An Exploration of a novel ‘light-touch’ smart material, to design for materials experience Exploring characteristics of Light Touch Matters smart materials by finding the material’s potentialities and developing a design approach for designing an application
Master Thesis Iris Jönsthövel 13 May, 2015 Chair: Prof. Dr. P.P.M. Hekkert Mentor: Ir. Bahareh Barati Design for Interaction Industrial Design Engineering University of Technology Delft
An Exploration of a novel ‘light-touch’ smart material, to design for materials experience. Graduation Thesis - MSc Design for Interaction
The work described in this thesis was carried out at the Department of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. © 2015 by I.F.C. Jönsthövel irisjonsthovel@gmail.com www.irisjonsthovel.com All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or by any other information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author.
thank you The past six months have been a remarkable period, to say the least. I could not have finished my thesis without the help of my friends, family and teachers. I remember walking into Bahareh Barati’s office after a wonderful springtime of working in Salt Lake City at Black Diamond Equipment and exploring the great outdoors of Utah. I was trying to find a graduation project and luckily I found Bahareh. At first we were somewhat lost in the aim of the project but after a few weeks and meetings we were on track. Therefore Bahareh, I want to thank you for accomplishing this project with me, next to your own PhD research and finding our groove together in this project. I would like to thank Paul Hekkert for being a leading figure in all this and for entrusting the two of us with this project. Lastly, a special thank you for the Light Touch Matters members Erik Tempelman and Elvin Karana for their enthusiasm and support of my findings for the Light Touch Matters project. Without the help of my great friends Pauline, Roemer, Jelle, Lotte, Maike, Mariet, Amy, Judith, Jan, Janna and Romy I would not have been able to do so many explorations, with creative sessions and inspirational discussions. But most of all I would like to express my thanks to my friend Koen, who was always there for me to help me and support me in my Research & Design adventures. I would like to thank the best parents in the world, Jos and Bettie, for always believing in my engineering skills and for their support in making all my extra-curricular adventures in far-away countries. And of course I would like to thank my awesome big brothers for supporting all my activities over the years: Nils, for encouraging me to always be awesome and Tom for always praising my creativity and enthusiasm. Finally, I would like to thank my adventuring philosopher and favorite geek Jeroen, for relishing my unpredictable splurges every now and then and making my eyes twinkle every day. Iris Jönsthövel, Delft, April 2015
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executive summary During a period of six months since September 2014 I have been working at Delft University on a graduation project involving the development of a novel ‘lighttouch’ smart material named Light Touch Matters (LTM). The LTM consortium that is developing this smart material is composed of seventeen partners from eight EU countries. It is a diverse group of professionals, including material researchers, designers and design students. The aim of their collaboration is to ensure that the LTM smart material acquires the right functional and aesthetical qualities. They are confident to say that this novel lighttouch material has great potential for a broad range of applications.
The thesis mainly concentrates on the phase in which the potential of the LTM material was explored. This phase has yielded various explorative tests and deliverables. The design phase and the exploration phase are intertwined, seeing that most of the explorations culminate in design decisions.
Exploring the potential Mapping of the LTM smart material The LTM smart material composition exists of two main layers, a Piezo-plastic with a flexible Oled layer on top. These two layers combine characteristics that make the novel Light-Touch material respond to an input of touch and deformation and react with surface illumination and a light-effect. On top of these two layers is a tactile surface layer that can differ per piece of material. I have mapped all the technical and experiential characteristics in an overview document, a video compilation and a mind map.
My quest as a student in Design for Interaction involved: - Exploring the potentialities of this LTM smart material. Unfortunately the material was, and still is, not available in any tangible/visible form to experiment with - Organizing the potential of this smart material in a method that designers can easily adopt - Designing a concept that both illustrates the potential in interaction and physicality of the material.
Context mapping with designers Initially the mapping of this LTM did not ‘invite’ me, as a designer, to deliver concepts. Something was missing, but I could not put a finger on it. By doing a context mapping session with five other IDE graduates and students I could see what the effect of my mapping was and that the potential in interaction could not be illustrated sufficiently by merely mapping with 2D mediums. It transpired that I was missing the tactile experience.
This yields the research question: ‘’ How can the LTM smart material be explored to map out all the characteristics and find the experiential potentialities for developing a design approach to embody these main potentialities in the design of an application? ‘’
Defining potential interactions by simulating the smart material To find the potential interaction with the material I created a small material ‘library’ using a sheet of plastic. This sheet had the same bending radius as the LTM smart material and the thickness of the Piezo-plastic layer and flexible Oled-layer combined. By exploring the defor-
The final aim is to show the LTM consortium how they will be able to find more potentialities of the LTM smart material by developing the material experience. This results in a final showcase-concept and a plan on how to improve the collaboration between researchers and designers.
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mation possibilities, the form factor potential and the application of different surface layer textures and finishes, the material came to life. By inserting the data in a matrix together with the potential light effect, I could define potential interactions.
ing-dimming and squeezing-pulsating interactions is stated below.
Defining qualities of interactions To see what experiences, emotions or feelings people would have with the different deformation possibilities and light effects I let them fill out a poster questionnaire that allowed them to collect their thoughts. The appearance on screen of the actual poster helped and stimulated them to structure and write down keywords.
‘ The interaction with the material’s tactile and visual possibilities should be dynamic and mystifying. It should feel like expressing oneself when on the move, but at the same time ensuring personal safety. ‘
‘ I want people in unclear weather conditions to communicate their presence to the people around them for extra safety and visibility.’
Qualities: dynamic, powerful, lively, expressive, stimulating, playful, reassuring, safe Defining a context and model-user There is no concept without a story and no story without a main character. By creating a context around my design goal and interaction vision I was able to define a model-user. This helped me to organize my thoughts, develop a scenario and eventually define the application that would lead to a final concept.
Organizing the potential Creating the Design under Uncertainty guiding method (DuU) With the information thus far on potentialities in interaction and experiences and by combining these with the other characteristics of the LTM smart material I was able to create a guiding step-bystep method, the Design under Uncertainty (DuU) method, to be able to design with the LTM material. Starting with LTM interaction and with every step you take, the scope is narrowed down and a decision is made on solving an uncertainty. This way the potential of the LTM material is organized and therefore one is able to phrase a focus without actually having a context to design for. I have made the decision to showcase two interactions, stroking-dimming and squeezing-pulsating and create a focus concentrated on the combination of these two.
Designing a concept Defining the application My model-user is a woman who lives for having experiences, who wants to go out there and explore her surroundings. In stormy weather, or in darkness an extra power source for survival can be of great use. I can see her wearing a garment with a stylish cape (‘superwoman’) design for both day and night. The cape changes its purpose when the wearer interacts with it and provides the super power the wearer needs. Exploring potential of the tactile surface layer, forms and shapes I explored the potential in interactions with the material, but the potential of a different tactile surface layer or a different shape or form of the LTM material is yet to be researched. By creating samples to test the best surface layer texture for stroking and the best forms in shapes for squeezing I was able to decide on placement of the LTM material in a gar-
Defining an interaction vision and a design goal Every designer can choose a different kind of interaction to design for, make other choices along the way with a different interpretation of the DuU steps and therefore come up with a different focus. This focus includes a design goal and an interaction vision with qualities wanted to design a concept for. My design goal and interaction vision based on the strok-
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ment and to make the final design decisions. Designing the final application of the LTM smart material By deciding on a texture for stroking that invites someone to actually stroke the material, I created a texture for the final design and a shape for the final form for squeezing. Squeezing the shoulder of the garment results in a pulsating light effect and stroking the sleeve results in an increasing dimming light. When this woman is biking or running she can communicate through her jacket by changing the material experience from an expressive form to a way of communicating through light.
Conclusion To conclude my design explorative research thesis, I can say that the LTM material has indeed great potential, but it should be thoroughly researched, viz. by building several prototypes with differences in shapes, forms and textures. For every interaction with the material and to create lots of different material experiences each different prototype could show other potentialities and qualities that invite one to interact differently with it. Provided that designers and researchers decide to join forces in working together to achieve this, I am confident that the LTM smart material has great potential in future application design.
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contents
0. Preface 05
2. The Light Touch Matters platform 15-18
5. Experimenting with a material library 39-42
IL. Interlude on validation & presentation 52-53
IL. Interlude on sub-conclusions part 1 73-74
11. Creating a final concept Part 2 98-102
0. Introduction 06
3. Mapping the LTM smart interface material 20-28
6. Developing the mapping matrix 43-45
8. The Design Approach model // Design under Uncertainty 55-67
1. Introducing smart materials in a nutshell 11-14
4. Testing with designers 29-38
7. Exploring qualities in interactions 46-51
9. Story of the future concept 68-72
10.
IL.
Creating a final concept Part 1 76-87
Interlude on sub-conclusions part 2 88
IL. Interlude Recommendations 103-104
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12. Concluding the research 105-107
preface For more than six months I have been working on a graduation project with a new kind of material, a ‘smart’ material that is still in development and thus not available in a tangible form. When I told my friends about my project and the trials and tribulations it caused me, they could not see themselves working on this project. It seemed fuzzy to them, bewildering and ambiguous, yet interesting. My aim with this thesis is therefore not too make it more complex with a scientifically correct report, but to make it exciting, refreshing, accessible and most of all a good read. Therefore I decided to write this thesis by telling the story of the creative process, the actual coming into being of my ideas. I have also tried to keep the amount of ‘vague words’ to a minimum. With these ‘vague words’ I mean the ‘lingo’ I learned to use during my tuition, when designing for interactions, experiences and potentialities. With designing for interactions and experiences I imply designing and improving the way a user is acting upon a product, or is intent to act, and the experiences this human-product interaction entails. You can imagine that you can do a lot of different things with a product and that every one of those actions brings along another way of experiencing the product. Designing for potentialities is what I try to achieve in this project. The smart material is still in development so it has a lot of potential that is not yet defined. I am talking about a preponderance of potentialities: all the characteristics and possibilities of the material that can be discovered by exploring the potential in interactions with the material and the different material experiences. This will hopefully explain enough on the ‘lingo’. Revel in reading!
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introduction Introduction
Problem definition
This thesis discusses the details and outcome of my work on the Light Touch Matters (LTM) Project. The LTM platform is composed of seventeen partners from eight EU countries. Product designers and material researchers are collaborating to jointly develop a fully new generation of smart materials that combine touch sensitivity with luminosity. Manufactured on plastic substrates, these smart materials will be thin and flexible, allowing seamless integration into all kinds of applications offering radically new modes of product-user interaction. The basis for these Light Touch Matters smart materials is provided by two breakthrough technologies: touch sensitive piezo-plastics and flexible Organic light emitting diodes (Oleds). These technologies are each integrated into a layer of the composition material. Extra layers that supplement the LTM composition are a substrate under layer and a tactile surface layer and illustrated in figure 1. (Light, Touch, Matters slides, 2015)
The benefits of these Light Touch Matters materials still need to be further explored and mapped out in such a way that designers can fully understand how to design new applications with this new material. The possibilities of the LTM smart material as a new design material involve the smart materials’ functionality, the interaction with the material and the experiences that will arise. It is not only interesting to look at the complex ways in which the smart material influences how products can be embodied and how they would function, but also how they would affect people’s experiences. This last aspect is very important for designers to be able to organize the potential of the smart material to guide them in uncovering potentialities.
Assignment The ultimate aim of the project is to: 1. Understand the design potentialities of the LTM material through exploring its characteristics on different levels of functionality, interaction and experience and create a method for organizing the potential that can be adopted by other designers. 2. Incorporate the findings of the explorative research phase in the design of an application with the LTM material that shows its potential in use and helps improving the dialogue between material researchers and designers.
Tactile Surface layer Flexible OLED Flexible Piezo plastic Control layer
Research question How can the LTM smart material be explored to map out all the characteristics and find the experiential potentialities for developing a design approach to embody the main potentialities into the design of an application?
Figure 1 | The LTM smart material composition
In the LTM project, the aim of the joint design-driven and user-centered materials R&D work by researchers and designers is to ensure that the LTM smart material acquires the right functional and aesthetical qualities. They want to greatly expand design freedom and unlock totally new modes of interaction between product and user.
Deliverables + A mapping of the LTM smart material’s characteristics (both technological and
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experiential) + A design approach (method) for designing with the potentialities of the LTM smart material + A final showcase-concept for the LTM platform that shows the potential of the LTM smart material + Recommendations for the LTM platform to help them with further development of the LTM smart material and will stimulate the dialogue between the material researchers and designers.
smart material? - What are the domains the designers come up with? - What are insights to continue with an approach?
Questions per chapter The ultimate goal of this thesis for me is not to have a general approach guiding me through the project. My research has a ‘user-centered’ schwung, which means that for me exploration and iteration lead the way. One of the objectives in this graduation project is finding a suitable approach to designing with the LTM material. Therefore, I will not start with a clear plan beforehand. My purpose is to take you, the reader, with me on the journey to my final goal, viz. my exploration of the potential of the LTM smart material. These are the questions I will try to answer during this journey:
ch 1.
ch 2.
ch 3.
ch 4.
What is actually the definition of a smart material? - What are examples of smart materials concepts with luminosity and or touch? - What are the experiences of designers and future users? What are the objectives of the LTM platform? - What is the definition of the LTM smart material? - What concepts do they have now? - What is the problem? What are the main characteristics of the smart material? - How to map the characteristics both visually and textual? - What is the approach for me to come up with domains? What is the approach of other designers when using my mapping of the LTM
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How to simulate the LTM material in a tangible way?
ch 5.
What are the potential interactions with the LTM smart material? - How to map the potential interactions?
ch 6.
What are the qualities of the potential interactions? - What do other people experience when letting them think about the interactions?
ch 7.
What is the final method that functions as a guiding approach for designing with the LTM smart material? - What are the steps of the method? - How do I see other designers adopt the method? - What is the final goal and interaction vision I am going to design for?
ch 8.
What is the outline of the story for the final concept? - What examples of products are there already on the market for the user model in my story? - What is the concept idea I will further develop?
ch 9.
How to explore the input of the interaction for the concept? - What are people’s experiences with the different possibilities of the input of the interaction? - What will be the final structure and placement of the tactile surface layer and form of the concept?
ch 10.
What is the final concept that shows the potential of the previous explorations?
ch 11.
What are the final conclusions of the graduation project?
ch 12.
also used as an integral part of the session with designers to introduce them to the LTM material and its characteristics.
Methodology To be able to answer the questions while going on an explorative journey I used different methods, illustrated in figure 2. Some of the methods are familiar methods we learn at the IDE departments. Some of these methods I have an affinity with, some methods we do not get taught but are perfect for this project and some methods I have developed myself.
Context mapping Context mapping is conducted when exposing latent needs and revealing tacit knowledge one cannot achieve by just asking people questions is needed. (Sanders, 2001) A context mapping session with five (potential) industrial designers was organized with 2 purposes: 1. To find out how other designers would come up with domains when designing with the LTM material . 2. To see to what extent my mapping of the LTM material helped them to come up with these domains.
Desk research A desk research was conducted for the first three chapters. Because I did not get a lot of information from the LTM consortium I had to explore anything I could find on LTM related smart materials, Piezo-plastics, flexible Oleds and other characteristics. Articles, websites, blogs, LTM consortium documents and literature were used for this research. It resulted in an overview of the LTM smart material in different visuals and mind maps.
Simulating the material For experiencing the LTM material in a more tangible way and to get an idea of the potential interactions and surface layer possibilities I used the method of simulating the material with a sheet of plastic. This sheet of plastic had the same bending radius and thickness of the Piezo-plastic layer and the flexible-Oled together.
Video compilation To visualize and assemble my findings, I created a video compilation showing all the characteristics of the different layers of the LTM smart material. This video was
L I GH T E F F E CT S
E X E RT I N G P RE S S URE
Describe the words that come up when you think about exerting pressure!
Excites personality Changes purpose during usage You are in control of communication High intensity OLED illumination
Look at everything that you have written down. What combinations make the most sense to you and which ones do not? You can leave the ones that are a no-go empty!
Pressing
Slamming
More functionality in one product
Describe the best combinations!
ex. magical
Tapping
Write down these words that come up when you think about the impact of a different light output. You can think of reactions, emotions, or interactions that are evoked.
COMB I N E
What do you experience when you slam, tap, press or touch something?
Important! When the examples do not make any sense to you, cross them:
Which words come up when you think about the impact of different light effects?
Touching If you deform something, what light response would make sense?
This is me! Name //
Flickering
Flashing Ex: No, makes no sense squeezing something and it will flash back at me...
Squeezing
Occupation //
Flickering
Pulsating
Piezo
Oled
Light responses
ex. curiosity
ex. aggression
Dimming Ex: Yes! I can increase pressure and the light intensity can increase as well!
dimming
stroking
Bending
squeezing
pulsating
Draw yourself!
Pressing
ex. magical
Touching
Tapping
Flashing
?
light
Slamming
Pulsating
Deformation
ex. watch out
1. Purpose
Swiping
2. Purpose
Pick the 2 most fun combinations and explain why they are the most fun to you.
ex. energized ex. release tension
responsive garment for expressive communication
cover for bad weather conditions
Stroking
Stroking
Squeezing
+C
- C
ex. calming effect
Most fun // Why //
Bending
Swiping
Surface layer
Most fun // Why //
texture
Dimming ex. relaxed
finish Describe the words that come up when you think about deforming a shape.
Video compilation
projecting movie
Simulating LTM
D E F OR M & M OV E ME N T
What do you experience when you squeeze bend, swipe or stroke something?
?
?
Graduation Project by Iris Jönsthövel
Poster questionnaire
Story telling
backlight TV
flash: photograph
backlight cellphone tablet
Projector laser therapy romantic
cosy
Therapy
Ambiance
winter depression
party mood
light therapy winter blues
light on / off button
Indicator signage
See in the dark
light up house / garden
light up street
flash: photograph light up tent
road works safety clothing
Desk research camping
torch /head lamp
outdoor stuff
backpack
love limbs
skin
clothing
Context mapping
Matrix mapping
arouse
different sensations
Design under Uncertainty Design under uncertainty
excitement
tickles emotions
Light responses
communicate
1.
The combinations make sense....
2.
3.
Pulsating
Flashing
pet
fluffy, soft
Dimming
When the increasing level of squeezing is parallel to increasing level of light intensity
Squeezing
Portable
When the increasing level of squeezing is parallel to increasing level of light intensity
vision vision vision
flickering
flashing
pulsating
- C
texture & finish
Temperature resistance
define interaction
interaction qualities interaction visions
surface layer
dimming
rough
medium rough
clear
matte
The functions of light
When Movement Exercising Playing
texture
Bending
light
?
vision cluster 2
macbook Touching
When flickering is just a response because in this case there is no manipulation
When flashing is a response when you enter pressure to activate something
When the long amount of pressure results in pulse response
When the Increasing level of pressure resembles dimming cycle
When flashing is just a response because in this case there is no manipulation
When the amount of time touched is related to pulse response
When the amount of time touched is related to the increase of the dimming light
When the tap changes the amount of light intensity everytime you tap.
vision cluster 3
Tapping
colour
Swiping
Stroking
ambient illumination
task lighting
Find the interaction qualities of your interaction on deformation and light responses.
Cluster the interaction qualities and define an interaction vision for each cluster.
Define what type of texture and finish the surface layer should have matching the visions.
?
deaf feel vibration to ‘feel’ sound
Deformation
babies
Tapping
When the short contact time and low amount of pressure result in short light responses
When the short contact time results in a cycle of short pulsing light responses
Slamming
When the short contact time and high amount of pressure result in short and high light intensity light responses
When the short contact time and high amount of pressure results in a cycle of short pulsing high light intensity responses
When swiping and flashing are both one directional and a fast movement and flash.
