RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENTS
INTRODUCTION
05.01.15 30.01.15
OUTLINE length: 4 weeks type: pairs A four week project in which you will apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the Arduino workshop in order to enrich the experience of a real life environment.
SYNOPSIS Using our knowledge of Arduino, for this project we are asked to design and build a functioning ‘responsive environment’ prototype, the experiential output of which will be determined by the convergence of a selected context and appropriate input. We are asked to choose a mundane moment and select an opportunity to augment this chosen moment. The intention is not to ‘improve’ the chosen moment, but rather covert its drudgery into a delight. Designed to be read alongside: / sketchbook research
Mil Stricevic Roy Shearer
01 - 12
INITIAL RESEARCH
13 - 16
FURTHER RESEARCH
17 - 22
INITIAL DESIGN IDEAS
23 - 25
FURTHER & FINAL DESIGN IDEAS
26 - 34
PLANNING & TESTING THE DESIGN IDEA
35 - 38
FINAL PROTOTYPING
39 - 44
OUTCOME
46
SELF-REFLECTION
After thinking of as much mundane moments as we could at our desks, we decided to go out into the streets and observe other possible mundane moments that occur in everyone’s day-to-day life. Together, we built up a vast collection of different moments which we both considered to be mundane.
INITIAL RESEARCH: MUNDANE MOMENTS
To launch the project, we were asked to look into ‘mundane’ moments in order to explore the possible opportunities to augment a typically dull everyday activity through technology, based on a response to the environment.
which we then broke down into ‘sub-moments’ in order to identify possible areas of augmentation. After breaking down each moment, we decided to choose four mundane moments (which we felt had the most scope) to research further into. These were: being hassled on the street, looking for free wifi in public, using public toilets and having to change up mobile phones or other electronic devices.
We went through these moments and selected some of the most interesting ones to work with,
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In order to gain some inspiration for finding mundane moments, we first decided to look up the meaning of ‘mundane’ and words that related to it.
We began to brainstorm all the mundane activities and moments that we could think of, highlighting some of our favourite. We decided to look further into daily hassles as a mundane moment, finding ‘sub-moments’ which might lead to other interesting areas of research.
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DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL
TEDIOUS PROSAIC
COMMON NORMAL
NORMAL EVERYDAY WEARISOME DULL
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COMMON EVERYDAY
HUNDRUM
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UNEXCITING
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WEARISOME UNITERESTING PROSAIC ORDINARY TEDIOUS REPETITIVE LACKING PROSAIC DULL DULL UNEVENTFUL COMMON DULL BLAND NORMAL DULL UNITERESTING COMMON LACKING REGULAR DULL
UNVARIED BLAND
HUNDRUM
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MONOTONOUS
EVERYDAY
UNVARIED EVERYDAY
EVERYDAY MONOTONOUS DULL COMMON
UNEXCITING UNEXCITING
HUNDRUM ORDINARY
UNEVENTFUL UNITERESTING REPETITIVE TEDIOUS TIRESOME
MONOTONOUS
LACKING UNEVENTFUL
HUNDRUM
WEARISOME REGULAR
PROSAIC UNITERESTING
ORDINARY WEARISOME TIRESOME
DULL
UNEVENTFUL TEDIOUS REGULAR REGULAR BLAND
BANAL UNEVENTFUL
DULL
TIRESOME
MONOTONOUS UNEVENTFUL
PROSAIC
LACKING
ORDINARY COMMON
NORMAL DULL
UNITERESTING
LACKING
TIRESOME
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UNEXCITING
TIRESOME
MONOTONOUS WEARISOME
BLAND WEARISOME EVERYDAY
DULL
DULL MONOTONOUS TIRESOME TIRESOME UNVARIED EVERYDAY TIRESOME
BLAND LACKING UNEXCITING
TEDIOUS
DULL
UNITERESTING COMMON DULL
DULL
EVERYDAY
DULL
MONOTONOUS
BANAL
TIRESOME REGULAR WEARISOME
REGULAR
EVERYDAY UNEVENTFUL LACKING UNEXCITING
BLAND TIRESOME UNEVENTFUL UNVARIED BLAND HUNDRUM
BANAL
PROSAIC DAY-TO-DAY
EVERYDAY ORDINARY DAY-TO-DAY
UNEVENTFUL DULL UNEVENTFUL UNEXCITING REPETITIVE
PROSAIC UNEXCITING
TEDIOUS
WEARISOME COMMON
DAY-TO-DAY UNEXCITING
HUNDRUM
BANAL BANAL DULL
UNITERESTING
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BANAL
TAKE ONE public hassles
INITIAL RESEARCH: BEING HASSLED IN PUBLIC We decided to look further into public hassles as we felt it was an interesting mundane moment to work with. We went out into the streets and observed how people are hassled on their commute, taking observational notes and photographs.
