AFFECTIVE GEOMETRY SHAGANE BARSEGIAN LAUNEY
AFFECTIVE GEOMETRY is a small wearable device that uses geometric pattern and a physical signal to form a tactile language for feeling time.
CONCEPT SITUATION -design research showed that majority of generation Y does not wear watches -those who wear watches and those who use other means to tell time would prefer a faster way to tell time -people dislike checking time while engaged with others
TASK -develop a watch concept, form, function, and language -foresee and explain changes, context -simulate a working tactile clock in Processing
ACTION -primary and secondary design research -conduction of surveys, extreme user interviews -collection of photo, video documentation -brainstorming, sketching, rapid prototyping, programming -scenarios, behavior mapping, user profiles, user testing
RESULT -physical prototype of the device -computer simulation of the device working -new experience around wearing time -time becomes private
TACTILE LANGUAGE
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HISTORY OF TIME HISTORICALLY LOCAL TIME WAS USED Each community correlated time to the position of the sun. Every time you arrived at a new place you adjusted your watch. As cities started growing networks like railroads, post-office, later factories and telephony were in need of consistency, collectively agreed units of time. Standard time was adopted. STANDARD TIME IS A UNIVERSAL TIME SYSTEM We are able to say at any moment that London is ahead of us by 10 hours or New York by 3. MOBILE TIME The importance of time grew even further. Life became fast pace and precise. People started wearing time by wearing watches.
TIME CAN BE: PERSONAL -when I was young -when I was excited BIOLOGICAL -heart beat -elephants have twenty-two month pregnancy LOCAL -summer in Australia lasts from December to February -when the salmon start swimming up stream CULTURAL -spanish people take mid-afternoon naps (siestas) -french public workers have three month of vacation
“While people brood, time skips ahead without looking back. In the coffee-houses, in the government buildings, in boats on Lake Geneva, people look at their watches and take refuge in time. Each person knows that somewhere is recorded the moment she was born, the moment she took her first step, the moment of her first passion, the moment she said goodbye to her parents.” Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams (P37)
EXAMPLE OF TIME A GERMAN CHRISTMAS 1900-1945 BERLIN, HEIMAT MUSEUM These photographs were taken by Anne and Richard Wagner. The couple made a tradition of taking pictures of themselves from the first year of marriage, these pictures clearly are a recording and referencing of time.
RESEARCH 30 INTERVIEWS AND CONVERSATIONS DO YOU WEAR A WATCH? majority does not DO YOU HAVE A WATCH? majority said yes WHY DO YOU NOT WEAR A WATCH? -not necessary -have a phone -time is everywhere -leaves marks when sun is out -made out of metal and cold -scratches my computer -gets in the way -gives worry of time -too expensive -forget to put it on -are uncomfortable -limit wrist movement -they always break -use circadian rhythm HOW DO YOU TELL TIME? -by phone
What if there were some sort of pressure sensitive bracelet or ring something divided into quarter so it applied pressure on one side of your finger or wrist per quartet hour or maybe a contact lens that had a hue to it per quartet hour like an oscillation that made you aware of where you were in the hour, like grey 1-15 yellow 15-30 blue 30 45 red 45 to 1:00 (since red means you have to get somewhere.
How about a necklace / choker (something like an ancient celtic torque **) but flatter and designed so that it has a bump on the side touching the neck? The bump would move somehow according to the current time, you'd press the necklace down to double-check what time it is. No annoying buzzing, vibrating, this would be subtle. Midnight would correspond to the back of the neck, noon would be center front. It would give approximate time, not necessarily accurate to the second.
A skin implant with code like ships bells or repeater watches ping out the time along a chosen nerve - 4 bells translates into four twitches when you call the routine up - more complex code like repeater watch (two different sounds marking hours (sound a), quarter hours (sound a and b together) and minutes (sound b), optical link to put dots onto field of vision?
