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Wednesday, 31 July 2013

Sensory Ethnography: Final images and write up




Jacket
I first grab the collar with my right hand and lift the jacket off whatever it is resting on, a hook? A chair? That’s when I feel the texture of the woven cotton collar lining, a knitted sort of pattern you would expect to find on a jersey. The zip and buttons make a metallic jingle as I move my left arm –always the left first, I could not tell you why- towards the sleeve and across the cotton interior, which is decorated in a Scottish tartan pattern, then into the plain black polyester sleeve. The polyester is smooth and almost silky to the touch as my hand flows through it towards the cuff, the internal of which is the same Scottish tartan as the internal of the body. When my hand exits the sleeve the cuff stays cosy around my palm –an odd occurrence for a person with arms as long as mine. The process is repeated with my right arm, all the while the whole jacket is making the flapping sound of a bird trying to get into the air. When my right arm is all the way through the right sleeve the majority of the jacket has bunched up around my shoulders, because of the dense cotton fabric it is made of. Then I roll my shoulders to loosen it, more flapping and jingling ensues and the smell of manufactured cotton fills my nostrils.













Controller
When picking up the controller the first part touched is the palm rest, my fingers wrap around the smooth blue plastic which has an almost metallic sheen. My thumb wraps around the bottom of the controller and brushes across the seam between the two plastic halves, the same seam which on different parts of the controller is filled with brown grime. This brown grime is a mixture of sweat and dead skin cells, a by-product of extended use and something that is never widely noticed about all controllers and remotes. There is also dust acumilated in and around it, but only in places that aren't usually touched through normal play, these are smooth and clean as if they were just polished. When my finger tighten around the profile of the controller and triggers, buttons and sticks all make a faint clicking sound as they move around in their sockets. I then bring the controller to my other hand which instinctively grips it in its ergonomically intended place, thumb resting on the textured top of the analogue stick and first finger nestled in the gap between the two trigger buttons. The first hand moves to this position as well, inducing more sound from the buttons as they are touched. When the controller is in use the analogue sticks become very slippery as they are moved more and more, because of the fact that they are convex and rounded. Also when the sticks are faced inwards towards each other they wont move the entire way because your thumbs get in the way.
The buttons all give a satisfying click whenever they are pushed in, and there is a very definite limit to the distance they can go in.

















Bean Bag

When first descending into the bean bag it feels incredibly fluid and melds to your body incredibly well, and for a while all the individual beans can be felt and heard moving all at once. However as you sink in further it gets tighter and stops moving, the bag has moulded to the shape of your legs, butt and back and just as your back hits the bag there is a dull thud. Your hand will graze the small black trim that runs around all of the seams of the bag to disguise them. At that point the smell of polyester becomes apparent as well as the faint smell of BO and junk food underlying it. Whether this is from the bean bags themselves or the room surrounding them is unknown, though hopefully the later. The fabric is on the finer side of coarse, its not unpleasant by any stretch of the imagination but you wouldn't want a blanket made of it. If at any point you decide to move while you are sitting all of the individual beans will be heard again as well as the sound of polyester rubbing against itself as the bag rubs with the one next to it.

Sensory Ethnography: Major senses

These are the major senses and the way they are stimulated by the three activities I have chosen:

1. Putting on my jacket

smell: cotton and polyester, faint iron from buttons

Touch: jaggedy zips, furry cotton interior, slippery internal sleeve, hands freed afterwards, encased and safe, neck rubbed by collar: no other clothes do this in the same way, it’s warmer, arm gets caught at armpit, seam of cuff just on your palm


Sight: large, present, masculine shaped torso


Sound: zips, sounds of cotton rubbing against itself, clicking and slight jingling of buttons, flapping fabric, popping sound when jacket is pulled tight (similar to flapping fabric)



2. Picking up and using my Playstation controller


smell: like nothing

Touch: Thumbs bumping together and slipping off the analogue stick, resistance when the button is all the way in, palms sticking to controller, buttons wobbling when you bump (not press) them