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DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES? 1.
Make walking through the street more enjoyable experience in general.
2.
Make being hassled on the street less unpleasant for both participants.
3.
Make people more aware of the people they pass by on the street.
Whilst observing people on the street, we noticed that the majority of people are in a rush, stressed and not taking in the things surrounding them. We found an opportunity to create a design which gets people to stop for a moment and have fun, and maybe even meet a new friend.
People often wonder about the lives of the people they pass. This was an opportunity to design something which could get new people to interact on the move.
We noticed that people who take leaflets either drop them or put them into the bin. People often take them for the sake of taking them. Here, a design which makes people want to take them could be created.
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PRESENTING OUR MUNDANE MOMENT & IDEAS With our chosen mundane moment, research and ideas so far, it was now time to present our findings to the rest of the groups. We gave a short 5 minute presentation to illustrate our moment.
We presented our ideas using the photographs from our observations in the streets and quick sketches of possible design ideas.
After looking over our research so far, we noticed that our idea of the word ‘mundane’ had been shaped throughout the week. We decided to go back and look at other mundane moments which offer a better scope for ideas.
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Feedback from the presentation led us to realise that our moment isn’t truly ‘mundane’ and is rather a part of day-to-day life which is easily avoidable. With our research so far, it was still also quite hard to define our moment clearly. We were also told that our idea is too negative as not everyone finds being hassled negative (for example, being asked for directions), and that people
can avoid being hassled on the streets easily. It is also impossible to change how busy people are and their attitudes. We decided that we want to go back to the drawing board for ‘mundane’ moments, but link the moment back to our research so far. Although we spent a week on the research so far, it hasn’t been wasted as our findings could feed into our new idea and allow us to reflect back over our research.
TAKE TWO public seating
INITIAL RESEARCH: PUBLIC SEAT OBSERVATIONS
We decided to choose public seating as our mundane moment as it worked with an object rather than people, and was mundane in the sense that people didn’t really have much to do when sitting there.
After going back to the drawing board and researching into mundane moments, we chose public seating as we felt there was no entertainment factor when using them. We felt the main reason people used public seating was to rest for a few minutes, but we decided to go out and observe people in order to gain more in-depth findings. We decided to choose indoor public seating as few people use
outdoor seats, especially in the winter, and felt that people would be more open to using sheltered seats that are in a warmer and dry environment. We went a number of indoor places in Glasgow and observed the public seating in these areas, seeing how people behaved and used the seats. We took photographs and wrote down any interesting key observations throughout the day of research.
sitting incorrectly
playing on phone
We performed observations of indoor seating seeing how people used them and interacted with them. We wrote a list of observational notes and took photographs of interesting insights if possible.
attending to baby
using bench as a table
sitting sideways
We went to shopping centres, shops, stations and other areas with indoor seating, also taking a note of the different types of seating.
