A physical desk companion that helps hybrid workers interrupt prolonged sitting and build healthier work routines.
Numo combines a desk accessory, a personalised app and an optional connection to a sit-stand desk. Subtle light cues and physical interactions make posture changes visible without adding more screen notifications.
Process
The project explored how hybrid work affects movement, routines and wellbeing. Research showed that working from home removes many natural interruptions, making long periods of sitting more likely.
The final opportunity was not another desk or wellbeing app, but a physical link between digital guidance and the workspace.
Research with employees, employers and experts showed that young hybrid workers often sit for long periods without noticing. At home, commuting, informal contact and movement between spaces largely disappear. Even available sit-stand desks are often underused. The design challenge became: how can sitting be interrupted without distracting or controlling the user?
Three directions were explored: a dynamic desk, a digital app and a physical accessory. Furniture enabled posture changes but did not encourage regular use. The app offered personalisation but risked becoming another ignored notification. The strongest solution connected both through a physical desk accessory.
Functional prototypes tested app notifications, sound, automatic desk movement and physical interaction. Users valued the posture change but wanted control over when it happened. Later prototypes therefore combined light cues, a mechanical push action, motion sensing and a removable display block.
The final concept makes the accessory the central interaction point. Its fixed base uses light to show time and urgency. Pressing the object confirms a posture change, while its low and raised positions represent sitting and standing. The removable upper block supports feedback, exercises and control, focus and rest modes through tilting and rotation.
Product
Numo helps users alternate between sitting, standing and short movement. A light indicator gradually fills during each work interval, making the next posture change visible without interrupting the user.
When the interval ends, the user presses Numo to confirm the transition. The removable block supports short check-ins and exercises, while a connected sit-stand desk can perform the height change.
Application
Accessory
Connected desk setup
