I visited my friend Remko, a product designer, to try to come up with a shape for the Tamapotchi pot that would suit the character that I had started to describe in the user stories. We concluded that in order to give Tamapotchi a character, it should actually be a character. Tamapotchi is not a pot, but a creature that lives within a pot.

After one evening of discussing and sketching character ideas, we had a pretty good direction for Tamapotchi’s physical shape. Remko would translate our sketches into a 3-dimensional model and I set out to write a story about this character’s background and the product it would become. This is the story I wrote:

The story of Tamapotchi

The ancient Japanese religion Shinto instructs to live in harmony with the world surrounding us. The Shinto gods, called Kami, are present in every aspect of nature; in mountains, rivers, animals and… plants. Just look at their famous Zen gardens or the art of growing Bonsai trees, and you’ll see Japanese today still treat nature with deep respect.

In the western world many of us have lost that primal connection with nature and don’t know how to live in harmony with it. Nor do we care. Unless it comes to our own house. We all like to have beautiful and healthy plants at our homes. But since we don’t know how to care for them, they lose their showroom shine within weeks after purchase and most die within months.

This detachment from nature calls for a contemporary re-imagination of the Kami. After all, they’re supposed to be present in every plant, according to ancient Shinto. Tamapotchi takes the form of an earthworm that lives between the roots of potted plants. It helps to translate the needs of the plant to it’s owner, so he can take better care for it. Tamapotchi provides cues the modern-day man can understand, using a realtime dashboard, daily and weekly reports by mail and notifications when action is required.

But please beware, just like the Kami gods from ancient Shinto, Tamapotchi doesn’t like to be ignored… so just follow it’s lead and no harm will be done. To either plant or owner.