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bags on floor
placing bag on seat
choosing not to sit?
crowding around seats
hassling pigeons
Glasgow Central Station: We decided to observe a different environment to public indoor seating at the train station. Here there are many seats contrasting with a rushed atmosphere. Many people had bulky luggage, a lot were eating and some used the chairs as tables for their bags.
eating lunch facing towards each other
placing luggage on seats
St. Enoch Shopping Centre: We looked at the seating at St.Enoch and how this contrasted with the train station. One of the most interesting observations were a set of settees organised almost like a living room, differing from the cold metal seats at the train station. The seats here were also a lot let busy and less frequent through the shopping centre.
texting
Buchanan Galleries: To contrast with St.Enoch, we also observed Buchanan Galleries, where the seating was used a lot more and the types of seating varied. A lot more people ate food on the benches here than at St. Enoch, and having benches meant people placed bags next to them so no one sits near them. One type of bench also meant people couldn’t sit in the centre, but people would place their bags here instead.
waiting for someone?
unusable space to sit
facing away from people
space for bags
manipulatable seating
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We decided to affinitise our observations of people sitting on pubic benches in order to categorise patterns and find themes which will aid a design opportunity.
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FURTHER RESEARCH: SHOPPING CENTRE SEATS
After having a tutorial, we decided that we wanted to work with shopping centre seating as we found our observations most interesting for this area. We undertook further observations and aimed for design opportunities.
Through our initial observations, we discovered seating in shopping centres to be the most interesting and decided to choose this as our final mundane moment to take further. In order to develop design opportunities, we decided to go back to shopping centres to undertake further observations. This time we focused more on the smaller details in an attempt to find as many interesting
observations as possible. As done with the previous observations, we printed the photographs and overlaid our observational notes for each image. As well as focusing on what we saw, we also took note of the time of day, the different lifestyles and experiences of each shopping centre observed and also the different types of people who go to each of the shopping centres.
When taking photographs, we would annotate them to find interesting observations in order to work towards potential design opportunities.
sitting on ledge
The time of the day was a considerable influence on the types of people who go to shopping centres. During weekdays in the daytime, elderly people were more frequent. On weekday afternoons, school children became more common, whilst at the weekend the shopping centres were most busiest with a variety of people.
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doing a puzzle?
placing bags on floor
using own bags 2pm Monday fairly empty mainly older people
Round two affinity mapping: we combined our initial observations with our latest observations and worked our way into discovering potential design opportunities.
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Generating ideas: With our key observations affinitised, we then developed design opportunities based on these findings and explored them through the observations that linked with them.
Design opportunities: Our design opportunities included: a moment of rest, a moment of distraction, amplifying the shopping experience, amplifying the lifestyle shopping gives, bringing home to the shopping centre and creating a social connection between people.
Chosen Design Opportunity: Before choosing our design opportunity, we merged the similar opportunities together. To decide our opportunity, me and my partner both wrote our favourite choice on a sticky note and revealed it to one another. We both chose to amplify the shopping experience and lifestyle.
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DESIGN IDEAS: THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE After choosing our design opportunity, we began to think of our observations of shopping centre seating and how these could shape an idea which turns the aspects of drudgery during shopping into a delightful experience.
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INITIAL IDEAS: AMPLIFYING THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
To begin thinking about ideas for our chosen opportunity, we first started by producing a list of the possible inputs and outputs for the technology which will augment the moment, following onto drawing potential ideas.
The inputs for our chosen design opportunity relate to the observations taken in the shopping centres. These inputs can be general, and can also be based on the mundane issues themselves, such as sitting alone on a bench or the heaviness of a person’s bags. As for the outputs, the technology allows generalised outcomes such as producing light and making sounds. This is where
the idea behind the output itself plays a crucial role in augmenting the moment. We started thinking about ideas which would make the shopping experience more delightful for everyone. We started by running possible scenarios in our heads and also role playing them, which we then drew and annotated. This aided our design thinking and created more specific moments which we could augment.
Based on our observations, we produced a list of possible inputs for the technology. We then thought about what aspects of technology could be incorporated as an output tin an attempt to make this mundane moment delightful.
We began to draw scenarios based on our observations and thought about how our ideas could augment these typically dull moments.
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In order to start thinking about some design ideas, we decided to go out and undertake more observations in shopping centres. This time the aim was to take photos which we could overlay with some of our idea thoughts based on the design opportunity.
