Buying Possibilities: The Double Edge of Blind Box Culture

Buying Possibilities The Double Edge of Blind Box Culture

Shuyi Wang MFA Products of Design School of Visual Arts

Buying Possibilities The Double Edge of Blind Box Culture

Buying Possibilities: The Double Edge of Blind Box Culture Copyright, 2021 by Shuyi Wang All Rights Reserved Thesis book published in completion of Masters of Fine Art degree for the Products of Design program at the School of Visual Arts, New York.

For Inquiries: swang56@sva.edu See More: www.shuyiwangportfolio.com

Shuyi Wang Author and Designer Allan Chochinov Chair, MFA Products of Design Thesis I Advisor Andrew Schloss Thesis I Advisor Jennifer Rittner Thesis II Advisor Julianna Tauschinger-Dempsey Editor Jamie McGhee Editor

We are living in a

blind box world.

Contents

Context Personal Statement

11 - 12

Key Terminology

13 - 16

Core Users

17 - 20

Design Methods

21 - 40 Introduction

Thesis Statement

43 - 48

What is “Blind Box”?

49 - 56

Literature Review

57 - 78

Primary Research

79 - 86

Thesis Projects 89 - 126

EYEPOP SIX MAGICIANS

127 - 160

BLIND BOX TRADING

161 - 176

LUCKY GREETINGS - MONI

179 - 196

BLIND BOX RAMEN

197 - 202

PAINTING BATH BOMB

203 - 216 Conclusion

Next Step

219 - 220

Bibliography

221 -224

Context

Personal Statement 11

The term “Blind Box” came from Japan. I fell in love with Japanese culture when I was four years old and began to watch hundreds of different Japanese anime. From the anime, I learned about Gashapon machines. Gashapon machines are similar to the coin-operated toy vending machines seen outside grocery stores and other retailers in other countries. When these machines popped up in China for the first time, I was thrilled. I rushed to get a Pokemon toy. A single try at the Gashapon machine was all it took for me to fall in love with them. Iʼm still in love with them to this day.

My supportive family members encourage me to keep trying different Gashapon machines. Every time I play one, I take a careful look at the posters that display the variety of possible toys that I can win--but I donʼt know which one Iʼll actually get until I play.

In 2014, China introduced a new wave of Gashapon machines from Japan, full of even more toys with exquisite and varied shapes. Of course, the price was double to triple the previous price.

I started to be selective about which game currency I purchased, and refused to participate in impulsive consumption even though all of the toys were alluring. This is because, from my many years of experience, I found that sacrificing some choices made the decisions I did make more valuable.

Now, when I am walking on the street and see these machines, I always play to get the toys. I really enjoy the feeling of not knowing which one I will get.

The moment of taking the toy out always surprises me.

In recent years, the Chinese blind box has gradually become more and more successful, and blind boxes now are used everywhere, not only in vinyl toys but also in food, travel, museum souvenirs, and more. I love trying to play blind boxes as well. Because of my twenty years of experience with Gashapon machines, Iʼm relatively calm when anticipating what surprise awaits me. Similarly, I want other people who play blind boxes to simply enjoy the happiness of unexpected surprises, without becoming addicted to spending exorbitant amounts of money on them.

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Blind Box Mechanism It is a buying mechanism. The business model is used all over the world and allows people to be surprised by their own purchases. It is similar to gambling in that people become interested in invisible things out of curiosity. It has pros and cons.

Addiction The blind box mechanism can trigger addictive behaviors. Because people pursue surprises and feel excitement arising from the unknown, blind boxes are a new type of "drug"; people “use” blind boxes to get a momentary feeling of satisfaction.

Curiosity and Surprise Accessing the positive side of these emotional states can motivate people. Surprises will not be repeated, so people always have something to look forward to in knowing that a true surprise awaits them; this brings freshness to their day or week. Curiosity and the promise of a positive surprise can therefore encourage behavioral change by inspiring people and rewarding them with a little bit of fun.

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Impulsive Behavior Applies mostly to blind box vinyl toys and blind box products. Since the marketing strategy of blind box products involves enjoying risk, many young people spend huge sums of money to buy all products to ensure that they can be surprised but will necessarily also get what they want.

Seeking the surprise with a goal in mind leads to disappointment if the goal is not achieved, so the positive potential of the black box is undermined as the impulse to seek ever more surprises takes over. The focus shifts from the joy of a surprise to the achievement of satisfaction, which is what fuels impulsivity.

Fluke Mind It means that someone wants to succeed or avoid disasters by an accidental factor. In fact，this word is a bad word，which describes those who just wait for a stroke of luck, rather than making efforts to obtain what they need.

Key Terminology 14

Gashapon Machine Gashapon machines are similar to the coin-operated toy vending machines seen outside grocery stores and other retailers in other countries. While American coin-operated vending toys are usually cheap, low-quality products sold for a few quarters (US$1 or less), Japanese gashapon can cost anywhere from ¥100–500 (US$1–5) and are normally a much higher-quality product. They are often constructed from high-grade PVC plastic, and contain more molding detail and intricately painted features. Many gashapon are considered collector's items, with rare ones fetching extremely high prices in secondhand markets.

Gashapon toys are often licensed from popular characters in Japanese manga, video games or anime, or from the American entertainment industry. These highly detailed toys have found a large following among all generations in Japan, and the trend is filtering to the world, especially among adult collectors. It is not uncommon for sets marketed specifically for adults to feature risqué female figurines.

Virtually all gashapon are released in sets—each series will have a number of figures to collect. They are, by nature, a "blind purchase"; people insert coins and hope to get the toy or figure they desire. Such an amusement element may become frustrating, as one risks obtaining the same item repeatedly.

Enthusiastic collectors will buy sets from gashapon stores in places such as Tokyo's Akihabara or Osaka's Nipponbashi (Den-Den Town).

Depending on the store, the sets are usually cheaper than buying them randomly out of a machine.

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Key Terminology 16

Core User Shanyi A 28-year-old Chinese art designer who works in New York, female She comes from Shanghai.

She is a blind box vinyl toy collector. She is crazy about the feeling she gets when she opens the invisible blind box. She dressed well before Covid-19, and she likes shopping for new clothes. Recently, however, she has stayed at home, quarantining, has remained separate from her friends, and devotes her time to work. Nowadays, her daily entertainment is browsing the web. She uses her increased free time, since she no longer leaves her apartment, to shop online. Gradually, her surfing and shopping become addictive; she can hardly step away from her devices and can't resist constantly refreshing her social media pages. Sheʼs especially delighted that even when sheʼs on social media, she can shop on sites like Instagram that know her likes and keep suggesting new shopping outlets.

When she was in China, she was an online shopping “expert,” and she thought online shopping was very convenient. Thus, she had a tendency to compulsively consume before moving to New York. She spent $1,000 $3,000 on online shopping monthly. The app she uses the most often is TaoBao. TaoBao is a very popular online shopping platform in China; the products at that official digital platform are cheap and the logistics are very fast. There are a million different types of items sold on Taobao. Her favorite shopping target is clothes. She will buy every latest series of clothes and dresses on TaoBao. In her Chinese home, she essentially converted her second bedroom into a dressing room.

