Petal Planet

Brand & Product Designer

December 2025


Timeline: 3 months
Team: 4 designers
Client Presentation:

Moose Toys senior leadership

A collaborative virtual escape room where players with unique controllers must communicate and combine their individually distributed clues to successfully diffuse a circuit.


We wanted to create a game that people would play through inter-connected objects and devices.
We were given an Arduino Uno R3 and wanted to give people a physical but also virtual experience.


I designed the device, branding and ui/ux. I also built my own circuit and packaging.




This project explores how physical objects can bring us back into the present moment. With the constant presence of AI, social media, and digital notifications, our attention increasingly lives inside screens. I wanted to design something whimsical that exists in our physical environment and gently reminds us to step away and play.


The result is a collectible interactive plant that communicates through subtle physical signals and can interact with other collectibles in the series.


The inspiration came from Google Design Lab’s Little Signals, a project that explores how objects can communicate through ambient gestures instead of digital notifications. These signals might include blowing air, shifting position, or moving a leaf to remind users to complete small tasks like stretching, walking, or taking medication.



This project involved concept development, prototyping, and brand creation, culminating in a final pitch to Moose executives.

Design Goals

  • Create a collectible, modular toy

  • Use minimal technology

  • Introduce a new interaction style within the toy category

Ideation

We kicked things off with rapid sketch exploration, generating a broad range of interaction concepts and form directions. From the start, I was also thinking through how components would connect—prioritizing modularity and ease of assembly.

Through our sketches, we generated AI images to visualize a fully realized version of the product, allowing us to pitch the concept to Moose during our second-week review. The team responded strongly to the idea of a desk plant paired with colorful, collectible vases, so we chose to further develop that direction.

Prototyping

We explored a range of ways the plant could communicate a reminder, focusing on subtle, expressive movements rather than something overly mechanical.

Using quick cardboard prototypes, we tested different mechanisms—spring systems, wobble behaviors, and variations in the proportions of both the vase and the flower to understand how form influenced motion.

After iterating through several options, we landed on a pulley-based system driven by a servo motor. It created a soft, slightly wobbly bloom that felt organic and alive, giving the plant a sense of personality.

With that direction set, we went back to refine the design—thinking through how everything would be assembled, as well as the materials and weight of the flower to ensure the motion felt balanced and natural.

CAD Models

The Flower

The flower and its adornments needed to be as light as possible, or the flower would tilt to one side. To save time, we sourced models from online forums and refined them in Blender, making them both thin and 3D-printable. We also made sure to print extra singular petals that could be used to create more realism and depth to the toy but also be used as leaves for the stems.

The Flower Stem

The stem was an integral part of the weeble-wobble system. With limited resources and time, we inserted metal nuts that fit flush inside the cylinders, experimenting with different slant angles to find the wobble that was the most fun. The stems (left image) were designed as caps for the cylinders, securely holding the flowers at the top.

The Vase

The vase is designed to be modular, giving collectors the freedom to build in different ways. When oriented in the same direction, the pieces form a gentle arch; when alternated, they create a straight line—offering flexibility in how users arrange and display their vases.

Given our time constraints, we shifted the modularity from the flower to the vase components. This allowed us to still explore the modular system while keeping the design achievable within our timeline.

We also integrated small notches into the model to support the pulley string system, allowing the weeble-wobble mechanism to sit securely and move as intended.

Execution

Most development was completed in 2.5 months, leaving the final two weeks for prototype refinement and branding.

I led both the product development and branding efforts, coordinating tasks across the team to ensure we delivered a functional prototype and cohesive product story for the final presentation.

Let's Get to Know Each Other

Let's Get to Know Each Other