These two videos are great examples of how communication can be achieved in a non verbal way. There is great opportunity for the interaction between humans and light to be extremely emotional and meaningful. This is particularly evident in the second film. Both of these movies show memorable personal experiences utilising the possibilities of light in cleverly, unnatural man-made ways.
Thursday 26 July 2012
Interaction Through LIGHT
These two videos are great examples of how communication can be achieved in a non verbal way. There is great opportunity for the interaction between humans and light to be extremely emotional and meaningful. This is particularly evident in the second film. Both of these movies show memorable personal experiences utilising the possibilities of light in cleverly, unnatural man-made ways.
Week 1
Task 1
To design a way for people to communicate certain information, without the reliance of text or voice.
Experimenting with inputs and outputs
INPUTS
squeeze, tilt, shake rattle, push, pull, tickle, press, throw, hit, rub, stroke, lick, bounce, lift, drop, rotate, stomp, step, rest, slide, touch, swipe, wipe, open, close, blow
OUTPUTS
listen, see, smell, taste, touch, heat, vibrate, flash, blink, noise, buzz, ding, expand, shrivel, move
Mechanisms that express ideas or information or accomplish a certain task. Explorations based on model making equipment available;
cardboard, Lego, play-dough, balloons, sticks, cellophane
Concept 1.
A device in which is used to assist people when doing work at a desk.
A cover over the nose attached by a band
The cover has sensors which determine which nostril air is being exhaled from.
(Based on the theory that exhaling from the left nostril indicates visual creative thinking at that moment in time, and the right meaning a more mathematical, mindset at present)
The covering has tubes which attach down onto an artistic ornament on the desk.
A simple sphere in a dish of water, spins according to the part if the brain activated at that moment.
What this achieves:
Allows people to know which part of their brain is working, enabling them to use time effectively and prioritize and organize their work in a way which is suitable to their thinking.
Concept 2.
A device used in the office workplace setting.
A layering against the back of the chair which monitors posture.
If slumping or lazing around occurs, a candle on the desk, attached to the layering is ignited
The hot air from the flame inflates a balloon.
The balloon rises as it inflates.
If posture is not corrected quickly the balloon will get too big and burst.
What this achieves:
Alerts people in an office if someone is slacking off and being lazy. It embarrasses the person and motivates them to keep good posture and continue working.
Concept 3.
A device used beside a bed in place of an alarm clock.
Positioned beside a window.
A magnifying glass is set upright in-front of a candle.
When the sun rises and enough light is shone through the glass the candles becomes alight.
The heat from the fire rises and inflates a balloon attached to the candle.
The ballon gets bigger and bigger until it finally pops.
What this achieves:
Works as an alarm clock in the morning. Alerts the user when the sun has risen.
At first it was difficult to come up with ideas of communicating without speaking or text.
It was soon realised that the best place to start was with weird and wacky scenarios.
This gave a lot of space for imagination and allows more of a thinking to go into the process.
It then became easier to conjure crazy forms of communication.
The different pieces that each group member brought along for model making provided effective starting points and inspiration for concepts.
It was interesting to hear and see other group's ideas.
There were some similarities between some groups, but mostly there was a great diversity of ideas and directions.
This activity taught me that, even though communication today is heavily reliant on text and voice, in many many different forms, these are not the only ways that communication can be successfully achieved. Thinking outside the box, outside was is normal and accepted in real life, can open up a whole world of possibilities and opportunities to design something quirky and clever.
Reading- Bill Verplank
interaction design sketchbook
BY BILL VERPLANK
Another interesting comment is the part about brainstorming.
Fluency
Flexibility
These are the two main goals and achievements that come out of initial brainstorming. They come out quickly, not deeply thought about or considered, but this is what makes them flexible and full of opportunity.
"If an idea is criticised before being expressed it dies prematurely."