Perhaps it would be a pulse - and would quicken when we were running late, or it was near a time we'd set as an alarm. Maybe it would slow down during lunch or after work. Maybe we would feel some urgency, maybe a buzz or a pinch when we needed to take our medication. We know that sometimes we can't pull out our phone and look at the time because people will read our body language and know that we're bored or think that something else is more important. Maybe colors cold also indicate time. Colors could easily show seasons of the year right now (reds for autumn, blues and whites for winter, yellows for summer, etc.) maybe a similar color system could be used for telling time.
A tatoo that would act as a watch, actually move and change would be a great idea.
RESEARCH AMAZON TURK CROWD SOURCING CONCEPTS DESIGN AFFECTIVE AND WEARABLE TIME People don't wear watches any more. Instead we locate time through media screens that have taken presence in our life. Microwaves, coffee makers, computers and i-pods, all display time as a side feature. The phone has become the primary device in replacement of the watch. It has also adopted the physical language with consumers, it can buzz, vibrate and pulse. What if we forget time as a passive screen and made it to be interactive with our body? If we were to create a physical language for the expression of time, what would it be? What features would it have? How would it feel? Why would we need it and in what situations? What do we know from already existing physical communication with phones (vibration of reminders and calls)? How has the physical communication changed our behavior, expectations and what do we desire for future? What could we learn, mimic or invent? How can we apply these experiences to making tactile and wearable time? Thank you for your interest and participation.
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RESEARCH
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TIME MARKING DURING THE WEEK
TIME MARKING ON THE WEEK-END
Days where there is a routine, make it easier for individuals to situate themselves in time. There is an expectation of how long certain tasks take, tasks like lunch time or coffee break mark time.
On week-ends people have much more flexible schedules that change from one week to another. The absence of structure through out the day requires greater inquiry of time for coordination of activities.
RESEARCH
EXTREME USER I have worked directly with several developmentally disabled individuals for the past three years, and I have observed an inability to understand the concept of time as well as the inability to read time. In my current position as a Job Coach, I am responsible for teaching these individuals marketable job skills. My goal is to help the individual to know where to be and when. I have observed that the individuals I work with are without a concept of time and have anxiety about how long they will expected to work on certain task. If I tell them that they are scheduled to work for thirty minutes on a task, then they don’t know what that is. I have also observed that some individuals are poor at managing time because it is difficult to judge how much of a task can be accomplished in an allotted time. Lack of concept of time and inability to read time demands be dependant on alarms throughout the day. Most common wristwatches are limited to two alarms, but there are specialty watches available with up to twenty alarms. Alarms are disruptive to others and they do not teach concept of time. Developmentally disabled individuals are affected by a wide ranges of cognitive deficits, but the appropriate tools, including adaptation and innovations to common items, the individuals can successfully function in their environment. Megan Brynelson, Job Coach Educational Service District 112
1:08 INSIGHTS
EXTREME USER I set up alarms on my computer so I can know what time it is ... if I were to be working on something I would know how much time I am spending on this one thing... Kazuto Nakanishi CCA Grad Design 2009
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FOR TIME TELLING PEOPLE USE -media, electronics and markers through out the day ONE NEEDS TO FIND AND SEE TIME -access to time is not instant -one needs to locate the phone or raise their arm TIME TELLING IS NOT DISCRETE -it is considered rude to check time in front of people
CONCEPT MAPPING SPACE OF INTERVENTION TECHNOLOGY
BIOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT
TOUCH
CLOCKS alarm clocks clock radio mechanical clocks wall clocks ... WATCHES stop watch fashionable watch ring watch necklace watch key chain watch ... ELECTRONICS microwaves coffee makers toasters cars shelf clocks ...
ORGANS heart ... PROCESSES immune system reproductive system nervous system ...
MARKS tree rings geological layers specie evolution ...
MEDICINE acupuncture massage pet therapy ... INTERACTIVE OBJECTS toys phones robots games clothing furniture ... HUMAN INTERACTIONS humans animals plants materials ...
