What is a friend to you ?

This is the question we're asking for the new project, in cooperation with Nokia.
In the Only Planet program, they want us to investigate our communities looking
for how people communicate in different ways.
Our group, formed by me - a Brazilian, Ule Chong (Chinese/ Malaysian) and
Rahul Sen ( Indian) decided to look back into our origins and dig characteristics
and stories, focusing on all those that are still not connected by whatever media.

Mixing them up, we wish to see what can we find that is common to these
three cultures. And so far we came up with the concept of a friend.

Please share your particular definition on this broad concept by
posting a reply here. Thank you very much, my friends.

interactive vernissage

Last friday the Interaction Design second years finished the five week course on hardware sketching
on which we were exposed to several techniques of making our concepts visible and specially,
interactable. Most of the course involved dealing with electronics and coding, having Arduino
boards, Phidgets sensors and controllers, MakeController boards, and a diverse exposure to ways
and tools was one of the many intersting points of the course. But there was also a great effort to
make us all see that creating an experience does not necessarily involve electronics.

And a great experience was created to show our concepts to visitors and other students at Umeå
designschool. We made an exhibition vernissage, inviting everyone to come and not only see, but
TRY our projects, and this was the first time for us that our interactive products could actually be
experienced more than explained. This exhibition was great for us, for the feedback we got from
other students but also great for the program of interaction design, for making visible what we do,
and increasing the awareness about this new and interesting activity.

The pictures: at top an overview of the room where the five projects were displayed. At the bottom,
the Constant Garden, my project, done with Annika Ushio. After struggling a lot with the wires and
mysteries of electronics, we finally manage to complete the project and have the rough behaviour
we wanted. Within the two weeks we had for the project, it was an accomplishment.

see more pictures from the exhibition

a new experience

This last week we had Matt Cottam and Brian Hinge from RISD/Tellart giving us a workshop on
hardware sketching and experience prototyping. They brought with them expertise and experience
in other toolkits than the ones we were using before (Arduinos and Phidgets). Now we could try
the MakeController and also develop a number of sensor from hacking/ reusing keybords and
other electronic appliances. In the pictures, the new board, Matt Cottam explaining the circuit wiring
and our desktop, with a jungle of wires.

more sketches in hardware

 

This week we continued with the hardware sketches, defining the product which
we want to develop for the course final presentation in two weeks. Me and Annika
Ushio, my classmate decided to go forward with a project we iniciated last term,
the Constant Garden. Now we're adding some behaviours to it and exploring
movement and light as its interface, being able to perceive inputs from people
and react accordingly. Our first move was to create a "wizard of oz" prototype
and talk to people, observing their reactions (as in the picture above).
For more information watch the videos we made from our development:

small video/ demo of the prototype (1.6mb - wmv file)
bigger video/ development of the week (8mb -wmv file)

black holes and revelations

These last weeks we've been discussing experience prototyping at the Design Institute.
And  the concept of experience itself was discussed, as a new paradigm to consumer products,
a stage in a evolution of comodities, having its bases in services, now we consume, or should
consume/ design experiences.

In this context I went to Helsinki to attend a concert by Muse, an english band that is really
making use of electronics in their rock music. And what I had there was truly an experience.
More than the music, the lighting, the videos - being recorded live and appearing with effects
on the big screen - and also the coordinated lights that would light up when certain chords
were pressed in the piano.... all these plus the tactile sensations of wind and the huge balloons
that were dropped on the crowd during one song.

And if on stage the electronics are changing or enhancing the experience of the concert,
on the crowd it plays a role as well. Mobile phones and cameras recorded videos and took
several photos, even transmitted the show in calls, a way of sharing a moment with somebody
else that can be continents away. These artifacts also help keeping the memories from that one
special song more lively and reachable for a private encore session at home after the concert.