module:
Composing Interactivity by: Bart Hengeveld
students:
N.H.J. van Amersvoort L.G.J. Bardoel D. Bourjila
I.L. Duncker J.C. Hornix E. Lubbers
Nadine makes coffee with passion on a lazy sunday morning.
Lia travels from busy city life towards home to drink tea with her family.
Dounia has an ongoing flow of precision in coffee making and drinking.
Julie cares for friends and creates a nice atmosphere by making tea.
Eef makes coffe in an efficient way and relaxes when whe drinks it.
Laura has a craving for coffee which is reflected in the way she makes her coffee. When her coffee is ready to drink she looses tension.
moodboards collecting our differences and commongrounds that we found in our coffee rituals.
Personal notation systems, explaining the process of our coffee/tea rituals.
Lia’s personal notation system communicates her travels throughher mind and context between busy life and home.
Laura’s personal notation system, showed the importance of the actual process. Instead of the atmosphere or emotions that went with it.
Julie’s personal notation system, explaining her journey through her place to pay extra attention to her guests.
Dounia’s personal notation system was about the conuity of her coffee making process and her mindfull approach towards each step equally.
Eef’s personal notation system showed the two pathways of her efficient way of working towards her moment of relaxation.
Nadine’s personal notation system explains like a recipe which ‘ingredients’ are needed and how they should be prepaired for the atmosphere of her preferred coffee experience.
The materials were chosen based on the ‘ingredient’ properties to stimmulate different kinds of interaction styles.
creation of the common notation system. On the left, the ingredients and on the right the assembly of the notation ground.
common notation ground: The hight of the pilars indicate the intensity of the action.
‘Ingredients’ for our notation system. These different lines of materials travel through the pillars communicating an interaction style.
Through making of the notation system we got to know each other. Each group member explained her picnic ritual which layed the ground rules for the design of the picnic furniture. When common sense was lost in the process, we referred back to the notation system and what was discussed.
REFLECTIONS Nadine van Amersvoort
could have been explored more. |
M 2.1
The module starts with a fresh view on communicating dynamic situations in interaction design by observing and documenting our personal coffee ritual. Interpreting and notating what we want to communicate is a first step towards expressing characteristics in a universal way. I believe capturing the essence of the ritual and mood is essential in understanding the qualities and thus the factors to communicate. As the example illustrates; ‌, apart from the fixed elements (notes, measures) sheet music contains elements that leave room for interpretation. But what does this ‘room for interpretation’ mean? In my opinion, this uncertainty allows us to communicate a certain feeling/mood or atmosphere and enables us to create aesthetic value. More important, how do we design for/with this? And where do we start to design within a ritual? The group notion system is used as a tool to communicate amongst designers. As it focuses on the communication and interaction instead of function, I find this a very interesting methodology to explore with. The material (notation system) allows us to express the qualities through our hands. However, it would be interesting to see what will happen if we let less likeminded people interact with this type of system. I believe this
Furthermore I found the transition from perceiving/doing towards analyzing and back, an effective way of working. I very much enjoyed this creative and inspiring week. Furthermore, while writing this reflection I realized that a weekend in between is too little time for me to process. Therefore I will rethink and rewrite the reflection in the coming week.
Julie Hornix
|
M 2.1
EXPECTATIONS I am interested to see and learn about how one can communicate various aspects of design to others via for instance sketching. Especially when you can communicate it to people with a different discipline than design (e.g. engineerds, business) REFLECTION The individual video assignment was good exercise for my capturing and editing skills as I do not often do this. I am satisfied with the end result of my video. Making a notation system extracted from the video was at first a difficult task because it was quite abstract. I immediately started thinking about various versions of timelines which felt like an too easy solution. I gave it some thought and concluded that it is actually a logical input for a design notation system since the designs that we create at ID are mainly meant to interact over time. You can show for instance the state of the design, the emotion of the user, the interaction, etc. over time in the notation system. Looking at my team members’ notation systems, my assumption was confirmed. They all involved the time aspect in their own way. I experienced that creating and composing a notation system together results in a common level of design thinking. It is a very good
teamwork tool because it can be used as a support tool for discussion on the design. For example, if one does not agree with a specific part of the design, you can either pinpoint its use / reason of being / function in the notation system or use the flexibility of the notation system to search for a new solution. I expected this module would help me creating a way to communicate with people of other disciplines. I do think you can also use the notation system to compose and explain your design to people of other disciplines as long as the notation system is easy to understand. So it should not be too abstract because it will be too open and vague. It should also not be too concrete because there should be room left to discuss and if needed, change. All together this was a fun and refreshing module.