Using the photos, we each overlaid the photos with our own ideas thinking about the possible inputs and outputs. We also overlaid the observational notes which link to the idea.
We produced overlays for each of our ideas based on our design opportunity. This was a useful technique to start thinking about which idea will truly augment the moment into an enjoyable experience.
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POTENTIAL DESIGN IDEAS 1.
A seat which detects the person’s mood and positivity influences them, possibly through understanding who they are as a person.
3.
A seat that displays your purchases in a creative way which you can show off to friends and family. An seat which allows you to shop from it.
2.
A chair that detects the type of shopper and represents them through light which can be compared with one another jokingly.
3.
A comical chair which talks to you about your purchases, based on the idea of “girly” chats about the shopping experience.
3.
A “get away” seat which takes the user away from the stress of shopping, even for 5 minutes, re-energising them ready for more shopping.
3.
A seat which detects your purchases and gets you to meet like-minded people who are sat close by, perhaps through an interactive game.
3.
A meeting bowl which detects the amount of talking happening inside it and represents this through light in attempt to get people to socialise.
3.
A seat that enhances the moment of people watching when sat down, making it more entertaining and fun.
3.
A seat which detects your purchases and points you in the direction of similar products of interest and special offers.
3.
An interactive game between two-people where they have to guess the products they have bought.
DESIGN IDEAS: ROLE-PLAYING, MODELING & DRAWING IDEAS
After developing a series of design ideas, we explored some of our favourite using different quick techniques that allowed us to see the opportunities and potential in each concept.
Alongside producing quick sketches for the majority of our ideas, we also decided to role-play and model some of them in order to gain more of an insight in the opportunity of these ideas. Role-playing ideas is a quick and effective technique in seeing the potential and the flaws to an idea or concept. When role-playing ideas, we would record them into a short video-prototype where we could
add or manipulate audio and/ or graphics to explore and communicate the idea. For some ideas we also produced quick models in order to translate our sketches into a tangible three-dimensional format, which became easier to communicate to others. Seeing these models also helped us understand how they could work in their intended environment and how people might use and interact with them.
Looks likes som eone has had a bad day shopping!
Comical chair idea: We role-played the comical chair making a comment about the user having no shopping bags, stating that she had an unsuccessful shopping trip. We recorded this and layered audio over the top to demonstrate the output of the idea.
“Get away” seat idea: We decided to explore this idea by setting up an enclosed space in a busy environment, seeing how it felt and how technology could potentially augment the moment. This idea, however, didn’t have much scope for our design opportunity, and the use of role-play helped us see this.
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Video footage http://youtu.be/VZl7eAgA3_4
Meeting bowl idea: The aim of this idea is to get new people to socialise when sitting in the shopping centre. The amount of talking would make the exterior of the bowl illuminate brighter, and the seat of each user would also get brighter with the more they talk. Questions about shopping and life topics can be triggered through audio with a central button which can be pressed by any participant. We produced a quick model to explore the concept and interactions of the idea.
Meeting bowl role-play: As well as producing a model for this idea, we also set up a space to role-play it. We placed chairs in an enclosed area and had people test our idea. The chairs were positioned so that all participants faced one another. When someone pressed the centre button, we would state a question and they would all answer and discuss it together.
Role-play outcomes: Through undertaking the role-play, we learnt that it might not be necessary for a button to trigger the questions. Instead, silence could be detected and then the questions could be asked. We also discovered that without shopping-based questions, this idea is quite general and could be used anywhere. We wanted to focus our idea specifically into the shopping centre experience.
Show favou off you r rite of th purchase e day ..
Video footage http://youtu.be/U8NU2TQj3Us
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TAKE THREE shopping bags
FURTHER IDEAS: VISUALISATIONS AND USER INTERACTIONS After presenting our ideas during a tutorial, we decided to take inspiration from our findings and outcomes so far in order to develop a concept which focused more on shopping & shopping centres.
