STARE
The concept for Stare began as a graduate school challenge to address security anxieties in leaving expensive equipment unattended in shared workspaces. While the original context was a university studio, the deeper problem resonated far beyond campuses: How might we help freelancers, remote workers, and creatives protect their belongings in public co-working spaces like cafes?
Stare evolved into a speculative concept—a portable camera and app system that lets users monitor their belongings remotely in cafes, libraries, or co-working hubs, blending security with productivity insights.
Role
I led the user research and designed the user flow and feature prioritization alongside multi-disciplinary designers, Charles (Design Engineer), Cindy (3D render and printing), Yifan (Product Manager)
Research
The Vulnerability of Leaving Belongings Unattended
Nomadic workers often rely on public spaces like cafes to work, but stepping away from laptops, bags, or equipment creates anxiety:
Fear of the Unknown: “What if someone tampers with my stuff while I’m gone?”
Inconvenient Workarounds: Workers limit bathroom breaks, carry laptops everywhere, or avoid public spaces altogether.
No Trusted Solutions: Public spaces rarely offer secure storage, and personal locks draw unwanted attention.
Discovery
Interviews with 12 remote workers and freelancers revealed:
Anxiety stems from lack of awareness, not theft. Users wanted to know if someone approached their belongings.
Behavior: Many avoided productive spaces (e.g., cafes) due to security concerns.
Competitive Analysis: Existing solutions (e.g., smart locks) were bulky or required modifying belongings.
This reluctance to take protective measures doesn't mean the situation isn't affecting their daily lives. The lack of security fundamentally changes how people use a space by removing their peace of mind about worst-case scenarios. The mental burden comes not from the threat of damage itself, but from not knowing what happens to your belongings—extensions of yourself—while you're away.
Security - “someone stole something and I didn’t even know”
Privacy - “someone looked through my things and I didn’t even know”
Unknown tampering - “someone did something to my stuff and I didn’t even know”
Chained to the desk
We realised that PolyU design studio is already one of the safest environments to cowork because there is an underlying feeling of trust and accountability that comes with all of us being registered to the school. Despite that, students would never leave their valuables unattended for long, even resorting to taking their computers with them to eat lunch.
“I’ll never leave my laptop at a cafe table, even for 30 seconds. But running to the counter with all my stuff is just awkward.”
If it’s like this here, what about unfamiliar co-working environments? This expanded our scope to a handheld device that can look after a user’s belonging across every single cafe across the city.
Portable Camera
A pocket-sized device to monitor bags/laptops.
App Alerts
Motion-triggered notifications sent to the user’s phone
Incentive Layer
Using the device for security enables user to receive data tracking time spent working vs. taking breaks
Stare reimagines security in public spaces as a collaborative, user-first experience. By focusing on awareness over control, it empowers nomadic workers to reclaim peace of mind.
How it Works
