TINKERING WITH
Defining method My creative process includes a wide variety of prototyping techniques that help to formalize complex ideas. Some prototypes are just formal explorations of a specific material, sense or interaction.
Phase I As a starting point for any project, I always organize my thoughts by doing some brainstorming and domain mapping even when the topic isn’t totally new to me.
Figure 36 Brainstorming + Mind Mapping process
So, I did a quick round of brainstorming, and I clustered the concepts in a way that I could focus more on my research. As a result, having some connections and keywords always gives me new ideas to keep working with.
Prototypes = Experiments I created the first round of prototypes as a formal experiment to explore some ideas such as experiential spaces and alternate interfacing experiments.
Figure 37 Spatial experiment. Figure 38 Interfacing experiment.
This first round of prototyping wasn’t very successful at all. However, I realized that I had to narrow down the search more to be able to have a new lead. A round of domain mapping was needed to clarify some core ideas.
Figure 39 Domain mapping process.
With this new round of thinking I defined a hypothesis: A Sensorial experience provided by haptics, materiality, and tangibility can allow the user to acquire some knowledge about dark matter by relating to other known concepts and establishing new connections. This next prototype sits between look&feel and implementation. This time I’m focusing more on the feel than the look, and I’m testing how I’ll put all the elements together to see if they work together. I want to know the effectiveness and the reactions of the users. Figure 40 Multi-sensorial experiment.
The final iteration of this round of prototyping includes both touch and smell senses. It becomes a blind tactile journey that provides for different textures, materials, and elements that allow the user to create its composition. While each mental rendering its unique to each user past experience, everyone will associate each part or the whole as one mental image. What this image means to each user it something that I still need to explore and to dig deeper. Therefore, I’ve been trying to map the senses and the concept that I was trying to materialize before getting any further with my prototyping process.
Figure 41 Sense map.
I wanted to understand what each user’s feel in detail and understand their mental associations with related concepts. However, the prototype is quite rough and doesn’t consider some basic elements such as ergonomics; I would like to provide a more comfortable and enjoyable experience.
Consequently, I started wondering myself which values should my project to have. Honesty, curiosity, whimsicality, and playfulness are the core qualities of the project. Complexity is broken down into smaller simpler pieces. Experimentation, a lot of materials, textures to offer a seamless and whimsical experience. I want my work to be poetic and memorable. Abstraction, nothingness, void are concepts often too overwhelming for people, as well as some complex scientific concepts. So, I want to reverse this perception and at the same time show dark matters fundamentals more entertainingly and comprehensively. This goal can seem a contradiction, but it’s not, it’s just very challenging. It requires perseverance and being open to discard anything at any time that doesn’t produce the desired effect to try something new. The process here becomes as important as the final piece. Indeed, I want to reveal the essence of dark matter in an immersive playful experience to show an invisible phenomenon through haptics and senses. I expect to offer not only a meaningful experience but also a story that my audience will remember for a long time. I’m someone who’s passionate about science, art, and technology, who is aiming to transform what is complex into simple, in order to help people understanding the world. In this particular case, I’m working with dark matter and the huge problem of not being able to render a concept with no visible instance. How? Art, design and science building bridges to provide a story that can show and spread all this complexity. In the bigger picture, I want to be able to create a space where people can create a conversation about ununderstood complexity by being more comfortable and raising other people’s awareness and awakening curiosity.
Phase II After some more theoretical research, I went back to researching by making. A space where not only I’m more comfortable but also, I’m more creative and resourceful. After reflecting my past process, I realized that I was trying to cope too much in just one experience. So, I asked myself, what if I could break down this to the most basic questions in order to provide different and complementary experiences.
What is Dark Matter? Why Dark Matter is important? Where could I find Dark Matter?
Figure 42 Big questions idea sketches
As part of the process, I created an audiovisual experience using lots of different visual/sounds/textures from existing footage that helped to represent the journey that I have in mind for my Dark Matter Thesis experience.
Figure 43 Screentshots from Thesis Experience audiovisual
After the question: Are people talking about dark matter? How about twitter? This is a visual compilation of the first hits when looking up dark matter.
Figure 44 Twitter screenshots looking for Dark Matter threads
However, I want to explain why dark matter should matter to people, what should they care? There isn’t just an answer, but there is definitely people out there seeking for answers. From this point, I felt more comfortable about the unknown and undefined concepts that surround my quest. Hence I plan to create as many different sensory/material explorations as I can. I want to test different ways to perceive/feel/sense as well as to introduce the element of play to all prototypes. Creating playful experiences could improve the overall experience as well as the engaging level for my audience.