Sight: like coloured plastic – paint has metallic stuff in it to look shiny, dust in groves but only places that don’t have contact with hands (around the outside of the analogue sticks, down the side of the triggers), grime building up in the cracks around the palm grip, blue dust around the base of the analogue stick,


sounds: like clicking, sliding, popping, hollowness of plastic



3. Sitting in one of the bean bags on the fourth floor

 smell:poliester, mild BO and junkfood (wether this is from the beanbags themselves or the rest of the room is unknown)

Touch: the bag itself is moulded to your body, holding everything from your thighs to your upper back in a way that your body just naturally fits into. the fabric is on the finer side of corse, its not unpleasant by any stretch of the imagination but you wouldn't want a blanket made of it. The seams are trimmed by a black cord. you can feel all of the indevidual beens when you move but otherwise it is a seemless pressure, a seemless surface.

Sight: a large grey blob with black trim, shapped almost like a puffy chair by the dozens of bodies that have used it

Sound: Beans moving inside the bag when you move, dull thud when your back hits the inside back of the bag. the sound of poliester rubbing against poliester when you move and make one bag rub against another.

Sensory Ethnogrophy: Three activities chosen

The three everyday tasks that I have chosen to do for my project are as follows:

1. Putting on my jacket
2. Picking up and using my Playstation controller
3.Sitting in one of the bean bags in the media lab

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Ideas again

Ok so the second idea has popped into my head, a necklace... Kinda.

A necklace that emits light is the main premise of the idea, but it's not going to be some tacky $2 shop  glow in the dark gummy necklace. The necklace itself will be made out of a completely opaque high quality plastic so that no light can escape from the front of the object, anyone viewing it would think it is just a nice plastic necklace. However holes along the sides of the object will allow light out (emitted by the LED in the centre) in very controlled patterns, casting light and shadows over the chest of the wearer. This turns the human body into a surface for display and light into ornamentation.


This design is going down a much more sculptural/jewellery path compared to the last idea. 

Monday, 22 July 2013

Idea: issues

After talking with my lecturer about my project he pointed out something important about my design, it's cheap. If put into mass production my object wouldn't be very expensive, most likely under $10, and that's a problem.

If it breaks no ones going to be particularly upset, there is going to be very little attachment to my object because there isn't really a reason to. People get attached to things hat they are invested in, and since my object isn't going to be very expensive or need to look particularly elegant there is very little chance that the user would actually get particularly attached to the object.

I also realised that there is already an object that allows people to use their hands to do tasks hands freed but still keep things nice and illuminated, it's called a head lamp.

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Ideas

So this is my first idea, a bracelet... Kinda.
I figured that the best way to improve the uses of this device is to remove the need for it to be taking up one of your hands while in use. I came up with a way for the light to go around your wrist, illuminating whatever you might have in your hand but at the same time still giving you complete freedom of movement with all of your digits.




I've given it a way to rotate as well, giving the user more freedom to direct the light, after all if you doing something like using a screwdriver the focus of what you are looking at isn't going to be in the palm of your hand.

Saturday, 20 July 2013

Light in use

This is the white light in action, turns out its actually pretty damn bright

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Deconstruction

Here is a full analysis of the parts in my purchases light.


The light is Chinese manufactured and consists of seven parts all together (not including the batteries) most made of a clear plastic, which allows you to see into the object, displaying the circuitry and batteries. It is made in China and the main body case can come apart just by inserting a finger nail in between the two halves, which speaks quite allot about the quality of the construction. The rest comes apart after removing two tiny screws, exposing the main circuit board and the white LED. The device is shaped mainly to fit around the circuit board, obviously trying to keep the entire thing as small as possible. There is very little ergonomic design apart from a tiny grove on one side for the index finger while holding the light, though this doesn't seem to be to much of an issue as it is so light.

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

DSDN 212 Project 1

Project 1: Redesign
Our first project for DSDN 212 is to redesign a lighting device; any kind of lighting device. 

I chose these lanyard lights, one white and one red, which I bought from Wisebuys, a cheap knockoff store here in Wellington. They cost 4.50 each and are pretty cheaply made so I'm going to need to find a way to remedy that, making them something that has some sense of value. They're made to attach to keychains or bags for everyday use but I'm going to try and find a way to give them more uses, or at least ad depth to their current use.