Based on our meeting bowl idea, it was suggested that we look into visualisations which could potentially enhance the concept. We researched into music visualisations and other visuals such as heart rate monitors, thinking about how they could be incorporated to make the idea more interactive and shopping-based. Though doing this, however, we stumbled upon the thought
of a shopping bag which could visually represent products or brands. We decided to research further into this potential idea through mind mapping and drawing ideas. One of our favourite visualisations was a pixelated effect, this inspired us to represent things inside a shopping bag in an artistic, interactive and appealing way, which could also potentially be a conversation piece.
We produced moodboards of different graphic visualisations and thought about how technology could generate some of these visuals.
We produced a mind map exploring our new idea of a shopping bag, thinking about how it could enhance the shopping experience whilst at the same time linking back to our ideas and research generated so far.
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A REGULAR SHOPPING BAG... ...BECOMES A VISUALLY INTERACTIVE SHOPPING BAG...
A visual interaction: Through visualisations, a regular shopping bag can be more delightful and beautiful thing to use. Purchases or branding can be represented in a visually appealing and interactive way with the creative use of technology.
...THAT REPRESENTS PURCHASES?..
...THROUGH A PIXELATED VISUALISATION...
A VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF PURCHASES
A social interaction: If one or more people buy the same or similar products, an indirect social interaction can be created through a delightful, yet subtle, sound effect that becomes louder the closer they are together.
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SOCIAL ASPECT A pleasant and intriguing ambient sound effect emerges when approaching another shopping who has bought similar products.
PLAYFUL ASPECT The visualisation of the products inside creates a playful interaction when putting purchases in the bag and also when taking them out.
APPEALING VISUALISATION ACTIVITY ASPECT With nothing inside, the visualisations are inactive. Only when purchases are placed inside do they become active.
An enjoyable interaction: Carrying the shopping bag can be a more enjoyable and playful experience by influencing the visuals in different ways based on motion and movement.
...AND/OR REPRESENTS BRANDING?
FADING ASPECT When the shopping bag is put down and static, the lights slowly fade until they are no longer lit.
CARRYING ASPECT As the user swings and moves the shopping bag, the lights become brighter and more vibrant. MOTION ASPECT As the bag is being transported, the products inside and moving around, creating a playful visualisation.
PLANNING & TESTING THE DESIGN IDEA: ARDUINO With our chosen idea in mind, we began to plan how to create the interaction based on the inputs and outputs, thinking about the best methods to communicate the concept. We first began by testing the technology aspects with Arduino.
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EXPLORING THE TECHNOLOGY: THE SOCIAL ASPECT
We first decided to tackle the audio which will be triggered when two shoppers with similar items in their bags are in close proximity to one another. After some thinking, we decided using Arduino would be best for this.
Ultrasonic setup: We set up a quick assembly for a proximity sensor testing it with a buzzer. This process involved coding the Arduino to detect the distance and buzz at certain distances. With this, we could play around with a suitable distance for the audio to play when similar shoppers pass by one another.
Processing: Using the sister software to Arduino, we began to code audio to play at a certain distance, and become louder the closer something is to the sensor, vice versa. Here we also began looking at different sounds and music which would suit the moment.
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With the Arduino equipment we had available to use, we began to explore and trial how we would create audio based on proximity. In the real world, RFID tags and sniffers would be used to play the audio, but this would have been very complex to produce for our prototype. Instead we decided to use an ultrasonic sensor which would detect the proximity between two bags. With the Arduino and proximity
sensor set up, we added a buzzer which would buzz at a certain distance in order to check if the set up was working. As we didn’t was a buzz noise to play when similar shoppers pass by one another, we decided to use Processing so that we could play the audio through a computer. This way we could find a sound or piece of music that is enjoyable and intriguing to hear whilst shopping.
Arduino Leonardo: As the coding required key presses to input into the computer, we had to change board from the Uno to the Leonardo as only the Leonardo could do this.
Testing the setup: With the board changed and the audio chosen, we then coded the volume to change with distance. This involved a lot of coding in order to get the smoothest fading for the audio. With this done, audio would trigger when the proximity is less than 2 metres, and would louden the closer to the sensor something is.