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When she came to America 5 years ago, she found the living style to be quite different, and the logistics in New York were not as efficient as in China, especially since many stores did not yet have an online component. And yet, the stores in New York have more atmosphere because shopping in person has its own charm. This makes Shanyi do offline shopping. But her work schedule is very busy, and her days are long. Her limited time and busy work force her to plan better and practice more responsible shopping, online and social habits. However, once the pandemic struck, a work-from-home policy was implemented, giving her more time to use her phone and browse clothes stores or buy other online merchandise. And as clothes shops began to run more organized and efficient digital stores, she started resorting to old habits.

Now, she always shops on Instagram, Amazon, Zara, H&M, etc., not only to buy the clothes but also for any other practical items. She found that during her quarantine period, she often bought things she didn't need, but it was only after the fact that she realized that she was consuming impulsively.

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Core User Research sources Brandy, 28 Blind box collector Has the addiction of buying blind boxes Cecily, 29 Blind box podcaster Has the experience of impulsive consumption because of her job, and she needs to keep buying the newest blind box toys to attract peopleʼs attention and keep her ratings high.

You, 28, Core worker Has a compulsive consumption experience during the quarantine.

Yabo, 24 Student Very good at handicrafts, especially the baking of cookies and cakes.

He believes that handiwork can help him reduce his smartphone use.

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co-creation

Through the of experiments with my users, new blind box mechanisms should be improved and break the addiction of impulsive behavior and (re)establish a connection with other people.

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Design Method 22

Design methods should be used to engage the investigation of the new blind box system.

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Gamification Gamification is an important part of my design. I have done a lot of investigation on buying addiction and found that the main issue with the blind box market is that the emergence of new blind boxes has happened too fast. Due to a large number of designers constantly creating new toy shapes, as well as the low production cost and high output efficiency of Chinese factories, the phenomenon of constantly updating the types of blind boxes in art toy stores occurs almost unavoidably. This then contributes to the compulsive buy and ʻsurpriseʼ-addiction of consumers of blind box toys. After conducting my studies, I found that 90% of peopleʼs attention and curiosity were caught at the moment of opening the blind box.

Because of the constantly updated blind box mechanism, they became addicted to opening the blind box.

Therefore, the meaning of gamification is to add functionality and entertainment to the products in the blind box, increase its service life, and extend the length of time people love their particular blind box toy. Another design highlight of gamification is that it allows people to enhance communication between people through engaging in physical games (versus the solitary satisfaction loop). It also encourages people to renew their curiosity about the details of life. It is not only the items placed in a specific box that cause consumers to have visual blind spots. In fact, the living environment that we usually donʼt care about is everywhere in the form of a "blind box". When you uncover such blind spots and discover something unexpected, even if itʼs only a long-ago misplaced bobble, you will be surprised.

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In my research, I did not consider the blind box as a problem but used it as a sort of game or experience so that more people could understand what a blind box is. The definition of the blind box is difficult to use words to reflect its potential charm, but the use of actual experiential operation can better help users or companies who understand the blind box for the first time. So in the initial research process, if it is an online interview, I used pictures or the Magic move function in the keynote. First, I let my users experience the operating mode of the blind box. This was the fastest way to understand why a blind box is attractive and can be addictive. Offline, I made three or four different blind boxes by myself and then used clay to make several different art toys and put them in the boxes so that my research subjects could interact with the blind boxes.

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One of their reactions to the blind box can be fed back through recording. Most of the time, when I verbally explained the mechanism of the blind box, people were usually relatively uninterested. Only people who had had the blind box experience were excited because this stimulating process made them very curious. Therefore, according to the characteristics of the blind box, products are more suitable to be made of blind boxes. The first step is to use the blind box interactive experience to let people know what a blind box is. The second step is to modify the existing blind box more and let them continue. The third step is to interact with users and record people's reactions and research directions through cameras, notes, and other forms.

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At present, the gamification method revives the advantages of traditional board games, uses its entertainment and blind box mechanism to combine, and makes the game a small trigger that cultivates the joy of life while improving. In the new board games I designed, I have referenced several very popular board games in the United States, such as "Sorry", "Trouble", "Magic Hill" and "Shell game". The interactive nature of the blind box can better improve concentration and memory while users are playing games. These games also contain the element of luck, which are akin to the blind box concept. People enjoy the excitement brought by this kind of luck, which is also an important reason why compulsive consumption and purchase addiction can develop.

27

The effect I want to achieve in the final design is to break away from addiction and pay more attention to the details of life offline. Mobile phone addiction is also a very big problem after the blind box mechanism, and most people suffer from an addiction to their smartphone.

The blind box has been applied to electronic platforms, which is a problem that needs to be addressed. The gamification design process better helps users achieve a small part of their goals but in a subtle way because in the process of the game, the immersive experience makes people momentarily forget their smartphone and devote themselves to the fun of the game.

Crucially, smartphone addicts must improve their concentration in order to complete the game, but because they have had fun throughout the whole process, they have likely not noticed that everyone involved has reduced the frequency with which they grab their smartphones.

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Re-design and Co-creation

The blind box mechanism is a new system. It is very popular in China, but is only just being introduced in the United States. As a large consumer country, most users have extremely high spending power in China, so they devote their energy to addictive purchasing behaviors.

When consumers got caught up in the black box culture, they were captivated by the excitement and curiosity brought about by its promised surprises,

but they ignored the harm that buying addiction invites. The world of blind boxes is very similar to that of gambling because the user does not know what the next step is, and the user does not know the result, but often the prize will become the user's continuous investment of coins for the next round in a furious attempt to evade disappointment.

30

"Fluke Mind" is another

central point in my thesis. Users continue to waste money while using a fluke mind. When they realize this behavior, they may have no money, and in order to continue, some resort to crime. To explain with another metaphor, drug use can also be used as an in-depth way of understanding the negative side of the blind box mechanism. Because consumers themselves are immersed in the happiness of opening the blind box, endless consumer blind boxes will also bring great harm to their hearts. Co-creation is a design method that fits my philosophy very well.

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Another explanation for co-creation is cooperation. Blind boxes are not limited to art toys, they are widely used in various fields. Its application methods exist in two forms: for my design steps, it is to find more social problems, use the advantages of blind boxes to solve them, and analyze the potential impact of blind boxes; another aspect is communication. If you discuss the simulated project with peers, companies, or other designers, you can get some feedback from it and find ways to redesign it.

"Everything can be used in a blind box."

This is a social phenomenon. Whether it is clothing, medical care, services, tourism, etc., blind box mechanisms can be used to promote consumption. Therefore, in the design process, the characteristic advantages and disadvantages of the blind box should be arranged, and the serious problems existing in the society should be identified and targeted for resolution via, the blind box mechanism. This is a very important step. It is only in thinking about the wide applicability of blind boxes in the whole design process and its use to solve other social problems reasonably that exactly how to positively integrate the blind box mechanism itself can be analyzed.

