thought was perfect — cute, familiar, universally likable.
And a child had just broken it with four words.
That was the moment I understood what design actually is. Not making things pretty. Not following best
practices. Listening until someone shows you what you missed.
"
My daughter will spend an hour feeding her Neopets but won't
spend five minutes putting clothes in a hamper. What's the
difference? The pet needs her. The hamper doesn't.
— Mother from our user research
This quote reframed everything. We weren't designing for cleaning. We were designing for connection.
The Insight
The Hamper Doesn't Need Her
Children lack intrinsic motivation for cleaning because there's no
immediate reward, no feedback, no sense of progress.
Why Vacuuming Is the Worst
You push a loud machine around. You can't see the dirt disappearing. The payoff (a clean room) is abstract and delayed. There's zero emotional connection to the activity.
What if the vacuum cleaner had a pet inside? What if that pet ate the dirt you collected?
The Tamagotchi Effect
People wake up at 3 AM to feed a bunch of pixels. They cry when it dies. Why? Because it needs them. The maintenance isn't a chore — it's care.
Suddenly, vacuuming isn't a chore. It's pet care. And kids want to care for their pets.
The Journey
We Killed Our Ideas Before They Killed Us
Week 3 — Killed
🧟 Gardening Zombies
AR projection to make weeds look like zombies. Gardeners hated it:
"I garden for peace, not violence."
Week 6 — Killed
🐱 Cat Character
Cute and familiar, but the metaphor was broken. "Do cats eat dust?" We needed something fictional.
Week 7 — Winner
👾 Three-Eyed
Creature
No real-world reference = no cognitive dissonance. Kids immediately understood and engaged.
Final
📱 Vacuumon System
Vacuum with embedded display. Creature with moods. Death mechanic for real stakes.
The Experience
The Same Moment. Two Outcomes.
Jun is 12.
He loves games. He hates chores.
Here’s what usually happens —
and what changes with Vacuumon.
Life in Motion
Riding home. Wind in his face. No rules. No reminders.
Small Joys
Snack in one hand. Controller nearby. Comfort mode activated.
Focus Mode
Homework. Multitasking. Brain already busy.
What He Loves
Speed. Challenge. Flow.
Interruption
“Jun, clean your room.”
The energy drops.
The Problem
Vaccum in hand. Mess everywhere.
One word in his head: Boring.
From External Pressure
to Internal Motivation
What changes isn’t the task.
It’s the motivational architecture.
The Same Interruption
“Jun, clean your room.”
But this time…
The Reframe
“Let’s play together.”
The vacuum becomes a companion.
The task becomes a mission.
Cleaning now gives feedback.
Progress. Sound. Emotion.
Mission Complete
Room clean.
Creature happy.
Jun smiling.
Not because he was forced —
because he engaged.
User Testing
Real Kids, Real Results
⚡
<30s
Time to understand metaphor
😊
100%
Expressed positive emotion
🔄
2/2
Continued voluntarily
Moderated testing with children ages 10 and 13. Think-aloud protocol.
Results
The Numbers
#1
Highest Rated
In class of 80 students
6
Countries United
Democratic leadership maintained morale
✓
Teaching Example
Prof. Borchers used our video in subsequent years
Key Learnings
What This Project Taught Me
1
Test the metaphor before building
"Do cats eat dust?" could have been caught in week 1 with a sketch test.
2
Kill your darlings early
Gardening Zombies had 3 weeks invested. Killing it was painful but right.
3
Diverse teams create better solutions
The three-eyed creature came from Ana's multicultural design background.
4
Design transforms feelings, not just interfaces
The same action (vacuuming) became completely
different through emotional design.
Why This Project Still Matters
This was an academic project from 2012. No app store metrics. No revenue. No users beyond our
testing sessions.
But it taught me the most important lesson of my career:
Design can change how people feel about things they've always hated.
Every professional project since — Clever Market, MindLogistics, Baiterek, VetTime — builds on
that foundation. I approach each problem by asking: "What's the emotional transformation we're
designing for?"
It all started with a kid who got excited to vacuum. And a 10-year-old who asked, "Do cats eat
dust?"
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