Aesthetics

As said initially I wish to use simple drawing aesthetics in the interface of my design. To achieve this I have hand draw all of the elements and then scanned them into the computer. I have edited them in Adobe illustrator using the "live trace" tool and then coloured them all. These have given a really nice flat clean aesthetic to the drawings as well as making the interface look clean and simple. Below is an example of my scanned drawings, and then there is an image of the editing I did to them in illustrator.

Using Flash

Flash is a new program that I haven't used before. Initially I found it very difficult but soon I became better at navigating, after doing the online tutorials. I especially found it difficult using the codes as I have not taken the first year coding paper, but soon got the hang of it. Here are a few screen shots of my developments on flash.

I have been importing all of the images and buttons from illustrator, and then turning them into symbols to be coded as buttons. This is the simplest way for what I want to achieve.

User Testing

I conducted a brief test on some non-design students in my hall. Unfortunately I do not have the connections of children here in Wellington but my friends gave me ideas and opinions just the same. I explained to them what it was I was doing, the user group I was aiming at and what I was hoping to achieve from the device. They all kept that in mind as they did the test.
The test was just simple, to see which template of a layout of buttons they preferred (keeping in mind all of the criteria).
The general consensus was option B with 7 out of 10 participants choosing this option. The main reasons for this was the centralised figure in focus, which most thought would be the most effective for the navigation of children.

Target Market

I have decided to narrow my target market to children between the ages of 5-10. This will mean that the sentences and words used are not too complex and easy to understand. The layout must be simple and easy to navigate yet interesting to hold their attention. Because it is a device that could be used within schools and social environments ( especially primary ) like that this age is a good age to target at.

Interface Research

I investigated other children's game interfaces similar to what I am thinking of. It is interesting to see the layout of buttons and how accessible all the buttons and actions are for children.

First I looked at what I think to be the most similar to mine, that is the "Tamagotchi". Although it is an extremely basic black and white pixilated screen the layout is important for my research. As shown the button icons for the actions are lining the top and the bottom of the screen and the central focus is the creature in the middle

The second interface I looked at was the "Zoombini" one. In particular the customisation screen. The important thing to look at here is the simple layout of the options in rows that read from left to right, up to down and this is easily navigated by children. The interface acknowledges when the different options are selected and this is also important to understand to apply to my interface.

The layout of my interface needs to be SIMPLE. Children adapt better to new things if they are simple and easy to read. I will remember the basic principle of reading; left to right and up to down, when I am making my interface, yet make it eyecatching and interesting for the user.

Change in character!

I have decided (after feedback from the tutor) that it is much more appropriate to have they character as a modern day energy saving lightbulb. This makes sense as it will teach the child about the light bulbs and shows a modern take on the character, rather than the normal basic lightbulb I had initially intended on. I will use the image below as a template to draw from and will create a simpler version for the on screen graphics.

Recognition of Success

An important part of children's learning is the recognition of success and the reward they receive from being correct or achieving something. I will make sure that when energy saving has been achieved in my application that the interface will congratulate and acknowledge the success of the user in order for them to learn. This may be in the way of sound or animation as well as action of the reward.

Social Environments for Children

Children are constantly in social environments, especially schools. I investigated ways in which I can access these social circumstances and incorporate them into my device and interface. The device itself is similar to that of those already on the market; portable pets such as "Tamagotchis". This means that it is able to be strapped to a belt or a lanyard (worn around neck) and the device is also small enough to be hand-held as well as put in a pocket. This will enable the children to bring it to school or over to a friends house, and then compare, how each has customised their lightbulb friend, the rewards they have unlocked and how they unlocked them. The sharing of information about the game and how each reward was unlocked will enable the children to LEARN which is the most important outcome for my device.