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The original art toys market has been improved so that people can reduce addictive behaviors and avoid disappointment.

This realization is what led me to first examine the problem of kids and eye exams.

There are a lot of people with myopia in China, and numbers are increasing every year. I extracted this problem and made a cooperative pop-up shop using the blind box mechanism. The relevant point in this whole process is that children are afraid of having their eyesight measured, and the blind box system has negative effects which make people addicted. If the two are combined, this problem can be solved well.

When I finished the project, I communicated with designers from some companies.

Their feedback was that maybe in the United States, dentists are a nightmare for children, so perhaps this mechanism could be used to attract children to look forward to their visits with the dentist. These are very useful practical case studies, which can also be said to be part of the blind box redesign. The meaning of co-creation is to jump out of the problem itself, put it in a larger environment, and reconsider the blind box ecosystem.

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While addressing the problems of blind boxes, I also repeated experiments in the research process so as to ascertain how and whether or not the blind box should be redesigned as a solution to certain social problems. The final design result is not limited to solving social problems, so I try to find the problems in the blind box itself more cooperatively. My blind box project can be used in conjunction with the designs of my peers. This is a very interesting phenomenon. When I take advantage of their problems and take advantage of the blind box as a solution, I can be more clear about the scope and design highlights of the blind box. I found that during the investigation of the process, the blind box can only exist as a solution, so the fun of co-creating is also that the blind box can be in contact with other projects and thereby reveal myriad other possible applications.

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Interaction Design On the other hand, when people can create their own blind box, they will start thinking about how to attract people's attention. I designed an experience of co-creation which encourages my users to create their own blind boxes. Users can create any brand on the package in order to let their blind boxes be popular among other people. When users start trying to create, they have great potential to inspire each other and decrease the addiction of the commercial blind boxes.

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1. Re-value the random, unused things at home 2. Help people divert attention and reduce excessive use and addiction to mobile phones 3. Improve people's aesthetic and practical skills 4. Enhance people's actual social interaction during quarantine, rather than digital social interaction 5. Re-value surprises for other people

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Introduction 42

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“Life is like a blind box. You will never know what you are going to get tomorrow.”

- Oriana, Blind Box Expert 44

“Life is hard, life is difficult, life is trying to punch you in the gut.”

- Will Hurd

45

We need pleasant, helpful surprises because we live in a complex and troubling world. Still, the blind box mechanism has pros and cons. Once the negatives that can come with the blind box have been addressed, users will be free to enjoy all of the wonderful benefits of a system of happy surprises that brings back generosity and social interaction and removes unnecessary stressors from our daily lives.

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"Blind box" is not a new term or a new practice. The earliest formal blind box is the Gashapon machine-a buying mechanism. Gashapon machines are similar to the coin-operated toy vending machines seen outside grocery stores and other retailers in other countries. The original blind box was a physical box that had no writing or other indications on the box that might show the user what was inside. The only way to discover the blind boxʼs contents was to open the box, maintaining the userʼs suspense until the moment of discovery, which was always a hotly-awaited surprise.

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Nowadays, the blind box mechanism refers not only to the physical boxes but also gives meaning to the whole world.

That is, we are living in the blind box world. The positive mechanism of the blind box can make people's lives better and can help us develop our life. However, the negative blind box mechanism carries the risk of becoming an (expensive -- time, money, focus) addiction. In other words, people have become addicted to the blind box mechanism without being aware of their addiction and can struggle to reconnect with important elements of their lives.

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Gashapon machines are similar to the coin-operated toy vending machines seen outside grocery stores and other retailers in other countries. While American coin-operated vending toys are usually cheap, low-quality products sold for a few quarters (US$1 or less), Japanese gashapon can cost anywhere from ¥100–500 (US$1–5) and are normally a much higher-quality product. They are often constructed from high-grade PVC plastic, and contain more molding detail and intricately painted features.

Many gashapon are considered collector's items, with rare ones fetching extremely high prices in secondhand markets.

What is “Blind Box”?

49

Gashapon toys are often licensed from popular characters in Japanese manga, video games or anime, or from the American entertainment industry. These highly detailed toys have found a large following among all generations in Japan, and the trend is filtering to the world, especially among adult collectors. It is not uncommon for sets marketed specifically for adults to feature risqué female figurines.

Virtually all gashapon are released in sets—each series will have a number of figures to collect. They are, by nature, a "blind purchase"; people insert coins and hope to get the toy or figure they desire.

Such an amusement element may become frustrating, as one risks obtaining the same item repeatedly.

In recent years, the term gashapon has also come to refer to blind-box trading figures, which are essentially the same product sold randomly out of sealed packages instead of a machine.

50

A blind box can surprise you or make you disappointed. Blind box has saturated the Chinese market.

The principle of the blind box is to use people's curiosity to get them to buy something unknown with the expectation that they will like whatever is inside. It is the purchase not only of a thing but of an experience -- of an emotional space.

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Based on my research, while 90% of people think that they will not buy blind boxes because they feel insecure about spending money on something whose worth they have not been able to assess, after experiencing the blind box phenomenon, more than half of these people fall in love with the mechanism and become addicted to it. My thesis will explore that people become addicted to the black box thanks to its operating mechanism, people's insatiable curiosity, and the promotional methods adopted by the merchants.

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The sales mechanism of the blind box, another focal point of my thesis, has a different influence. The appeal of the blind box comes from the fact that it can make a positive impact on peopleʼs lives by reintroducing fun and spontaneity. Giving and receiving a blind box (or anything that is part of this mechanism)stimulates peopleʼs curiosity and gives people feelings of mood ups and downs. This is a brand new service that not only allows people to have an unforgettable shopping experience but can also be turned into a marketing model that is beneficial to all sorts of businesses and services.

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The mechanism, which has infiltrated all elements of society and is genuinely addictive as much to marketers as to users, has been shown to inflict a hugely adverse effect on people's behaviors. The blind box has become a new type of "drug", which is changing the concept of money for many people, leading to a lot of waste and excess, which is further exacerbated by the use of Internet marketing platforms and online purchasing. Addiction has promoted some consumers' bad habit of impulsive consumption. In this book, my design will address these negatives by proposing ways of improving and redesigning black boxʼs negative mechanism.

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Capitalize on positives of surprises while suppressing urge to consume impulsively

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The expectation of a happy surprise can motivate people to be better.

Some emotion scholars do not consider surprise to be an emotion because they say it is neither pleasant nor unpleasant, claiming that all emotions must be one or the other.

Many emotions experts, including Dr. Paul Ekman disagrees with this stance, noting that surprise feels like an emotion to most people; in the moment or two before we figure out what is occurring, before we switch to another emotion or no emotion, surprise itself does feel good or bad.

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From vinyl art toys themselves to carefully designed packaging that makes the products invisible to the user, how can designers help blind boxes occupy the market?

1.

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The popularity of designer toys in the art world was always predicated on its edgy street-culture credibility.