When the short contact time during short movement results in a cycle of short pulsing light responses
When the short contact time during short movement is related to the increase of the dimming light
When the long contact time during long movement results in a cycle of longer pulsing light responses
When the long contact time during long movement results in a slow increase of the dimming light
Swiping
Stroking
pressure
user - object -material user1 - user2 - material
user exerts pressure on material
user2 exerts pressure on material with user1
light
Deformation Divided into three categories of deformation.
1. Deform
2. pressure
Squeezing
Bending
Divided into three categories of deformation.
1. fast - slow
3. movement
Pressing
Swiping
Touching
Stroking
2. High - low pulsating
flickering
flashing
dimming
Tapping
Slamming
Within each category the level of light intensity and the amount of time the light is on, differs.
Long
Pressing
Level of pressure
Squeezing
Long
Stroking
pulsating
Touching
High
Low
Bending
Swiping
Slamming
Tapping Short
Amount of time
Level of light intensity
dimming
High
Low
flashing
?
texture
?
+
finish
+ when, where, why light
Light responses
Within each category the level of pressure and the amount of time the pressure is exerted, differs.
- C
Focus phrasing
interaction vision +
flickering Short
Amount of time
Figure 2 | Methodology overview
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pressure
start designing
guidance
who is exerting pressure
user - material
pressure
When the low energy of power results in the flickering response
People
cannot see yet, use touch
illumination for communication
in safety at home recreational at work environments space transport
Slamming
Look at the matrix with possible interactions.
+C
comforting
blind
Where Outdoors Darkness Winter & Autumn
finish Touching
Pressing
touch instead of sight
waterproof
function interaction when, where, why subtle
vision cluster 1
Squeezing
Pressing
Bending
matte / brushed
touch
When the Increasing level of pressure is parallel to increasing level of light intensity
When the way of bending is related to the pulsating cycle of the light
Tempting surface
Passive touch healing effect
limited power
+C
light response
pillow/blanket
6. pressure
stuffed animal comforting
massage
5. light
?
sexual
Experience
relaxing
4.
deformation
Flickering
Define a final interaction vision and combine this vision with all the former decisions. Now you can phrase your final design focus.
user exerts pressure on material with object
Why Communication Therapeutical Pleasure seeking
Define when, where and why the material could be used matching the visions
Focus group
Matrix mapping To visualize the potential interactions with a deformable Piezo-plastic for input and a light emitting Oled as output I used a matrix to find the interactions that would make sense to a future user. Also, this mapping helped in finding the potential of input-output combinations.
ble full of samples to experience. Everyone in the focus group had to individually choose their favorites for the interaction I was proposing and compare it to the qualities I was looking for in a final concept. They also had to experience different forms and shapes and discuss them in the focus group. By doing this I was able to find a final structure and placement of the tactile surface layer and form of the concept.
Questionnaire in a visual poster set up I created a questionnaire poster to find out the qualities of the potential interactions with the LTM material by potential future users. It is often hard for people to explain their feelings and emotions, especially when filling out a plain questionnaire. Therefore the questionnaire poster has a playful design and there is no list of questions, only visuals to finish. This way it is less hard and more fun to fill it out. The poster was sent to twenty participants and they had to write down their experiences with the different possibilities of input regarding deforming, touching and movement and with different effects of light output. All the associations, experiences and emotions are examples of qualities of an interaction: the interaction qualities.
Approach project To help you follow me along the journey and to show you where we are heading, I have created a timeline of my approach model, illustrated in figure 3.
The Design Under Uncertainty method (DuU) The Design under Uncertainty method (DuU) was created by me to find the right approach for developing a goal and vision to design for. It is also meant as a guide to organize the potential of the LTM smart material and see more potentialities that could be further explored. Story telling With the use of story telling the design goal and vision became more vivid. Creating a model user enabled me to further illustrate my goal. Also, by creating a story, other already existing products could be compared to the product in the story. Without a story there simply is no concept. Experiential Focus group To find out other people’s experiences with the different possibilities of the input of the interaction I have created a ta-
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Start of
explorative research project
1
exploring the potential
Mapping of the LTM smart material Context mapping with designers Defining potential interactions by simulating the smart material Defining qualities of interactions
organizing the potential
2
Creating the Design under Uncertainty (DuU) guiding method Defining an interaction vision and a design goal
Defining a context and model-user
designing the concept
Defining the application
Exploring potential of the tactile surface layer, forms and shapes Designing the final application of the LTM smart material
Figure 3 | Timeline of approach
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3
1.
Introducing smart materials in a nutshell
react and adapt themselves accordingly.’’ (Tao, 2001)
Intro chapter In a world where the majority of people has just enough education to ‘perform’, there are thankfully still people who are eager to think beyond the obvious, use their capacity to the fullest and develop new ideas by appealing to their inquisitiveness and experimenting with the unknown. These people make the world interesting for people like me, the designers. When they keep researching and developing possibilities in new technologies and materials, we have the opportunity to create new and improved products and start storytelling. Most of the time this interaction between these two groups is a continuous dialogue, because creating and developing these new technologies, materials and products is a never-ending process. Material scientists all over the world are busy developing a ‘new’ type of materials: the Smart Materials.
One can imagine that these smart materials create unknown potentialities within different areas of technology, close to computational technology. Most popular is the group of wearable technology with smart garments, wearable keypads, wearable displays or wearable data visualization. Because these materials do not need an external power source they are interesting for wearable products that are portable and lightweight. Because my focus in this graduation project will be on this type of smart material as well, the lightweight portable active smart material that can sense and react to stimuli, I will show three examples within this group of wearables. Without going into detail, the examples I will show focus on sensing touch or respond with luminescence as illustrated in figure 4 and discussed in the following text.
A material
What are these smart materials?
by Luke Franzke: a touch responsive EL loudspeaker This speaker is the result from an accidental discovery of light and audio response to touch from EL. It is a composition of an Electroluminescent material printed on a polyester layer. The EL is printed, with the silver electrode first printed on paper, followed by the dielectric, and phosphor. There is a piece of ITO coated polyester over the print and an applied voltage. The sound is the result of electro acoustic transduction. When the module is pressed, a larger area is illuminated resulting in reduced frequency from the driver and a lower in pitch in the audible tone. The tone can be modulated to some extent using an audio input to control the power supply to the EL Driver as demonstrated towards the end of the video. This simple circuit could be used to impart a beat onto the tone, or produce some sound effects but isn’t adequate to produce say recognizable speech or music for the time being. (Touch responsive electroluminescent loudspeaker, 2013)
Material scientists often work closely together with designers to develop the materials for different potential purposes. Therefore the range in smart materials keeps getting broader. For a full explanation on smart materials, their origin and what will become of them, the lecture of Philip Ball called ‘Smart stuff’, a talk delivered at the Department of Materials at Oxford University is highly interesting. (Ball, 2015) For a short overview in this graduation project the next explanation will have to do: ‘Smart materials and structures can be defined as the materials and structures that sense and react to environmental conditions and stimuli, such as those from mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic or other sources. According to the manner of reaction, they can be divided into passive smart, active smart and very smart materials. Passive smart materials can only sense environmental conditions or stimuli; active smart materials will sense and react to the conditions or stimuli; very smart materials can sense,
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A concept by New Deal Design: Project Underskin When technology and fashion reach beyond the wrist, the design consultancy NewDealDesign have created Project Underskin. It’s a concept for a smart digital tattoo, which would be implanted in your hand and interact with everything you touch. It can unlock your front door, trade data with a handshake, or even tell you if you have low blood sugar. Underskin would recognize both location and the movements within your body, it could not just track, but contextualize the gestures that you make. Underskin can see communicative nuance, distinguishing when you want to exchange contact information with a coworker through a handshake, or glowing intimately when you hold hands with a loved one. NewDealDesign is confident that they could actually build Underskin within the next five years given the state of current electronics research. What would require the most work is actually the flexible display rather than the sensor, communication, implantation, or even the siphoning of your body’s energy. (Wilson, 2014)
The Loudspeaker
Project Underskin
A real product by the MIT Media lab: NailO Kao and Dementyev are both researchers at the MIT Media Lab, where Kao focuses on software and Dementyev on electrical engineering. They have developed a miniature trackpad that fits on your thumbnail, NailO. It functions a lot like a laptop’s trackpad, working as an additional input method for the gadgets in your life. NailO is a bundle of electronics crammed into a tiny package on your nail. It uses capacitive sensors—the same sort in smartphone screens—to register gestures. There’s also a battery, microcontroller, and a Bluetooth chip that sets NailO to any Bluetooth-enabled gadget. (Stinson, 2015) NailO
Designing meaningful applications From the examples it is clear that the world of smart materials is still developing. Material researchers are able to find more and more possibilities in tech-
Figure 4 | Pictures of existing smart materials & concepts
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nology and designers are exploring the possibilities and searching for useful applications. Linda Worbin, an expert on designing dynamic textile patterns who has worked with many e-textiles during her PhD research concluded that designers need to experiment with these smart materials in development to explore their expressive potential, to find examples that guide us in handling and developing them more carefully and to better identify their true nature. Because the way to learn about new materials is through the material itself, to forget conventions and suggest new styles and semantics, starting with basic expressional experiments. (Worbin, 2010)
up with applications. This short overview is to get an idea of the growing world of smart materials. My focus will be on a Smart Interface material with responsive touch sensors and luminescence through Oled. This material is still in development and therefore I will start with exploring its characteristcs and eventually find its potential. The research on this smart material is still an ongoing process and I have the opportunity to create a new or improved application and start storytelling.
User experience Smart Materials These new smart materials and concepts that are being developed are sometimes scaring because of their innovativeness. For example Project Underskin: if it would actually be built, it could have a large impact across different cultures. NewDealDesign is confident to bring project Underskin to life, but is aware of the fact that the hand is a part of the body with which we interact with the world around us. But it is also a particularly intimate spot across cultures, NewDealDesign points out, as you can see with henna and wedding bands. Those cultural ties are important in grounding the sci-fi to our lives, the firm says. The example of NailO is less ‘scary’ as it is actually seen as something that could be useful. MIT is confident to say that the value of NailO lies in pondering more discreet interaction with our gadgets. Unlike voice-controlled commands or pokes at a smart watch, using NailO is a silent, nearly imperceptible act. Maybe NailO is making future users curious of all the possibilites and it is still a product you can use or put away. The Underskin is making future users anxious because it would be like a tattoo implanted under your skin and you cannot put that away.
My focus The focus of this graduation project is not to design a new smart material and come
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2.
The light touch matters platform
2. Flexible OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes) with innovative aesthetic and luminescent properties for ‘signage’ applications (e.g. luminescent logos, icons, symbols, in short: no pure lighting or displays), building on the most recent developments in thin-film OLED technology at the Holst Center. Figure 6 illustrates the components of the LTM smart material. (Light, Touch, Matters Project, 2015)
Intro chapter Before I start with exploring the Light Touch Matters smart material myself I start with a chapter on the initiative that is behind it and create a first quick overview of the LTM composition.
The LTM initiative In the beginning of 2013 the Light Touch Matters platform was originated. Several Universities, design agencies and research institutes from across Europe and the Nordic countries started working together on the development of a smart interface material called Light Touch Matters or LTM. Figure 5 illustrates all the partners. The duration of the project is said to be until mid 2016.
Tactile Surface layer Flexible OLED Flexible Piezo plastic Control layer
Figure 6 | The LTM composition
The LTM platform In the LTM project, the aim of the joint design-driven and user-centered materials R&D work by researchers and designers is to ensure that the LTM smart material acquires the right functional and aesthetical qualities. They want to greatly expand design freedom and unlock totally new modes of interaction between product and user. (Light Touch Matters Concept & objectives (...) workplan , 2011)
Figure 5 | The LTM Consortium
The LTM Smart Interface Material In the Light. Touch. Matters. project, product designers and material researchers have collaborated to jointly develop a fully new generation of smart materials that combine touch sensitivity with luminosity. Manufactured on plastic substrates, these smart materials will be thin and flexible, allowing seamless integration into all kinds of applications offering radically new modes of product-user interaction. The basis for these Light. Touch. Matters. materials is provided by two breakthrough technologies:
The LTM Platform is confident to say that this novel light touch material has great potential. To find the potential, different groups of people involved, are looking at the ways in which existing material properties elicit meaningful experiences, and ways in which that can inspire particular applications. The LTM platform itself organizes a get-together and workshop every half a year with a focus on an iterative development process in which R&D is done in parallel with the conceptualization of products that make use of the unique LTM material properties. These get-togethers are seen as highly important to stimulate a dialogue and improve
1. Radically new touch-sensitive ‘piezoplastics’ (i.e. thin, flexible, plastic-based piezoelectric materials) based on breakthroughs in this field recently achieved at Delft University of Technology.
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the working culture between the different partners. From meetings with the LTM platform expert Erik Tempelman, who is working for the IDE Department of the Delft University of Technology, I am able to create a concise overview of the different groups that are working on or with the LTM material. I am only focusing on the information I got first hand from the expert, from my graduation project mentor and design projects that took place at my University, The IDE Department of the Delft University of Technology.
input they got from the LTM platform was only text on the specifications of the material. LTM prototypes were still not available and the designers could not see any potential of the LTM smart material whatsoever. In the meantime at Brunel University PhD student Massimo Micocci & Senior lecturer Marco Ajovalasit studied how designers can embed the physical properties of Smart materials in the everyday environment to support human activities and provide an efficient product experience. (Micocci & Ajovalasit, 2014) They have created a vision as a first step towards a big picture that aims to create consumer products that can be adapted to human needs and expectations. Their vision contains interactive parameters that designers should embed: design for multi-sensory engagement, consider every surrounding surface as a potential interface and consider interaction as behavioral encouragement. Micocci & Ajovalasit conclude that designers should consider the possibilities we have to shape and engineer materials based on requirements. But what they have found and what I can only agree with is that there is a strong need to organize the potential of Smart materials in a method that designers can easily adopt.
Design Students The LTM platform is working on education of young designers through the creation of a specific training and education module. What this actually entails I will show with examples from two Universities, The Delft University of Technology and Brunel University. At the IDE department of the Delft University of Technology, two Master projects have had a focus on designing with the LTM material. The first project worked as an experiment during the Interactive Technology Design course of 2014. A group of five students were able to design a concept by combining the material’s ability to sense difference in sensitivity of applying pressure and the ability to touch the material wherever and it will respond with a light output. This group of students designed a yoga mat based on the idea of designing for balance when combining the main characteristics of the material. They were able to design this concept without the help of LTM prototypes but with the help of a micro controlled Piezo sensor and Arduino programmed led strips.
Design agencies At the moment, Light Touch Matters focuses primarily on products for care and wellbeing applications that can help consumers feel better, monitor or improve their health and increase comfort though they expect strong spin-off to other sectors. (Light Touch Matters slides, 2015) The LTM platform is reaching to various design agencies spread over the EU to incorporate the thin, flexible piezo plastics with OLEDs into their day-to-day design practice. Around the end of March, the platform has indicated to have special attention for three concepts of three different agencies to develop further. They are demonstrated as functional prototypes: the Physio Friend by Lamb, the
Another group of students who worked individually for the ACD course, a couple of months later, had to come up with concepts that were based on this designing for balance as well, with the use of the LTM material. The concepts they came up with were all the same: a yoga mat, a yoga seat or a yoga blindfold/mask. The
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Hand Rehab by GZE and the Lifesaver by Van Berlo. The platform is pleased with these concepts because they show the potential of the LTM materials but also generate insights for further research on the material because all three concepts incorporated additional sensors next to the piezo plastics, and possibly additional output devices. In figure 7 the three concepts are illustrated in their early iteration phases from last July 2014. (Light Touch Matters News, 2015)
The problem The LTM platform indicates that it is creating an environment for material researchers and designers to work together to find the potential of the LTM smart material. They aim for educational programs for design students and have a strong focus on collaboration with several design agencies. Everyone is working on or with the LTM smart material but they are missing the key to organizing the actual potential. The three design agency concepts are not focusing on the interesting combination of thin, flexible Piezo plastics with Oled but are experimenting with additional technologies to add. This is not a method for seeing potential of the combination of the Piezo possibilities, Oled light effect and potential tactile surface layers. By providing Design students with only textual information and technical specifications the LTM material does not encourage to go beyond what is obvious. The educational input necessary for them to organize the potential of Smart materials needs to be applied into a method that can easily be adopted and inspires them to uncover potentialities.
Physio Friend by Lamb
Hand Rehab by GZE
My approach Because I am a design student as well my aim is to create a method, for me and hopefully for other designers to use as well, to be able to uncover the potentialities of the material. I will explore the characteristics of the LTM material by mapping them in a visual way and substantiated by text. This implies that I do not focus on additional sensors or light integration possibilities, I will explore what the Piezo possibilities offer, how they are combined with the possibilities in Oled features and what the potential of the tactile surface layer means. Because I am a designer with an expertise in designing for interaction, my focus hereby will be ‘user-centered research’ oriented. In the end I will try to come up with a application of the LTM material that shows its potential in use and makes a clear example for material researchers how to help designers in offering what they need.
Lifesaver by Van Berlo Figure 7 | The 3 concepts in their first iteration phases
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Start of
explorative research project
you are here
1
exploring the potential
Mapping of the LTM smart material Context mapping with designers Defining potential interactions by simulating the smart material Defining qualities of interactions
organizing the potential
2
Creating the Design under Uncertainty (DuU) guiding method Defining an interaction vision and a design goal
Defining a context and model-user
designing the concept
Defining the application
Exploring potential of the tactile surface layer, forms and shapes Designing the final application of the LTM smart material
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3
3.
Mapping the LTM smart interface material
intro chapter
Initial first approach
In this chapter, the material experience of the LTM smart material is explored by gaining an understanding of the material, on both a technical and a sensorial level. Because the LTM Smart Material is not yet available in its tangible form, information on the material should be gathered in another fashion. The material’s characteristics are therefore explored by reading the text document of the LTM Platform and by searching visual content on the different components of the LTM Smart Material. From here on the LTM Smart material can be mapped out and further explored.
The LTM characteristics overview document All these characteristics generated from the LTM platform text document I can communicate in a visual with corresponding icons and explanatory text. This visual is called The LTM characteristics overview. This is extremely helpful when I want to get a clear view on the potential of the material when I cannot experience it myself. Somehow, I need to make it more tangible. The Piezo layer and the OLED layer have some overlap in characteristics but the explanatory text beneath each icon varies. Every characteristic is shortly explained by its technical possibilities and interaction potentialities.
My approach as a designer My expertise as an Industrial Design Engineer is in designing for Interaction. I define my approach when designing as inquisitive but straightforward. By doing lots of user studies I would like to find out what kind of interaction I want to achieve within the context I am exploring in. This approach contains mostly a lot of context mapping, and results in a lot of tinkering, testing and building a 3D prototype. (Visser et al., 2005) I feel that by involving my focus group I can gather real experiences, which makes my final Interaction vision and design goal beneficial.
Mind maps To do a first short exploration on the experiential possibilities of the interaction with the material I concentrate on the characteristic of the Piezo that it responds to touch and the OLED that it illuminates a homogeneous surface light. By creating a mind map on touch I am able to get a deeper understanding of what this aspect involves. Sensing different levels of pressure exertion is the input of the material. By creating a mind map on light I am able to explore some what more on what this aspect involves. These mindmaps are illustrated in Figure 8.
Gathering information on the LTM Because the LTM Smart Material is still in development there are no tangible prototypes at anyone’s disposal. At the moment, the only document available for me as a designer is on the technical possibilities of the working principles and the advantages of the OLED lighting and the Piezo sensors. (Deighton et al., 2014) What I want to do with this information is map out all the possibilities of both LTM components, the OLED and Piezo. Because the LTM platform text document mainly contains technical aspects on both components, video’s may help in gathering more experiential properties.