Phase III My prototyping process includes a wide range of materials and techniques in order to be able to achieve a certain small experiences and sensations. Experimentation, trying new things and always pushing myself out of my control zone. How am I going to represent something complex just with I already know? My prototyping process includes a wide range of materials and techniques in order to be able to achieve specific small experiences and sensations that I plan to use in the final installation. I’m taking notes of every material specifications, expectations, and performance. I document my process in writing as well as with photographs and video. Also, as part of finding a unique way that suits what I am testing, not only more traditional 3D printing with PLA and laser cutting but also 3d printing with clay, silk-screening with conductive ink and new materials that mays be introduced in later parts of the process.
Exploration 1
Materials: Polyester filling, 3V battery, RGB Jumbo LED. Properties: Emitting light ( Up to 9 different shades of color) when the Polyester materials is pressed and the RGB LED cathodes touch the battery and makes it light up. The tactile experience is pleasant and at the same time provides some surprise as the interaction might be unexpected. Aesthetics: Beautiful gradient aura of light. It resembles a smallscale nebula. Possible iteration: Creating multiple objects hanging from the ceiling that could be activated by different users.
Exploration 2
Materials: Furry wires, 3V battery, Super Bright blue 3mm LED. Properties: Emitting light creating both lights and shadows and an intriguing visual texture. The surface created by the wires is velvety and smooth, and at the same time creates some feedback tension when the form is pressed by the hand. Aesthetics: Orbit like structure that projects like in 360 degrees. It creates a nice light effect when rotating the emitting light object. Additional note: There are no wires, as the furry wires conduct the electricity. However, it creates quite a lot of resistance, so it wouldn’t work in a large piece.
Exploration 3
Materials: Felt, Copper tape, Conductive copper fabric, 3V battery, vibrating mini motor disc. Properties: Enclosure that when pressed (closing the circuit) creates a stimulating tactile perception through the vibration of the motor felt through the smooth surface of the felt. Aesthetics: Visible soft circuit. Shows the mechanics behind the scene. Additional note: The circuit is quite fragile, but I see a lot of potential in the materiality and the haptics of this small piece.
Exploration 4
Materials: Copper sheet, paper and LED. Properties: Customized circuit that includes curves in a galaxy like shape. Aesthetics: Visible circuit creating a minimal and subtile spacial representation. Additional note: The technique relies on the effectivity of the vinyl cutter blade. For now, there are certain constraints to be considered when transferring the circuit to another surface.
Exploration 5
Materials: Polyester filling, 3V battery, RGB Jumbo LED, super bright 3mm LEDs. Properties: Emitting light ( Up to 9 different shades of color) when the Polyester materials is pressed and the RGB LED cathodes touch the battery and makes it light up. The tactile experience is pleasant and at the same time provides some surprise as the interaction might be unexpected. Aesthetics: Beautiful gradient aura of light. It resembles a smallscale nebula. Possible iteration: Creating an interaction that could be vertical and more subtile than pressing one surface against the other.
Exploration 6
Materials: Black Stretchy Fabric, Copper Tape, 3V battery, polyester filling, super bright 3mm LEDs, solder, AT-tiny. Properties: Interaction that provides visual feedback by emitting a light quite dim. The tactile experience provides the ability and agency to control the light using two different interactions. Connecting the small threads of the two different poles is more pleasant than just pressing the copper tape that acts as capacitive sensor. Aesthetics: Beautified circuitry, creating a visual connection between the electronics. Cons: Very weak construction due to my own technique (still working on improving my skills), but also a poor choice of materials. Possible iteration: Creating small artefacts programmed using ATTiny that could provide portable, low energy to reconstruct a galaxy structure.
Exploration 7
Materials: Conductive yarn, conductive thread, conductive tape, LEDs, AT-Tiny 45, 10K resistor (PULLUP resistor), solder , Li-Po battery and connectors. Properties: Variable resistance due to material interaction through a stretchy sensor made of yarn. Yarn pompon that acts as a switch. And finally complete circuit that’s hidden behind a knitted surface diffusing the light. Aesthetics: Beautified circuitry, creating a visual connection between the electronics. Also soft and smooth interaction again. Cons: Very weak construction due to my own technique (still working on improving my skills), very difficult to debug and at some point stopped working.
Exploration 8
Materials: Copper tape, paper, fabric conductive tape and cardboard. Properties: Emit sound coming from an external source, being Arduino or audio file reproduced by a phone. Aesthetics: Beautified circuitry, creating a visual texture that doesn’t resemble a traditional electronic component. Cons: The sound is very weak, but the aesthetics match what I envision for my exhibit.
Experimenting with sound Soft circuitry is a space where I’m experimenting not only with materials but also with mediums. Creating speakers with different materials was a good exploration to achieve different surfaces on which I would be able to create sound.
Explorations: Findings Aesthetically all my pieces tend to have something in common. As much as possible carefully crafted elements, minimalism and a thoughtful choice of color, material, textures, and finishes. For now, almost all my last prototypes possess the property of light emission and shadow projection, which creates a resemblance to celestial and heavenly bodies such as nebulas. This look & feel aligns smoothly with the idea of explaining the intangible and hidden of the cosmos. What are the best tools to represent what we don’t know that we don’t know? All my investigation by itself is based on uncertainty. However, I’m trying to convert it into gaps that I can fill in order to give some light/meaning to each incognita I find on the way. I don’t want to let uncertainties to block the creative process.