Eef Lubbers | M1.1 The way of working during this module suited me well. By working on tasks day by day I could really focus on this one task without being distracted by wanting to already have an end result in mind, something I tend to do too often. Previous semesters I learned to suppress my urge to have control over everything all the time. This has proven to be a valuable skill during this module. I enjoyed the assignment of making a movie of my coffee ritual. Even though I don’t make movies often I realize more and more how much I like it. When I film I have images in my mind of the angles and shots which I then try to establish on camera. I was happy with my end result but saw things that could be improved. Developing this skill is something I would like to do in the future. When making the notation system for my coffee ritual I transformed the interaction into a language by analyzing my movements and activities. I realized that my process of making the coffee was mainly based on efficiency as I shifted from coffee to milk and back in order to get the coffee ready quickly. After this I take time to relax and clear my mind. This resulted in a notation system that combined abstract and literal features. The use of lines on a board with pins was abstract while the use of white and brown thread for ‘milk’ and ‘coffee’ was quite literal. It was interesting to see the systems of the others in the group and it surprised me how
each system suited the individual movies so well. By combining the systems we created a new system suited for all our individual preferences. We didn’t literally use the notation system to come up with our final picnic design but it did make us aware of our picnic preferences. It helped us start the conversation and made us able to express ourselves better. I do believe that the use of a notation system for an interactive design can be very useful when it comes to the mood and pace in which a design will be used. It is a tool with which the designer can communicate his or her vision on the design, carrying his or her experience forward. With the notation system we made, our vision on the picnic design can be communicated as well. The different strings and paths show the different properties embedded in our picnic design. Having worked in a group the week before it was interesting how different the composition of this week’s group was. Where I evolved into a group leader last week because of a lack of initiative, this week everyone was motivated and there was a more equal division. The difference I noticed in myself was that I was more relaxed. This made me appreciate the input of the others and I felt confident in the group. A downside of this feeling was that my initiative increased a little at times, this is something I need to recognize and prevent in the future.
Dounia Bourjila | M1.1 What I have dealt with mostly in past projects, is looking for good ways to design a certain experience, and understanding how it is being understood by others (project within Wearable Senses & Wellbeing).The hard part was how to finally explain the experience to people, and to validate whether my intended idea was perceived the same way by users. Movie and editing I really liked the first assignment which was making a movie of a daily ritual (making coffee). In my opinion, making movies or short films is an excellent representation of a certain experience/inspiration or interaction. It enables me as a designer to share certain feelings, emotions by means of sound and moving images (which match the dynamic character of interactions). What I really found challenging and certainly a thing I would like to explore more, is letting my movie be judged by others. It is a great tool for a designer to so how the message you want to convey is perceived,by others. The interesting thing is that when making small changes in certain properties of the movie (light, flow or sound) can change the complete movie. Notation system The fact that our group was quite large (6 people) made the process more interesting in the sense that very diverse aspects and properties needed to be combined in one notation system. This means the system needs to be
highly adaptive to different ‘userprofiles’ and backgrounds. The system we made (consists from different threads that are placed on a plate with metal sticks), seemed to offer the possibility to use it in an unprescribed way, by interacting with the type of material of the thread. I was curious about what would happen if this system was tried out with different people, and to see what people do with the threads. Though, what I found a little bit difficult is to translate the system directly to our design of a new way of picknicking. For me personally, I felt there was a gap between going from the system to the final design, because the ideas we discussed were based on our personal preferences for a picknick and not what the notation system showed us. It could be due to the fact that we designed the picknick for ourselves as users, so the line between being a designer and user at the same time can be blurred. Therefore (maybe a suggestion) it could be interesting if there was more time spent on the notation system. For example by making a second movie which showed how each one of us interacts with it (or all of us at the same time). Though, we made a movie of the notation system, but after finishing the final design of the picknick, therefore we didn’t using it during the process. Another suggestion is to design for somebody else instead of ourselves. I think I would have understood the notation system better if I would have designed it for
one of my teammates, or maybe all of them. Other than this, I think this module was highly interesting, fun and challenging. And I think the set-up of short presentations (love that!) combined with clear explanation, short Pecha Coacha’s and plenty of free time to work on the assignments is very good!