Proposal: Part A Hand In

I will be designing a digital interactive device that encourages children to save energy. The children of today are our future and teaching them about energy conservation early is a good way to prevent our world from the harm that is currently occurring due to excess energy consumption. I will be designing a digital device with an interface that is easily navigated by children. On a handheld, portable, touch screen device, children have the opportunity to create their own “Little Lightbulb Friend”. The appearance of their friend can be customized, with the choice of different eyes, mouths and shoes to cater to all children’s needs and aesthetic preferences. This customization will encourage a personal bond between the user and the character and this will aid the successfulness of the application further in the process. The child can care for their light bulb by saving energy in their household to keep it healthy and bright. If energy is being wasted at all, the light bulb will become dimmer and prompt the user with visual and sound alerts asking them to somehow conserve the energy in order to replenish their little friend’s energy. Instead of telling the user what to do, they have to figure it out themselves, making it more of a game and creating a learning environment for the child. Once the power consumption has decreased again and the light bulb has been replenished the child is offered a reward for their efforts. This comes in the form of a new accessory for their friend, example; sunglasses, and eventually the child can unlock new and exciting things for their little light bulb friend! The device and interface will be both aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate for children. 

My Energy Consumption

Over the break I attempted to record my energy consumption through appliances I use everyday in my room in my hostel. Having purchased one of the recommended energy reading devices I found it extremely hard to use! Not a great example of design and I will be taking this into account when I begin designing mt device and interface! I managed to gather some numbers and have recorded some averages on how much each appliance used. The reader was very hard to use and read, the numbers changed dramatically over some time so these are estimated averages for four appliances I measured in my hostel room.


Laptop (On Charger):
0.1 AMP
13 Watts
Power Factor of 100
0.1 KWh
229 VoltAC at 50 Hz

Note: Some of the above numbers changed when i dimmed and brightened the screen and also changed depending on how active I was on it

IPhone (On Charger):
0.1 AMP
29 Watts
Power Factor of 100
0.1 KWh
231 VoltAC at 50 Hz

Hair Straightener:
0.4 AMP
11 Watts
Power Factor of 100
0.1 KWh
236 VoltAC at 50 Hz

Hair Dryer:
4.96 AMP
116 Watts
Power Factor of 100
0.1 KWh
227 VoltAC at 50 Hz

An Inconvenient Truth

In class we watch the movie/documentary "An Inconvenient Truth". I had never previously seen the movie so and didn't really know what to expect. The facts and ideas shown in the movie really shocked me and I think the way they were presented were really effective. The use of the graphs and the way it was related directly to our everyday lives made it shocking for me. To have the facts and truth simply laid out in front of you is really effective because often the truth is covered up by lies or people who do not fully believe in climate change. It made me want to do something to help, and made me feel like I could for once. It also inspired me more for this project and makes me feel more passionate about my efforts.

Characters That Appeal To Children

I have looked at different types of characters that appeal to children. Cartoons and digital creations are very prominent favorites in todays generation. Characters like Pepa Pig (shown above) are examples of the bright, eye-catching colours used to bring these simple characters to life and cause children to appreciate them. I will have to create characters like this in order for my design and application to appeal to my target audience of children.

Apple Aesthetics and Design

In my opinion Apple has one of the sleekest aesthetics for technology available on the market. The fine rounded edges, simple layout and easily recognisable buttons really appeal to me aesthetically. I will use their ipod design as a precedent for the actual digital device part of my design, and hope to create something equally sleek and stylish. The layout of their technology is simple, and they have many younger users which is appropriate for my investigations. I will make the most of modern technology by having a touch screen, which can be easily used and navigated by little fingers, a feature that the Apple Ipod Touch has. Below is a picture of an Ipod in their "Nano" range. The size of this device is applicable to my design as it is easily portable. I feel that I will not have buttons on the front however, and make the most of the touch screen technologies instead.

Handheld Applications for Kids

In order to design a digital application for children to use, I have looked into current portable games that are available. "Tamagotchi" are an example of a portable device and game that children use. They can care for a creature, feed it and play games for it. Neglect harms the creature. These can be used as precedents for my application design. In order for children to be able to use the application and the application to record their energy consumption, it is relative that it is portable. Children interact well with portable games and will enjoy having the application always at hand. I also like the way the digital devices can be attached to other things, for example key chains and lanyards. This is a feature that I could look into.

