Concept Bombing.

i-sense you project brief- Users ability of being aware about the presence of friends and family and the status of a particular situation.. The presence must be addressed in a context that excludes face-to-face interaction..

The following are my results from the three design bomb challenges. I've also included the peer feedback sheet. 

Task One:

I was initially unsure how to approach this task. I then questioned if there was anything I had already done today that i could communicate with a different generation. I live on the Gold Coast so I thought it would be nice to signify to someone when i arrived at Uni in Brisbane. It needed to be something that was automatic- didn't require me to remember to do an action on arrival (this would be very easy to forget to do..) This system could be useful in situations where school kids travel away to go to school- it easily reassures loved ones that they have reached the destination safely.

Task Two:

A text message is a sound or vibration or a combination of both. Thats it. Between a couple a more intimate response could be desired. Long days away from each other can be draining- a friendly connection or reminder throughout the day could lighten both moods. Heat is a sensation of comfort and love, when either of the couple receive heat from the ring it instantly connects them.

Task Three:

It's very possible to exaggerate to your trainer how far you ran, how fast and for how long. This system would be very useful for a trainer who wishes to closely monitor their client. The temperature that the wristband warms to indicates how strenuous the work out is. The wristband is only warm when the run/workout is still in progress and returns to normal temperature when heart-rate is back to normal. No more lying to your trainers!

Peer Feedback:

Obvious class favourite Task Three. I think I would agree. I like the concept of Task One- letting loved ones know when you've arrived after travelling, however, Task Three I believe has the most potential in real life, to supply a relevant function.

These three design prompting tasks helped a lot for me to start thinking more critically about tangible interaction design. To get a solid idea for my system I will try to place some constraints similar to the prompts provided today. I found this a very relevant and productive lesson.

In the Workshop!

This weeks task involved bringing pieces of scrap material and an electrical product. We were told to focus on defining the behaviour of products and systems that the user can interact with and also to understand the users needs and designing to meet and exceed these needs.

I brought an old mobile phone to use as the electrical product and a bunch of scrap materials including wire mesh, sheet metal, polystyrene, foam and sheets of perspex.

We were firstly instructed to dismantle our electronic product. My phone proved fairly simple to take apart, there were five tiny screws in the back that i needed help from the workshop guys to get out- but then it was in all it's pieces. 

Inside was pretty much what I expected to be there. The circuit board was interesting to observe, I would love to know how exactly that makes the phone work?!

NOTE: Must remember proper boots for workshop. Workshop men get very angry.

Together with the other two members on my bench we had a good variety of different materials and pieces. Sara brought an old telephone and Gianna brought a Discman.

Circuit board of the Discman.

We were then instructed to mix various objects and components to attempt to make a behaviour from our creation whether it was a light, sound or movement. Together we found this task overwhelming as it appeared we had no moving parts within our range of dismantled products. So we began to build a cart.

We were then shown by a tutor that if you hold the discman wires to my phone battery you get MOVEMENT! This was most exciting for us to learn as we now had a moving part to throw into our mix.

If we had more time in that class we would of been able to put our moving part to use. Whether it was able to turn an entire object or simply move the material.

I hadn't visited the workshop since First year and it was exciting to be back there with some hands on tasks. I found this weeks tasks very useful- its often easier to learn by seeing for yourself how products work rather then just lectures and research.