Phase IV
I was reading some articles, and I came out with this one40 that not only I found exciting but also, revealing.
What if my installation was able to recreate both the presence, reduction and absence of dark matter? Is a good way to understand the gravitational effect of Dark Matter? Does it have enough punch to become the whole Dark Matter journey? For now, I believe so.
Observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of one such galaxy have turned up an oddity that sets it apart from most other galaxies, even the diffuse-looking ones. It contains little, if any, dark matter, the underlying scaffolding upon which galaxies are built. Dark matter is an invisible substance that makes up the bulk of our universe and the invisible glue that holds visible matter in galaxies — stars and gas — together.
Called NGC 1052-DF2, this “ghostly” galaxy contains at most 1/400th the amount of dark matter that astronomers had expected. How it formed is a complete mystery. The galactic oddball is as large as our Milky Way, but the galaxy had escaped attention because it contains only 1/200th the number of stars as our galaxy. Based on the colors of its globular clusters, NGC 1052-DF2 is about 10 billion years old. It resides about 65 million light-years away. Defining Narrative Defining the narrative of the experience has been challenging. There are still some points to polish but the core idea of introducing the consequences of the absence of dark matter will keep being the center of the narrative.
Figure 45 Storyboard “Dark Matter experience”.
After defining the story, I created a larger prototype where I could use some of the already tested materials and at the same time explore the user interaction with the experience.
Figure 46 Look & feel prototype. Addressable RGB LEDs, Synthetic polyester filling, natural roving, metallic reflective surface, metallic mesh on top of a wooden structure. Including sound (Nasa recordings).
Figure 47 Vibration motors under the structure would be triggered by pressure produced by the user when advancing.
Phase V After all the explorations, I needed to rethink the narrative according to an interaction that is compelling enough to explain the few we know about dark matter. As once I heard in a conference: “You have to get the experience right”. M. Pell. And I completely agree.
Figure 48 Sketch of the newest experience’s form.
In the process, I had to learn new software and programming language which was definitely both exciting and scary. However, it was gratifying to see all parts come along at the end.
In the process, I had to learn new software and programming language which was definitely both exciting and scary. However, it was gratifying to see all parts come along at the end.
Figure 49 Pepper’s Ghost projection pyramid test. Technique that shows a projected
User testing As a reminder of my user scenario, the piece lives within a science museum space. The user is an adult already interested in the matter that regularly visits this kind of institutions either alone or accompanied by its family including kids. This installation is not aimed just for kids, but for the family as a whole. Figure 50 Testable low-fi prototype including a complete version of the narrative.
Figure 51 First interactive prototype including the narrative.
Figure 52 User testing the narrative and interaction. Unity + Leap Motion, Pepper’s ghost projection and Invision.
Proof of concept
Dark Matter Lab Inc.
CARLA MOLINS PITARCH
Figure 53 Pop-up show, Parsons, 2018. Exhibit’s brochure.
Playtesting Galaxy Beta Maker is an interactive experience that brings an opportunity to control temporarily a procedurally generated galaxy. As well as having visible matter (5% of existing matter), the piece provides a chance to experiment with dark matter (25%) and see the consequences towards visible matter of changing the quantity of this invisible and mysterious element.
Figure 54 Pop-up show, Parsons, 2018. Young user testing the experience and feeling the magical.
Figure 55 Pop-up show, Parsons, 2018. Detail of gestures controlling leap motion.
Figure 56 Pop-up show, Parsons, 2018. Users reading gallery statement (poster).
Figure 57 Pop-up show, Parsons, 2018. LEDs controlled by arduino and fog machine.
Figure 58 Pop-up show, Parsons, 2018. Detail of fiber optic and projection pyramid, front and back.
My proof of concept prototype pop-up show testing was crucial to redefine my next because I could test not only the narrative but also get feedback on different aspects such as the interaction, aesthetics, materiality, and why not whimsicality levels... Multiple people addressed the idea of really going big, but in my opinion, to scale the experience up is not just building a larger installation physically, it’s redefining some parts of the narrative and interaction that match the space requirements and audience expectations. To do so, I require another phase of physical exploration that will take place at the beginning of next semester while I also get some kind of technical consultancy to avoid having a tech-heavy installation that takes the protagonist role over the experience itself. As soon that the form is redefined, I’ll proceed to make it happen. To fit within the science museum space, I need to take additional considerations that will help my audience to understand what I expect to convey about dark matter using less instructions.
Figure 59 Pop-up show, Parsons, 2018. Capturing user’s reaction.
Figure 60 Pop-up show, Parsons, 2018. Galaxy Beta Maker glowing in the dark..
VOLUME 7/9