The idea of blind boxes originated in Japan during the 80s and was called Fukubukuro, which means “fortune bag” in Japanese. Customers pay a fixed price, usually 10,000 Japanese Yen, and may test their luck since goods well over JPY 80,000 to 90,000, such as digital cameras, high-end jewelry, and sometimes even vouchers for a car can be found in these bags.

The expectation of the unknown is part of blind boxes' magic that gets collectors--mainly young adults--addicted to it.

Some collectors say their body generates dopamine, the chemical known to cause pleasure when opening a blind box.

However, most die-hard collectors see value in collecting the whole set of a certain series. Die-hard collectors are known to spend hundreds of thousands of yuan on them. Two of the collectors PingWest interviewed (see original Chinese reporting), a couple from Beijing, China, spent CNY200,000 (USD$28,300) in four months on collecting blind boxes. A 60-year-old man spent a total of more than CNY700,000 (USD$100,000) within only a year.

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According to Qu Yuping, professor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, "The concept of these blind boxes is similar to that of online games.

Actually, each game creates an addictive psychological closed loop, which includes four steps: players to play the game, giving uncertain rewards, stimulating players' sense of satisfaction and luring players to consume more for entertainment."

"Except for expecting good gifts, people who buy blind boxes also enjoy the surprise and uncertainty attached to the idea of opening a mystery box. The feeling is the same as opening birthday gifts, which is called delayed gratification in psychology," Qu said, adding that the purchasing behavior satisfies young people beyond the utility of the product itself.

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From peopleʼs energy distribution in a dayʼs activities to observing the behavior changes, how to establish long-term mental entertainment and a healthy and relaxing lifestyle?

2.

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People regularly face a tension between what they want to do and what they believe they should do. After a long day at work, it might seem more desirable to watch television on the couch, even though you know you should go to the gym. Similarly, we may be aware that it is in our long-term interest to preserve the environment, but succumb to the convenience of driving to work rather than biking. Researchers have long studied the internal conflict involved in choosing between options that provide immediate gratification and options that are less desirable in the short-term, but provide more long-term benefits (e.g., Ainslie 1975; Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, and Tice 1998; Bazerman, Tenbrunsel, and Wade-Benzoni 1998; Loewenstein 1996; Thaler and Shefrin 1981).

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Bazerman et al. (1998) dubbed these common struggles the “want/should conflict” whereby people face two competing selves.

The “want” self focuses on the here and now and prefers those options that are viscerally and impulsively desired in the moment.

By contrast, the “should” self focuses more on choices that will be beneficial in the long-term (Milkman, Rogers, and Bazerman 2008, 2010).

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Research examining the want/should conflict has found that, unfortunately, the deck is often stacked against the “should” choice. People have limited self-control resources (Baumeister et al. 1998), and the immediate benefits of indulgences are often more salient than are their long-term negative consequences (OʼDonoghue and Rabin 2000).

Consequently, people are more prone to over-indulge in “wants” as compared to “shoulds” (Milkman et al. 2008), which can contribute to grim individual- and societal-level problems (Bitterly et al. 2015).

Variously described as “the wick in the candle of learning” (William Arthur Ward), the “lust of the mind” (Thomas Hobbes), and the “greatest virtue of man” (Anatole France), curiosity is the complex feeling and cognition that accompanies the desire to learn the unknown (Berlyne 1949, 1960; Litman and Spielberger 2003; Loewenstein 1994). Research has found that curiosity is a powerful predictor of behavior, playing an important role in motivating learning, mastery, and facilitating scientific discovery (Koestler 1964; Menon and Soman 2002; Simon 1992), but also in dangerous, non-normative behaviors, such as drug use and certain types of crimes (Loewenstein 1996; Kolko and Kazdin 1989). Much of the research on curiosity has focused on curiosity as a trait, captured by items such as “I enjoy exploring new ideas” and “I am fascinated by learning new information” (e.g., Litman 2005).

In general, research has found that high levels of trait curiosity foster cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development over the lifespan by motivating exploratory behavior (e.g., Kashdan and Roberts 2004; Reio and Wiswell 2000; Rubin 2005; Swan and Carmelli 1996).

For example, in the workplace, highly curious employees are described as more innovative, competitive, and resilient by their employers (Coutu 2002; Edmonson 2008; Goldenberg, Horowitz, Levav, and Mazursky 2003). That is, when employees are curious, they demonstrate greater cognitive flexibility, take greater risks, and are more open to complexity – which, in turn, expands their access to ideas and potential solutions (Gagne and Deci 2005; Grant and Berry 2011).

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How can curiosity and surprise become an antidote to behavioral addiction?

3.

Curiosity should also be viewed as a state. Like hunger, fatigue, and other visceral states, curiosity is classified as an appetitive drive associated with approach behavior and experiences of reward (Berlyne 1960, 1966; Loewenstein 1994; Maner and Gerend 2007).

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Curiosity involves positive feelings of interest, as well as feelings of uncertainty due to a perceived lack of knowledge (Litman and Jimerson 2004). An important theory of curiosity suggests that curiosity signals the presence of an “information gap” – that is, a lack of desired experience or knowledge (Loewenstein 1994; see also Litman 2005; Litman and Jimerson 2004; Menon and Soman 2002). This feeling of deprivation instills a motivation to seek out the missing information in order to reduce or eliminate the feeling of deprivation (Kang et al.

2009; Maner and Gerend 2007), even if the missing information is unpleasant (Kruger and Evans 2009) or causes people physical pain when they try to resolve their curiosity (Hsee and Ruan 2015). Despite this feeling, curiosity is not typically seen as an aversive state; on the contrary, Loewenstein (1994) remarks that people like to make themselves curious precisely for the thrill of satisfying their curiosity.

Indeed, positive feelings such as novelty, surprise, and closure help define curiosity: a desire to know something (Gottlieb, Oudeyer, Lopes, and Baranes 2013). Once people have surprised and curious feelings, they will be more focused on something they want to do, which will not be an addiction.

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Reflections on compulsive consumption and branding addiction

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Namely, it is an addiction that triggers pleasure receptors in the brain, much like drugs. The addiction escalates because the guilt over shopping leads to more depression, which prompts more buying.

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According to Mona Mrada and Charles Chi Cuib, “As with other addictions, money problems can develop and relationships can become damaged, yet people with shopping addiction (sometimes called "shopaholics") feel unable to stop or even control their spending” (Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction). In the Chinese blind box market, the problem of money waste has become a very serious social phenomenon. Regardless of the age of the user population, there is a tendency to spend money on huge amounts of art toys. This behavior has formed a lot of controversy on social media.

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As Mrada andCuib noted, “This difficulty in controlling the desire to shop emerges from a personality pattern that shopaholics share, and that differentiates them from most other people.

Often low in self-esteem,they are easily influenced, and are often kindhearted, sympathetic, and polite to others, although they are often lonely and isolated. Shopping gives them a way to seek out contact with others” ( Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction; Mona Mrada, Charles Chi Cuib; a Lebanese American University, P.O. Box 13-5053, Chouran, Beirut, Lebanon; b Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, United Kingdom; Sept 2019). Otaku/Indoorsy is one of the very typical groups in the world. They are very addicted to buying garage kits and art toys, but they are not self-confident. They are very inferior and do not have a good sense of aesthetics. They like to stay at home and have a social fear disorder.