Integrating the sensor: In order to make sure the sensor would still work when incorporated into the bag, we decided to set it through a plastic sheet. This also let us see how it would look and the most suitable positioning when making the bag.
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EXPLORING THE TECHNOLOGY: THE VISUAL ASPECT
With the audio aspect now set up, we then decided to troubleshoot the visualisations. We first decided to play around with LED’s and how the desired effect of pixelation could be achieved.
Exploring approaches: We first began to think of how we could effectively communicate and represent the visualisations, drawing out ideas and considering the different technology available to us.
Planning the setup: Our first consideration was the use of many RGB LED’s connected to the Arduino board, each with a unique colour selected by a colour sensor which tracks the colours of the items inside the bag.
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Using RGB LEDs, we started to set up a simple circuit and coded the Arduino to change the colour ever so slightly. We did this as we visualised the pixelation to animate slightly as items move around in the bag. As our concept is based on pixels, it would have involved a grid of many LEDs, each with a colour sensor attached to it. Not only was the equipment unavailable to us, but this would
also have taken a considerable amount of time to do and would have required many Arduino boards and components. We decided to problem solve and explore other options which could communicate our idea effectively. Here we considered an LED matrix connected to an Arduino board or external displays where the pixel visualisation could be created graphically and exported as an animation.
RGB LEDs: We connected up colour changing LED’s to a breadboard and thought about how these LED’s could be assembled in the bag, the physical setup and the amount of LED’s required. With multiple LED’s set up on the breadboard, coding them a certain colour became more difficult and only a few LED’s could have a set colour before the Arduino board had no more pins remaining.
LED colour matrix: Our second approach was an LED colour matrix. Unfortunately, only a small 8x8 matrix was available to us, and we would have required many in order to achieve our desired visual effect.
An external display: The most suitable approach from our problem solving was an external display where animations could be shown. We tested an animation of the pixelation using Photoshop and placed clouded transparent plastic over the screen to explore diffusion. As this method worked quite effectively, we decided that we would use a tablet to display the visualisation. This also meant that it could be easily placed in the bag and didn’t involve any wiring.
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PLANNING & TESTING THE DESIGN IDEA: THE VISUALISATION With the technology set up, we could now explore with the visualisation and the different effects we wanted to communicate. Using different methods, we created pixelation and animations and exported them to the tablet and tested how they would look.
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1 Place: In order to generate a realistic pixelation of shopping items placed in the bag, we decided to first create a transparent bag where we could place items inside to see how they looked.
2 Photograph: As the plastic used for the bag was cloudy, it slightly diffused the colours of the items inside, which worked well when photographing the face of the bag as it simplified the colours.
3 Pixelate: After photographing the items in the bag, we then pixelated the photo in order to achieve our desired effect. Here we could take this graphic, animate it and export it to the tablet.
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PLANNING & TESTING THE DESIGN IDEA: MODELING With an idea in mind of how the technology would communicate the concept, we then began to design and assemble a bag which would home the technology. We thought about materiality and the form, following the aesthetic of a designer shopping bag.
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MODELING THE DESIGN: THE SHOPPING BAG
With a plan of how we are going to communicate our design concept through technology, we then decided to create the shopping bag in order to see what we were working with and what aspects we might want to change.
We researched into the different types of shopping bags based on brands, materials and forms, thinking about a design which would suit our concept. We decided we wanted to go for a clean-cut designer shopping style bag as we wanted all the focus to be on the visualisation. After drawing out some sketches of potential designs, we then assembled together a shopping bag using white polypropylene
sheet plastic, which we felt suited the look and feel of the shopping bag. We integrated the ultrasonic sensor into the body of the bag and also created a holder for the tablet with a translucent overlay to diffuse the screen. With the shopping bag created, we then began to test the audio aspect with the Arduino, changing the code where necessary. We also began to play around with the visualisation.
After researching into different shopping bags and assembling a moodboard, we decided a designer style shopping bag would be great for showing off, and sketched shopping bags based on these forms.
