Video, Boards & Presentation

Video, Boards & Presentation

Final Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGGwKKIOqlU&feature=youtu.be

Week 14 - Video production & Model Resolution

Week 14 - Video production & Model Resolution

This week i started story boarding the video, and working out all the different elements i would need to get it done. I also completed the renders & logo Design. 

Week 13 - The Video

Week 13 - The Video

Overview

This week, we all continued with our individual work, with some collaboration at group meetings and via facebook. At this point in the assignment, Michael has assumed the role of the co-ordinator of the assignment. My role, is to take care of the visuals for the assignment ( the video, boards and renders )

The video 

This week, i researched similar videos in order to get inspiration and ideas as to what form the video would take.. The goal of the video is to communicate the emotive aspects of the design in a way which the audience will be able to both understand, and also relate to the project. 

Week 12 - Individual Work

Week 12 - Individual Work

Overview

After the last week, we decided that a lot of the work needed to be done individually, or at home. My role, was to focus on the scenario, and how this object would fit in with the lives of our users. Michael, was focusing on the programming, and also started helping Niall with resolving the form, and some of the detailing aspects.

Scenarios 

I started to look at the different scenarios in which our object could have a profound effect. 

Some of the possible scenarios that where outlined were; 

Armed forces

A Soldier is leaving for war. He is leaving behind his family, and is going to miss them dearly. He can use our device to communicate with his friends and family back home. 

Prison

A prisoner is in jail for a long period of time. This object could be used for them to communicate with loved ones, in a safe and deeply emotional way. 

Long nights at Work

A user is working back late at night, and their partner is missing them. our device is used to help both people in this situation. 

Boarding School

Our concept could be used for children who are away at boarding school. They would be able to communicate with there family when and how they wanted. 

Reflection

After going through these scenarios, and discussing with tutors, we decided to go back to our original target user group - which was emergency services and the armed forces. They are an interesting target user, and represent many varied challenges for us to address. 

Michael was able to continue with his research into the parts needed for the model without this part of the assignment completed, however by next week it is important that i have this done so that the model can be tailored to suit the specific context. 

Week 11 - Concept Resolution 2

Week 11 - Delegation and Concept resolution

Overview

Before class this week, a message was put out on facebook which outlined a few goals that we needed to achieve in this upcoming session in class. Key to this, was resolving a few key issues regarding the concept, and locking them in. I identified that in our group think sessions, we were trying to solve 5-6 issues simultaneously. It wasnt getting us anywhere, and we were starting to go in circles. This week there was a little more structure to our session. We tackled each issue one at a time - and in an order which made a little more sense.

Design Process + Concept Development

The first thing was giving everyone an oppurtunity to do a 2 minute 'pitch'. Basically summarising there ideas, and getting everyone on the same page. It was quite successful, and from this we could get an idea as to what area each team member was interested in. After this, we started finalising the inputs/outputs - and chose the most appropiate. What we came down to was;

summary of 2 minute pitch ( mine blank - as i was recording ) 

INPUT
Heartbeat
Voice Message
Warmth from Hand

OUTPUT ( in order )
Vibration
Audio Message
Light

We wanted to keep the concept elegant, clean and simple - whilst facilitating the most meaningful, and emotive experiences to our users. We definately felt like we achieved this - and everyone was quite bouyed by the level that our design has gotten too.

Going Forward

Before this week, i saw a need for us to be a little more structured in our approach to this assignment. As from now on in, we are all going to be doing alot of work individually, i thought it was important to form a design schedule which outlines key tasks and deadlines. We have also distributed work to each person in areas that they are the strongest. And weekly, we will all set goals to achieve before we meet again in class.

Myself
Form a structure for the project + plan it out so that key dates and milestones are recognised.
Also focus on the video element & scenarios around the concept.
by next week, i am going to formulate a project timeline, outline 5-6 scenarios which our product will be used in, and start planning how to represent this in an emotive video.

Niall
Niall has some great visualisation and problem solving skills, so he has taken up some of the responsibility of solving some of the more 'pure' industrial design.
by next week, niall is going to aim to have the form resolved, or at least a few variations of the form. He will also start piecing together a few manufacturing thoughts, such as materials, cost, etc.

Teresa 
Teresa is going to basically collate the work as it is completed, and add it into a report. It will also be Teresas role to pick up on any inconsistances amungst all our work, and help everyone resolve those issues.  by next week, Teresa is going to formulate the basis for the report. Including key headings, and identify all the areas which we will need to report on. 


Michael
From the earlier project, we identified that Michael had fantastic skills and knowledge of electical components & engineering. He natrually is going to be given the sole task of realising what will be quite a complex prototype model. We feel that a working protoype that correctly expresses the experiences we intend to create is vital to this project.
 by next week, Michael is going to put together a schematic which outlines the way in which the protoype will work. he will also do some basic costing, and work with niall to replicate the intended form as closely as possible.

Week 10 - Concept Resolution

Week 10This week, we have moved ahead with our concept pitch from last week. Our group has had some trouble being able to meet as regularly as we would like. So in order to keep work moving ahead, we have started posting alot of working on facebook. So far this is pretty successful, as it allows ideas to be generated and critised quicker than waiting another week to meet in class.

Our Concept Development
 This week, i have tryed to look into adding more meaning, and value into our concept. At present, we have established that it is designed to be a 'precious object' which users who are geographically seperated can send and receive messages.

"neck worn device - dean johnson"

I have been looking into deepening that connection through the transmission of something else other than messages. One idea, was vital signs ( such as a heartbeat ). I have been researching some of the spiritual practices which cultural & religious groups. Some interesting practices have got me interested in the idea of replicating a deeper spiritual connection through the sending and recieveing of a heartbeat.

The traditional hindu practice of tantra is often mis-concieved. it actually originates in a meditative practice in which a user connects to spirits internally through deep focus on there breathing, and heartbeat.

Nialls idea for a head matt

Niall looked into a different direction. Once comment which was made after our presentation was that we need to consider the more extreme user groups. For example, used in a war scenario - a user my not have use of arms, hands, sight or hearing. Micheal has been looking into the tangible interactio part. He is looking at what interactions are most appropiate for the design in order for it to fulfil its intention.

I think its good the different directions we are all naturally taking with our brainstorm. We are however aware that the design needs to be finalised soon. We are aiming to finalise the design by next tuesday so we can then go onto the prototyping stage.

I have already considered the roles we will take moving forward. Since Michael has great electrical engineering skills, i think it would be great if he solely focuses on the electronic component of our protoype ( with some help from others ). I am going to look at the non-electronic component of the design with Niall.

Further to that, we also need to look at the presentation component, and the report.

Overall a successful week, where the breadth of our ideation certainly grew.

Week 4 - The Coming Together

Week 4 

This week was dedicated to getting the project finished. I spent some time with Micheal helping with some of the connections. The most important part was making sure that all the connections worked, and that we would have some form of input. 

I also took care of the diffuser. We originally were going to paint a green line, on a black background, but the black paint didn't look right. So we ended up painting the acrylic panels green, and placing them in front of the rig.   

Micheals House - Stripping Wires

one half completed

The main control board. 

Here is the finished project. Personally im very happy with the outcome. It probably didnt finish the way we originally anticipated - however thats often the case, and i think its effective all the time. There were issues getting the coding to work fully, but this is understandable given the short timeframe, and rather steep learning curve.