The article mentioned, “People with shopping addiction tend to be more materialistic than other shoppers and try to prop themselves up by seeking status through material objects and seeking approval from others. They engage in fantasy more than other people, and—as with other people with addictions—have a hard time resisting their impulses. As a result, they are more susceptible to marketing and advertising messages that surround us on a daily basis.” (Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction; Mona Mrada, Charles Chi Cuib; a Lebanese American University, P.O. Box 13-5053, Chouran, Beirut, Lebanon; b Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, United Kingdom; Sept 2019) This consumption fantasy comes from the curiosity of the consumer itself. This is composed of two aspects, on the one hand, for consumers, their own mental illness is easy to cause addictive consumption, the other is the sale mechanism role of merchants.Merchants use the curiosity of people itself, expand their psychological problems, thus forming the behavior cycle of consumers who cannot stop consumption.

“As with other addictions, shopping addiction is highly ritualized and follows a typically addictive pattern of thoughts about shopping, planning shopping trips, and the shopping act itself, often described as pleasurable, ecstatic even, and as providing relief from negative feelings. Finally, the shopper crashes, with feelings of disappointment, particularly with him/herself. (Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction; Mona Mrada, Charles Chi Cuib; a Lebanese American University, P.O. Box 13-5053, Chouran, Beirut, Lebanon; b Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, United Kingdom; Sept 2019) What I pay more attention to in my research are the catharsis of this negative emotion and its consequences. This is a very small point, but it is enough to make consumers suffer from some avoidable disorders, so, through design, I feel compelled to get people's attention and encourage consumers to consume happily while maintaining good mental health.

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Compulsive shoppers use shopping as a way of escaping negative feelings, such as depression, anxiety, boredom, and anger, as well as self-critical thoughts.

Unfortunately, the escape is short-lived.” Negative emotions usually prompt more frequent purchasing. This behavioral phenomenon has aroused my interest. When users are in a bad mood, or when they feel unhappy, they often delude themselves into thinking that buying is a way of soothing their negative state. However, they will find out these things may not be liked by them when they calm down, and they are not so satisfied, so how can we make them consume rationally when they are emotional? Or fundamentally consider how to prevent them from having some negative emotions after shopping?

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“To cope with daily stress events and bring positive effects, people often resort to compulsive buying. Compulsive buying is defined as repeated and excessive buying of consumer goods not needed. Although compulsive buyers experience short-term gratification and mood improvement, this behavior consequently leads to major debts, negative feedback from family and friends, guilt feelings and psychological stress, which have negative impacts on self-esteem and life happiness.”

(Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction) This is a serious problem that has already afflicted consumers in China. My investigation has shown that this problem needs to be addressed. My thesis is related to the phenomenon that blind box culture makes people unable to engage in the practice of rational consumption.

In order to buy the specific blind box they want, addicted consumers will buy a complete set of blind boxes at all costs. Some crazy people will spend $70,000 or more on the blind box.

“In contrast, brand addicts are not in denial of their addiction; instead, they actively tell others about their passion for their addictive brands and are proud of possessing items of the addic1 tive brands. While compulsive buying provides short-term relief from dysphoric feelings,2 brand addiction provides 3 long-term gratifications.” (Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction) The operating mechanism in compulsive purchasing is to capture the inner curiosity of consumers. But the disadvantages of this problem have been ignored. In fact, the original intention of the blind box was to give consumers a sense of contentment and to relieve their anxiety, but when such consumers open the blind box, they are often disappointed. So this does not solve the purpose of helping consumers alleviate their irritability in the short-term. On the contrary, it becomes a trigger that allows consumers to buy impulsively, obsessively and to encourage consumption for the supposed purpose of achieving happiness.

“Compulsive buying refers to a preoccupation with shopping and buying, which is associated with overpowering and repetitive urges to buy, accompanied by instantaneous relief and pleasure but often followed by remorse and guilt due to awareness of the inappropriateness of the spending behavior and its negative consequences.”

(Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction) The buyer focuses very intensely on the buying and shopping process, which leads them to receive instant positive feedback after an easy and simple behavior (select/pay). It's so easy to get a sense of accomplishment during this process, that ʻfailuresʼ in the realm of other daily behaviors can feel compensated for after very little effort.

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(Cui et al., 2018) (Faber et al., 1995) (Cui et al., 2018)

“Research demonstrates that consumers develop a state of oneness with a brand (called consumer-brand identification) as a result of experiencing brand-self similarity, brand distinctiveness, brand social benefits, brand warmth and memorable brand experiences.” (Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction) "Oneness with a brand" suggests a more essential emotional state. One is satisfied through this sense of connection. The brand speaks to and through the consumer. There is mutual understanding between the consumer and the brand. They understand and reinforce each other.

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“Indeed, numerous studies show that compulsive buyers suffer from getting into debts because of lack of self-control of the need for spending more and more to alleviate stress and anxiety Compulsive buyers' lack of impulse control and inability to resist the urge to spend is likely to diminish the consciousness of avoiding getting into debts.”

(Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction) That such consumers desperately want positive feedback and reward from their behavior, is very likely a good indicator that they lack such positives in other parts of their life.

“It is reported that consumers are motivated to purchase products from brands that are congruent with one's self-image or congruent with an image that one 4 wishes to portray . There is evidence that actual self-congruence has the most influence on consumers' emotional 5 brand attachment. “Actual self-congruence reflects the consumer's perception of the fit between the actual self and the 6 brand's personality ” (Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction) Frequently relying on a brand and buying behaviors to build their own self-esteem weakens self-esteem and make them more vulnerable. But because the buyer actually lacks the ability to control the brand, the only thing they can control is whether or not they should buy.

In the same article, ”As consumers are motivated in their thinking and action based on past memories, retrospective experiences of self-congruence with some brands in compulsive buying may trigger a continuous cognitive process of selecting those brands and developing attachment to the brands to sustain one's self-esteem. Therefore, it seems plausible that brand addiction has a positive impact on self-esteem.“ This reveals that the blind box culture can successfully occupy the Chinese market and make society enter a new era of gambling. That is the brand influence brought by Pop Mart, a company that employs countless very good designers to design a wide range of blind boxes to meet the aesthetic needs of different customers. The productivity of the Chinese factory is very high and very cheap, so there are "hidden surprises" that can be priced to $20,000 or more.

This also exposes the psychology of comparison among peers. Compared with the happiness of buying blind boxes, more consumers will satisfy their sense of superiority by owning rarer blind boxes.

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(Hanley & Wilhelm, 1992) (Huber, Eisele, & Meyer, 2018; Japutra, Ekinci, & Simkin, 2019; Malär, Krohmer, Hoyer, & Nyffenegger, 2011) 6 (Malär et al., 2011, p. 34) 5

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”When engaging in a compulsive shopping process, some consumers may become aware of a brand's hedonic, functional, and/or symbolic benefits, which help them to achieve self-related goals and thereby bring a brand closer to the self. The approach/avoidance framework in addiction research suggests that positive expectancies towards the effects of the addictive behavior should result in approach tendencies while negative expectancies 7 should result in avoidance tendencies.