A compilation video By exploring the web and search for video’s on OLED features, possibilities, different appearances and applications I am able to find as much on the LTM light characteristics as possible. For Piezo I can do the exact same thing, search for everything that is out there on Piezo sensors. After finding all these video’s, ranging from the Holst center (2014), to the LTM platform and other research centers such as Oledinfo (2013), NovAM research (2014) Ada Fruit Industries (2015) and Vaclava Havla (2014), I can compile a video of all the main LTM characteristics that I have organised in the LTM characteristics overview.
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projecting movie
backlight TV
flash: photograph
backlight cellphone tablet
Projector laser therapy romantic
cosy
Therapy
Ambiance
winter depression
party mood
light therapy winter blues
light on / off button
Indicator signage
See in the dark
light up house / garden
light up street
flash: photograph light up tent
road works safety clothing
camping torch /head lamp
outdoor stuff backpack
clothing
+ love limbs
skin
excitement
tickles emotions
arouse
different sensations
communicate
sexual stuffed animal
Experience
relaxing
comforting
massage
pillow/blanket
fluffy, soft
Tempting surface
Passive touch
matte / brushed
healing effect
macbook
touch
comforting
People blind touch instead of sight
babies
deaf feel vibration to ‘feel’ sound
cannot see yet, use touch
Figure 8 | Mind maps
pet
This video gives an impression but it is important to state that it is just an impression of the possibilities of the LTM material, it does not show the material itself although a layman could interpret it as if. Stills of the video are illustrated in figure 9.
experiential possibilities I want to see if I can create some kind of context to design for. Because my normal approach is phrasing a design goal based on a context I want to design for, this step is unfamiliar. I feel the need to create domains based on characteristcis of the material that complement each other. When I do this, I should be able to find a direction, a context if you may, that is based on the potential of the LTM smart material. What you see in figure 10 are the nine characteristics of the OLED and Piezo layer. Some of them are connected to others and shape a domain. Important to emphasize is that I am not able to get more than six domains (see visual domains). I would like to find more of course, especially because the domains I have found so far seem far away of what may be possible. I need to get beyond that.
To sum it up, the intitial approach of mapping out the LTM smart interface material have delivered three different mediums to continue with. I have a text document to create a short and clear overview of all the LTM characteristics, mind maps to get an idea of the more experiential characteristcs of the LTM and a video compilation of the characteristics that shows them visually. Second step of initial approach Now that I have a clear overview of all the characteristics with its technical and
Figure 9 | Stills of the LTM compilation video
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LTM characteristics overview Flexible Piezo- Electric composite
sensing variable levels of pressure
Flexible form factor
The piezo has a low resolution in touch which means the material has a low deformation sensitivity. The layer’s flexibility is ideal to deform easily.
When exerting pressure on this flexible piezo plastic, the amount of force that is used will determine the extent of flexible deformation.
Because of its flexible possibilities there are no limitations to rigid forms but flexible possibilities. This increases the ease of design and assembly.
Interaction potentialities The piezo will respond on twisting, pulling, tapping, bending, pressing, tugging, stroking and (in the near future) swiping.
Interaction potentialities By exerting more pressure, a higher level of deformatiom, the light output will be increased.
Interaction potentialities Because of the great form freedom the piezo’s purpose of interaction as a user interface is endless.
2D curvature Deformation
+C
- C
limited power comsumption
Seamlessness / waterproof
Temperature resistance
The Piezo layer does not require energy input for energy input sensing.
The piezo plastic is a single sealed component which means that it is seamless and waterproof.
The piezo has the ability to withstand temperatures from -20 up to 85 degrees Celsius.
Interaction potentialities The piezo does not need an external energy source to operate which means it is portable to take with you.
Interaction potentialities When exposed to nature influences such as rain or dipping in a river, the piezo layer will stay intact.
Interaction potentialities When exposed to direct sunlight, winter temperatures or machine washing, the piezo layer will stay intact.
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LTM characteristics overview Flexible OLED composite
?
2d Flexibility
light homogeneity
Flexible form factor
It is flexible lighting with the possibility to be curved on a 2D plane.
The lumen output is high and homogenious over the whole surface. The OLED is a monochromatic light.
The OLED is printed on a film layer (foil) and is resistant to a higher impact. They can also be made transparent.
Interaction potentialities The OLED has the ability to be deformed in 2D without fracture multiple times. You can roll it up, fold it, bend it & twist it.
Interaction potentialities Bij exerting more deforming pressure the OLED will increase in light output.
Interaction potentialities Because of the great form freedom, the OLED’s purpose of interaction as a user interface is endless.
+
+C
- C
Energy efficient
Seamlessness / waterproof
Temperature resistance
The OLED has a low energy consumption and a high light efficiency. The heat generation is low which makes the OLED a ‘cold light’.
The OLED is a single sealed component which means that it is seamless and waterproof.
The OLED has the ability to withstand temperatures from -46 up to +70 degrees Celsius.
Interaction potentialities Because it is so energy efficient you can use it for a long period of time without it not functioning anymore.
Interaction potentialities When exposed to nature influences such as rain or dipping in a river, the OLED layer will stay intact.
Interaction potentialities When exposed to direct sunlight, ice temperatures or machine washing, the OLED layer will stay intact.
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LTM characteristics overview LTM composition
?
Portable The LTM generates its own energy and is energy sufficient and the layers together form a thin, low weight flexible material therefor the ease of design integration into portable applications is interesting. Interaction potentialities The LTM is wearable, rollable, foldable etc which makes it so easy to take it with you and interact with it anywhere you want.
Surface Layer The surface layer is not defined. The designer can choose the tactile experience by defining a surface layer. Interaction potentialities From a soft touch to stroking a brushed surface, the way the user will interact with the material depends on this surface layer defined by the designer.
Shapes & Patterns The design options for shapes and patterns could be icons and logo’s that can be printed on the top layer. Interaction potentialities By choosing a pattern or logo the LTM can be more personalised or more adjusted to a group of users.
+C
- C
Single curvature deformation
Seamlessness / waterproof
Temperature resistance
All the layers are flexible in the 2D plane. The input of the LTM is by deformation and the output reacts on the amount of pressure while deforming the material.
The LTM is a single sealed composite material which means that it is seamless and waterproof.
The LTM has the ability to withstand temperatures from -20 up to 70 degrees Celsius.
Interaction potentialities When exposed to nature influences such as rain or dipping in a river, the LTM will stay intact.
Interaction potentialities When exposed to direct sunlight, winter temperatures or machine washing, the LTM will stay intact and perform perfectly.
Interaction potentialities The interaction between input and output in deforming, varying pressure and light is a playful way of interacting with a material.
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light homogeneity
Surface Layer Deformation
?
2d Flexibility
Seamless / waterproof
+ Energy efficient
Portable +C
- C
limited power comsumption Temperature resistance
linking qualities to domains
Qualities // expressive, arousing, entertaining, comforting
Qualities // helpful, wearable, playful, leading Domain // Outdoor living Camping, Survival, Playing, Transportation Qualities // playful, stimulating, entertaining, coaching Domain // Exercising Controlling movement, keeping track, stimulating creative ways of exercising Qualities // playful, arousing, stimulating, Domain // Pleasure seeking Toys (sexual, playful, educative), board games, stimulate creative ways of game playing
Figure 10 | LTM composition - combining the characteristics
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Domain // Communication Baby-mother communication, contact with strangers (lower the barrier), expressing personal style (to the outside world), communication between friends Qualities // relaxing, healing, comforting, rehabilitating Domain // Therapeutical Massage (relax muscles), improve state of mind, improve muscle memory (rehabilitation)
Issues with this approach The domains I can come up with involve some of the possibilities of the material. I look at the characteristics the way they are now defined but apparently I do not see the full potential yet. I feel like I need more tangible input by experimenting with the smart material to be able to see the potentials of the characteristics an sich. Also, I miss the inspirational aspect of the material. It does not inspire me to design with yet because now it is just a flat piece of plastic sheet that has a way of giving input ad output.
Next I am wondering how other designers would respond on the input I have gathered so far. I need to find out what I can change in my approach to get to a deeper level of understanding. I am curious to see if the mediums I have used and created so far (video’s & characteristic overview) help others in coming up with domains and first ideas. I think that by doing a context mapping session I would be able to introduce the smart material in the sensitizing phase and they can perform assignments on domains and first ideas in the workshop phase. Eventually I would like to find out if designers are able to get a view on the possibilities of the LTM Smart Material distilled by looking at my video compilation, the mood boards and reading about them in the LTM characteristics document. Most importantly, if they would be able to come up with some interesting domains and first ideas with this information input.
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4.
Testing with designers
ipants have the same background as I have, Industrial Design Engineering. This makes them perfect for analyzing their approach to mine. Because there is no budget for this graduation research I looked for designers in my own circle of friends because they are willing to give up fifteen minutes every day for one week followed up by a whole Saturday morning. An extra benefit is that the participants are familiar with one another, so no additional introduction time is necessary and they are not hesitant to speak up during the exercises.
intro chapter My side step of testing the overview that I have created so far with other designers is discussed in this chapter. By doing a context mapping session with five designers with the same IDE background as I have, I hope to gather some insights on their approach. I am able to be close to them so I can see their approach from up close and find out what they are having trouble with. Eventually, I want to find out what is missing in the approach that I have created so that I can make improvements and develop a suitable approach for designing with an unknown smart material: The LTM Smart Interface Material.
Context and procedure In the visual Context and Procedure the procedure of the sensitizing and session is illustrated. The booklet is send to the participants one week in advance of the workshop. Every day during the week they fill in the assignment of the day, which takes about 10 to 15 minutes each. In this booklet they are introduced to the LTM characteristics in the video I have created. They are asked to bring their booklet together with any additional sources to the workshop on the Saturday morning that followed. The workshop starts with a 5-minute introduction of the graduation project and the test they are involved in. They will hear about the different mediums I have created. I would like to find out what aspects are helpful to get an idea of the LTM Smart material. Also, I would like to know if the approach that I have been following myself is in some way suitable for coming up with design directions for this material.
Set up During a one-week time span, five designers are informed about the LTM material and will perform a two-hour workshop at the end of the week. By doing a one-week sensitizing with a booklet followed up by a design workshop, I can see what aspects of using different mediums are helpful, confusing or inspiring. Because 3D prototypes of the Smart Material are not available yet, my 2D mediums will be used. These include a compilation of video’s on OLED and Piezo accompanied by a sensitizing booklet with small assignments, and the overview of LTM characteristics together with mood board on light and deformation that I have created accompanied by a workshop with exercises. Participants The five industrial designers (2 male/3 female) have all completed their Bachelor at the Delft University of Technology. Three of them have finished their Master Program and two of them are in the process of writing their Master Thesis in Industrial Design Engineering. They all volunteered to fill in the booklet and to participate in the workshop. There are several reasons to choose for these five product designers. To me, product designers are one group of creative and artistic oriented people who have their own interesting approach of designing, similar to mine. The partic-
After this introduction a 25 minute warmup exercise follows. They are assigned to explain in 5 minutes what they had come up with in their booklet during Day 3 and Day 4. A small discussion followed to answer their questions. Then the second assignment is introduced and everyone has to come up with domains/concept directions by linking characteristics of the LTM smart material on the template. They will get the LTM characteristic document together with the mood boards and some
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Context and procedure last part
middle part
first part
Day 1
The Smart material you are going to design with eventually consists of a layer of piezo touch sensoring and an OLED layer. With the input of touch on the PIEZO the OLED will respond with the output of light. These are the functional aspects of the material. Fill in the mindmaps of light and touch. Tip! What are the things you come up with when you think about light? How do people respond on touch and when do they use or need it most? When are people in need of light? What are applications you can think of for both?
Are you already familiar with (the term) Smart Materials? What do you know, do you already know of applications with a smart material? Complete the mindmap below.
Day 4
Day 5
Every designer has its own interpretation of a (yet) undefined material. However the tactual experience of a material is hard to imagine if the material is not there to experience.
If you have done all the previous assignments, by now you should have shaped your own thoughts and interpretations on this new smart material. Because it’s still in development there is no prototype yet of the LTM composition.
How can you envision the design possibilities you have come up with in the last exercise? Search (for everything you have come up with) examples of how you envision the LTM material in some way. Make a picture of every example, print them/paste them or bring your samples with you to the workshop. Tip: You can use different sources to describe your domains, applications or form possibilities. You can use magazines or sample materials or make your own little sample mock ups or create a moodboard.
I would like to know which exercise you thought was most helpful and/or inspiring? Do you prefer getting information through textual form or video or in another way you can think of?
----- Watch the video -----
Day 2
Smart Materials are an upcoming field of materials. More and more material scientists are working on different types of smart materials and they believe they can improve our way of living. Definition by Tao (Tao, 2001) ‘’Smart Materials & structures can be defined as the materials & structures that sense and react to environmental conditions and stimuli, such as those from mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic or other sources.’’
https://vimeo.com/112278893
Picture 1 //
Picture 2//
Picture 3 //
Picture 4//
LIGht
Think of four interesting design possibilities of the Light. Touch. Material. : Domains, Future applications, Possibilities with form or the possible output of the light. Let your imagination run wild!
Smart materials
Did you do any projects or research on/with smart materials in the past?
Thank you so much for taking the time to fill in this booklet. I hope you can bring this booklet together with your own interpretation samples to the workshop next week on Saturday, 29 November from 11.00 - 13.00.
touch
booklet
em
otio
n
Filling in mindmaps. One on smart materials and two on light and touch.
Getting to know the LTM material by video.
Interpreting the material and explain most helpful/ inspiring way of input. second exercise
first exercise Zoekveld 1 / conceptrichting 1
Zoek verbanden!
Zoekveld 2 / conceptrichting 1
Verbind de karakteristieken met elkaar die van toepassing zijn, zoek relaties!
Verbind de karakteristieken met elkaar die van toepassing zijn, zoek relaties!
light homogeneity
light homogeneity
light homogeneity
Surface Layer
Surface Layer
Surface Layer Deformation
Deformation
Zoekveld 3 / conceptrichting 1
Zoek verbanden!
Zoek verbanden!
Verbind de karakteristieken met elkaar die van toepassing zijn, zoek relaties!
Deformation
?
?
?
2d Flexibility
2d Flexibility
2d Flexibility
Seamlessness / waterproof
Seamlessness / waterproof
Seamlessness / waterproof
+
+
+ Energy efficient
Portable
Portable
Portable
Energy efficient
Energy efficient
+C
+C
+C
- C
- C
- C
Plak hier je inspiratieplaatjes
limited power comsumption
limited power comsumption
limited power comsumption Temperature resistance
Temperature resistance
Plak hier je inspiratieplaatjes
Temperature resistance
Plak hier je inspiratieplaatjes
session Presenting booklet exercise Day 3 & Day 4 on interpreting LTM.
Discussion presentations and asking expert questions on LTM
Start template assignment 1 on generating domains.
Flexible Piezo- Electric composite
Flexible OLED composite LTM composition 2D curvature Deformation The piezo has a low resolution in touch which means the material has a low deformation sensitivity. The layer’s flexibility is ideal to deform easily. Interaction potentialities The piezo will respond on twisting, pulling, tapping, bending, pressing, tugging, stroking and (in the near future) swiping.
?
Flexible form factor
sensing variable levels of pressure
Because of its flexible When exerting pressure on ? possibilities there are no this flexible piezo plastic, limitations to rigid forms the amount of force that is used will determine the 2d Flexibilitybut flexible possibilities. light homogeneity Flexible form factor This increases the ease of extent of flexible design and assembly. deformation. The OLED is printed on a The lumen output is high It is flexible lighting with and homogenious over the Portable film layer (foil) and is the possibility to be curved potentialities Surface Layer Interaction Interaction potentialities resistant to a higher impact. whole on a 2D plane. Because of the great form surface. The OLED is By exerting more pressure, can also be made The surface layer is not The LTM generatesThey its own freedom the piezo’sa monochromatic light. a higher level of transparent. defined. The designer can energy and is energy purpose of interaction as a deformatiom, the light
choose the tactile sufficient and the layers user interface is endless. output will be increased. Interaction potentialities Interaction potentialities Interaction potentialities experience by defining a together form a thin, low Because of the greatsurface form layer. Bij exerting more weight flexible material The OLED has the ability deforming pressuretherefor the to be deformed in 2D the ease offreedom, design the OLED’s purpose of interaction as a OLED will increase in light without fracture multiple Interaction potentialities integration into portable user interface is endless. output. times. You can roll it up, fold From a soft touch to applications is interesting. it, bend it & twist it. stroking a brushed surface, the way the user will interact with the material depends on this surface layer defined by the designer.
Interaction potentialities The LTM is wearable, rollable, foldable etc which makes it so easy to take it with you and interact with it anywhere you want.
+C
Shapes & Patterns The design options for shapes and patterns could be icons and logo’s that can be printed on the top layer. Interaction potentialities By choosing a pattern or logo the LTM can be more personalised or more adjusted to a group of users.
- C
+ limited power comsumption
+C
Seamlessness / waterproof
Temperature resistance
The Piezo layer does not require energy input for energy input sensing.
The piezo plastic is a single sealed component which means that it is seamless and waterproof.
The piezo has the ability to withstand temperatures from -20 up to 85 degrees Celsius.
Interaction potentialities The piezo does not need an external energy source to operate which means it is portable to take with you.
Interaction potentialities Interaction potentialities The OLED has a lowWhen energy The OLED is a single The OLED has the ability to When exposed to nature exposed to direct consumption and a sunlight, high sealed component which withstand temperatures influences such as rain or winter Single curvature deformation Seamlessness / waterproof light efficiency. Thetemperatures heat means that it is seamless from -46 up to +70 degrees dipping in a river, the piezo or machine generation is low which and waterproof. Celsius.in All the layers are flexible The LTM is a single sealed layer will stay intact. washing, the piezo layer makes the OLED a ‘cold the 2D plane. The input of composite material which will stay intact. light’. the LTM is by deformation means that it is seamless and the output reacts on the and waterproof. Interaction potentialities Interaction potentialities potentialities amount of pressureInteraction while Because it is so energy When exposed to nature When exposed to direct deforming the material. Interaction potentialities efficient you can use it for a influences such as rain or sunlight, ice temperatures When exposed to nature long period of time without dipping in a river, the or machine washing,influences the Interaction potentialities such as rain or it not functioning anymore. OLED layer will stayThe intact. OLED layer will stay dipping intact. in a river, the LTM interaction between
Energy efficient
- C
Seamlessness / waterproof
+C
Temperature resistance
input and output in deforming, varying pressure and light is a playful way of interacting with a material.
will stay intact.
- C
Temperature resistance The LTM has the ability to withstand temperatures from -20 up to 70 degrees Celsius. Interaction potentialities When exposed to direct sunlight, winter temperatures or machine washing, the LTM will stay intact and perform perfectly.
Extra input for template assignments: LTM characteristics overview, magazines to browse through, mood board and tinkering materials.
Discussion presentation of domains and the format of the template.
last exercise Schetsen maar!!
Zoekveld/ conceptrichting: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Zoekveld/ conceptrichting: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
End Zoekveld/ conceptrichting: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Zoekveld/ conceptrichting: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Start template assignment 2 on generating more detailed ideas.
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Discussion presentation of ideas and preferences of information input.