Imagine how many opportunities and possibilities have been lost through the lack of exploration of initial ideas. I think a good mindset to go by in the initial brainstorming stage is, no idea is a bad idea. Potential can be found even in the silliest ideas, picking apart and expanding can result in a whole bunch of all new ideas.
Further into the reading interaction design is described in a way that should be, "for physical and emotional needs and increasingly for their intellect."
This is a good point, designing for people's intellect. With technology making everyday activities quicker and more convenient, design has started making people lazy. There is a good opportunity for design to challenge people and give them something to think about. Whilst keeping design intuitive, we should not be encouraging the lazy consumer. There should be both an input and output. Rather than being handed everything we want for doing nothing, user's should be challenged to achieve what they want in a way that enhances their user experience and satisfaction.
MAPS, PATHS, JOURNEYS, STEPS
"Interaction design is design for people- design for human use."
This is a very simple way to describe interaction design. Although I think this is true, I also think that this is not specific to interaction design. I think that this is the base of most of industrial design.
...As I type this is am continuously backspacing and deleting sentences that I just wrote. Originally I was going to write that this statement applies to every type of industrial design, not just interactive. Because industrial design is about designing products for people, to be used by people. But then I thought maybe not all products are for humans. Of course there's things like animal products. They're not designed to be used by humans. But on second thoughts they are. Animal transportation is designed to be easily handled and carried by humans. Even dog bowls which are not made to be used by humans, require human handling, filling up, carrying and washing. So perhaps even a dog bowl us designed for human use? There is also things like machinery parts. Although they are not made to be directly used by humans they form a bigger picture of a piece of equipment, system or industry that is used by humans. They also require maintenance or repairs in which they will come in direct contact with humans. And this is only achievable if these parts have been designed in a way that considers human use. So i think even if a product or "thing" is not made to have human's as the primary user, if it is not designed to apply to human usability, it cannot successfully form part of a larger system or function.
... I have become quite off topic sorry! Back to the reading.
Moving on, Verplank talks about the importance of sketching. As a way to be creative and express ideas and thoughts. Sketches are beneficial being realistic and accurate, as well as being abstract, quick and symbolic. At the moment i think this is an important thing to remember. As we are working on blogs for this project and no concept book, it is still useful to draw as a way to initially explore ideas as well as expand and growing concepts later down the track.
"Seeing feeds drawing, drawing improves seeing"
This is a very simple way to describe interaction design. Although I think this is true, I also think that this is not specific to interaction design. I think that this is the base of most of industrial design.
...As I type this is am continuously backspacing and deleting sentences that I just wrote. Originally I was going to write that this statement applies to every type of industrial design, not just interactive. Because industrial design is about designing products for people, to be used by people. But then I thought maybe not all products are for humans. Of course there's things like animal products. They're not designed to be used by humans. But on second thoughts they are. Animal transportation is designed to be easily handled and carried by humans. Even dog bowls which are not made to be used by humans, require human handling, filling up, carrying and washing. So perhaps even a dog bowl us designed for human use? There is also things like machinery parts. Although they are not made to be directly used by humans they form a bigger picture of a piece of equipment, system or industry that is used by humans. They also require maintenance or repairs in which they will come in direct contact with humans. And this is only achievable if these parts have been designed in a way that considers human use. So i think even if a product or "thing" is not made to have human's as the primary user, if it is not designed to apply to human usability, it cannot successfully form part of a larger system or function.
... I have become quite off topic sorry! Back to the reading.
"Seeing feeds drawing, drawing improves seeing"
Another interesting comment is the part about brainstorming.
Fluency
Flexibility
These are the two main goals and achievements that come out of initial brainstorming. They come out quickly, not deeply thought about or considered, but this is what makes them flexible and full of opportunity.
"If an idea is criticised before being expressed it dies prematurely."
Imagine how many opportunities and possibilities have been lost through the lack of exploration of initial ideas. I think a good mindset to go by in the initial brainstorming stage is, no idea is a bad idea. Potential can be found even in the silliest ideas, picking apart and expanding can result in a whole bunch of all new ideas.