Virtual Life Games

Having played virtual life games myself as a child (like SIMS) I can relate to the experience of creating something and caring for it. The games like that appeal to a younger age group, as they have the opportunity to control and have responsibility over something else.
I think the main reason that most SIMS users develop emotional relationships with their characters is that they create and customise them themselves. Creating a character personal and unique to yourself builds this virtual bond, making you want it to succeed in the game and care for it.

Below is a youtube video/tutorial showing how characters on the SIMS 3 are customised and created by the user. This is something that I will look into when developing my energy saving device, as I am looking human emotions in relation to energy saving.

Aiming at Children

Children are our future. I think I will use children as a target market for my energy device design. Teaching them about energy conservation and how to make the most of their energy will not only secure their future in a clean and green New Zealand but can save them economically in the long run. A child's mind is easily manipulated when they are younger and continually learning, so teaching them early is the best idea. Also children of this generation are familiar and clever when it comes to technology, and will find it easy to navigate a simple interface. The young of today are surrounded by more technology and the digital world than ever before, and it is something easily tapped into. I will use children as a target market for these reasons.

Inspiration/Idea Generation

I have found on the website http://inventorspot.com a clever design that designer Yan Lu has created. It is called "Poor Little Fish Basin" and plays on human emotions in order to encourage them to save water. As you use the water from the tap, the water in the fish bowl goes down. Making you stop wasting the water before the poor little fish dies!
I like the way this uses human emotion to encourage saving energy and think it is really effective. It will be interesting to play with this human emotion in a digital way. I also think children are easily manipulated through human emotion, so this could be interesting to investigate.


Here is a link to the article : http://inventorspot.com/articles/conserve_water_or_fish_gets_it

Project 2 Initial Research

In class we did some research together to look into the way energy is used in New Zealand, recommended ways to save energy, websites that encourage stat sharing and current energy monitoring devices available.

Current Monitoring Devices:

- Most successful ones are prompt, convenient on feedback and display

- They aim to change household behaviours

- One example changes glow depending on how much energy you are using

- They renew household energy

Recommended Ways To Save Energy:

Household

- energy efficient lightbulbs and showerheads

- turn off all standby appliances

- don't use the dryer

Transport

- Bio fuel and engine size

- spending more on technology can save in the long run

- driving smoothly

- public transport - the train was found to be the most energy efficient

- public bikes

- solar technologies

Stat Comparing Websites:

- Nike +, map my run, mathletics, google flu trends, pricespy, international markets, metservice

- Mostly automated, non human recording, competitive, stats produced through games, companies add stats, all show stats and data clearly

Facts about NZ Energy Consumption:

Electricity/Heat in New Zealand in 2008   Electricity Heat   Unit: GWh Unit: TJ Production from:     - coal 4820 0 - oil 132 0 - gas 10649 0 - biomass 555 0 - waste 0 0 - nuclear 0 0 - hydro* 22312   - geothermal 4200 0 - solar PV 0   - solar thermal 0 0 - wind 1057 0 - tide 0 0 - other sources 50 1200 Total Production 43775 1200 Imports 0 0 Exports 0 0 Domestic Supply 43775 1200 Statistical Differences 0 0 Transformation** 0 Electricity Plants 0 1200 Heat Plants*** 0 0 Energy Industry Own Use**** 2120 0 Losses 3254 0 Final Consumption 38401 0 Industry 14217 0 Transport 534 0 Residential 12432 0 Commercial and Public Services 8731 0 Agriculture / Forestry 1754 0 Fishing 129 0 Other Non-Specified 604 0

Final Photos

Exhibition Description

Chapman Holly

I Spy With My Little Eye

“I Spy With My Little Eye” is an interactive object that excites and manipulates the sense of sight. With inspiration from kaleidoscopes, telescopes and Viewmasters, I have designed an object that viewers look through, and the way they see the world around them is warped, distorted and manipulated through several different filters. I investigated a number of ways to manipulate the sight and incorporated the most successful into my object. The design is interactive, allowing the user to change the filters as they wish and experiment for themselves, as they experience the familiar world around them through their own eyes but in different ways to what they see everyday. My object is designed to be easy to interact with, aesthetically pleasing and intrigue the user through an exciting sight experience. The world around us has never looked so exciting!