AS PRODUCT
AS EXPERIENCE
CONCEPT MAPPING PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS
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behavior
sk
f e e l i n g design philosophy
m o n i t o r i n g
o r g a n i s i n g
r e m i n d i n g
c o n t r o l l i n g
fa ur s in
p a c i n g
standard time
FORM STUDY
DECODING MEANING PERIODICALLY TOUCHING
TOUCHING
AFFECTIVE GEOMETRY is a wearable device that tells time through touch. It has buttons that touch the skin in patterns, indicating minuets and hours. The geometry of the object allows the person to select how precise or how vague they would like their time to be. The user can select only hours, quadrants of ten minutes, section of 3 minutes and precise minutes.
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12 : 34 FEEL HOUR
0
20 40 10 30 50
12 : 34 FEEL QUADRANT
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34/36
12 : 34 FEEL ESTIMATED MINUTE
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12 : 34 FEEL EXACT MINUTE
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INTERACTIONS
PUBLIC TIME -VISUAL
PRIVATE TIME -TACTILE
LASER CUT MODELS DYED IN TEXTILES DYE ACCESSIBILITY It is expected that it would take some adjustment and time to adopt to telling time through a tactile stimuli. Just as it takes time to learn to read a clock and decode the meaning from one glance, same training would need to be applied.
USER PROFILE
FRONT BACK
IKA ANDERSON
Mondays are very busy, full of meetings over the phone and in person. He orders lunch to be brought to the office. Works a bit late, getting home around 7:30. Dinner consists of a regular dish, either a soup or vegetable dish. Tuesday are less ambitious, but are usually taken by busy and mundane work. Wednesday goes by fast. Maybe for dinner the couple contemplates a Russian or an Indian dish. After dinner, Ika finishes up some home finances, while Lina washes the dishes. On Thursday the first drafts come out, so the day is spent in meetings. Fridays Ika spends all day reading news, industry research and coming events. In the evening they go out with Lina for dinner to a Cuban restaurant. He likes getting the same dish. Saturday goes by fast. They sleep in and make a sweet breakfast. Grocery shopping takes two hours. Laundry, cleaning. Evening time they go out to the movies or read at home. Sundays are slow and relaxing. The couple wonderers around the house doing things.
QUESTIONS FOR AND FROM IKA Industry moves fast, there are lots of daily tasks and business needs. How can he control, navigate and effectively use time? Ika hates coming home late. He wants to spend more time with family. What kind of functions would help? Ika wishes he had more time to read, explore cultural and sport activities. How can time be used within different activities?
CAN BE WORN ANYWHERE ON THE BODY
1.Will this interrupt my life? 2.What will it’s effect be? 3.Will it break? 4.Can the system learn from my behavior?
SCENARIO
Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dreams (New York: Random House Inc, 1994). James Jespersen and Jane Fitz-Randolph, From Sundials to Atomic Clocks (National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Dept. of Commerce ,1977). Michele Emmer, The Visual Mind: Art and Mathematics (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993). Keith Critchlow, Order in Space (London, UK: Thames and Hudson, 1969). Eviatar Zerubavel, The Standardization of Time: A Sociohistorical perspective (The American Journal of Sociology, Vol88, No1 (Jul., 1982), pp. 1-23. Stephen Kern, The Culture of Time and Space (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Press, 2003)
SCENARIO
Kristen Lippincott, The Story of Time (London, Uk: Merrell Holberton, 2000) Edward Hall, The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time ( New York, NY: Anchor Books Doubleday, 1983) Sigmund Freud, Uncanny (Penguin Classics, 2003) Mark Weiser, The Computer for the 21st Century Lera Boroditsky, Metaphoric structuring: Understanding Time Through Spacial Metaphors Teenie Matlock, Michael Ramscar, and Lera Boroditsky, On the Experiential Link Between Spatial and Temporal Language