‘ Roemer: It’s like with Harry Potter, if you would see the movie first before reading the book there is already an interpretation ready in your mind. You are not able to form your personal interpretation/story anymore. ’
magazines they can browse through. After performing the exercise in 20 minutes a discussion of 25 minutes follows to discuss the domains and what aspects of the template and text format have helped them. Finally, the participants have to complete the last exercise, which involves sketching out some design ideas. After completion of the sketches, which also lasts 20 minutes, the participants are asked to explain their ideas and what type of medium they have preferred during the sensitizing and workshop session. The workshop will be completed in 2.5 hours and everything is recorded on video for analyzing.
‘ Pauline: Yes, especially because they have already been filmed in real life, the images in the movie. But maybe if it would be an animation, instead of real life images, it would be more open to your own imagination. ’
Test outcomes Video & help of expert As aforementioned, the design process started with a sensitizing booklet where the participants were asked to watch a video showing all the characteristics of the LTM smart material. When asked what has helped them most, all the participants mentioned that watching this video and being able to talk to an expert afterwards during the warm up exercise has been the most inspiring and helpful. An overview of the booklet assignments is illustrated in figure 11. (see appendix A)
and the LTM characteristics overview was hardly used. The main approach was browsing through the magazines and screening the LTM characteristics overview. One of the participants said that her design approach includes finding inspirational pictures and then thinking up ideas for that picture. From there on she was able to do something with the characteristics on the template. They were triggers to come up with extra functionalities when coming up with ideas. Another participant indicated that is was nice to have the LTM characteristics overview as an extra source of information. An interesting observation is that there is a slight difference between the men and women. The men made more use of the LTM characteristics overview as they were more used to think of a product’s functionalities first before they would come up with a final idea. (see appendix A)
One of the participants mentioned that she thought the video was already really helpful in forming 4 directions in a short time and that she wouldn’t be able to generate ideas that quickly without seeing the movie before. But it is observed that the hard thing about the movie is that the participants take everything what they see literally. As they indicated themselves: ‘‘What you see is how it works exactly (in your mind)’’ They also mentioned that me (the expert) clarifying and answering questions, works best for extra information and inspiration. Then the material’s possibilities become more alive.
‘ Lotte: Well I think we didn’t read the text really because all the ideas now are still a bit shallow. I think when you are at a stage where you want to go more into depth with your concept that you also want to know more. ’
Creating domains It is observed that linking the characteristics is a hard task for the participants. The template did not really help them
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Designing with a Smart Material
Figure 11 | examples of completed Booklet pages
‘ Pauline: Normally a designer first starts designing a product and then starts to think about an appropriate material to use..
‘ Roemer: Yeah, when reading all this I could come to my ideas. I used the template with the characteristics as a check up and read the extra information if needed. ’
- ‘ Jelle: Yeah, I feel it’s very hard for me to get to another level than the gimmick level. It’s a nice feature but.. ’
‘ Maike: For me, it didn’t work in a way that I looked at the characteristic and thought ‘Okay, so deformation, what can we do with that’. I always work with visuals somehow. ’
Pauline: Exactly, I agree… The extra value is missing ’
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Designing from a material perspective It is observed that the designers are not familiar with designing from a material perspective. They mentioned that normally their design approach is the other way around. They are not used to work from a material already because normally they first think about the interaction and come up with a solution for that. Analyzing domains and design ideas The ideas that were generated in the booklet and discussed during the warm up exercise are seen as the first stage [1] of idea generation. The domains and concept directions the designers came up with during the second workshop exercise are seen as the second stage [2] and the final ideas, generated in the last exercise of the workshop are seen as the third stage [3] of idea generation. The visual Domains and Ideas illustrates the categorization of all the different categories that were imagined with its concept directions and ideas. During the analysis of all the ideas a division in ideas could be identified: ideas with some potential and ideas that stayed on a less detailed level. The ideas that seem to have more potential are based on the amount of LTM characteristics that are incorporated into the design and the degree of distinctiveness the idea implies.
Discussion The domains and ideas conveyed through the entire process of sensitizing and the session are not on a level of designing that I envision when designing with the LTM Smart Material. Of course there are other aspects or factors that will influence the value of the domains and ideas. It is of importance to keep in mind that the results also depend on how much time the designer has for the design process, how much money is involved, the responsibility they have towards a stakeholder or the creativity level of the respective designer or design team. These factors are out of the scope of this research. The designers were not able to connect the LTM characteristics to come up with
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a broad range of domains. The organization that I have created on the templates do not in any way encourage to become aware of the interaction of the material, the concurrence of the characteristics and the potential of the material. The mood boards together with the LTM characteristics overview do not inspire them to find out more about the interaction between the characteristics and the possibilities of the Smart Material. Apparently the designers tend to be more creative when they are able to work with another approach than the one I intended. Also, every designer has his or her own expertise and knowledge that he or she uses when shaping ideas. They had a lot of trouble with designing from a material perspective and none of them has the experience with this design approach. The industrial designers stayed at the same level with their domains and ideas as were I get stuck with this initial design approach. It is interesting to compare this situation to the former example of the ITD students explained in chapter 2. The students came up with designing for balance when exploring only two characteristics of the LTM material: The possibility of combining the material’s ability to sense difference in sensitivity of applying pressure and the ability to touch the material wherever and it will respond with a light output. They were able to take it a nudge further and indeed find this concurrence between the characteristics. The big difference here is that the ITD students were able to try out the different components of the LTM Smart Material by experiencing the programming possibilities of the light output, and how a Piezo sensor works. They could test some of the technical possibilities and were therefore focusing on making connections between two of them. As an addition, they had one day per week for half a year to work on it. The designers in this workshop did not have the opportunity to test out the light possibilities themselves nor were they able to experience any of the Piezo sen-
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Clustering domains and ideas bag with different shapes that create a pattern when touching [2]
couch that lights up when sitting on it [2]
personalised fashion
furniture curtains / bed sheets for slowly waking up [1&3]
Implement into textiles
interior textiles
clothing
outdoor - safety & rescue [2&3]
rehabilitation / therapeutical - indicating pressure sores [1,2,3]
showing emotion - pace of heartbeat lead to lower/higher light output [1]
sports - practice & training [3]
controlling - by stroking arm you can control equipment [2]
yoga mat - indicates where to place hands & feet [1]
musical instruments deformation of instrument leads to light [2]
‘water wrinkling’ when stepping on tiles [3] magical atmosphere [1]
environment
sports
flooring
light up steps when walking [1]
communication conversation trigger
under water world
Interactive environments horeca
motivate people to take them [2&3]
retail
guidance
showing you want to get into contact [2]
playing
decoration
stairs road light weight of car [1&2]
toys
wedding dress wheel rim veil that lights up that lights up [3] [3]
dance floor - jump, and it will light up [1]
equipment
drawing material pen will trace light [1] paper plane book - cover wind will that lights up light it up [1] [1]
facade buildings alarming light instead of sound [2&3]
touching of visitors will lead to light response [2]
wrapping & bending around corners [1&2]
LTM concept store [2]
Colouring bar, fun and useful for bartender [2]
research tool - find out routing of customers [2&3]
advertising
gadgets
arty shapes facade buildings
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art installations [1&2]
zipping from a coke can [3]
?
+
+C
- C
showing emotion - pace drawing material of heartbeat lead to pen will trace light lower/higher light output [1] [1] paper plane book - cover outdoor - safety wind will rehabilitation / therapeutical that lights up & rescue light it up - indicating pressure sores [1] [2&3] [1] [1,2,3]
toys
bag with different shapes that create a pattern when touching [2]
personalised fashion
clothing
yoga mat - indicates where to place hands & feet [1]
magical atmosphere [1]
equipment
under water world
‘water wrinkling’ when stepping on tiles [3]
flooring
?
+
+C
- C
controlling - by stroking arm you can control equipment [2]
equipment
showing you want to get into contact [2]
touching of visitors will lead to light response [2]
conversation trigger
facade buildings
deformation of instrument leads to light [2]
musical instruments
art installations [1&2]
wrapping & bending around corners [1&2]
curtains / bed sheets for slowly waking up [1&3]
sports - practice & training [3]
arty shapes
facade buildings
interior textiles
clothing
?
+
+C
- C
road light weight of car [1&2]
light up steps when walking [1]
guidance
LTM concept store [2]
light instead of sound [2&3]
dance floor - jump, and it will light up [1]
alarming
environment
research tool - find out routing of customers [2&3]
retail
motivate people to take them [2&3]
zipping from a coke can [3]
stairs
gadgets
wedding dress wheel rim veil that lights up that lights up [3] [3]
decoration
Colorful bar, fun and couch that lights up useful for bartender when sitting on it [2] [2]
horeca
furniture
sor possibilities. They had to distill these technical opportunities by looking at the movie, reading about it in a text document and interpret the mood boards.
improvements and further investigation. The LTM Smart Material is an interactive product in itself. It is the physicality of it that is so inspiring to get your hands on. This lack of experiencing the physicality of the LTM Smart Material is important to designers to develop suitable design directions and ideas. These physical characteristics could broaden new affordances that the designers were not capable of finding.
Conclusion To conclude, we can state that the approach of distilling information from a compilation of video’s on the separate components, reading the LTM characteristics overview and making connections between the characteristics to come up with domains and ideas is not a suitable approach for designing with the LTM Smart Interface Material. The mediums that are used are not able to have a similar outcome as the approach of experiencing real life samples and trying out technical aspects of the Smart Material. This does not necessarily mean that the mediums did not have any effect but the approach need a lot of
The form factor that could initiate potential interactions cannot be fully demonstrated and experienced by the 2D mediums: the booklet, the movie, the mood boards and the LTM characteristics document. But, the sensitizing and session have shown that the help of these mediums cannot be fully ignored. In the visual the helpful aspects of the mediums are explained. See Figure 12 for an overview.
The booklet is helpful for organizing thoughts and to create a personal view on the material. Completing mind maps on touch & light helps as a first step in exploring the interaction of the LTM.
A video compilation can spark the imagination and inform at the same time. An animated video is better for shaping your personal interpretations on the LTM.
booklet
video compilation helpful aspects of the different mediums when developing a suitable design approach for the lTM smart interface material
?
Portable
Surface Layer
Shapes & Patterns
+C
- C
Single curvature deformation
Seamlessness / waterproof
Temperature resistance
The LTM characteristics document is a helpful overview of all the possibilities. These characteristics should all be further explored to be able to go more into detail, to find more potentialities and to narrow down the scope.
Mood boards on light and touch can broaden the imagination of what is possible with the interaction with the LTM smart interface material. Imagine what is possible as input and as output.
mood boards
LTM overview Figure 12 | Overview of insights
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5.
Experimenting with a Material Library
Intro chapter
Result of experimenting
What I have found out during the workshop is that not every characteristic of the LTM smart material can be explained by text. This material comes alive as soon as you interact with it. The user gives input by deforming, the material is able to sense the variable levels of the pressure input and will generate output by illuminating a homogenous surface. When the user has its first encounter with the material, his first experience will be on a sensorial level: the surface layer’s appearance will stimulate and indicate where to and how to give input. Therefore a different surface layer can stimulate a different interaction.
From the LTM characteristics overview (chapter 3) that I have created before I could start by exploring the deformation possibilities of the flexible LTM. These different ways of exerting pressure and deforming the substitute material in a 2D plane, result in a material library with eight constructions. These constructions are first examples of what is possible when you interact with the material and how it could respond. On some constructions I have glued different surface layers to see what I can imagine is possible when I think of a pattern with some texture and a different finish. These possible surface layers are included in this small library as well and are just a small example of potential surface layers.
In this chapter it would be interesting to find out how to simulate these LTM characteristics. My idea is to search for a substitute material that has the same technical properties in thickness and bending radius to simulate the flexibility and deformation possibilities. A blue flexible plastic layer indicates the output of the OLED surface lighting. This can be a starting point for finding out all the deformation possibilities, different illumination possibilities and experience first possibilities in different form factors.
Insights for LTM platform What is interesting to see is that you do not need a real working prototype to experience different ways of exerting input and receiving output of the LTM smart material, as showed in visual of the Final Material Library. By having a substitute material with the same technical material properties you are already able to simulate first interactions. For material scientists this could be a very interesting insight when developing first prototypes. It would not be necessary to have a first prototype that has one input and one output, because I have already simulated that with a normal plastic sheet.
Experiment Set up The technical properties of the material are found in the LTM-platform’s documents. In this document they explain the bending radius of the LTM material together with the possible thickness. (Deighton, 2014)(see Appendix B) There is a range in thickness a designer can choose from. My focus will be on a polyester clear sheet with a thickness of 0.5mm and a bending radius of 20mm. This thickness implies the Piezo layer and the OLED layer together in one sheet of plastic. By playing with the form factor of this substitute material I am able to create different shapes and find out different ways of deforming the material. By trying out the different deformation possibilities, different outcomes in luminance arise, as shown in Figure 13.
Next step The material scientists have their focus on the functional and performance-related properties and are mapped out already. The main focus in this exploration phase with creating a small material library of constructions is to get a first idea on the experiential opportunities of the LTM material. These first insights will be the starting point of developing a deeper understanding in further stages of the project.
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The plastic sheet
Potential surface layer
Deform plastic sheet
Potential surface layer
Pressing
Bending
Touching
Tapping
Figure 13 | Experimenting with plastic constructions
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final material library Squeezing
pressing
bending
touching
tapping
swiping
surface layers ?
slamming
stroking
surface layers
surface layers
?
?
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surface layers ?
6.
developing The mapping matrix
binations in interactions that we assume will make sense to the user. They make sense to us as designers and could help other designers in finding an interaction they want to design for. Whenever a designer has the intention to design something with the material where the user should bend the material, it will not make sense to program a flickering light as response, but a pulsating light seems optional. Therefore, the matrix, visualised in The Mapping Matrix visual, shows when an interaction combination makes sense and what the envisioned interaction could be like. In the case of having an input of bending the material with a pulsating light effect as output, the interaction would make sense if the way of bending is related to the pulsating cycle of the light.
Intro chapter After experimenting with the substitute material and creating a material library, the main interaction properties could be explored. These main interaction properties comprise the input of deforming the material, where the Piezo layer will respond upon, and the output effect of illuminating the OLED surface. In this chapter a broader understanding of the possible range of interactions will be developed. The deformation possibilities can be categorized by using the exploration of the different ways of deforming exposed in the material library (chapter 5). The light possibilities can be categorized by understanding the differences in light intensity and the amount of time the OLED layer will stay on.
Defining the Interactions
Potential The Mapping Matrix visual illustrates all the potential interactions with the material. Because I have found these interactions through exploration with a simulating material, I use the word potential. It could be possible there are more but from the information I have gathered so far and from generating the LTM characteristics overview I am now capable of introducing the ones illustrated in the Matrix.
With a group of three Design for Interaction Graduate students, we start with categorizing the deformation possibilities into three categories: Deform, Pressure and Movement. The deformation lexicon that follows is created by writing down all the possible ways of deforming with your hands, putting pressure on something with your hands and making a movement with your hands. By looking through all the words we could come up with eight that cover all of them: squeezing & bending; pressing, touching, tapping & slamming; swiping & stroking. Here the level of pressure and the amount of time the pressure is exerted are the variables. The next step is doing the same for light responses and dividing the possibilities into two categories. These categories are defined by the level of light intensity and the amount of time the light is on. The lexicon that follows from following the same procedure as for deformation that covers all of the possibilities: flickering & flashing, pulsating & dimming.
Next What would be interesting in the next stage is to see if the interaction combinations make sense to future users and if there are maybe more. I would like to find as well which interaction qualities fit the different interaction combinations and which of these combinations the future users would see as most fun.
Introducing the mapping matrix From here on, the three of us can make combinations between the deformation possibilities (the input) and the light possibilities of the material (output). What follows is a matrix that shows all the com-
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The mapping matrix Light responses The combinations make sense....
Flickering
Pulsating
Dimming
When the increasing level of squeezing is parallel to increasing level of light intensity
When the increasing level of squeezing is parallel to increasing level of light intensity
When the way of bending is related to the pulsating cycle of the light
When the Increasing level of pressure is parallel to increasing level of light intensity
When flashing is a response when you enter pressure to activate something
When the long amount of pressure results in pulse response
When the Increasing level of pressure resembles dimming cycle
When flickering is just a response because in this case there is no manipulation
When flashing is just a response because in this case there is no manipulation
When the amount of time touched is related to pulse response
When the amount of time touched is related to the increase of the dimming light
When the low energy of power results in the flickering response
When the short contact time results in a cycle of short pulsing light responses
When the tap changes the amount of light intensity everytime you tap.
Tapping
When the short contact time and low amount of pressure result in short light responses
Slamming
When the short contact time and high amount of pressure result in short and high light intensity light responses
When the short contact time and high amount of pressure results in a cycle of short pulsing high light intensity responses
When swiping and flashing are both one directional and a fast movement and flash.
When the short contact time during short movement results in a cycle of short pulsing light responses
When the short contact time during short movement is related to the increase of the dimming light
When the long contact time during long movement results in a cycle of longer pulsing light responses
When the long contact time during long movement results in a slow increase of the dimming light
Flashing
Squeezing
Bending
Pressing
Deformation
Touching
Swiping
Stroking
Deformation
Light responses Divided into three categories of deformation.
Divided into three categories of deformation.
1. Deform
2. pressure
1. fast - slow
3. movement
Squeezing
Pressing
Swiping
Bending
Touching
Stroking
2. High - low
flickering
pulsating
flashing
dimming
Tapping
Slamming
Within each category the level of light intensity and the amount of time the light is on, differs.
Within each category the level of pressure and the amount of time the pressure is exerted, differs. Long
Pressing
Level of pressure
Long
Squeezing
Stroking
Bending
Swiping
pulsating
Touching
High
Level of light intensity
Low
Slamming
Amount of time
Low
flashing
Tapping Short
High
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dimming
flickering Short
Amount of time
7.
Exploring qualities in Interactions
Intro chapter
L I GH T E F F E CT S
Defining the input and the output of the LTM smart material by making combinations between the possibilities leads to a broad range of interactions. The Piezo sensor responds on a difference in the exerted pressure and the OLED responds on the Piezo measurements and generates a light response. In this chapter these interactions and interaction qualities are further explored. The first step in my initial approach (chapter 3) was to look at experiences I could think of myself when mapping out Light & Touch (see chapter 3, mind map visual). But to gain more insights on other people’s experiences on how light is integrated into their daily routines, when they apply touch and what the different meanings of light and touch are in different situations, it would be of great use to let others write down these aspects. Letting them map out these two parts of the interaction, Light & Touch, can lead to interesting insights on their assigned meanings and experiences.
E X E RT I N G P RE S S URE
Describe the words that come up when you think about exerting pressure!
Describe the best combinations!
ex. magical
Look at everything that you have written down. What combinations make the most sense to you and which ones do not? You can leave the ones that are a no-go empty!
Pressing
Tapping
Write down these words that come up when you think about the impact of a different light output. You can think of reactions, emotions, or interactions that are evoked.
COMB I N E
What do you experience when you slam, tap, press or touch something?
Important! When the examples do not make any sense to you, cross them:
Which words come up when you think about the impact of different light effects?
Slamming
Touching
Light responses
ex. curiosity
ex. aggression
If you deform something, what light response would make sense?
This is me!
Flickering
Squeezing
Occupation //
Flickering
Flashing Ex: No, makes no sense squeezing something and it will flash back at me...
Name //
Pulsating
Dimming Ex: Yes! I can increase pressure and the light intensity can increase as well!
Bending
Draw yourself!
Pressing
ex. magical
Touching
Tapping
Flashing
Slamming
Pulsating
Deformation
ex. watch out
Swiping
Stroking
Stroking
Squeezing
Pick the 2 most fun combinations and explain why they are the most fun to you.
ex. energized ex. release tension
ex. calming effect
Most fun // Why //
Bending
Swiping Most fun // Why //
Dimming ex. relaxed
Describe the words that come up when you think about deforming a shape.