Instruction

Remove any of the three larger cylindrical tubes from the slots in the box and look through them, taking notice of all details and rotating the cylinder as well as moving where you look. These have each been designed in a different way to manipulate the way you can see the world around you. Now take any of the three smaller cylinders or “lids” and slide this on top of the larger one and look through it. This allows you to combine filters and manipulate what you are viewing even further. Experiment with the other lids, and next do the same with the other cylinders, trying all the combinations of filters, each manipulating your sight in a different way from the next as you view the world around you.

Final Construction

I have chosen to use basic materials for the construction of the object. I have thick black card for the cylinders and "lids" as it is easy to manipulate into the circular shapes. Inside each cylinder is the "filters" that manipulate the views vision, as you can see in the images. The lids are designed to fit overtop of the cylindrical tubes so you can have the option to look through two at a time and these are interchangeable. I have also made a stand to display the objects together in, and allowing all the separate pieces to come together to form a single interactive object!

Inspiration

With my new idea for how to construct my object, I have some new inspiration. The cylindrical tubes I am going to construct remind me of telescopes and kalidescopes. I think the cylindrical idea for my object relates better to the use of the eye and vision in my object, as most objects that you can look though (eg telescope and kalidescope) are shaped this way.

Brainstorming (again!)

After feedback I began to brainstorm new ideas of ways to present my object. I have looked at several ways of keeping the filters individual from each other, and ways to make them interchangeable with each other, creating a more interactive and exciting experience for the user.


After doing some more tests I found that not all of the filters work with each other, for example the kalidescope and the liquid viewing are hard to look though together and found that they are more effective on their own or combined with some of the other filters. This has pushed me more towards my idea of the tubes and the lids (far left on brainstorm above). My three main tubes will be the kalidescope, the liquid and the long tube (selected view). The lids will be the red cellophane, the magnification glass and the pinprick hole. These are the lids because when used in combination with the other main three, all of them worked somewhat successfully. This also makes it easier aesthetically when I am building this object, as it allows all the lids and all the longer tubes to be made to the same size.

Feedback

Last Friday we swapped tutors and I was able to get some feedback from another tutor (Helen) about my mock up designs and the box idea. She liked all of the different filters I have created and experimented with although she felt that looking inside a box at a single object/pattern/texture, was not as interesting as looking at the outside world. I took this into consideration and am working on new ways and aesthetics to present these visions. She also suggested I combine some together, which I agree could be interesting. So it was back to the sketch pad for me, as I brainstorm new ways of presenting my ideas!

Construction and Tests

I constructed a smaller box to go on the inside of the larger box, suspended somehow inside. Each side of the box has a different pattern/texture/surface that relates or is interesting through the filter on that side. Above were the patterns and textures I trialed. 

This one was for the red cellophane. It was interesting how the red "disappeared" or blended into the background, changing the look of the pattern quite dramatically when viewed through the red cellophane

This one was viewed at the end of the kaleidoscope filter. Similar to what you see through a kaleidoscope normally, it was multiplied and flipped more, making it a very interesting yet confusing pattern.

Thin black and white vertical stripes were viewed through the liquid. The straight lines were warped, but only when held in certain positions, and this may be due to the shape of the container the liquid was in. It was also nice seeing the water line through the viewing hole, as the liquid line pulled down the image and warped it, yet you were able to see the straight lines at the top.