Lia Bardoel | M 2.1 I chose this module to learn how to detail interaction in order to communicate the total interaction in the right way. My expectations weren’t very concrete, but I liked that about the module. Personal notation system Throughout making the notation system I realised that looking to interaction on a more abstract level helped to discover the values in every step of the interaction. I realised that every step contributes to creating a personal meaning to the product. So as a designer it is important to focus on every single step. The division of music notation systems into an ambiguous and a fixed part, intrigued me to enrich my vision on the influence of people in interaction. I think interaction could be divided into an ambiguous and a fixed part as well, in order to make a distinction between a fixed and functional action and the personal influence or expression in the interaction. As designers we can design products, but in the end the user is going to give it’s personal meaning to the product. By this distinction the personal meaning of the user is divided from the functional steps of the product that can help designing a function and a meaning for people. Group notation system Designing a group notation system helped to listen to one another. You get to know each other on a deeper specific level, in this case
the habit of coffee/tea drinking. Because you know each other’s importance you are not going to design from your perspective, but from your group perspective with every single one’s needs. For me, designing notation systems can therefor help to create team bonding. Looking from a design for people’s perspective, designing notation systems can also be seen as a tool to get to know your target group. A tool where you analyse other people’s habits where you can make a notation system for another person that you test on them in order to get to know each person’s values in interaction. These values will help you design a successful product or interaction. Design with notation system Designing with a notation system made me realise that I didn’t see a notation system as something you are designing with. While creating the picnic furniture, we didn’t use the notation system very literally, although we kept considering every single person’s opinion in short reflection moments while designing. That’s why I think the notation system helped us most to create a way of thinking, a way of thinking while designing. Now the target group was us, but what if the target group were elderly for example. Then the notation system could create a way of thinking about your target group that makes you reflect every now and then, where you reconsider the values and importances of your target group.
I can’t say much about if I’m going to use the tool of a notation system again, but for sure I will think about it and consider using it. Using the notation system in the module definitely inspired me to think about it. What meaning it has for me at the end of the year will form within the semester, but I keep you updated. Overall, the module was fun and inspiring!
Laura Duncker
|
M 2.1
Filming my coffee ritual This first day assignment, making a movie with soundtrack of your coffee ritual, made me aware of the importance to me. The different phases within the process of the coffee making were all equally important for me. Sound track As the different steps within the process so important to me. And the sounds that were created during the different actions made them complete. I decided not to use music to cover the entire film. For the making this cup of coffee, was about the coffee and not some kind of sentiment to go with it. Within the process of coffee drinking however I found the soundtrack supporting this atmosphere and therefore added it. Analysis with group While editing my video I saw a kind of confrontation with myself. My clumsy movements and direct and forceful behavior that I on first sight did not ed to be me. When my group members saw my video they confronted me even more with this analysis. The description they made, more or less of me, did not fit entirely. As sensitive they were to the soundtracks of the others their movies, mine did not speak to them as it did to me. It occurred to me, what a powerful tool a soundtrack is, and that if I would like to create the same effect on the spectators of my film I should decide to take a more conventional di-
rection in music supporting my moving images. Designing a notation system The notation system that I designed was somewhat an outcome. To communicate my intention and experience within the process of coffee making. Music to me is like telling a story, and most of the time I end up telling it differently when it comes out of my mind instead of from a paper. The notation system, in this sense helped me to structure my story. I found it a really nice experience to see what the other group members had come up with to notate their video’s. As different as our video’s where the notation systems showed these differences even more. It was a wise advice to force-fit all of these different ways of notating as our final notation system contained all of us and could be used to express all the different priorities we had. Designing picnic experience The process of creating this notation system turned out to be of great value to me for the design of the picnic experience. Through the realization of the notation system I got to know all of my group member better. Their personal values and priorities, what they found important and liked to see back in our final concept. This helped me to shape the picnic furniture, as I could easily pinpoint each member’s preference for a picnic. The building of this piece of ‘furniture’ was nice in that sense that everyone could work on it’s individual part, what she found most
important, and that because of our knowledge of each other’s preferences it all fitted nicely together. We have, in our group, created beautiful things this week, a lot of attention to the aesthetics. This gives me a satisfied feeling.