Further into the reading interaction design is described in a way that should be, "for physical and emotional needs and increasingly for their intellect."
This is a good point, designing for people's intellect. With technology making everyday activities quicker and more convenient, design has started making people lazy. There is a good opportunity for design to challenge people and give them something to think about. Whilst keeping design intuitive, we should not be encouraging the lazy consumer. There should be both an input and output. Rather than being handed everything we want for doing nothing, user's should be challenged to achieve what they want in a way that enhances their user experience and satisfaction.
The three questions interaction designers must answer; how do you feel, how do you know and how do you do?
Eg. Turing on a light switch
Feel- the light come one
Do- Using the switch
Know- Expectations and habit
Eg. Turing on a light switch
Feel- the light come one
Do- Using the switch
Know- Expectations and habit
FEEL-
SENSES- hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, seeing
Feedback or output
Clarity or metaphor
Feedback or output
Clarity or metaphor
KNOW-
MAPS, PATHS, JOURNEYS, STEPS
COMPLEXITY, SEQUENCES
Immediate performances by first timers
The expectation of instructions
Mental maps
Landmarks
Immediate performances by first timers
The expectation of instructions
Mental maps
Landmarks
DO-
MOVEMENT, CONTROL, SEQUENCE, SPACE, TIME
Settings
Choices or selections
Choices or selections
Precision vs gesture
The reading suggests in the future computers will be inside of everything. All of these computers will talk to each other and share information. We need to think of the best ways in which humans will be able to interact with these computers.
"Human-computer interaction can be understood as a competition between three paradigms; brains, tools, media."
Brains being computers
Tools being computers
Media being computers
Computers are also life, vehicles and fashion
It seems that everything today is based on or heading towards computers. It is an ever growing technology that is fast developing more and more capabilities. The writing comments that we are trying to build computers to be just like us. They are becoming increasingly intelligent, and will only continue on this trend. Verplank says that although we are building these incredible machines that do so many amazing things, "we do not understand the world any better or how we might change it."
"Human-computer interaction can be understood as a competition between three paradigms; brains, tools, media."
Brains being computers
Tools being computers
Media being computers
Computers are also life, vehicles and fashion
It seems that everything today is based on or heading towards computers. It is an ever growing technology that is fast developing more and more capabilities. The writing comments that we are trying to build computers to be just like us. They are becoming increasingly intelligent, and will only continue on this trend. Verplank says that although we are building these incredible machines that do so many amazing things, "we do not understand the world any better or how we might change it."
Wednesday 25 July 2012
INTERACTIVE DESIGN- initial thoughts
What "Interactive Design" means to me at present;
Words that I associate with Interactive Design:
- A design approach which involves the user in a physical and tactile way
- Providing experiences which focus on particular senses
- Designing in a way that requires the user to participate in order to get some kind of outcome or result
- Could be entertaining, visually exciting, rewarding or purely functional
- A more satisfying and full-filling way of achieving certain goals
At the moment, to me it seems like a very futuristic technology based approach to design. Although I suppose you could just as effectively achieve an interactive design that involved no technology.
Words that I associate with Interactive Design:
INTERFACE TOUCH VISUAL COMPUTERS CONSULTING SHARING VIRTUAL NEW FUNCTION SYMBOLISM INTUITIVE INCLUSIVE EXPERIMENTING TACTILE FEEDBACK LIGHTS HANDS-ON FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
I wonder if by the end of this project I will associate much different words and ideas to interactive design?
Or will they remain mostly the same?
Introduction
Welcome to my Industrial Design Blog. Here I will be exploring interactive design, through research, model making, experimentation, and literature. I will investigate existing designs as well as futuristic concepts as a way to generate ideas and encourage deeper thinking into the possibilities of this topic.
I am a part of a group of 4 students, Bek, Georgina and Brenden. It is very exciting to consider the potential outcomes and results of this project when being surrounded by 3 great designers.
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