This hazy pattern was viewed through the pinhole viewer. The filter makes everything hazy so it was interesting to see something even hazier through this.

This was viewed through the tube. The tube was focused on the centre of this pattern, the most interesting view and therefore showed a selected view of the pattern.

This text was viewed through the magnification filter. Text has always been interesting through lenses, but it was important for the words to not be real words so the viewer did not get distracted and start reading the text. I trialed jumbled letters that did not make sense in a times font. 

Construction

I have begun to construct a mock-up box to take to class and receive feedback on. This is also a trial to see if all the chosen materials will be successful and if any changes are needed to be made. I worked in the workshop at Te-Aro and also at home.

More Inspiration

I have also gained some inspiration from the toy, "view finders". Having used them as a child, I encountered endless hours of fun and excitement from these basic toys. These inspired me also for this project as with these an exciting experience is created through the sense of sight, and there is the same element of surprise and excitement when using these toys, when flicking them and seeing the different slides, as I wish to create through my interactive object and experience.

Plans

I have planned how to make my box and what materials I will be using to make the exterior and what is contained on the inside.
I made up some prototypes for possible boxes and found that a middle sized one that was able to be held easily in two hands was the most applicable.
Now all i need to do is begin the process of trying out the proposed materials for the box and see if they are all working the way I wish them too.

Development

I have been continuing to develop my ideas in the studio sessions. Brainstorming how to make my object intuitive to the user has been a main focus, as well as the aesthetics and materials I will use to make it. Deciding what material to use for the outer of the box will be an issue, with it needing to be light inside in order to see the object clearly, (I had initially imagined a nice wooden box!)
I am now in the final stages of doing tests on the effects I will be using on the eye holes, and have several options to choose from.
I am beginning to think about the object inside, with thoughts of it maybe be very abstract so the viewer does not recognise it at all or guess what it is.
I have begun some simple investigation into what kinds of material-textures-patterns-colours look interesting under the different manipulations and some notes have been taken.
Evidence of my research, thinking and development in scans of examples of pages from my workbook (right)

I also have results from testing in class. When sharing our ideas in the studio group, I tested my visual ideas and manipulations with my peers and received some feedback and suggestions. At this stage the magnification glass was the most popular and I was also encouraged to experiment and push my ideas with the coloured cellophane.

Inspiration

I have gained inspiration for my interactive object through the way we look at things, and especially the way we look through things. We use our sight everyday, and isn't something we generally think about, but what would happen if we could manipulate the way we saw things?... This is what I am investigating through a user experience with my object.








Also we look through things everyday, unaware of what we might see on the other side. These images of looking through keyholes inspired me, we look through them often seeing what we expect to on the other side. So how can i manipulate this idea of looking through something and seeing the unexpected? This will create a unique user experience through sight for my users.

Proposal

I am going to design and create an interactive object that users will gain and experience from through the use and manipulation of the sense "sight". I plan to create an object in the shape of a cube, with eye-holes on each of the six faces, inviting the user to look inside. Contained in the cube will be an object that I have created. This object will be completely random (I may construct it myself) and eye-catching, not distinctively recognisable to the user. However, each eye-hole will be effected in someway, that allows the viewer to see the object inside in different ways, each different from each other. Giving the user an experience through their sight, and manipulating and distorting the way they view the object inside. Effects that I may imply on the eye-holes include; looking through water, down a tube, through coloured cellophane, through mirrors, through patterns and through a magnification lense. Each of these techniques will effect the way the object inside is seen to the user. The user interacts with the object by rotating it and peering through the viewing holes, engaging in an experience through their sight.

Initial Idea Generation

Above is brainstorming/notes on my initial ideas for my object. These are only basic at this stage but after presenting my ideas to the studio group I think I will work with manipulating and interacting with an object through sight. 

Morphologic Box

Above is my morphologic box, filled out with interactions and the senses that correspond to them. From this I began to generate ideas on what my interactive object could be and what senses I could effect through experiences with my object.