Thus, it may be the case that through the compulsive-buying-like repetitive shopping experience, an individual's positive experience acquired from a certain brand may induce her/him to develop trust in and addictive attachment to the brand.“(Comorbidity of compulsive buying and brand addiction)

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(Brand, Young, Laier, Wölfling, & Potenza, 2016) 77

My goal is to craft blind box culture into something that helps users work towards personal goals.

Currently, businesses use "satisfying curiosity" to induce consumers to force consumption, but there is no real way to let the advantages of blind boxes play in the minds of consumers. A blind box is currently only an entertainment consumer product, not a kind of consciousness or concept. I hope that the process of buying blind boxes to open blind boxes can encourage consumers to establish their own self-focused goals first.

I think the first thing to do is to let people give their labor/experience/thinking in the process of opening the blind box. Events with "memory" always make people pay more attention to the results obtained. Secondly, I want to weaken the comparison effect brought by the result. The blind box no longer appears in the box as a toy. It may be a more virtual existence, such as a symbolic form/a blessing/a good luck/a motivation. For example, when I am unemployed/in a bad mood/fighting with my parents, the process of playing the blind box allows me to distract and ease my mood, shift from my own negative emotions to the focus of rational thinking, and then open it. It is a blessing/encouragement.

This led me to rethink how to make consumers continue to be addicted to the brand. How can design make consumers accept virtual existence and be willing to pay for them so as to ensure its original commercial value?

People with compulsive shopping disorder may resort to borrowing money from family and friends in order to fuel their addiction. Relationships with loved ones may grow strained over time because people with shopping addiction have a tendency to continually borrow even if they lack the capacity to pay back their debt.

The combination of virtual blessing and entity blessing of ritual is the best existence. If local culture can be used to cleverly blend in a certain festival, this problem can be solved intelligently.

As a report on the website GOODTHERAPY.ORG noted, “A 2004 survey estimates 5.8% of adults in the United States have a shopping addiction.

Some studies show higher rates among online shoppers, perhaps due to the internetʼs convenience and anonymity.

The condition can cause financial concerns, relationship conflict, and personal distress. Oniomania can be as difficult to stop as any other compulsion or addiction. ”

People with shopping addiction often spend beyond their means. Although it may appear less harmful than other forms of addiction, such as drug or alcohol abuse, shopping addiction can and does create serious problems. Financial problems are the most obvious.Without anything to stop the issue, people often spend until they absolutely can no longer buy new things. This may mean they have run out of money, maxed out their credit cards, and are unable to borrow funds to continue to feed the addiction. Shopping addiction may cause financial and even legal problems if those who suffer are unable to fulfill their other financial obligations because of their addiction.

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Curiosity and its implications for consumer behavior

“The enormous power that curiosity exerts as a motivating force in human behavior, driving us, even at the risk of personal harm, to satisfy our need to know in much the same way that hunger drives us to satisfy our need to eat,” writes doctor Hal McDonald, Ph.D.

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Conve 1.

The question has been posed by Chinese online media company SINA recently: “Why are online shopping addictions increasing?” As a designer, it is both challenging and exciting to design products that leverage curiosity but do not become addictive. I am designing around 3 core principles: convenience, experience, fluency.

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enience Online shopping addictions are increasing, due to the advance exposure and accessibility. Due to virtual shopping platforms, shopping can take place by simply logging on and clicking a button with our homes as the buying location.

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Experi

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ience The human brain can be controlled by the app interface and subconscious habit formation from user experience.

Visiting a physical shop takes more time and effort than does visiting an online shop. Our brains can connect the dots and recognise the damage of excessive shopping.

However, online, every single e-commerce store is easily accessible, on a global scale, from a single device, and since the items are not immediately tangible -- we cannot walk out with a huge cart full of purchases when they have been purchased online -- there is no sense of quantity, potential excess, shame or the ridiculousness that might, in a physical store, lead a consumer to put an item back on the shelf or tell the salesperson to take it off the bill.

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Fluenc 3.

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The experimental results show that (1) perceptual fluency affects both cognitive effort and positive affect experienced during online shopping and (2) cognitive effort and positive affect influence judgments about the perceived decision quality of the choice made.

This research is notable in its simultaneous (as opposed to consecutive) examination of the relationship among the three dimensions of processing fluency (perceptual fluency, positive affect, and cognitive effort) and their impact on consumersʼ choice satisfaction with an online shopping task.

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Thesis Projects

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EYEPOP Blind Box x Eyesight Testing

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EYEPOP uses the blind box mechanism to improve compliance with vision tests by creating eye-catching blind boxes with vision test eye patches sealed inside. This is effective because blind boxes can have a positive influence on a buyerʼs state of mind, and can motivate people to try new things by encouraging them to step outside of their comfort zones. Importantly, it can also be a good way to motivate kids.

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Use blind box mechanism to increase the eye care compliance.

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Design Research 93

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Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a common vision problem that often begins between the ages of six and fourteen. It affects up to 5% of preschoolers, about 9% of school-aged children, and nearly 30% of adolescents. Studies show that the rates of myopia are increasing, which is a surprising and serious problem. The current way of measuring vision is too monotonous and makes children feel bored, so they don't take it seriously. And in Asian culture, many parents put great pressure on their children and will punish them if their eyesight is imperfect by taking away privileges like watching TV or using mobile phones. This is a vicious circle. Because children are afraid of punishment, they donʼt want to have their eyesight checked, which can cause their eyesight to decline faster.

So if the interest in the vision test is increased, the children can be involved in play via the blind box, which decreases stress, while also getting their vision measured. This can not only help children get corrected eyesight and take effective measures according to different eyesight conditions, but also allows the children to take the initiative to do things they did not want to do.

Additionally, the parents can actively cooperate with their children while playing the blind box, testing at the same time, disincentivizing their desire to punish children or to feel socially stigmatized. This approach is fun and symbiotic.

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Design Concept The concept of EYEPOP is meant to improve how kidsʼ eyesight is tested by making the test less stressful and more fun.

As part of the process of the vision test, I add the element of picking blind boxes, which can surprise children and keep them relaxed.

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Stor

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ryboard EYEPOP is a store that has professional vision tests and provides blind box vinyl toys. During the whole process, on the basis of preserving the formal medical vision test, I apply the blind box mechanism to the auxiliary products for testing vision. I made the eye patches into a blind box. When children come into the store, they have to pick a blind box eye patch first.

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Storyb 101

The following 8 figures will appear on the patch. The box also includes a hidden surprise, which further incentivizes the whole idea of EYEPOP. Every child has the opportunity to get it! Put on the eye patches they get, and go to the vision testing room. The store also provides the EYEPOP blind box art toys. The mechanism which includes surprise and rewards has a great impact to inspire kids.

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Blind Box Eye Patches Area EYEPOP

This is the EYEPOP store.

