Interaction Design Methods Assignment 7 Strangely Familiar Tianjie Li
SKETCHES
5 DIMENSIONS OF DESCRIPTION Details of materials, construction, function, provenance and value.
Material Common pillow(US area, for sleeping usage): Cover-cotton damask stripe/Polyester gel fiber Special function material: microscopic PCM bead (adjusts the temperature), hypoallergenic (avoids allergy) etc. Stuff-polyester fiberfill/cotton/memory foam/ buckwheat etc. However, in different areas/countries, people have diverse materials used for pillow, such as reeds, feathers, and straw stuff. In China, there are pillows made of bamboo, jade, porcelain, wood, and bronze The shape of pillows varies from area to area also(different cultures with various of aesthetic qualities and habits matter a lot). Under most situations, pillows are square, but some are oblong which decides the stuff. Considerations: Cover-comfortable, soft and antiallergic Stuff-soft, malleable, special usage such as facilitating sleep or noise reduction http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/812XQsLs7cS._SL1500_.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71e-oeewYSL._SL1500_.jpg
Construction For common pillows, most of them are constituted by two parts, cover and stuff. The stuff is usually sewed into a cloth cover and outside the stuff there will be another cover for users to wash and change. User can discover its construction through the seam on the cover easily. Some pillow covers are unstitched while others may have hidden zippers. Pillows are kind of important decorative artifacts in bedrooms, so that decides its cover should be changeable and diverse. Also, the different functions of pillows also decide their shapes and materials which differentiate them from one another.For instance, memory foam pillows looks harder than common pillows which made of cotton and polyester.
http://upload.bh5.com/2013/1231/1388458379315.jpg
Function Pillow is a cushion, support for the head or other parts of the body, usually used while sleeping on a bed, or for the body as used on a couch or chair. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillow) But, in real life, we find out that pillows have generated a lot of different usages, such as not only for supporting body part but also supporting other stuff and using for various activities finishing on beds. Also,sometimes pillows help to separate hard stuff from users’ body.
http://www.sleepnbeauty.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ sleepingBeauty-femmewise.jpg http://www.backlevel.com/wp-content/gallery/bl1/img_4682.jpg
Provenance The pillow has a strong historical presence wherever people have been civilized enough to desire more comfort than that of the floor or a piece of furniture. The first people to use pillows were those who lived in early civilizations of Mesopotamia around 7,000 BC. During this time, only the wealthy and more fortunate people of the world were the ones who used pillows. The number of pillows symbolized status so the more pillows one owned the more affluence he or she held. Pillows have always been produced around the world in order to help solve the old, reoccurring problem of neck, back, and shoulder pain while sleeping. The pillow was also used in order to keep bugs and insects out of people's hair, mouth, nose, and ears while sleeping.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Pillow#History)
http://www.siming.gov.cn/bmfw1/lyz/lydt/201305/ W020130517258137962236.jpg
Value Comfortable-one of the crucial function of pillows is to make people’s body more comfortable so that when encountering with artifacts like pillows, people will think of comfort. Quite and calm-this is generated from the usage of pillow, sleeping, as we all prefer a relatively quite atmosphere while sleeping. Clean and tidy-people will contact with pillows directly so that everyone wants to make sure that they are clean enough. Close relationship-people sleep with closest people, parents, boyfriends/ girlfriends, husbands/wives. Safety-bedroom is the most private and personal place, so people can own their privacy here safely.
http://www.crmc.org/images/j0408908.jpg
RE-APPROPRIATED PURPOSE DESIGN Based on your understanding and description of the object, propose ways to re-appropriate the object for two different purposes
Vibrations for alerts
Emergence Rescue Story one: Bob is a first year graduate student and lives alone off campus. One day, his apartment was suddenly on fire while Bob was asleep. At this important point, his pillow ‘felt’ the smog and started to vibrate and flash. Bob wake up with a start and found out that outside his bedroom was on fire and full of smog.
Impact reduction Protection from being hurt Air filter
Bob was shocked as he had never experienced this before. He was trying to get his glasses but he couldn’t get as the smog had already swarm into his bedroom. Thus he put on the pillow to protect himself from being hurt by other artifacts and followed the navigation by the pillow. At the same time, the air filter inside the pillow kept him from breathing smog. The pillow can also reduce the impact when there is a need to jump from high place or when attacking by other stuff.
Users can track their physiological cycle and chose healing music
Sleep facilitator Story two: Sally works at American Bank and she was promoted last year. As the work is getting more complex and intensive, Sally got insomnia half year ago. She heard that there is a kind of pillow which can accommodate insomnia so she bought one. When she lied one the bed, the pillow can detect her physiological cycle and offers matched music/odor/micro electric wave to facilitate sleep.
Experience Emergence rescue
Sleep facilitator
¡ With this kind of pillows, people do not need to worry about emergencies happened while they are asleep. The pillow can alert them through vibrations and help them do self-rescue. This parallels with the value, safety that pillow offers us also.
¡ This smart pillow can automatically identify your most private information, physiological cycle and help you achieve the most confortable sleep in your life. This parallels with the value, comfortable and private.