D E F OR M & M OV E ME N T
What do you experience when you squeeze bend, swipe or stroke something?
Graduation Project by Iris Jönsthövel
Figure 14 | The questionnaire poster
so it will be easier for them to talk about latent wants and needs. (Sanders et al., 2013) In this project I am prepared and try to make a poster that is individually focused and has a playful design. This way it is less hard and more fun to fill in. The poster is sent to 20 participants, both male and female. Because I am not approaching a certain target group their ages range from 24 to 65. They have a couple of days to complete them and send it back to me.
interaction & experiences To gain a deeper understanding of all the different light and touch (deform) possibilities, is to map out the experiences people have with all the variations in input and output, summarized in the Mapping Matrix. The combinations in the Mapping Matrix are defined by three Industrial Design Graduate students and are complemented with insights from future users. Also, each of the deformation possibilities and the different light effects have their interaction qualities. Future users were able to indicate these qualities by thinking about their experiences and emotions.
Outcomes The questionnaire have led to a broad range of people’s experiences with the different possibilities of input regarding deforming, touching and movement and with different effects of light output. Some examples are shown in Figure 15. These experiences people had no trouble with associating when they had to come up with their preferences for certain interaction combinations. All the associations, experiences and certain emotions are examples of qualities of an interaction: the interaction qualities. (See Appendix C for completed posters)
Questionnaire on poster To generate all these insights from future users I start with designing a Poster-questionnaire, illustrated in figure 14. What I have experienced before in other projects is that it is hard for people to explain their feelings, especially in a plain questionnaire. This is why for creative sessions a sensitizing booklet is used, to get people in the right mindset
For all the eight ways of input and all the four ways of output previously illustrated in the Mapping Matrix I have clustered the interaction qualities showed in the visual Overview of Interaction Qualities. This information is extremely helpful for defining the interaction of the LTM with its qualities. You can see that for every interaction combination the qualities could
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L I GH T E F F E CT S
Tapping
mobile phone, light, quick, one finger, attention, hey?, soft,
Slamming
door, fight, pain, bitch-slap, dominant, agressive,
ex. aggression
Describe the best combinations!
ex. magical
force, movement, counter-action, give in, massage, buttons, stress, purpose
gentle, curious, input gathering, ex. curiosity feel, love, senses, emotion,
Look at everything that you have written down. What combinations make the most sense to you and which ones do not? You can leave the ones that are a no-go empty!
Pressing
Touching
Light responses If you deform something, what light response would make sense?
This is me! Name //
fire flies
COMB I N E
What do you experience when you slam, tap, press or touch something?
Important! When the examples do not make any sense to you, cross them:
Write down these words that come up when you think about the impact of a different light output. You can think of reactions, emotions, or interactions that are evoked.
candle light
E X E RT I N G P RE S S URE
Describe the words that come up when you think about exerting pressure!
Which words come up when you think about the impact of different light effects?
Flickering
Flashing
Occupation // ro� ance
irregular
Flickering elfs
epilepsy
Draw yourself!
disturbing
ex. magical water reflections
anxiety
Deformation
stimulation
heart pulse
Swiping
Yes, both are aggressive and stimulating No, swiping has one direction while flickering is irregular and undirectional
Stroking
Stroking
Most fun // SQUEEZING & PULSATING Why // If a material pulses light when you squeeze it, it
pets, loving, relaxing, gentle, tender, repetitive, soothing
Bending
Swiping forceful, masculine, metal, stress marks, destruction
mobile devices, 2 fingers, away, light, movement, nonchalance, fast, Tinder,
feels like you actually squeeze the light or energy out of the object. When you release pressure, light dims again!
Most fun // STROKING & DIMMING Why // This feels like a very human
and tender interaction to me, which is not very usual between people and products
Dimming artificial
Yes, both are relaxing and soothing
ex. calming effect
ex. release tension
calming
softness
No, slamming is hard and quick, while dimming is soft & slow
Pick the 2 most fun combinations and explain why they are the most fun to you.
cadence
lightbulb
No, tapping goes one way and is short while pulsating is slow and repetitive
Yes, both go oneway and are often fast No, flashing is too fast and aggressive for stroking
ex. energized
mean, narrow, women, pain, stress relief,
Dimming
Yes, when stress through bending increases, light increases
Yes, touching and dimming can both be soft and gentle Yes, both are light and fast
Tapping
Squeezing
evening
Pressing
Yes, when pressure increases, light increases and vice versa
Slamming
deep
Pulsating penetration
No, bending is not repetitive, while pulsation is
Touching
Flashing
rhythm
Bending
alarming
stroboscoop
hypnotizing
Pulsating Yes, both go 'back & forth' and have changing intensity levels
Squeezing
romance ex. relaxed
Describe the words that come up when you think about deforming a shape.
D E F OR M & M OV E ME N T
What do you experience when you squeeze bend, swipe or stroke something?
Graduation Project by Iris Jönsthövel
Figure 15 | Filled in questionnaires
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overview of interaction qualities bending
squeezing
Feeling
relaxing fun / curious intense stress release: mean angered frustrated annoyed
Input
effort concentrated force gradually intense grip
Creation
Sensing
soft / smooth impatient casual probing just using relaxed movement careful not too urgent
Experience
friendly more than once short and gentle confidence in control waking up
Purpose
smartphone typing / texting button technology quick response checking state of device
flexibility bending leads to purpose deforming purposeful brute force
Flexible & firm folding stress release non breakable rounding contructive resistance large surfaces
tapping
Feeling
conscious tiring stress curious secure daring reaching goals
Effects
safe and sound forcing wanting recognition feedback responsive
slamming
Sensing
Mood
touching
pressing
Mood
Experience
exploring caressing curiosity sensing temperature
Purpose
input gathering massage not too urgent influencing
swiping
stress secure dominant pain panick enthousiastic energy
Feeling
rejection fast convient efficiency resistance nonchalance
decisive frutsrated aggression resolute attentive
Purpose
in control navigating scanning new content next page change searching modern movement
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comforting intimacy love soothing flirting faking
stroking
Feeling
dreamy love / affection kindness relaxing subconscious comforting cute sexy
Experience exploring sensing texture caressing reassuring playing curiosity repetitive
overview of interaction qualities flickering
Mood
flashing
pulsating
romantic relaxing mindful happy exciting astonished
Mood
stress nervous anxious aggressive annoyed dancing
Mood
energy movement dynamic hypnotizing steady attractive breathing rhythm / beat
Reference elfs with ‘magical’ fantasy reflection new life heaven starry eyed
Effects
surprising stimulating alarming attention danger irritating
Effects
danger alarming not working cadence attention futuristic sophisticated intelligent
Reference with ‘nature’
spring / summer birds break of day under the stars moonlight sea / water shine freshness
differ. Therefore, in the future, a designer is able to what type of interaction he could design with to be able to design for a certain interaction quality. Also, I have mapped out the results of the most fun interaction combinations people could think of, illustrated in figure 16. The most popular ones, so the combinations that people have named to be the most fun in their eyes, are the ones on the top: squeezing-pulsating and stroking-dimming. The ones that were a little less popular are the four illustrated below. For every one of them the experiences or emotions are written down to get an overview of why the participants have chosen them. The two interaction combinations that have been added to the mapping matrix were already illustrated in the Mapping Matrix of chapter 6 to avoid confusion.
dimming
Mood
relief unwind relaxing sexy times safe silent chill
Reference with ‘feeling at home’
romantic cosy comfort warm sleep
Reference with ‘emotional state’
warm soothing softness safe hugging illness peace quiet
Next This questionnaire has led to an expanded overview of a range of possible interaction qualities. Also, the interaction combinations that people see themselves having pleasure from are discovered. The mapping matrix could be completed as well which makes the overview of all the interaction combinations and its qualities contemplated and a good starting point for creating a new design approach.
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Make your own rhythm with every squeeze.
Human & tender interaction between object & user.
Gives powerful feeling.
Cozy, homy, romantic. Check & feel it’s alive.
Squeezing
Stroking
pulsating
dimming
Playing when sexy time. Helping in stressful situation.
Helping in stressful situation. Friendly movement, friendly atmosphere change.
Squeeze the light or energy out of the object.
Natural interaction.
An amorpheus shape to use as a controller for light, unusual but fun!
Short slam, full of energy, short light response, full of energy.
Stop & play (music).
Slamming
Tapping
flashing
flashing
Objects normally don’t need a lot of force for interaction: interesting!
Small & precise.
Touching Squeezing
Love and tender.
Fun & quick. pulsating
Dreamy effect: pulsating can indicate broad range of touches.
dimming
Playful alternative for dimming controller.
Figure 16 | The most popular interaction combinations
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interlude Validation of material library, Mapping Matrix & presentation of questionnaire posters
Matrix. The LTM platform does not have one clear overview of all the possibilities but several text documents full of specifications. The only aspect he was not yet convinced of was the lexicon used for the light effect ‘flickering’, it could cause some confusion. By showing the outcomes of the Poster questionnaire he was impressed by all the insights the participants were able to give by just filling in words. This was not yet explored by the LTM platform either, since here they are mainly driving on the designers’ possible needs when producing several prototypes of the LTM Smart Material. The expert was quite interested in what all these insights from future users could mean for future applications.
Presenting The time has come to check the possibilities of the material with an expert from the LTM platform. It is important to know if the characteristics of the LTM smart material are sound, if the substitute material represents the technical aspects such as the thickness and the bending radius, and if the defined potential interactions are possible. By presenting this material library to the LTM Smart material scientist Erik Tempelman, I am able to show: - the assumptions on the characteristics - the material library with the potential interactions explained with constructions - The Mapping Matrix Set up During the presentation the expert is able to walk around the exposed material Library. The oral presentation is on the characteristics that I have found. The characteristics I am focusing on during the project, the ones about interactions and the tactility of the surface layer get special attention. See pictures of the set up in Figure 17. By introducing the Mapping Matrix the potential interactions are further explained. The questionnaire posters serve as external feedback on the possible interactions and are explained by elaborating on the Interaction Qualities.
The Material Library was a hit. The constructions showed him what you could already achieve with representing the LTM Smart Material through a sheet of plastic. The constructions were also helpful in showing him some of the interactions with different forms and shapes. The stroking construction invited him to actually stroke the form and the squeezing construction stimulated him in squeezing and understanding the effect of different form factors and surface layers. In the end, Erik Tempelman was quite pleased with the overview that I had created of the Interaction possibilities. He was extremely interested in introducing my work to other designers and researchers. After graduating, he would like me to join the LTM platform and give a presentation during the next get-together of the platform.
Material Expert The first impression of the Mapping Matrix was a delightful one. The expert found it extremely helpful to have this overview of all the possible interactions with the Smart Material in one visual, the
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interlude
Figure 17 | Pictures of presentation set up
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Start of
explorative research project
1
exploring the potential
Mapping of the LTM smart material Context mapping with designers Defining potential interactions by simulating the smart material Defining qualities of interactions
organizing the potential
you are here
2
Creating the Design under Uncertainty (DuU) guiding method Defining an interaction vision and a design goal
Defining a context and model-user
designing the concept
Defining the application
Exploring potential of the tactile surface layer, forms and shapes Designing the final application of the LTM smart material
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3
8.
the Design approach model // Design Under Uncertainty
going to model in this chapter.
Intro chapter The difficulty of designing with this new Smart Material is that designers (including me) are not able to just come up with design directions that fit the material perfectly. The range of unique LTM characteristics and the fact that there is no context of use, is limiting. When there is no context, no scenario you are designing for, everything is possible. But as it turned out; designers need some things that are set or else the design has no story and therefore no purpose.
Explanation of the design approach What I try to create is a design approach or method that guides me in phrasing a design focus before I start designing a concept with the LTM Smart Material. This approach is a guide because there is no tangible form of the LTM smart material yet and it still has a lot of undefined variables. These undefined variables are the potentialities of the LTM. Uncertainty is the main aspect that makes this project really challenging but also extremely interesting. The best thing about the Design under Uncertainty model is the fact that it helps me with making choices to get me at a design focus.
I am used to design with a goal in mind. When this goal is set I can start thinking of the interaction of this goal, the interaction vision and the qualities of the interaction. When I think about these variables, the interactions and the qualities are the ones I can actually set at this stage of the project. See Figure 18 for an illustration. This implies that when I am defining a design approach I have to start with the interaction vision and qualities and come up with a context and a goal later on. This is a new kind of approach that I am
Strength of the approach It is important to state that this approach is my guiding model during this project to come up with a design focus. This focus is based on an interaction vision, the ‘how’ and a design goal, the ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘where’ & ‘when’. It could be a guiding
? start designing
explored
what is still missing
deformation
&
& vision vision vision
light response
Interactions LTM
Portable
- C
Temperature resistance
Interaction qualities
Interaction vision
Figure 18 | Overview of the stage I am now in the project
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limited power
+C
waterproof
Design goal
tool for other designers as well when designing with this undefined material. But, because my focus during this project is not only to come up with a goal and a viusion to design for, but also to define the potential of the material, this approach needs to be adjusted for further usage by other designers. Hence, I will explore the potential of the material more after applying this approach therefore steps in this model might be defined or could be skipped by other designers.
the spot you are exerting your input. This immediate output, the light response, is what makes the material alive. This is the starting point for getting grip on your smart material and applying the DuU approach to your design process. Step 1 In this case study of implementing the DuU design approach the choice in interactions will be on two. By showcasing two examples of interactions, I can show enough of the possibilities of these different interactions within one material and I can show how these can be combined into one design. In my opinion focusing on just one interaction cannot show enough of the possibilities of the LTM Smart material and three will make it too unnecessarily complicated. Also, using two will best show the possibilities of the DuU model.
My experience with designers is that they are terrible at making decisions. With every step in the approach the scope is narrowed down and the potential of the LTM material is defined more and more. You can imagine that every designer makes different choices along the way and has a different interpretation of the steps and therefore will come up with a different focus.
The decision on these two interactions is based on the outcomes of most fun combinations in interactions of the questionnaire results. The questionnaire participants indicated squeezing – pulsating and stroking – dimming to be the most fun interactions. In the Mapping Matrix these two interactions are mapped out and can therefore be seen as interactions that make sense to a wider audience as well.
Design under Uncertainty Because the Design under Uncertainty model (DuU model) is a guide for me to use when defining a design focus without a context, I am showcasing an example: a case study. The LTM Smart Material has a range of characteristics that are covered during every step of the DuU model. The aim is to narrow the scope with every step and make decisions. Of course, with every decision there is uncertainty and therefore other possibilities will be left out. By making these decisions with every step I will decide which path to follow. By narrowing down the scope I will be able to phrase a focus. An overview of al the steps of the model are illustrated in the visual Design Under Uncertainty.
Step 2 The interaction qualities are gathered from the questionnaires as well. The participants’ experiences and emotions on the separate deformation possibilities and light responses are all qualities of interactions. Because these qualities are based on different experiences and different emotions, it is helpful to group them in clusters. Overlapping or complementing ones can be placed in the same cluster. These clusters correspond each with another interaction vision.
Theme of the Smart Material After exploring the possible interactions of the LTM Smart Interface Material (See the Mapping Matrix), I can conclude the following: the material is alive. The user is able to express himself through the material in a way that it performs how he wants it to perform by deforming it in some way. By giving input, the material gives you immediate feedback at
Step 3 With creating these clusters different visions can be contrived. Because these clusters embody different emotions that occur when having this interaction with
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Design under uncertainty 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
deformation light
?
pressure
Portable
limited power
+C
vision vision vision
light response
Temperature resistance
define interaction flickering
flashing
pulsating
- C
texture & finish
interaction qualities interaction visions
surface layer
dimming
rough
medium rough
function interaction when, where, why subtle
The functions of light
vision cluster 1
Squeezing
texture
Bending
light
?
vision cluster 2
Pressing
waterproof
When
Where
Movement Exercising Playing
Outdoors Darkness Winter & Autumn
finish Touching
vision cluster 3
Tapping
clear
matte
colour
Swiping
Look at the matrix with possible interactions.
task lighting
illumination for communication
in safety at home recreational at work environments space transport
Slamming
Stroking
ambient illumination
Find the interaction qualities of your interaction on deformation and light responses.
Cluster the interaction qualities and define an interaction vision for each cluster.
Define what type of texture and finish the surface layer should have matching the visions.
?
who is exerting pressure pressure
user - material
user - object -material user1 - user2 - material
user exerts pressure on material
user2 exerts pressure on material with user1
light pressure
+C
- C
Focus phrasing
interaction vision +
?
?
texture
finish
+
+ when, where, why light
pressure
start designing
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guidance
Define a final interaction vision and combine this vision with all the former decisions. Now you can phrase your final design focus.
user exerts pressure on material with object
Why Communication Therapeutical Pleasure seeking
Define when, where and why the material could be used matching the visions
Design under uncertainty LTM SMart interface material Theme LTM It’s alive: express yourself through the material
light
? pressure
+C
- C
deformation
light response
flickering
flashing
pulsating
dimming
1.
define interactions
Squeezing
Bending
The combination makes sense:
pulsating
The combination makes sense:
When the increasing level of squeezing is parallel to increasing level of light intensity.
Stroking
dimming
Pressing
Touching
Squeezing Tapping
When the long contact time results in a slow increase of the intensity of the dimming light.
Slamming
Swiping
Stroking
First interaction: squeezing - pulsating
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Second interaction: stroking - dimming
1.
2.
interaction qualities
energetic powerful rhythm, beat movement dynamic breathing Squeezing
2.
safe
comfort soothing soft unwind reassuring
hypnotizing relaxing steady attractive pulsating intense curious annoying gradually frustrating alarming attention intense grip mean
Stroking
playing dimming
love cosy
romantic
warm playing affection sexy times
vision vision vision
3.
interaction visions
3.
I want people to be empowered by the material’s dynamic interaction by giving them the feeling that they are upbeat and on the move.
I want people to feel safe by the comfort and playfulness of the interaction with the material by giving them a soothing and reassuring feeling.
I want people to be relaxed by the material’s gradually changing and hypnotizing output by giving them the feeling that they are dreaming intensely and have zero stress.
I want people to be loved by the warmth and playfulness of the interaction with the material by giving them a feeling of cozyness and romance.
I want people to be alarmed by the material’s intense output by giving them the feeling that they are angry and frustrated.
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?
texture & finish
4.
4.
surface layer ?
?
texture
texture
finish
finish
medium rough or rough
clear
medium rough
clear
subtle
matte
medium rough
matte
rough
colored
light pressure
5.
5.
function interaction light
light
pressure
pressure
user - material
illumination for communication safety
at home
in transport
safety
guidance
ambient illumination
user1 - user2 - material
recreational environments
task lighting at work space
user exerts pressure on material
guidance
ambient illumination
illumination for communication
user2 exerts pressure on material with user1
at home
user - object -material user exerts pressure on material with object
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recreational environments
user - material user exerts pressure on material
user1 - user2 - material user2 exerts pressure on material with user1
?
texture & finish
4.
4.
surface layer ?
?
texture
texture
finish
finish
medium rough or rough
clear
medium rough
clear
subtle
matte
medium rough
matte
rough
colored
light pressure
5.
5.
function interaction light
light
pressure
pressure
user - material
illumination for communication safety
at home
in transport
safety
guidance
ambient illumination
user1 - user2 - material
recreational environments
task lighting at work space
user exerts pressure on material
guidance
ambient illumination
illumination for communication
user2 exerts pressure on material with user1
at home
user - object -material user exerts pressure on material with object
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recreational environments
user - material user exerts pressure on material
user1 - user2 - material user2 exerts pressure on material with user1
Portable
limited power
+C
- C
Temperature resistance
6.
waterproof
6.
when, where, why When they need an extra stimuli in insecure or exciting situations where they need to perform. ex. Preparing for a big presentation ex. Exercising activities where you focus on your movement ex. Survival activities where you are focusing on staying alive When they need to be in a mindful state where they are healing themselves or stimulate themselves in a creative way.
When they can use extra safety in overwhelming or unclear situations. ex. Being in the outdoors and indicate something is going on when playing with the material. ex. In foggy/dark weather to make yourself visible. ex. Communicate with peers at a distance away, in unclear weather conditions When they can use a stimuli in a romantic and affectionate atmosphere.
ex. Practising a realxing and controlled movement
ex. Playing together during sexy time
ex. Healing or rehabilitation activities at home
ex. Improving the mood by creating ambiance and comfort during a date
ex. Sexual activities When they need to an extra stimuli in battling situations where they need to function attentively. ex. Hurrying to be on time when being half awake ex. Playing an aggressive game/sport ex. Saving people from dangerous activities Stroking
Squeezing
pulsating
combining the two interactions
interaction vision
dimming
interaction vision
I want people to be empowered by the material’s dynamic interaction by giving them the feeling that they are upbeat and on the move.
I want people to feel safe by the comfort and playfulness of the interaction with the material by giving them a soothing and reassuring feeling.
when, where, why When they need an extra stimuli in insecure or exciting situations where they need to perform.
when, where, why When they can use extra safety in overwhelming or unclear situations.
// Survival activities where you are focusing on staying alive
// Communicate with peers at a distance away, in unclear weather conditions
?
light pressure
+C
- C
Focus phrasing
Design goaL ‘ I want people in unclear weather conditions to communicate their presence to the people around them for extra safety and visibility.’ interaction vision ‘ The interaction with the material’s tactile and visual possibilities should be dynamic and mystifying. It should feel like expressing oneself when on the move, but at the same time ensuring personal safety. ’ interaction qualities
dynamic
playful reassuring
lively powerful
stimulating expressive
safe
People who spend some hours a day outside, moving themselves from one point to another, and find it important to be safe and seen by others in an obvious, expressive way.
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the material - the qualities of the interaction - different ways of experiencing the interaction can be differentiated – the interaction visions.
characteristics of the material to function optimally: in wet, cold and warm conditions, with no external power source and limited power needed and the fact that it is portable because of these characteristics.
Step 4 With these visions in mind I make decisions in different characteristics of the surface layer that fit the vision and its qualities. The surface layer has its restrictions already with being transparent and thin for the Piezo and OLED layer to work. To narrow down all the possibilities in the choice of a surface layer I decide on texture and finish with the texture being rough, medium rough or subtle and the finish to be clear, matte or colored.
When //Movement, Exercising, Playing The Piezo layer of the material responds on movement and deformation. Also, because of the materials’ flexible behavior and portability the material would be helpful in dynamic situations where movement is key. During exercising you can use that many object connected to you, everything should be lightweight, portable and helpful.
Step 5 To have a meaningful concept in the end I find it important to focus on the light response having a function. When defining these functions I use the chapter on ‘Function’ of a light by (title of book). They break down this function into three distinct categories: illumination for communication, ambient illumination and task lighting. By just focusing on these three categories I can narrow down all the possibilities. When I can decide on whom is going to exert pressure on the material, if someone will be using another object as input instead or use a passive form of interaction, I can narrow down my scope just a bit. This does not mean that in the end I have to go for this choice but it can help me in phrasing my focus.
Where //Outdoor environment, darkness, winter/autumn Because the OLED layer illuminates light with a high intensity dark and unclear weather situations are perfect for its usage. When in dynamic situations the material has the possibility to function in wet, hot and cold conditions. When transporting yourself from one point to the other and visibility is of importance, the material would be of great use. Why // Communication, therapeutical, pleasure seeking Light can have different purposes within its functional categories (Blitzer, n.d.) Communicating trough light is used often: communicating your existence with the people around you or indicating where you are going are easy and safe ways of communicating through light.
Step 6 During the start of this project one of the first steps was exploring the domains of the LTM Smart Material. These domains were based on the characteristics of the material but were still very broad and hard to develop any first valuable ideas with. This input form the first stage of research and explorations on possible domains is used for mapping out where, when and why the material is of optimal use in future products. These domains can be detached and divided into the three different aspects: when, where and why. These three aspects cover the
Light can have a therapeutically purpose as well. Using your touch senses as well. The usage of the touch senses and a response in light can improve the state of mind, improve muscle memory for rehabilitation or relax the muscles. For pleasure seeking purposes applications where touch and light are the input and output can stimulate creative ways of playing. Pleasure seeking can for example involve sexual, playful or educative ways of playing.
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For all of the interaction visions the complementing when, where and why are devised. Of course these complementing when, where and why can be broadened out with many examples, in this case study I choose to name three per vision. Why these three is based on my own expertise and experience as a designer. Designers with another background or another expertise are likely to focus on other examples. I can conclude this by looking back at chapter 4 where designers used their own experiences and jobs to come up with concept directions.
nal goal is based on all the separate steps that I have taken and explored when using the Design under Uncertainty model. I suggest that other designers walk through these steps of the model after they have mapped out the smart material they are going to design with. Every step focuses on other characteristics of the smart material. When this is rightly done a designer should be able to create a context for the interaction, its visions and its qualities. This final focus is elaborated on in the next chapter to explore the possibilities of a design idea.
Combining interactions Now it is time for combining the two interactions. I start by comparing the visions: which ones have an overlap on some level and what are then the complementing factors. Both the pink visions of both interactions can complement each other. One is about movement and empowered feelings and the other one is more focused on safety and playfulness. My designer view can see these two combined into one vision, together with the examples of when, where and why for both of these visions.
Implementation the Model I was not able to use an existing design model and approach for designing with a undefined smart material. The only model that is interesting when designing for material experience is the Meaning of Material’s model of Karana, Hekkert and Kandachar (Karana et al., 2010) Where Karana’s Meaning of Material’s model (MoM) is aimed on selecting a material based on a list of important sensorial properties to guide the designer in its analysis of the selected materials, the DuU model is aimed on finding your meaning through an analysis of potential properties of a material in development. This implies that in Karana’s model materials are listed that have been designed and explored already by identifying their certain meaning. In my case, thus in the DuD model, the material is yet to be further developed and different meanings can only be attributed when an interaction is chosen and explored. So if a designer needs to design with a material that has a certain meaning distilled from the possible interactions with the material and has no context to design for, the DuU model could be used as a guide. When you already know what meaning you want to embed in a context you are designing for but are not sure what type of material is most suitable, the MoM model is preferred.
For this step it is important to focus on your own perspective as a designer. My examples in the previous step, the when where and why, are formed around my own point of view of the world. I personally feel that these two interaction visions together with their qualities fit and can be combined into one interesting focus. Focus phrasing By combining these two interaction visions and scenario’s (when, where, why) new interaction qualities arise complementing the existing qualities of the two visions. These new qualities help in phrasing the focus of the final concept direction. Remember that at this point, so many design goals can be thought out because the context is not set. The context is something the designer himself should choose, there is no right or wrong choice. For my case study the phrasing of the fi-
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be further deepened out by the LTM platform as well. My goal next is not to have to most innovative final product but to show with a final concept the potential of the LTM material by displaying two interactions.
Conlcusion Designing without a context when having an unfinished Smart material to work with, has been a struggle. I have been working on the LTM material, how to simulate it in a way that I was able to model a design approach. I have been able to finalize an approach by eliminating choices with every step. This approach has helped me to come up with a goal and a vision for designing with the LTM material without having a context to design for.
Next Testing with other designers For me this design approach has been helpful in a way that I could frame a focus. It is important to state that this focus in my project, is only one part of the concept I am designing. The second part is a design of a potential surface layer. I now have an interaction vision, qualities and a design goal but the surface layer of the material needs to fit the interaction I am focusing on. The two combined will result in one final concept. For testing the DuU approach with other LTM smart material designers, step 4 of the model needs to be revised. I imagine that for every interaction the potential textures and finishes that stimulate the input of the potential interactions are already defined. In the next chapters I will explore and define two of them, stroking and squeezing. The most important insight so far is that experimenting with a simulated material has been the key for uncovering the potential of the smart material. By looking at its characteristics one at the time, instead of want to cover them all at once, has been the only way for me to find a purpose for the material. What I want to do next, with my goal and vision in mind, is to explore the possibilities of the interactions squeezing-pulsating and stroking-dimming. This way I am able to show the importance of these characteristics and why these should
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9.
Story of the future concept
their surroundings. Stormy weather, or darkness does not stop them because they have my designed product to motivate them. In my story it is 8 p.m., it is dark outside and a little hazy. My antagonist is a sporty young woman who has just come back from work. She is eager to do something outdoors before going to bed. She considers biking, walking or running. She needs to do some grocery shopping as well and she imagines she can do that on the way back. Problem is at this hour of night she is not sure if people can actually see her. Everyone is busy doing their last errands of the day like getting home on time, when they are already a bit tired, and therefore driving a little faster than necessary. Obviously, she cares about her safety and therefore wants to make sure she is visible during her activity. She always strives to make eye contact with other road users to ‘communicate her existence’ instead of relying on the reflective vest and blinking accessories she is wearing. Besides, they are perfectly fit for running, but she thinks they make her look like a clown.
Intro chapter At this stage of the project, I am at the start of the design process. In this chapter the vision and goal are explored to envision one part of the final concept. The goal and vision are based on my interpretation as a designer by following the steps of my guiding DuU approach. With a goal and vision to design for I have created a base for further development of the final concept. But in the end there is never a concept without a story and there is no story without a muse.
creating a story Inspiring story teller The interaction qualities made me start musing and reminiscing on all the Roald Dahl stories I read as a child. These stories were especially funny because of Dahls’ way of combing childhood fantasies with some education and all the fun, quirky and expressive characters he writes about. The ones that have had a great impact on me as a little girl are the novels Matilda and The BFG. In these two novels Dahl has created a story around these little girls who own nothing and have nothing and evolve into these bold and fearless girls who own the world by having the most creative minds, amazing dreams and the most adventurous spirit. Both stories take you into a wonderland where the imagination is a powerful skill to have, a super power. These lively characters, these power girls with their wild imagination that Dahl has created in his stories is what I aspire for my own story.
Communication through light Categories in visibility equipment for safety: Reflective & Light emitting Before I can make decisions on what product fits my design goal, embodies my interaction vision and its qualities and substantiate my story outline, I will have a look on what products are available to this woman at the moment. I decide to look at products that women like her could wear. I do not focus on products they may use in the scenario such as a bike or skis, depending on the activity, because I want the activity to be open to imagination. Communication through light is possible with reflective integrated elements and light emitting parts. The product categories are the same for both groups, as is illustrated in Figure 19. (Communication through Light, 2015) The examples used to illustrate every category are products I could see the women I have in mind use. Several sports equipments companies and designers are already creatively in-
Story outline The story outline I have in mind is based on my own interest and experiences. As I have explained before, the DuU model has guided me in finding a design goal and interaction vision fitting my decisions with every step I made. These decisions vary from designer to designer and are fitting a context I already know a lot about. I am a woman who likes to go out and explore her surroundings but bad weather does not motivate me to go out. Therefore the group of users I have in mind are women who live for experiences, want to go out there and explore
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jewels
accessories
backpacks
shoes
Light emitting
Reflective
backpacks
shoes
vests
vests
jackets
jackets
Figure 19 | Categories in reflective & light emitting safety equipment
tegrating reflective elements and LED’s.
products still need an integrated arduino power source. They are too heavy and inconvenient to use for active wear. What I like about these products is the fact that they do not have a sporty appearance. They are more focused on casual wear or dress up for a party. Because of using LED light instead of reflective patterns the object becomes more interactive and in my point of view, more exciting to use. A great example is the Interacket that changes its colour everytime you touch something in your surroundings. (Communication through Light, 2015)
Inspiring examples of categories Nowadays the big sports companies already have sportswear with reflective patterns integrated in their product design. Together with (upcoming) designers they have been working on new textiles or yarn that is reflective. In figure 20 you see an overview of these examples. The emphasis is on shiny silver, neon yellow and greenish glow-in-the-dark patterns, which are integrated in light trendy active wear. The SEEN backpack is a great example because the yarn that is created is not extremely bright and obvious during the day, which makes it more casual. The LED and EL-wire examples are not made by sports companies. Because the
Concept direction Where I see possibilities in designing the final concept, is in combining the advantages of both groups. The reflective products are light-weight, easy to wear
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accessories
garments
Light emitting
The Sporty Supaheroe
The Nightmare Mask
The Interacket
LED Jewellery by Dian Luo
reflective
Stella McCartney for Adidas
Nike flash tights Figure 20 | Exciting examples of categories
SEEN backpack
FlipFlip pocket assembly
during activities and I truly love the creativity with patterns in appearance. The light-emitting products are interactive, with a playful interaction. Their casual appearance makes them fun to wear in non-sport situations as well.
want to take more stuff than they would already bring along, I envision a product they would already use, is easy to access, is fun to interact with, is easy to communicate through and in no means impracticable.
By combining the elements of safety with illumination and style in its appearance the concept could have the potential to change its purpose when you start interacting with it. Light in and of itself can be very obvious, especially OLED light with its high intensity. This leads me to the following question:
The concept: a powerful garment This leads to a conclusion for the final concept idea, illustrated in figure 21. What I see the woman using in this story is a garment that is easy to put on, easy to wear and evolves its purpose during usage. At first its function involves being a cover for rain and wind that you can put on, on top of your outfit. When this woman goes outside into the night she should feel safe with this cover around her. Whenever she feels like she wants to communicate her visibility to the other road users, the garment changes its functionality when she starts interacting with it. I imagine that this garment stimulates the imagination and thereby creates the experience of having an extra power, a super power, when you need it.
Why not integrate the LTM material in something you would wear all the same, to make it more natural to interact with? I imagine one would be able to use it during the day as well, in more casual circumstances without looking too sporty or having LED lighting integrated in a very obvious way. Because these sporty women do not
More functionality in one product Excites personality Changes purpose during usage You are in control of communication High intensity OLED illumination
Piezo
Oled dimming
stroking
pulsating
squeezing
?
light
1. Purpose
2. Purpose
+C
- C
responsive garment for expressive communication
cover for bad weather conditions
Surface layer texture finish Figure 21 | Final concept idea // a garment
?
?
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interlude Important sub-conclusions for creating a concept with the LTM and for the LTM platform
use stroking or squeezing your garment at spots you want to be seen by others. These spots on the garment should be easy accessible when being on the move and they have to be especially inviting for stroking or squeezing. The garment should be easy to throw on over an outfit you are already wearing and easy to move in. This concludes that it should be lightweight, dynamic, and interactive with an emphasis on safety.
Starting point for designing From the approach it can be concluded that the goal and vision are based on the LTM material that is still in development. It is important to stress that a design for a futuristic new product is not the strong suit of the DuU model that I have created. I can conclude from my approach so far that designing an innovatory product is not yet the right track to focus on. What I can tell the LTM platform at this stage of the LTM development it is impossible to design such an innovatory product. Therefore, in this stage of the LTM development, I see my task as a designer to showcase the two of my explored interactions in one final garment.
important insights for the LTM platform What I have found out about the LTM material so far is that for designers the LTM is just a sheet of a thin type of plastic that they can bend. Designers are not stimulated to try anything else with it instead of sticking a piece of it on top of something else. This results in uninspiring ideas. What I have found out is that the designers are not the only ones to blame in this case. The LTM material does not invite them to do anything else with it. I have been creating my own shapes, which resulted in on overview of all the interactions and its qualities the LTM could potentially possess. When the LTM platform should move their focus from what they already have, the ultra thin composition of the Piezo and the OLED layer, to focusing on what possible forms, shapes and surface layers could mean for stimulating this input of deforming it and the output of the light effects, the material would become more alive to designers that have to design with it.
With the final focus in mind, in my point of view a garment is the ultimate portable product that is easy to have some sort of interaction with. Because you wear it on your body, communicating through a garment can arise naturally. Also, a garment is used in a lot of different scenario’s, especially different weather scenarios. Because movement of the user will be of great importance when using it, the garment should be designed for that purpose.
Concept direction The garment is to be used in unclear weather conditions. This implies that someone will put it on when it is raining, storming, snowing or foggy weather. The light will help them stay visible and communicate their moving behavior. When indicating where you are going you can
My next steps I am still dependent on other materials
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interlude
that in some way simulate the possibilities of the material. What I am not capable of is getting the exact characteristics of the LTM material, that is the main focus of the LTM material researchers. I have been working with a plastic sheet with the same thickness and flexibility simulating the Piezo and OLED layer but I am not able to have it functioning the way it does. The opacity of the material, the homogenous surface light output of the OLED and the exact properties of potential surface layers is something I cannot and do not aim to achieve. That is what makes the LTM material different from other materials and why it is a good thing that I cannot simulate that with other materials. But because my focus in on the potentialities and possibilities of the input and output of the LTM, the interaction, I aim to use materials that stimulate the imagination and show these possibilities instead of trying to mimic the exact characteristics. Exploring more Further explorations will include testing different textures for the LTM that can stimulate the input of stroking and forms and shapes that can stimulate the input of squeezing. The output of the material I am focusing on is the light effect of the OLED that fulfills the interactions I am exploring. Not the fact that the light is a homogeneous one. That is a characteristic of the LTM that I will leave to the imagination of the user instead of simulating it in a erroneous way.
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Start of
explorative research project
1
exploring the potential
Mapping of the LTM smart material Context mapping with designers Defining potential interactions by simulating the smart material Defining qualities of interactions
organizing the potential
2
Creating the Design under Uncertainty (DuU) guiding method Defining an interaction vision and a design goal
Defining a context and model-user
designing the concept
you are here
Defining the application
Exploring potential of the tactile surface layer, forms and shapes Designing the final application of the LTM smart material
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3
10.
Creating a final concept Part 1
With a focus on the input of the interaction
Intro chapter Next in this research is to find out which textures and which shapes support my focus phrasing and concept direction. In this chapter I want to converge on surface layer aspects of the material and forms and shapes that could stimulate the input of the interactions. I set up a test to explore these aspects and different shapes for stimulating deformation. This test is also about finding out which spots people prefer for stroking and squeezing.
Test setup This test is focused on the deformation part of the interaction, the input. As mentioned before, the main focus is to find out which textures and which shapes & forms embody the interaction qualities I am aiming for in my final design. The test will be conducted in a living room setting in a test room at the IDE Department in Delft. One corner is equipped with a desk with eight textured samples to experience and a questionnaire. At the other end of the room there is a big dining table with five chairs. The session is videotaped and will last around 1,5 hours. Participants The method of this test will be a discussion in a focus group. The group of participants exists of five people (2 male/3 female) and have (some) experience in designing. Four of them are no experts in the field of material experiences; one of them (female) has some experience. My intention is to have a discussion that will not escalate on going too much into detail or worrying about the usage of the right vocabulary. Therefore I have chosen not to have an expert on the subject within the group of participants.
Individual assignment When the participants arrive (10 minutes after each other) they will go into a room, one after the other, to experience 8 samples. These samples represent each an example of the main texture clusters from the texture Lexicon to cover textures with different structures. (Bhushan et al., 1997). These clusters and choice in texture are the following: Clusters: texture Linear oriented: ribbed Weave-like manner: woven Circular orientation: flowing Well-ordered repetitive: facetted Random disordered: irregular Random disfigurement: smudged Random linear orientated: wrinkled Random 3D imperfections: studded These eight textures are specially created for this focus group test. Because these textures need to be on the same level of experience, I want to use the same characteristcs to create them. But it is too hard to make some of the clusters with the use of the same material. That is why I try to have the most important characteristics the same: the translucensy, the softness of material and the flexibility. This results in half of them being made with the use of a mold and filling it with liquid silicone, illustrated in figure 23. And the other half created with flexible plastic foils.
Context and Procedure Beforehand, the participants are asked to bring a material with a texture that they think is pleasant to stroke together with an object that is inviting to be squeezed. After the individual assignment these materials and objects are used as the warm up exercise. Figure 22 | Picture of the desk with the 8 textures
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Figure 23 | The making of the textures
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For the assignment the participants are asked to take a seat behind the desk and stroke the eight different textures, one by one, as shown in figure 22. They need to fill in three questions for every one of them on a question form: 1. What do you like or dislike about this texture? 2. Can you explain why it is inviting or not inviting to stroke? 3. Please circle the qualities of this interaction or name other qualities. (see Appendix D for completed questionnaires) After they have filled in the question form, illustrated in figure 24, they will get tea or coffee and will take a seat at the dining table.
where they prefer so that squeezing and stroking will be encouraged. This way the interaction with the shape will be more focused on the body parts. These shapes all have the same color and stuffing so they can be compared on the same level. The participants will discuss their experiences, what they like and dislike and where they want to put the shape on their body. I will write down the qualities they come up with when thinking about the interaction experiences for each one of them, see figure 26. (see Appendix D for overview of qualities)
Discussing the textures, materials & objects The first part of the focus session is about the materials and objects the participants have brought. I will first ask them to tell something about the material they brought and why they like to stroke it. They have to talk about the qualities they can think of. Next I will ask them to explain something about the object they brought and why they are destined to squeeze it. Also here, they have to talk about the qualities they can think of. Experiencing forms and shapes The second part is focused on squeezing different forms and shapes. The participants will get embossed shapes, blob shapes and geometric shapes (open & closed shapes) to play with. I am curious to see if there is a difference in the squeezing experience of open shapes or closed shapes. Also I would like to see if a different stuffing makes a big difference or if the shape variances are experienced differently. I try to have the same size in shapes overall. They will discuss the shapes together, what they prefer when squeezing something and what they dislike, and together they will rank them on a scale on paper, see figure 25. Experiencing wearable shapes The next step is to fold six different textured shapes around their body some-
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Texture pages
Texture pages
Figure 24 | Filled in question forms on the textures
+
1.
2.
This feels awesome, really inviting to squeeze.. This feels nice, pretty inviting to squeeze..
3
This feels okay, not that inviting to squeeze..
Figure 25 | Visual of scale on paper
4.
Figure 26 | Defining qualities of forms and shapes
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outcomes individual Texture test Ribbed stroking with finger tips, feel rib with every stroke, nice grip including the stickyness
Stroking
sticky material, the looks
Yes: inviting looks, stroking transverse to ribs, continuity nice on finger tips, 3D surface experience
qualities
reassuring
as expected
safe (grip)
robust
subtle
resistance
No: too grippy /sticky
dull
woven softness, the looks, the touch of silky smoothness, the sound when you stroke it with your nails
Stroking
the edges of the strips, stroking is disturbed by woven structure, the look and feel, it is moving
Yes: friendly look, can put your fingers between the strips No: feel like wrecking it, too plain to stroke, too flat and flubby
qualities
subtle
expressive
amusing
weird
playful
natural
pleasure
soft
irritating
flowing interesting look with flowing ribs, playful stroking, irregular pattern
Stroking
sticky material, resistance
Yes: you want to follow the flowing lines, associate with nature, calmness
qualities
amusing
bewildering
lively
surprising stimulating
reassuring
inviting
No: not sure how to stroke it, it’s too sticky
natural
facetted amusing with air bubbles, subtle feeling on fingers, sophisticated look, nice sound when nails scratch it
Stroking
Yes: different shapes and fun direction of lines, feels natural, friendly touch, subtle looks and smooth No: no special feel or look, too flat for inviting to stroke it
a bit rough, pattern is hard to experience because it is so subtle, misleading, granny look
qualities sophisticated
subtle rough
amusing inviting
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boring
outcomes individual Texture test irregular the ‘rocky’ looks, the pointy texture moves with stroking direction, can put fingers between ‘rocks’, changing of shape when touching
Stroking
Yes: soft material, want to squeeze it & touch it, playful, changing texture, want to keep on stroking No: it looks sharp instead of soft
Stickiness and softness, dirty feel
qualities
expressive
amusing
powerful
exciting
stimulating
lively
bewildering
playful
smudged feels rough but soft, not sticky but fresh, soft and cute, leather feel to it
Stroking
nothing special, a bit boring, not an experience, does not feel smudged
Yes: the subtle texture feels natural
qualities
tattered
confusing
boring
simple
subtle
lively
rugged
No: unobvious pattern, not exciting, seems rough and coarse instead of soft, not inviting to stroke
wrinkled Stroking
soft resistance, suprising and diverse, interesting, smooth surface & organic looks, the sound when touching it and the irregularity
Yes: crazy wrinkly texture is fun, want to squeeze it to make more noise
too much noise when stroking, seems broken, nothing special to it
No: looks rigid and unattractive, don’t know what to except, something seems wrong
qualities surprising
amusing lively
powerful interesting
stimulating expressive
studded gives in when you stroke it, round edges feel soft, soft & cute bumps, weird feel but fun, a new sensation, nice 3D surface experience
Stroking
sticky material, bumps far apart
Yes: inviting texture & material, curious to touch, 3D surface sensation, weirdness of bumps
qualities expressive
amusing playful
fun lively
stimulating
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filthy exciting
No: too sticky, dirty & less playful than the irregular texture
outcomes objects & materials of participants squeezing
stroking
grip pen
back pen
Resistance of material. It is a bit gummy, I like that when holding it and stroking it with one finger.
sleep mask
There is a threshold, an exciting moment when it will actually click. It is playful, it responds to what I do.
laptop cover
Both sides of mask are so nice to stroke. They are soft and smooth which feels nice to my skin.
hood of coat
Really nice to squeeze because it is flexible and soft. Nice that it holds its original form and shape.
washcloth
It is so soft, so strokable. Because it is made of this material it is soft and warm for my head in the winter.
wooden ball
One side is so squeezable and it returns slowly like slow foam. It is really fun to play with it this way.
putty-like blob
By passive stroking I get this tingling feeling in my fingers. The wood forms a concrete form but feels soft when stroking.
book cover
By squeezing and touching it differently it falls apart or becomes a compact form: soft and concrete at the same time.
lemon
I like the sound it makes when stroking it. It is a soft cover and the differences in the 3D surface height is fun to play with.
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This lemon has the perfect pressure for me. A lemon is not doing what you expect and I like the feeling of the seeds falling out.
outcomes Experiencing forms and shapes
‘ The pentagon foam feels right in my hand, the triangle has an okay squeeze form and the thin one is too thin. ’
‘ The soap balloon is more playful, the glove is just nice to squeeze. Action reaction is more surprising. ’
‘ The rice balloon makes a annoying sound. The feel to it is too rough. The balloon with flower however, feels really relaxing to squeeze. ’
This feels okay, not that inviting to squeeze..
This feels nice, pretty inviting to squeeze..
This feels awesome, really inviting to squeeze..
The foam shapes are inviting to squeeze but not exciting enough. The shapes that fit right in a hand are more inviting.
The balloons with rice and couscous are rough but if you place them in your hand they feel nice. The sound it makes however is not that nice a response.
The pentagon foam shape is nice to hold and squeeze. The glove is fun to play withas wellbecause you get a slow response back.
A sticky or extremely flexible surface are not nice to squeeze but disgusting. An undefinable shape is not experienced squeezable either.
The surface of the lemon is nice to stroke and the form feels good to hold but the resistance ia too high for squeezing.
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The flower balloon is playful because you can shape it with every squeeze. It exciting to experience.
outcomes Experiencing wearable shapes placement of forms Ribbed
place on shoulder, arm or leg
triangles
place on arm & use as pad for
bumps
place on arm for stroking
crunched
place around arm or leg
strips
use as back protection
layers
place on shoulder or arm
qualities of forms Ribbed
invites:
Continuity in pattern, it is interactive, flexible and playful. Fingers fit right between the ribs. It is a predictable pattern but it turns out more interactive.
playful
surprising
stimulating
crunched
invites:
exciting
fascinating aggressive
invites:
It acts more weird than you expect. Playing with the form makes it different in every direction so you can make different shapes. Soft and little resistance. Semi strokable. Really nice look with the pattern.
playful exciting
Stimulates to squeeze with a lot of power. I want to crunch, it is begging for it. You get a feedback with sound, but it is too much sound when you are just moving. frustrating
triangles
amusing fashionable
strips
invites:
It is too flat to really squeeze it. It is sound and reliable, boring and plain. To sum it up, it is German.
reliable
bumps
invites:
Playful but rigid. Squeezing is less nice than stroking because the bumps are so small. The look is okay but you get bored more easily.
suprising
fascinating
relaxing
layers
It feels nice for stroking, it is a light brush against your hands or you can brush someone else.
soft boring
uninspiring
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invites:
uninspiring
pleasant
irregular the ‘rocky’ looks, the pointy texture moves with stroking direction, can put fingers between ‘rocks’, changing of shape when touching
Stroking
Yes: soft material, want to squeeze it & touch it, playful, changing texture, want to keep on stroking
Stickiness and softness, dirty feel
qualities
expressive
amusing
No: it looks sharp instead of soft
exciting
stimulating
lively
bewildering
powerful
outcomes summary
stroking
Ribbed
stroking with finger tips, feel rib with feels rough but soft, not sticky but every stroke, nice grip including the fresh, soft and cute, leather feel to it stickyness
Stroking Stroking
nothing a bit stickyspecial, material, theboring, looks not an experience, does not feel smudged
inviting looks, Yes:Yes: the subtle texture feelsstroking natural transverse to ribs, continuity nice on finger tips, 3D No: unobvious pattern, surface experience not exciting, seems rough and coarse No: too grippy instead of soft, not /sticky inviting to stroke
qualities qualities
resistance rugged
lively subtle
dull
irregularirregular
pointy texture direction, can put ks’, changing of g
ss, dirty feel
citing
stimulating
vely
bewildering
Stroking Stroking
soft resistance, suprising diverse, softness, the looks, the and touch of silky interesting, smooth surface & organic smoothness, the sound when you looks, sound when touching it and strokethe it with your nails the irregularity
Yes: crazy wrinkly Yes: friendly texture is fun,look, want can to put your it fingers squeeze to make between the strips more noise
themuch edges of the strips, stroking is too noise when stroking, seems disturbed by woven the broken, nothing specialstructure, to it look and feel, it is moving
No: wrecking No: feel lookslike rigid and it, too plain todon’t stroke, unattractive, know too flat flubby what to and except, something seems wrong
qualities qualities
lively weird
studded
studded flowing
gh but soft, not sticky but t and cute, leather feel to it
special, a bit boring, not an nce, does not feel smudged
ered
oring
simple
subtle
lively
rugged
Stroking
Yes: the subtle texture feels natural No: unobvious pattern, not exciting, seems rough and coarse instead of soft, not inviting to stroke
interesting soft
playful
natural
expressive
powerful
playful
expressive pleasure
Yes: inviting texture & material, to to follow Yes: curious you want touch, 3Dflowing surfacelines, the sensation, weirdness associate with nature, of bumps calmness
sticky material, resistance amusing
amusing playful
filthy
fun
lively lively
exciting
surprising stimulating stimulating
reassuring
amusing
expressive
exciting
No: too sticky, dirty & No: not sure how to than the inviting less playful stroke it, it’s too sticky irregular texture
squeezing
People prefer soft materials: gummy surface silky surface furry surface wooden surface soft book cover
People prefer flexible, workable objects: clicking pen foam sleeve slow foam glove putty-like blob halved lemon
..with a (bit of) irregularity and resistance that makes it playful to stroke.
..that give some sort of (slow) response by having some resistance when squeezing
lively
bewildering
irritating
sticky material, bumps far apart
bewildering
stimulating
exciting
amusing
Stroking Stroking
expressive
subtle
resistance
wrinkled woven
gives in when you stroke it, round edges feel soft,look soft with & cute bumps,ribs, interesting flowing weird feel stroking, but fun, a irregular new sensation, playful pattern nice 3D surface experience
qualities qualities
safe (grip) robust
dull
stimulating powerful amusing
amusing subtle
surprising expressive
reassuring
as expected
reassuring simple safe (grip) tattered subtle
as expected boring confusing robust
stroking
qualities
playful
Ribbed smudged
fun
filthy
playful
lively
stimulating
natural
wrinkled
sing and diverse, urface & organic en touching it and
facetted amusing with air bubbles, subtle feeling on fingers, sophisticated look, nice sound when nails scratch it
Stroking
n stroking, seems cial to it
owerful
eresting
Yes: different shapes and fun direction of lines, feels natural, expressive friendly touch, subtle looks and smooth
a bit rough, pattern is hard to experience because it is so subtle, misleading, granny look
stimulating
No: no special feel or look, too flat for inviting to stroke it
qualities
when you stroke it, round el soft, soft & cute bumps, el but fun, a new sensation, urface experience
Stroking
aterial, bumps far apart
Yes: inviting texture & material, curious to touch, 3D surface sensation, weirdness of bumps
using
fun
playful
lively
stimulating
filthy exciting
subtle
sophisticated
No: too sticky, dirty & less playful than the irregular texture
rough
foam shapes:
amusing inviting
okay: flat & triangle nice: square awesome: pentagon
boring
Balloons:
open shapes:
okay: gelly nice: rice & couscous awesome: soap & flower
okay: spiky & nest & blocky nice: crunchy awesome: -
are sticky-shapes, undefined-shapes & regular-shapes
are the slow responding in resistance-shapes & hand fitting-shapes
okay
awesome are rigid-shapes with some resistance & surprising-shapes
nice
Ribbed
shoulder, arm or leg
triangles
arm or use as pad
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bumps
crunched
arm
arm or leg
Outcomes explained
Wearable shapes to stroke and squeeze The test shapes focused on placement on a part of the body can be divided into shapes that are squeezable, strokable or both illustrated in the visual Outcomes of Experiencing Wearable Shapes. It is interesting to find out what people prefer, what the qualities of these interactions are and where they would place the shapes on their body. Eventually I want to know which of these shapes I should design with for a final concept. The most promising shapes that include both a playful and fun interaction and invite both stroking and squeezing are the ribbed shape and the shape with triangles. The shape with the bumps also covers the right interaction qualities and is especially nice for stroking. The crunched shape covers some interaction qualities and is especially nice for squeezing.
Texture experience For stroking a material, people prefer a material that is soft and has a bit of irregularity in its texture. When a material has some resistance when stroking they experience it as more playful. The participants brought soft, silky, wooden, furry and gummy materials to show what they love to stroke. The texture samples that the participants were able to experience that contain the qualities of the intended interaction and that are really inviting for stroking are: the irregular texture, the ribbed texture and the studded texture. They are indicated to be amusing, stimulating, expressive, lively and fun to play with. Some of the objects are nice to stroke with the whole hand (mask/hood, ball) or just one finger (book cover/pen). See the visuals on Outcomes Individual Assignment and Objects & Materials of Participants.
Deciding on texture and shape When looking at the texture samples from the test, the ribbed one, the irregular one with the little icebergs and the one with the bumps are preferred for stroking. Somehow these three textures are also preferred when asking the participants for shapes they would like to put on their body parts arms, shoulders, back and legs. Of course this is not that big of a coincidence since I am the one that made the wearable shapes and used my own preference for certain shapes and textures when making them. But, it is good to see that my focus and therefore my test shapes are proven to be squeezable and/or strokable, stimulate playfulness and enhance expressiveness, excitement and liveliness.
Forms and shapes For squeezing a material people prefer a material that is both flexible and in some way workable as shown in the visual Outcomes Experiencing Forms and Shapes. When an object is responding to a person squeezing, by giving the right amount of resistance, they experience the object to be fun to work with. The participants brought playful objects to show what they find irresistible to squeeze: a foam laptop sleeve and foam glove, a lemon, a clicking pen and a putty-like blob. Some of the objects are nice to squeeze with one hand (pen/lemon) and some with two hands (foam sleeve/foam glove/ putty-like blob). The test forms and shapes that the participants were able to experience that are really inviting for squeezing are: the foam pentagon shape and the balloons with soap and flower inside. The foam pentagon shape feels nice (the foam) to squeeze and the shape fits nicely into one hand. The balloons with flower and soap inside have just the right amount of resistance for squeezing with one hand and they are playful and surprising in their response.
next For further development of the wearable concept I will focus on these shapes, the ribbed, the triangular and the studded, and will make a choice in how to integrate the placement of different shapes on different body parts. Further more, I will experiment with the final interaction of input and output by creating a prototype to combine the final shape (input) with the light response (output).
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interlude Important sub-conclusions for the LTM platform
Outcomes Textures & Forms At this stage of the LTM development, my suggestion is that the LTM platform should firstly focus on how to implement all the potentialities in stimulating an interaction with the material. When they would develop different samples of prototypes for different potential interactions I can say with confidence that designers would be able to come up with many more promising concepts. Texture of the surface layer For squeezing a flat surface is not inviting. When a 3D surface experience is applied, so when the shape has a workable form, the user is inclined to squeeze the object or material. This 3D experience is necessary if you want to invite users to play with the material. Different ways of input, the deformation, leads to the response of the OLED. The playfulness of the material is what completes the material of it being alive. For stroking, a 3D texture is inviting when the user experiences a slight difference in touch contact with every stroke. When the surface looks interesting in its texture pattern someone is inclined to experience it by stroking the material.
that is soft in its touch and has a resistance so your hand stays on it when squeezing is very inviting. Other ways of deforming the material I have been exploring stroking and squeezing but you can imagine that every way of deforming a material could have another surface that is inviting for that type of deformation. When developing the LTM material these different potentialities of surface layers are of great importance and should be further explored by the LTM platform themselves. Figure 27 illustrates a proposal for the platform to further develop. When they create an overview of the surface layer potentialities, they can encourage designers to develop future concepts.
Surface layer adjustments
Squeezing
object adjustments
?
?
texture
finish
subtle, for some grip
not sticky
?
?
form/shape
combining material
- filled - workable - flexible - fits hand
padding as layer below LTM to add experience
- flat - flexible - improves movement
-
Bending
Pressing
Touching
Finish of the surface layer For stroking the finish of the surface layer should have a soft coating with a bit of a resistance to it. If it is too sticky or too smooth people do not tend to stroke it for a very long time but if it is a bit gummy people like the passive touch on their finger tips and tend to stroke it for a longer period of time. For squeezing the same counts. Sticky materials are not pleasant but something
Tapping
Slamming
Swiping
Stroking
a bit of irregularity and resistance
soft
Figure 27 | Proposal for further development of the LTM surface layer potential
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11.
Creating a final concept Part 2
With a focus on combining the input with the output
Stroking the LTM will take place on the sleeve of the garment. The interaction in both parts of the garment are defined by the following and illustrated in Figure 28:
intro chapter In this chapter the final concept will be further developed. I will make iterations on the final design of the garment based on my findings on textures, shapes and forms. I will deepen out the two interactions and define the light output of the two interactions: the dimming and pulsating light effects. To complete the design of the final concept I want to design a final prototype of the shape and its textures. For combining the form of the garment with the light effect I want to prototype individual pieces of the final concept that show the final desired interaction.