The entire store is organized into four different areas.

The inspiration of the interior design is from the pop-up shops. This space layout combines the elements of a trendy play store and a professional optical institution. It can not only help children test their eyesight, but also have fun here and help them relieve stress.

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Showcases

Eyesight Testing Area

Entertainment Area

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Pac Des

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ckaging sign

These are the three different sizes of packages for the blind box eye patches.

They can be suitable for children of all ages.

The design is inspired by eyeballs. The eyes are one of our important senses. I abstracted the shape of the eyeballs and gave them a cute shape to make the overall packaging cleaner. The pure color I chose can help children relax when they try to open the blind box.

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Character Design.

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I have designed two series of characters. They are a total of 8 characters. They are all patterns on blind box eye patches. Different character shapes have different personalities. The blind box is like a story. Children can better feel the blind box through the character's personality. So as to relieve the pressure on them from the eyesight test.

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Grap Desig

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SIX MAG 127

GICIANS Blind Box x Board Game

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In order to help people decrease their phone addiction, I used the blind box mechanism to design a board game called Six Magicians. Board games are a great way to help people concentrate while also bringing them together. In Six Magicians, everything about the game is about creating surprises.

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Increasingly, people simply cannot put down their phones.

When you think about it, a mobile phone is a lot like an abstract digital blind box. For example, on Instagram, people constantly refresh to see what new messages, likes, and posts might appear. Because people are curious about what is going to show up next, every refresh holds the promise of a surprise.

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But Instagram isnʼt the only online portal that offers a blind box experience. Think about the constant update of new stories on news sites and Twitter. Or the infinite number of videos available on Youtube and Tiktok.

Furthermore, over-reliance on the psychology of smartphones has begun to make people's memory bad--the decrease in fitness for our memory function will ultimately have a hugely adverse effect on people's lives in the future.

Current digital platforms are very sophisticated, and real-time updated news is yet another manifestation of how the desire for a steady stream of dopamine-inducing information satisfies usersʼ desires. The “black box” addiction to smartphone usage and that insatiable need to refresh are seriously detrimental to normal interpersonal communication.

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Six magicians is a physical board game which is designed for 6-99 year-olds.

The design goal of this game is to use the simplest props to achieve the most interesting interaction, to help people improve their memory, and reduce the habit of mobile phone addiction. It can help people build connections and make socializing easier. In the whole board game, not only the six characters have different skills but the players can also be interactive during the whole game, as the real magician.

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The board is designed to be like an infinite staircase, which makes the whole game more atmospheric and can also give the players an optical illusion effect and increase the difficulty of the game.

Compared with traditional board games, it is special because it keeps the blind box elements - "Surprise", "Unknown" and "Luck". Users will not know their pieces during the game. They can open the prop of the blind box cup to check their pieces which makes the game more exciting and users will have more experience.

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In the box: 6 yellow cups, 6 pieces of differ

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Instruction The goal of the Six Magicians is to be the first player to arrive at the destination with his own piece. The whole game combines playersʼ strategy, luck and memories. The game becomes especially challenging when players use different strategies and skills to win. Because the pieces are covered by the shells, according to the game rules, there is a strong possibility that the pieces will be mixed up many times. The best way for players to win the game is to remember their pieces. If memory isnʼt their strong suit, they play a game of luck. Either way, the experience is stimulating, fun and full of surprises!

rent characters + 1 blank piece, 1 dice, 1 board

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How to use the dice?

Three sides of the dice are the numbers, another three sides are the magicians.

A person who has a chance to throw a die in one round.

1. When the game starts Numbers: The players can move forward.

Magician: The player should use the yellow cup to cover one of the players' pieces.

Magician: The player should use the yellow cup to cover his own piece if it is the only one that hasn't been covered yet.

2. All the pieces must be covered Numbers: The players can move forward.

Magician: The player should mix all the yellow cups to interfere with other players' memories.

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How to mix the pieces?

Players can mix pieces together.

Speed: Players can mix the pieces quickly or slowly Position: This is a good way to change the position of the other playerʼs pieces and yours.

- If other players' pieces are closer to the destination and yours are farther away from the destination.

- Players should remember all the yellow cupsʼ positions before mixing as well; after mixing the pieces, the pieces of the sequence might be changed, but the yellow cups should be still in the same grid on the board.

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The Map The players should go downstairs or upstairs.

Before the game, make sure to go one direction.

If the players want to make the game harder, they can choose to go from both directions.

- Both directions mean the players should remember their starting point and ending point. During the game, if the players forget their pieces, they can pick the random one on the board to continue playing, making sure the direction is right.

During the game, the players can never tell the other players the specific pieces if they forgot the pieces.

If you do not remember your piece, you can pick a random piece on the map to continue the game.

However… maybe you will choose to help other players win!

The piece only can arrive at the ending point when the dice shows the same steps from its position to the destination, which means the player can move his pieces from the position to the end, otherwise, the player has to move back until the dice shows the same steps with the grids.

Get a surprise when you lift the cover after arriving at the destination!

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Six characters: There are six different characters; all of them have different skills.

There is one blank piece; it means this player has no skills!

Before the game begins, the players should pick your character at random, if the player picks the blank piece, then he has to play with it and he canʼt change.

The skills in the game can be used anytime. Players should have their own strategy to decide when to use the skill that can help them win the game.

2-3 people: be allowed to use skills 1 time 4-5 people: be allowed to use skills 2 times 6 people: be allowed to use skills 3 times

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Fox The position of the start and the destination can be swapped.

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Seeker The seeker can view a player’s piece once.

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Princess The princess has one chance to move 5 steps.

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Detective The detective has one chance to let all players lift the shells from the pieces that last for 5 seconds and continue the game.

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Spy The spy has a chance to play a “shell game” with players if other players’ pieces stay in the same grid with spy’s.

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arrior The warrior can avoid the position from changing while other players have to mix the pieces.

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“SIX MAGICIANS”

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In trying to combat impulsive and obsessive consumption, I have created a way of revaluing items with the positive blind box mechanism. I have envisioned a service and experience design called Blind Box Trading. This allows users to revalue items by putting them back into a blind box and making them back into surprises for someone else. Itʼs a system of blind box gifting to another person rather than to oneʼs self.

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I found blind boxes have distinct pros and cons. Under the whole Blind Box mechanism, the impulsive buying phenomenon is a big risk for users.

Users will be attracted by the unknown.

This, then, inspires desire and curiosity, which eventually lead to the decision to purchase. In the end, however, one can be tempted to buy too many blind boxes because the desire has grown too great.

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Although the blind box can lead to positive surprises and a moment of happiness, it can also lead a person who has become obsessed to have too many knick-knacks at home. Revaluing items at home is my next goal. I wish to combat the issue of people who are pack-rats, allowing their collections to take over their lives.

Creating oneʼs own blind box makes the user proud. The act of trading is valuable and helps to curb impulsive buying behavior and nudges users towards more traditional buying and gifting systems.

