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Intro

I took a comedic movie prop and redesigned it into a climate solution. Here's how fictional thinking led to real design insights.

Picture this

Gru's Freeze Ray is hilariously chaotic in the movies. No interface, no safety features, just point-and-freeze comedy. But what if we took it seriously?

The challenge

Transform a fictional gadget into a thoughtful climate intervention tool while keeping what makes it fun.

What if Gru's Freeze Ray Could Save the Planet?

What if Gru's Freeze Ray Could
Save the Planet?

What if Gru's Freeze Ray
Could Save the Planet?

Research Question

Why This Matters Beyond the Movies?

Emotional-state design breakthrough
How I now approach interfaces for high stress vs. exploratory scenarios

3 iterations, 100% icon clarity
Proved rapid prototyping beats endless research

Quantify Impact Potential
What change would optimized UX deliver?

Fiction-to-reality framework
Created replicable method for extracting design insights from unconventional sources

Assess Feature Discoverability
Do users notice the scrollable puzzle menu?

Cross-platform storytelling
Combined Figma + After Effects to sell complex ideas through narrative

Getting Into Gru's Head

First, I had to understand my "user." Gru isn't your typical product manager, he's a reformed supervillain with three daughters and a love for dramatic flair.

Gru’s freeze ray reflects two mindsets

mischief mode

mischief mode

Playful, experimental, showing off

defense mode

defense mode

Urgent, protective, life-or-death

To visualize Gru’s mindset, I mapped his thoughts, feelings, and actions across both mischief and defense modes. This empathy map helped translate his personality into practical interface needs.

Task 1 - Manipulating the Freeze Ray for Mischief and Humor

Task 2 - Defending Against Threats

From there, I broke down Gru’s actions using Hierarchical Task Analysis for each mode. These diagrams helped me understand how Gru operates under different emotional states like what decisions he makes, and in what order.

Task 1 - Manipulating the Freeze Ray for Mischief and Humor

Task 2 - Defending Against Threats

The Design Journey

Act 1: Paper and Chaos

I literally built a paper freeze ray with household items. Sounds silly? It wasn't. Holding a physical prototype revealed something crucial: where you put the screen changes everything. Low Fidelity Paper Prototype

Decision Medium screen on top, facing the user. Why? Try aiming something while looking sideways. It's terrible

Act 2: The Figma Breakthrough

Moving to digital, I created interfaces for both of Gru's modes. Early feedback was brutal: "These icons are confusing." "What does this button do?" Medium Fidelity Prototype

The Fix Mode-based design that adapts to emotional state. Playful colors for mischief, urgent reds for defense, calming blues for climate work.

Act 3: Making It Real

The high-fidelity prototype brought everything together. No more confusion in testing. Users instantly understood what each mode did and how to switch between them High Fidelity Prototype

Bringing It to Life

The static prototypes were good, but this project needed motion. Building the story was an iterative process. I explored multiple directions before refining the one that best balanced mischief and meaning. Now, it was time to prove the interface could actually work in the real world.

01 Story Design
& Visualization

I developed a compelling narrative arc spanning the device's journey from Gru's comedic mishaps to serious climate intervention. Creating relatable characters and establishing consistent visual language helped map the user's journey and ensure the story aligned with expectations.

Technology Saves the Day Story: Oceanic Rescue

Futuristic Story: Arctic Expedition

Before jumping into After Effects, I sketched key scenes and interactions to identify pacing issues and improvement opportunities. Multiple iterations refined rough sketches into polished frames, incorporating feedback while maintaining visual consistency.

Using After Effects, I created an animated story showing the freeze ray's transformation from comedy prop to climate hero. The animation didn't just demonstrate features it made people care about the problem.

Why animation mattered: It proved the interface worked in context. Seeing Gru switch from playful ice sculptures to serious glacier repair that's when the design clicked.

What I Learned

Fiction is a design tool

Removing real-world constraints let me explore radical solutions I'd never consider in traditional projects.

Empathy works on anyone

Even fictional supervillains have user needs, pain points, and emotional journeys.

Story sells solutions

Story sells solutionsGuidance

Story sells solutions

The animated narrative didn't just show the interface it made people care about the problem.

The Real Discovery

This wasn't just about redesigning a movie prop. It was about finding innovation in unexpected places.

The breakthrough: Different emotional states need different interfaces. When you're being playful, you want exploration and feedback. When you're saving the world, you need clarity and speed.

This insight now influences how I approach every design project. Context isn't just about use cases. It's about emotional states.

Bringing It to Life

01 Story Design
& Visualization

Technology Saves the Day Story: Oceanic Rescue

Futuristic Story: Arctic Expedition

Why animation mattered: It proved the interface worked in context. Seeing Gru switch from playful ice sculptures to serious glacier repair that's when the design clicked.