Designer shopping bags are typically one solid colour, small and use good quality appealing materials. With our shopping bag, we wanted to replicate this look and this idea of people wanting to show off the branding of their purchases.
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After creating the shopping bag, we created a casing for the tablet to be fitted so that the visualisations could be shown through the translucent screen overlay.
We fitted the ultrasonic sensor into the front face of the bag near the base so that the breadboard and Arduino board could sit at the bottom of the bag and could be blocked off from the shopping.
We began to play around with how the visuals could change with movement of the bag or changes to the environment based on inputs. Producing a number of different visual animations, we tested how these looked when in the shopping bag and what possible changes needed to be made.
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TUTORIAL FEEDBACK: DEVELOPING THE DESIGN IDEA With the modeling and testing of our idea so far, we then discussed our progress so in a tutorial in order to see what developments we could make to better our design and to plan the final prototype.
After reflecting back at our progress so far, we wanted to focus on making the bag more appealing and personal. The bags we had modeled so far were fairly small, and this was influenced by the materials available to use which limited the size. We began to think about different possible shapes and sizes for the bag, thinking about a range which could be made available. In addition to this, we
also wanted to explore materiality and colour, as the produced a frame with high contrast with the visualisation. We thought of ways to reduce this and blend the visuals with the shopping bag. We also considered the audio aspects and how these could be developed to enhance the shopping experience further, such as guiding people to shops and being customizable to the user’s preference.
We produced a mind map of potential changes we could make to move forward with our design. The main focus was to change the style of the bag and to think more about the interaction it creates.
In order to see the possible outcomes of using the shopping bag, we began to think about and illustrate possible user scenarios, ranging from the far-fetched to the more obvious user journeys.
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FINAL PROTOTYPING: DEVELOPMENTS AND BRANDING IDEAS With an idea in mind of the aspects we wanted to improve with our design, we then began to produce final prototypes and considered branding opportunities. Here we reflected back to our research and observations in order to tie our outcome with our initial findings.
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Materiality and colours: Based on our previous models, we decided we wanted to change our colour sheme to blacks and greys with accents of other colours. With a black shopping bag, the visualisation screen would blend better and flow nicely with the design.
Branding: We decided to call our interactive shopping bag ‘Link’ as it aims to link people with their shopping, similar shoppers and also shops which might appeal to them.
The final form: We decided to keep our bag the same size as making the bag any larger meant the visualisation would look disproportionate as the size of the tablet couldn’t be changed. However, in the real world, we would imagine a range of sizes and shapes for the shopping bag to be available. We also decided to move the sensor to the top of the bag as it suited it better aesthetically.
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Logo ideas: Based on our brand name, we began to assemble an array of different logos which relates to our concept and experience.
Logo materiality: After choosing a logo, we decided to laser cut it onto different paper textures and colours, exploring with the negative and positive spaces. We wanted to achieve a subtle aesthetic like most designer shopping bags pursue.
Logo integration: We decided we wanted to incorporate the logo with the ultrasonic sensor in order to make it less obvious and more subtle. The logo worked on the idea of linking the two sensors together, reflecting the brand.
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The final prototype.
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FINAL OUTCOME: COMMUNICATING THE DESIGN CONCEPT With our final prototype now complete, the aim now was to effectively communicate our concept through different techniques. This would be done through Arduino, giving a physical demonstration, and also through video prototyping and an exhibition.
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The design: The bag is designed to reflect the experience of walking down the high street with a designer shopping bag. It’s designed the user want to show it off; to flaunt it to others. However, it is also an ever changing visual that becomes unique based on the shopping inside it.
The visuals: The pixelated visuals are responsive to products contained inside the shopping bag. The colours reflect the swatches of user’s purchases, representing what’s inside, outside, but in a subtle and eye-pleasing manner. The visuals will respond to user inputs too, such as becoming brighter with more movement and fading out when the bag is left static.
The sound: The sound the bag creates isn’t just an enjoyable experience for the user and surrounding people, it is also an attempt to create social interactions between similar shoppers and to lead the user to shops and products they will like based on the shopping inside their bag at the time.