The shoulder piece The shoulder piece is the simulation of the squeezing-pulsating interaction and contains an inviting shape underneath the material to stimulate the input of the interaction: squeezing. By squeezing the shoulder piece, in the part that fits right into the hand, the LTM will start illuminating a pulsating light. The entire shoulder piece will therefore light up. Sleeve The sleeve is the simulation of the stroking-dimming interaction and contains an inviting texture that stimulates the input of the interaction: stroking. By stroking the sleeve the intensity of the light output will slowly increase. The more you stroke the more the light intensity will increase and stay on for a couple of seconds before it decreases slowly and dies out again.
Shapes and texture placement The development of the final texture and shapes are based on the outcomes of the texture/shape exploration. Therefore I am able to make the following decisions. The input of the two interactions, stroking and squeezing, I will implement in two parts of the garment. Squeezing the LTM will be integrated into the shoulder piece of the garment.
Piezo
squeezing
Oled
pulsating
Shoulder piece
Piezo
stroking
Oled
dimming
Sleeve
Figure 28 | Placement of shapes and texture
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expression of her extra powers. Therefore I think it is really fun to abstract this cape element in my final garment. Plus, a garment with a cape-ish design is easy to put on and to wear on top of your outfit. In Figure 30 the final design of the garment is illustrated and explained in the visual The Concept.
iterations Starting to design is always a challenge since you want to include every important aspect into this final design. In this project the LTM smart material has been the main subject to evolve a final concept around. The design goal and interaction vision have shaped a context to design for and the story outline has created a frame within the context and a model user to design for. Because this graduation project has been open to my own interpretation as a designer I do not have to make a strict list of requirements but a list of findings that are going to be integrated into the final concept. The iterations on these findings are illustrated in Figure 29.
Touch, deform & light patterns The concept creates a new communication language through touch and light and it lets you create your own interaction pattern that you can use to communicate with the people around you. The cape design includes the LTM material as a creative display that illuminates in a functional but expressive way. The output of the light effect can be of a high or low light intensity, whatever you exert as pressure.
Final shape design Because this woman I am imagining about is on the move, the garment is easy to put on on top of the rest of the outfit. It is not active wear only, it is designed to put on during the day as well to suit a different purpose. During other activities during the day, such as work or shopping or wandering around, you do not want to look like you are going for a run and you do not want to look like a clown either with a very obvious light emitting outfit on. The expressiveness of the look is in its appearance and interaction but in a stylish way.
Wind The garment has the extra feature of generating a backlight through the strokes on the back of the garment. Wind can also stimulate movement when you do not have the opportunity to create light yourself. This way you will always be visible for extra safety purposes. This is a great way of generating your own light by using an external source as wind.
Interaction Important for the shape of the shoulder is that it needs to fit the hand for squeezing. This implies that the middle part of the shoulder is more puffy than the rest of the piece. For the texture of the sleeve the irregularity is inviting for a more exciting way of stroking. When the texture has a bumpier part that merges into a more flat surface (like a gradient effect) you are more stimulated to finish your stroke.
Final concept Because I aim for a design that gives my model user the idea of having a super power when in the dark, the final concept is based on a cape design. The most fun fantasy character super woman has a cape as part of her outfit, which is an
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Easy to throw on, easy to move
Irregularity in shapes makes it playful
This jacket needs to be tranformed to a cape design
Figure 29 | Iterations on garment design
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By squeezing the shoulder piece it will start illuminating a pulsating light all over the surface area of the shoulder.
By stroking the surface texture with increasing the exerted pressure input the sleeve will start increasing the light intensity.
stroking Squeezing
wind
The wind will be the input of illuminating the strokes on your back a little when you are on the move. Figure 30 | Final garment design
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the concept It is a cape jacket for women who are moving and shaking everything they encouter. The jacket changes its purpose as soon as she starts interacting with it. In unclear weather conditions she can communicate her existence with the people around her. It brings extra safety in darkness and style and comfort during movement. The LTM smart material implemented in the jacket is her kryptonite.
the interaction The garment stimulates a playful interaction: it is dynamic, lively, expressive and brings safety in a powerful way.
Piezo squeezing
stroking
input
Oled
light
pulsating
dimming
output
the characteristics of the LTM smart material +C
?
light
+
- C
2d curvature deformation
surface light homogeneity
sensing variable levels of pressure
surface layer texture and shapes
limited power comsumption
Temperature resistance
energy efficient
portability
waterproof
The characteristics of the LTM smart material make it possible for the final concept to exist. The deformation of the material, its ability to sense variable levels of pressure and the illumniation of homogeneous light all over the surface are the main reason for the interaction to be possible. The potential of the surface layer to have a texture and to be cut into shapes make the appearance of the concept possible. The fact that it is waterproof, portable, energy efficient and temperature resistance are important for the concept to function the way it does.
in use The garment’s purpose starts evolving during usage. From a casual stylish cape jacket to a garment with the power of illuminating light when you start moving and interacting with it. Purpose 2
Purpose 1
wear as jacket start moving
back light
start with the interaction
expressive jacket
To create these textures I need to make moulds to be able to actually simulate the LTM smart material and have them implemented into the final prototype. This mould I design in Adobe Illustrator and implement into the 3D modeling program Solid Works. In Solid Works I am able to make lofts of all the 2D tiles on the drawing and therefore create a file to send to the milling machine.
Detailing of texture The detailing of the garment involves the parts where the interactions take place, the stroking-dimming and squeezing-pulsating and thus the parts where the LTM smart material is implemented. It is important to think about how the material would be connected to the garment and how I imagine the LTM to be cut and shaped. Shoulder piece The shoulder piece is shaped with another material that is placed underneath the LTM smart material. Here the surface layer of the LTM smart material has a soft and smooth finish. Therefore, the LTM smart material itself is nothing more than it is imagined to be like but with an extra feature of a soft coating on the surface layer. It is cut into shapes that fit the final shape of the material illustrated in Figure 31.
Sleeve Surface layer with texture Flexible OLED Flexible Piezo plastic Control layer
Sleeve However, the texture of the tactile surface layer of the LTM smart material, is designed. The LTM needs to be provided with a tactile textured surface layer, shown in Figure 31. The development of this texture is illustrated in Figure 32. To come up with a final texture some iterations where made. What all these texture designs have in common is that they are based on a combination of ribbed and triangular shapes. Because I want the stroking to be conducted from front to end, the most important design decision is that the texture merges from a fussed area with a lot of texture, to a less fussed area with less texture. The final texture design is therefore a result of all above mentioned decisions.
Shoulder Surface layer defined in shapes to cut Flexible OLED Flexible Piezo plastic Control layer
Figure 31 | Designs for tactile surface layers LTM smart material
Preparing moulds To create the LTM smart material in a way I can achieve textures, I decide to simulate the LTM smart material with silicone. Silicone has proven to be a nice soft material to stroke and squeeze when it is not too sticky and I can achieve the translucent effect it has to have for being able to have light illuminating from beneath.
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final texture design
Figure 32 | Iterations on texture design including the final texture design
This texture mould can be created with the use of a milling machine and PUR100 Foam. This process is illustrated in Figure 33. It takes 19 hours to complete a smooth textured mould but cheaper foam that only to 2 hours to be completed, has proven to be useless because I need this mould to be smooth enough for the sili-
cone to be hardened smoothly. The layer of silicone for the shoulder piece does not need a specially designed mould because it does not need a texture. This silicone piece will be made using a flat, shallow container with a raised rim.
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Figure 33 | The making of the final mould
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light intensity again and eventually dies out.
Integrating light into concept What I have tried to achieve during the design approach of designing with the LTM material is to show what the LTM material is capable of when breaking down the possibilities. What I have aimed to do for visualizing the final concept is break it down into different forms of representation. I have designed the final form with the final interaction shape-and texture of the garment and showed how the LTM smart material is constructed. The two light outputs of the interaction are defined but not yet illustrated because it cannot be simulated in a way that resembles the actual illumination of OLED surface lighting. But, because I can simulate the effect of the light and not the appearance of the surface lighting, I will illustrate with the individual parts of the final design where the interactions take place, what this light effect will be like.
Behavior of the light in shoulder piece By putting on the shoulder piece I will exert pressure by squeezing. The LED’s are placed below the surface layer and while I am deforming the shoulder, the LED’s will start pulsating. With every squeeze a pulsating pulse of one cycle (on-off) will be the result and will take about 4 seconds. After squeezing it a couple of times right after each other the pulsating will go on for five cycles before it dies out and you have to squeeze again.
The prototype For the final prototype I have decided to only focus on the appearance (the final form) of the concept. As mentioned before, I am not able to simulate the OLED surface illumination with LED or EL lighting so implementing it into the final prototype design would detract from the final appearance of the LTM smart material. To be able to show the full interaction with both input and output I will create a movie that shows this interaction. I will use the individual sleeve and shoulder pieces to show the light effects and the final prototype to show the concept in use.
Set up By programming an Arduino micro controller to the computer, I can use the free software of Maxuino to program the behavior of a LED-strip. I would like to see the pulsating and dimming light effect thus I decide to use several LED-strips to imitate this behavior. See Appendix E for the set up. Because normally the OLED has the characteristic of illuminating a whole surface, these LED strips are placed next to each other to imitate this. Also, the illumination properties of the OLED include homogenous illumination. This is a characteristic of the LTM material I am not able to imitate as mentioned before as it is not my aim to imitate.
Process description The development of the garment includes pattern making, shaping the shoulder pieces, implementing the molded LTM smart material (textured) surface layer, and sewing the parts together. A part of this process is illustrated in the Appendix E. Because I am not a professional sewer I have asked my fashion academy friend for assistance. I was able to use her atelier and professional sewing machine during the process.
Behavior of the light in sleeve By putting on the sleeve I will exert pressure by stroking. The LED’s are placed below the texture because the illumination comes from beneath the surface layer. While I am exerting the pressure by the movement of stroking, the LED’s will respond with a slow increase in light intensity. The light moves with the stroking direction and the light intensity will increase resembling the pressure exerted. For safety reasons the light will stay on for 10 seconds before it decreases in
The final design The final prototype of the cape is pictured on the next and final pages of this chapter. Because it is a first prototype it is somewhat different from the original design but it shows the look and feel of it. The best part of it is that the model shows the garment like it is made for her.
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The prototype: a superWoman cape
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Model | Pauline Wout
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Conclusion It did not make sense to design an innovatory product with an implementation of the LTM Smart Material still in the developing stage. I would not have been able to showcase my research findings in such a product. What I have chosen to do is to take a next step into the design of the LTM smart material itself, simulate its potential in tactile layer and light effects and implement it into a final concept. With this approach I am able to bridge the gap little between material researchers and designers. I can conclude that the LTM platform should focus on the development of different samples of prototypes for different potential interactions. I can say with confidence that designers would be able to come up with many more promising concepts when these are available. Approach When I look back at the first concept directions the group of design engineers came up with, I can see the in the most promising category, the one with the concepts that take into the acount most of the LTM characteristcs, the safety and rescue outdoor clothing. What is nice to see is that the way they saw the LTM implemented in that stage was as a flat piece of plastic foil that would respond to touching. I was focusing on designing something with the LTM smart material as it was now but wasmissing to design for its potential. I can now say that this potential of the material for designers is within the possibilities of the surface layer. This upper layer has the potential to be designed before you are starting to think of an application. When you first think about the interaction(s) you want to achieve you can design different surface layers. From there on it is fundamental to frame a goal and start designing with your designed LTM Smart material. But to let designers see the potential of the material in the first place, you need to show them a range of first possibilities.
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interlude Insights for the LTM platform and recommendations for further development and improving collaboration
Conclusion At this point, the material has proved to be not yet at the right stage for enabling designers to come up with radically new future products. The LTM platform at this stage of the project have their focus on ‘providing the creative industry with the knowledge and tools (design guidelines, material databases) necessary to incorporate thin, flexible piezo plastics and OLEDs into day-to-day design practice’. (source They are reaching to various design agencies spread over the EU and they are working on education of young designers through the creation of a training module. What I advise them to do, with these plans they are already carrying out, is to make adaptations to their tools and customize them. Therefore I have phrased some recommendations for further development of the LTM smart material and how to improve the dialogue and working culture between the designers and the material researchers.
recommendations Designers What designers want to know when they design with the LTM material is based on the interaction possibilities with the material. I have been researching two of the potential interactions (stroking and squeezing). From the insights I gathered through this research I am able to explain more on the next Tactile possibilities Surface layer For every interaction a designer is able to design properties of a suitable surface layer to empower the input. When you
are designing tactile properties for the LTM smart material to be inviting, you can for example design a texture that is soft and playful with an irregular texture pattern for stroking. Possible shapes of LTM For every interaction a designer is able to design properties of a suitable surface layer to empower the input. This can result in tactile possibilities as mentioned above, but also in possible shapes you can achieve with manipulating the LTM smart material. You do not only have to imagine the LTM to be cut into rectangular shapes, it can be any shape you want and still illuminate. Also, because of its flexibility it can adopt the shape of forms lying underneath the LTM smart material. OLED light effects For every interaction a designer is able to design properties of the OLED output of the LTM smart material as well. I have seen the potential of four different light effects but there are probably more to experiment with. With every input there can be another output but be aware that some combinations do not make sense, that is why I have created the Mapping Matrix, to check. Implementation possibilities of LTM with another material Because the LTM can adopt the shape of forms lying underneath it, you can design for interaction deformation possibilities of for example squeezing. When you put a workable form, like shaped foam, underneath the material and use a soft coating for the surface layer, other versatile potential of the LTM can be achieved.
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interlude
Material researchers To make all the findings mentioned above less cryptical and more practical, it is to the material researchers to implement these findings into prototypes for designers. This way they can see and feel the possibilities and imagine more potential with every prototype showing another element. From this first range of possibilities I have researched, designers are able to see more potential and will think themselves of more prototypes as input for new designs.
manufacturing them and develop prototypes for the designers. The material researchers are able to find just the right properties for the surface layer according to the designs of the designers. Together they will be able to find more and more potential of the material. They need each other but are now finally able to understand each other and actually work together.
For the researchers it is important to show the designers with the prototypes the limits of the LTM as well. Show that the surface layers cannot be too thick and too heavy because otherwise the Piezo will not respond. The material researchers have the resources to find a customizable material for different surface layers. But it is necessary to do this sort of exploration for the output of the material as well, the OLED light effects. If designers would be able to play different light effects of the OLED surface lighting and see the surface illumination (opposite to LED illumination) they would be able to see more potential on this part as well.
Dialogue If the collaboration between designers and researchers has its focus on creating more possibilities with the LTM material by designing different surface layers, shapes, forms and light effects the potential of the LTM material can reach enormous heights. Designers would design their preferred surface layers and shapes and forms and material researchers would research the possibilities in
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12.
concluding research
Discussion Exploring the potential At the end of my imaginary journey I am confident to conclude that I have achieved what I aimed for and answered the research question in as extensive a way as possible. Exploring the potentialities of the LTM smart material without having this material in a tangible or visible form to experiment with, has occasionally been a struggle for me, especially at the beginning of the project. It seemed impossible to start with setting a number of characteristics, simply because there was no information for me to draw from. After thoroughly researching Oled-lighting and Piezo-sensors I finally managed to make a first draft of a mapping. This mapping was the start of a quest, viz. the exploration and organizing of the potential of the LTM material. I was able to explore it by defining possibilities in the deformation and movement of the Piezo-plastic layer and the light effects for the OLED surface layer. My focus for finding potential of the LTM has been both on the tactile surface layer and the response of the effects in luminosity, mainly because I was able to simulate this. This focus is based on the different material experiences that can be created with all different potentialities of the material. Therefore the Oled surface lighting was not a focal point because that part of the material is already defined as such. I can imagine that Oled surface lighting has a lot to offer in and of itself as well, but to actually explore and experience its potential one needs the real McCoy. Organizing the potential What I could see after looking at the design approach of the different designers and students was that they needed an easily adoptable method which would inspire them to uncover a whole new range of potentialities. What was actually happened was, that they did not realize what the LTM material was really capable of. For instance, they started searching for additional sensors to the Piezo-plastics
and additional output devices, or designing a concept for a specific goal. At the end of the day, they simply pasted the LTM smart material on top as a sort of sticker. My approach to exploring the potential of the interaction possibilities and designing with the mapped out characteristics of the LTM in a step-by-step guiding method helped me to design for two interactions. This approach also helped me to create both a design goal and an interaction vision that further inspired me to create a context and enabled me to design a concept. Designing a concept At the beginning of the project I had a too narrow focus on designing a concept with the LTM smart material. But during the mapping of the material and finding out that other designers were not using its potential, I realized that a thorough exploration was much more important. I decided to focus on exploring the possibilities and using a final concept as a showcase for my exploration findings and organization of the potential that had lead to a context to design for. My aim with this concept was not to minutely simulate the material, but to show the potential of the LTM smart material when designing for material experience. My concept lead me to develop a cape jacket for outdoor activities. Using the LTM material in designing a jacket creates many more experiences with the material and many more scenarios can be illustrated. Also, by programming the light effects one would be able to create several expressions that can differ from one to the other and therefore fit a different scenario and create a different experience. This will be very interesting to further explore when the first prototypes are built.
Conclusion with recommendations This thesis has been an elaborative exploration of the novel Light-Touch smart material. By mapping the characteristics and simulating experiences with the material’s tactile and visual possibilities I
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was able to develop a design approach that organized the potentialities and helped me in embodying them in the process of designing an application. My conclusion is that the research question: ‘’ How can the LTM smart material be explored to map out all the characteristics and find the experiential potentialities for developing a design approach to embody these main potentialities in the design of an application? ‘’ has been answered extensively. Deliverables The mapping of the LTM smart material’s characteristics (both technological and experiential) has resulted in a LTM characteristics overview, a video compilation and a study on the interaction potential and tactile possibilities of the surface layer. Focus has been on the tactility of the LTM, the input of the interaction, and the light effects. The surface lighting of the flexible-Oled was hard to map because of the lack of - information available - a working sample - the ability to simulate it To further develop a mapping of the LTM smart material it will be of the utmost importance to have (a) working sample(s). The surface lighting is not something you can achieve with any other light-emitting probe than Oled. Therefore I recommend the LTM platform to make samples available with Oled-surface lighting in working order and program the applicable light effects to achieve different expressions. The approach (method) for designing with the potentialities of the LTM smart material and organizing them in such a way that a designer is able to phrase a focus to design for, has been elaborately illustrated and discussed. The method, the Design under Uncertainty approach (DuU), is meant to be a guide that will help designers to achieve a condition
wherein the LTM is a truly inspiring material to work with. This approach is the result of my effort in creating a design without having a viable context to work with and is therefore mainly based on an exploration of the potential interactions with the material. It will be interesting to see how other designers are going to use the results of my experiments, what they will come up with and if the approach will guide them in organizing the potential of this challenging material LTM. I therefore recommend the designers who are involved in the LTM project to use the DuU for designing a concept, by showing them the outcome of the explorations on the LTM as well. The final showcase-concept for the LTM platform, showing two potential interactions and illustrating different material experiences, was created by using fabric and silicone. The silicone illustrates the tactility of the surface layer, the shapes that were used in the garment empower different interactions. Because my aim was to showcase the material experience in a certain way and not to simulate the LTM smart material in the best way possible, the prototype focuses on the input of the interaction. The output, the light effect, is illustrated in two individual parts of the prototype and it does not show the exact simulation of the Oled surface lighting. It shows the effects of pulsating light and increasing/ dimming light. For further development of LTM samples I recommend to make different shapes, forms and different tactile surface layers that all invite one to have different interactions. Because the platform itself has the resources and experience to build these samples and because it will show designers many more potentialities of the LTM smart material, their goal should be making samples instead of concentrating on the design of various other applications. Thank you, Iris Jönsthövel
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“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.� - Henry David Thoreau, Walden
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