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Blind box trading is an interaction design where the residents who live in a building collect the items from their home that are useless but still valuable, repackage the items and create fun graphics on the blank bags in which their gift will be presented. After they finish the process, their blind boxes will be traded randomly to other neighbors.

This is a new blind box mechanism that helps people have more opportunities to socialize in the building and make these items that are not useful more valuable. It can help people get a surprise feeling during the whole process.

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Here is some really meaningful feedback: “Creating oneʼs own blind box makes the user proud. The act of trading is valuable and helps to curb impulsive buying behavior and nudges users towards more traditional buying and gifting systems.”

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How to combine with the positive blind box mechanism to help users solve the problem of online shopping addiction?

You should try to find something that you do not want at home and start making an art blind bag by yourself.

When you finish the process, go and connect with neighbors and do blind box trading with them. You can experience a positive surprise from opening other peopleʼs handmade blind boxes.

Through trading some valuable items with neighbors, the value of the items can be maximized while at the same time helping neighbors build friendships and reminding users that they can consume wisely and develop a habit of reasonable consumption.

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During the whole process, participants won't see each other. The trader in the building will help deliver their blind boxes randomly. First, they have to find one item they no longer use at home.

The item must noneless be valuable, not just a piece of junk., Second, they have to create the graphics on a blank bag. I prepared templates for them, they can learn from the examples to design their own blind boxes. Third, using stickers and markers to make the graphic look good. Then, users should write 1-2 sentences which are attractive and unique. The rule here is that the name of the item cannot be allowed to show on the bag.

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Put the blind box in front of the door, and the trader will come by, pick up the blind box creation as a trade made with someone else who has done the same.

Every apartment complex has at least 1 Blind Box Trader who does the pick ups and drop offs for neighbors.

Finally, they can check what they get in the blind boxes from their neighbors.

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Using the blind box mechanism to create a random chat room to surprise people during the holidays via the digital app. Moni helps people to match another registered user who has the same birthday somewhere in the world.

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More and more people have become apathetic about the work and risk of trying to get to know someone new. Due to a lack of communication skills, new acquaintances often do not know how to start their conversations. Holidays tend to provide the best automatic backdrop.

A new variation of this type of blind box trading is to allow a person with whom youʼre not yet acquainted to hide in your apartment; itʼs a creative way of connecting with new people. In the process, I have also discovered that blind boxes can actually help people to establish real-life interpersonal connections.

In the holiday atmosphere, a surprise brought by the blind box provides people with more topics to start a conversation. After people have been surprised, they should feel especially motivated to talk about a predetermined topic. The surprise acts like an ice-breaker for that initial exchange.

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I used Chinese New Year as an example to show how the app works on holiday. The young generation is willing to buy and share their blind boxes on social media, and they generally accept new mechanisms more willingly than older people. Whereas the elder generation still focuses on the traditional ceremony, young people tend to be very addicted to buying blind boxes for short-term excitement. There is a cultural gap between the two generations that causes people to celebrate the Chinese New Year separately and differently. Still, younger people do want to engage in traditional Chinese New Year celebrations and experience the new year greetings. The question is, how can the blind box mechanism be used to help young people experience new year rituals easily and efficiently?

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Moni uses the positive mechanism of blind boxes to give people a nice feeling of surprise.

The app will show all holidays within the year. When the date for a given holiday is near, the home page will take on an appropriate holiday theme. When you meet someone, you can start with a seasonal holiday greetings.

In the new year's atmosphere, the surprise brought by the blind box allows you to have more topics to start off a conversation. Moni also allows you to meet other people who share the same birthdate as you. According to the ritual for that particular holiday, Moni will provide hints as to appropriate ways of observing the holiday. For instance, around the time of the Chinese New Year, Moni might make suggestions about how to offer people seasonal blessings in the form of, say, Lucky Money ($1 or $2).

According to studies in psychology, 75% of people have more intimacy and share common living habits with partners who have the same birthdate.

Surprises can make it easier to have a good mood for people to communicate with others, then they can promote trust and build relationships with others.

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In terms of Chinese New Year, it helps to create the physical greeting ritual in the digital app, and facilitates multiple generations of people celebrating the Chinese New Year together. Moni helps people match up with someone who has the same birthday date in the world.

Moni has a new way of creating an educational and encouraging blind box mechanism. It also helps users experience the traditional Chinese new year culture from the new blind box mechanism by putting the focus on interacting with people. Let them stop the behavior of wasting money by the crazy buying of blind boxes. It creates a new way to help the younger generation and older generation to re-assemble on a digital platform to experience the traditional Chinese New Year culture together.

Avoid the lost connection of traditional customs and modern technological progress caused by cultural gaps

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Blind Box Ramen Use the particularity of the blind box to attract young people with unbalanced nutrition, and consider how to use the surprise to make fast food more nutritious. I use ramen as an example because ramen is a food that young people around the world love, but it is not particularly nutritious. Consumers need to cook other foods to balance a healthy diet.

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For the whole food design, I used the characteristics of the blind box in two parts. First, I took the ramen seasoner as inspiration and used it as a blind box. Unlike ordinary ramen, the blind box seasoner will not let people know what flavors are available. There will be no specific flavors written on the packaging, which need to be opened, cooked, and tasted to be ʻdiscoveredʼ by the user.

Taking into account allergies, the contents of the packages will be detailed enough to avoid potential allergic or other negative experiences.

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Second, I designed a blind box dinner plate. In order to improve the ritual of eating ramen, I designed each dinner plate with a different smiley face. Each part of the face is separated and can be matched with different foods. Consumers need to fill the plate according to their own imagination. They can make a meal of various vegetables, seafood, whole grains, etc. and then, while decorating the smiling faceplate, they can also enjoy eating their balanced meal, which will keep consumers healthy.

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The blind box bath bomb is a very artistic product design. I extracted the colors of world-famous paintings and put them into existing bath bombs. The user needs to pinch the blind box bath ball to explore the rich colors inside and put them in the bathtub. When the bath bomb is completely melted in the water, the user can have a bath and effectively experience being inside a world-famous painting.

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For the packaging design, I used the simplest single-color box. The title of the famous painting will not be written on the package. Only when the user opens the package and crushes the bath ball, will he discover the colors inside. The box will also contain a small business card about the famous painting, which will provide more information and let people understand the world of art.

The immersive experience is currently a very popular online interaction. The sound of the bath ball being crushed is very healing, and it can give people a sense of peace and enjoyment. So I not only made the blind box bath ball but also included the sound design, which is related to the blind box. Each of the bath bombs is made of different materials and can have different textures and make different sounds. Before taking a bath, people can crush the bath bombs by themselves while listening to different crunch sounds.

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Next Step Blind box mechanisms can motivate and inspire kids, also can help people gather together to use their phone less, when we use surprise to combat the addiction and impulsive buying behavior, it also can help people build connections.

Life will never be hard for someone who can be surprised and motivated. I am excited to have given you a deeper look into blind box culture, and I hope that you discover new mysteries every day of your life.

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Shuyi Wang Graduate Design Thesis | 2021 MFA Products of Design School of Visual Arts