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FIND YOUR MATCH
A poster design displaying the product in use in its intended context.
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FINAL OUTCOME: PRODUCING A VIDEO PROTOTYPE We produced a video prototype in order to demonstrate the different features of the product effectively, as well as being able to communicate the audio aspects. We based the scenario on a shopper using the Link shopping bag to amplify the shopping experience.
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1) Intro title screen with animated Link logo.
2) 10:41 - The user sets off for a day of shopping at a number of shopping centres.
3) 10:53 - She takes her Link shopping bag, which is currently empty and inactive.
4) 11:20 - The user arrives at the first shopping centre and begins to start shopping around.
5) 11:45 - The user finds something she likes and decides to buy it.
6) 11:47 - As the user is putting her shopping in her Link shopping bag, the visuals begin to activate.
7) 11:48 - The visualisation fades in and represents the colours of the items she has bought.
8) 14:34 - After shopping around for a while, the user decides to rest for a moment.
9) 14:36 - As the Link shopping bag has become motionless, the visualisation begins to fade out.
10) 14:37 - The user decides to look at the beanie hat she recently bought.
11) 14:37 - The visuals react to the change in contents, changing the colour palette.
12) 14:38 - As the beanie hat was blue, the blue pixels have faded out, leaving the other colours behind.
A storyboard of images with annotation showing key scenes in the video prototype.
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13) 15:34 - As the user is swinging the Link shopping bag a she walks, the visuals react more.
14) 15:36 - With more movement, the visuals become more animated and change colour quicker.
15) 15:37 - This change in the visualisation becomes a form of playful interaction.
16) 15:43 - As the user gets in the lift, the bag becomes motionless again, and the visuals fade.
17) 15:57 - Walking through the shopping centre, the Link shopping bag begins making sound.
18) 15:58 - The sound loudens the closer she is to a shop of interest based on her current shopping.
19) 15:58 - She finds the shop that was suggested through audio and goes for a browse.
20) 16:13 - On her way to another shopping centre, she begins to hear a different sound loudening.
21) 16:13 - She passes by a similar shopper with the same Link shopping bag.
22) 16:13 - She quickly chats with the shopper about the interaction the Link shopping bag created.
23) 16:14 - The user continues with her day of shopping.
24) The credits begin to roll.
Video prototype http://youtu.be/FZ94ducNtGc
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img of exhibition
We presented our final design and developments in the form of an exhibition.
img of final exhibition (detail)
SELF-REFLECTION Overall, I felt this was a challenging project which stretched my imagination in terms of thinking about how environments can respond to inputs in order to produce augmented outputs. Although the initial week for this project led us in the wrong direction, I don’t feel it was wasted as we both learnt from this tangent and were also able to link our ideas back to this initial research. Even though public observations wasn’t something new to me, I did learn a lot from the observations in this project, especially looking into the smaller details which can give interesting design opportunities. It was sometimes hard to perform observations as working with shopping centres meant that we had to be cautious when taking photographs. However, this was a learning experience in being able to collect the information required when barriers may be preventing it. With our shift to public seating in shopping centres, we were able to generate a number of ideas based on our observations, something we found really difficult for our initial mundane moment of public hassles. Drawing
over observational photographs became a very useful technique in altering what’s happening in the photo in order to communicate ideas. Role-playing ideas was also particularly effective as it was quick and easy in finding potential improvements and flaws to an idea. As we progressed into the idea of an interactive shopping bag, I became excited to create ideas and play around with technology in order to prototype a concept. Without our initial mundane moment, I don’t feel we would have achieved the well considered outcome we pursued, and looking back at the start of the project, I am now able to reflect positively on the mistakes we made. In terms of our outcome, I feel we have met the brief in augmenting a typically mundane moment of carrying shopping bags as we focused on our observations, taking these as inspiration to make the moment delightful. Through problem solving and prototyping, I believe we have produced a design which amplifies the shopping experience by making it playful and also by creating social interactions.
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JAKE COHEN PRODUCT DESIGN THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART