Week Five: finalising the MOOD HELMET: photoshoot and presentation

Hoorah! Coming to the end of my presentation organisation for the Mood Helmet. The model, and the boards are all complete!
I did a bit of a photoshoot with the mood helmet to:
A. Get a good look at the product and produce a 'hero shot', and;
B. To get a sense of the context and style its used in
Please find some photos below :)

 Hero Shot of the MOOD HELMET

 Green: Go ahead, talk to me!

 Yellow: Caution (approach with Caution)

 Red: Beware! (please, leave me alone!)

Photoshoot: In context with the mood helmet

So, I had quite a bit of fun on that little photoshoot. And I'm pretty happy with the final product! I've also finished up my boards:

Now all I need to do is prep for the presentation, and get my board printed out, hoorah!

Week Five: MOOD HELMET; making the model and working out the sensory input (for demonstration purposes!)

So I've made quite a bit of progress on my model lately. I went down to Kmart and purchased a ten dollar helmet, and also some little flash lights, and also some tape to create the 'colours' of the moods. I've simply used zip ties to connect them to the helmet. Find pictures below:

Yellow representing Caution

Green representing 'Go Ahead'

For demonstration purposes (for the presentation), I'm simply going to press the flash light, which will light up the light and indicate the persons mood. However, in real terms (and if it was possible for me to demonstrate) I would either:

A. Have it connected to someones heart rate so it could monitor there changes in heart beat which are directly rated to someones mood

B. Have it connected to someones body temperature, as the higher temperature in the body represents a higher amount of stress in the body (which would therefore indicate RED being signaled for BEWARE!)

C. Have sensory modes connected via electromagentic connections to sensor someones brain waves and brain acitivity, as this is also directly related to someones mood.

Ideally, one of these three solutions should be implemented into the MOOD HELMET, as this indicates the sensory 'input-output' representation. However, for demonstration purposes in Week 5, i will simply demonstrate by pressing the button on the light. However, it wouldn't hurt to mention these three options!

So, more model making to do, and also I have some boards/video to make. Until next time!

Week Five: MOOD and INTERACTION

Okay! Hello again!
I've been doing quite a bit of research on mood and its influence on interaction lately. This has all stemmed from a little off-shoot idea that I had in class the other day, and its been super interesting to research so far. Attached are a few links to some peer reviewed journals found on the psychinfo database. They were a very interesting read:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/10.1002/ejsp.725/pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6W5N-4WYCT4T-1-3&_cdi=6575&_user=62921&_pii=S1048984309001489&_origin=gateway&_coverDate=10%2F31%2F2009&_sk=999799994&view=c&wchp=dGLzVlb-zSkWb&md5=e4e465e190e4e26e0151f2863a85ae13&ie=/sdarticle.pdf

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=113&sid=74099bda-6aa2-4d65-a168-d83dc403f79a%40sessionmgr110

I made a few conclusions:
1.  An individuals repsonse to a situation is highly dependant on an individuals mood
2. Many interactive relationships could be improved if people were more aware of eachothers moods
3. How you approach someone is dramatically different depending if someone is in a 'good mood' vs. a 'bad mood'
4. It is extremely difficult for someone else to define someone elses mood
SO! I was thinking, it would be awesome to create a product that enhanced this and captured peoples moods.
Originally I was thinking about some kind of object that could sit on someones desk with different lights representing different moods (something like this:)

But then I started thinking about portability and actually being able to take it into your personal life, as well as your professional life. Thats when I thought about the MOOD HELMET.   What a sweet idea! So many relationships could be saved by this device- think how much easier life would be if you were just more aware of somebody elses mood. I'll definetely play around with this idea, and give making some kind of model a go.

I've also been doing other research on how to represent the different types of moods. I instantly think of traffic lights:

The colours (obviously representing):
Green: Go ahead, talk to me
Yellow: Caution, approach with caution
Red: Beware, please leave me alone!

I've also explored into mood rings too, as they depict a mood based upon a colour:

Looking into a bit more research of how exactly the mood ring works, it was super interesting! these things were HUGE in the 70s! The 'stone' of a mood ring is generally made from a hollow quarts or glass shell containing thermotropic liquid crystals. However modern mood jewlery (like shown above) is made from a flat strip of liquid curtals with a protective coating. The crystals repsond to changes in temperature by twisting. The twisting changes their molecular structure, which alters the wavelengths of light (colour) that are absorbed or reflected. They don't have complete accuracy, but they do give an overall indication of how an individual is feeling. This is also correlated to heart rate, as this is a good indication on someones mood.
The colours represent these moods subsequently:
Black: Stressed
Brown: fearful
Yellow: Nervous
Kakhi yellow: Mixed emotions
Green: Normal
Blue: Relaxed
Dark Blue: Calm
Indigo: Cool
Orange: Lovable/happy
Light green: Romantic
Dark Green: Passionate
Royal/Deep Blue: Very happy/excited

I also had a look at other various products that were already out there on the market which depicted/notified someone else of their mood (which were mostly calendars of some kind of sort):

I do want to explore this deeper though. I want to look into sensors of the heart rate which will depict someones mood, and also electromagnetic sensors which was be placed on the head (as this is a helmet, that makes a lot of sense!) Until next time!

Week Four: Exploring with Spherical measures

Hello again!
Okay, so I've been playing around a little bit with 'interactive spheres' for my 'I'm thinking of you spheres'. Ideally, I guess I would have two spheres (like shown below):



 When you squeeze one, one vibrates (and vise versa). Which is also shown below:

I really like this idea, but I'm not really sure how I would demonstrate a working model to the class. I don't think it would hurt to try and work on other ideas, just to see what I can come up with. I mean, ideally, something like this would be perfect:

But, I'm well aware of my modelling capabilities (or lack of!), so I should explore things a little further and see what I come up with! I did like one 'off-shoot' idea that I did for the concept bomb in class last week, which I thought was very interesting. It was like a little 'mood status' that you could place on your desk at work, to simply notify someone of your mood. I like this concept and would like to work it through and explor it  further.

Much research is to be done however! So i better get to it, until next time!

Week Four: Exploring input-output human beahviour interaction

So in our last tutorial, we did a few concept bombs on 'human behaviour interaction' I found this really helpful as it allowed me elaborate on last week (which was simply pulling stuff a part) as opposed to actually thinking of what I could design. The first thing I did, was a bit of a brain storm on some random ideas:

This mainly looked at relationships, feeding off different sensory inputs and outputs and how this could be achieved. We were then given three different examples to work for our concept bomb. Concept one looked at interaction between a family member/friend. I came up with 'Grandmas Gallery' which allowed children to draw on a fridge which could then be uploaded to the corresponding Grandmas fridge, which creates 'Grandmas Gallery'. This in essence, allows for the Grandmother, or any other family member for that matter, to have an active role in the child's life, even though they may not be present with them. I also was considerate of the role of technology with elderly people, therefore the child will be the only one interacting with the technology, and the elderly person will be the one recieving the information. You can find concept bomb 1 below:

Concept two got us to look at loved ones that were seperated and how they could stay in touch whilst being away from eachother. Having experienced a long distance relationship myself before, I thought about what would be really useful for this situation. As many people lead very busy lifes, its very hard to constantly be on the phone calling your loved one, texting them, or sending them an email. Often, its just nice to notify the person that yes, you are thinking of them, and yes, you do miss them. So, naturally, I thought of how to do this in a quick convienient way. Whether your rushing between offices, or about to catch a plane, the 'I'm thinking of you spheres' allows one person to know that they are thinking of them with the simple squeeze of the device. When it is squeezed, the other vibrates and lights up, and vice versa. This gives a quick, easy and simple way of demonstrating to the other person that you miss them. The concept bomb can be found below:

Concept three looked at interaction between friends which could either locate a friend, or update the 'status' or 'mood' of that friend. This instantly made me think of music festivals, and how easy it is to get lost at a music festival, or a club for that matter. So i thought, wouldnt it be great to have a small device that says 'come and find me!'. Therefore, concept three is the 'come find me buzzer'. Its concept is pretty straight forward; its a small wrist-like device, and when you want to find your friend, you simply press the button which reciprocates with the corresponding buzzer. The recipricate presses a button which tells the person where they are, so they are able to locate them. The concept bomb can be found below:

I also looked at reciprocating colours that it could refer to as a 'mood application', blue representing calm, green representing surprised, yellow representing happy, and red representing anger or frustration. This is an added bonus to the 'come find me buzzer' and displays extra additional information. A close up of this can be found below:

We were then asked to judge eachothers and look around the room at all the designs. And Concept Two was the most popular, with three coming a close second. (poor concept #one, nobody liked you!) :

This corresponded with my thoughts, as I liked concept two the most. I will continue working on concept two, to see what I can come up with. So, until next time! :)

Week Three: Pulling a part products, or breaking products, that is the question!

So yesterday in class we needed to bring in some 'products', pull them a part and create new ones. As I looked around me, people had funky working radios, little camera/light products, and miniture boats and cars. Although they were far from 'finished', I couldn't help but look down at my power supply and think 'wow, I've made a mess of this more than making something better of this' as this picture will show lol :

I mean, lets be serious, I may as well have just been doing this: (I'm not exactly fantastic when it comes to pulling stuff apart and putting it back together lol) 

But its not all bad! I did take a part a phone (eventually!) and it was much easier to distinguish the products and get the ball rolling. I think its super interesting to note that there was a huge weight in the phone. I knew this, as weight adds 'purpose' and 'meaning' to the product. But still! To actually see this in a product was rather unexpected, but valid to what I had been told.

Here you can clearly see the different parts of the phone, including the keypad, the weight, the back of the phone, the cord and the network system. Overall, I thought that the workshop environment was fun. It allowed me to muck around and play with electronics (something that I wouldn't usually do!) I guess what's important to keep in mind is KEEP IT SIMPLE. I don't want to overwhelm or over exert myself. I know what I'm good at (and unfortunetely for this unit, electronics is not one of them! lol) however, I know for my week 5 assessment, I can create something fun and enjoyable that encorporates BEHAVIOUR, SCENARIO AND OBJECT. I'm looking forward to find what that is! Until next time, Kahlia

Week Two: Assistive Technology and its benefits to Interaction design

So! A few days ago we went to 'Lifetec' to get some understanding on assistive technology. By looking at the ill-abled, you can really get a good understanding on how to interact with products.
We had a lecture which focused on exactly what Assistive Technology was about, and how its important to Occupational Therapists, and Industrial designers- and ultimately the communication that needs to happen between both disciplines.
Assistive technology is defined as:
      " Any device, system or design that allows an individual to perform a task that they would usually otherwise be unable to do, or increase the ease of safety with which a task can be performed."
Unfortunetely we learned, although not surprisingly, that 50%  of assistive technology is abandoned. This is because it either doesn't match the persons goals or expectations, or simply the product hasn't been invented yet (which is great news for us Industrial designers!)
The goal of assistive technology is to "find a product to suit the individual's needs, and not to fit the individual in the equiptment".
We also looked at the HAAT Model, which consists of:
1. Human factors
- age/gender
- current (and future) goals and roles
- medical profile (diagnosis)
- current (and future) abilities and performances (sensory, cognitive, psychological, emotional)
- Clients' satisfaction with performances
- previous experience with assistive technology
- individual preference and attitudes
2. Activity Factors
- self care activities (showering, dressing, toileting, eating, ect)
- Daily activitiies/roles (cleaning, dining)
3. Technology (what an industrial designer typically looks at)
- Size
- Weight
- Shape
- maitenance
- transportability
- materials
- usability
- strength/flexibility
4. Context
- General setting (home, commute, school)
- social (peers, family, careers)
- cultural
- physical (temperature, weather, terrain)
There was one particular exercise throughout the lecture which really opened my eyes up. It focused on what would happen if you were missing a hand. Simple everyday tasks like putting on a shift, cutting a piece of paper and tieing your shoe laces seemed more than impossible! I took some pictures of this which you can see below.

There were also a whole heap of products that we got to muck around and play with. This included the interactive lounge chair, which is even used for sleeping in. Its controlled by a remote and can be elevated up and down to the users needs:

Next we saw a calling system which detects a fall or a crash that happens within the home. When this happens, it autmoatically dials through to an assistant service to help the person that has fallen over. I thought this was a very good idea for someone who is ill-abled but does not want to be overly dependant on someone else:

We then saw an interactive wheelchair which is similar to what Steven Hawkins uses. I've never seen one of these up close before, so it was great to play around with the dynamics of the product. It had a neck brace, leg extension, voice operator and emergency phone system:

We also got introduced to the only viable and commercially available electronic vaccum cleaner. I have seen many of these in the 'prototype' stage, however this is apparently the only one in Australia that is available for public use. It's small, compact and light weight- a great idea not only for the ill-abled but for people who are on the go- its a very convienient product to have!

There was also a computer there that could magnify documents, change the sizing, zoom, change the colouring, contrast and a number of other things. I didn't think this was very commerically viable as it would be a very expensive item to purchase. Perhaps if it was for an elderly community, where many people were going to use this, it would be great. But for the one off individual, it seems surpurflous:

There was also a bunch of electronics including keyboards, mouses, computer programmes and softwares for the ill-abled. However, this was nothing I had seen before, and I thought the products were quite out of date. However, there was one product which required you to put a small dot on your nose which then became the mouse for the computer. I tried this out for myself, and although it was almost impossible to use (and you'd get a stiff neck from it!) it was very impressive, and very entertaining lol:

They also had an array of kitchenware for the ill-abled. Unfortunetely I didn't take a picture of it, but there was this awesome little container, where you'd push pop the top and it would open, as opposed to you peeling off the edges to get the container open. it's a product anyone would buy because it simply makes it easier for the user to operate. There were also cups that had the side cut away from it, as it allowed people to drink from it without tilting there heads back to get the last bit of liquid- what a fantastic idea!

I had a great time at lifetec (it just happened to be my birthday as well, so it was nice to get out of uni and experience a little off-campus excursion!) So, thats it for todays blog, until next time! Kahlia

Week Two: Testing the interaction capabilities of everday products!

So, I've been doing a whole heap of scattered concepts around interaction design based on everyday products. This was initially inspired by our first studio-tutorial session on interaction design. But, ever since, it's really got me thinking about how everyday products could be pushed to the limit in order to retain new connections within a community. And more importantly, how that information might be used to enhance the lives of people. Attached I've got some 'back of the napkin sketches' that I've done in my concept book, and also on the note pad on my fridge. Find them attached below!

As the text is a little difficult to read, I elaborate a little more here:
1. Firstly I looked at car/house keys and how they essentially provide you to get in and out of somewhere/something. Devlving further it provides safety, comfort and security. Keys also have a connotation of being locked in or out. In this respect I instantly thought of 'unlocking the key to your heart'. It would be great if you had some sort of key that could monitor your heart rate, or allow you to record information about your heart. This would especially be useful for the medical field, someone with heart problems who needs constant monitoring or a professional athlete.
2. Next I looked at plastic bags. Essentially it helps you carry objects/items from one place to another- most commonly grocery bags or 'shopping' bags. They aren't very environmentally friendly, they break easily, however they are disposable and cheap to produce. Instantly I think about a plastic bag being free in the wind. This is from one of my favourite movies, American Beauty. The link to this can be found below:

I think this scene signifies freedom, spirituality, creativity, and an example of an everyday item being beautiful and wonderful in its own sense. I think if somehow plastic bags could be used to create a beautiful environmentally product/connection with an exisisting product, that would be great. I feel like there's so much scope to the plastic bag. It doesn't need to be this 'non evironmentally friendly product' I think there is a greater purpose for it to be a beautiful free object that connects with others.
3. Next I thought about books. Initially design books, but more broadly books. Essentially they teach, educate, learn, and in a deeper sense, are a social statement. How many times have you looked at what someone was reading on the train? Or what books they had up on their bookshelf in their homes? Did you make a judgement about who they are when you saw this? I think you would! Books tell a story about who someone is or who someone wants to be. If somehow there could be a space that created a sharing situation, where people swapped books, and essence, swapped a connection, I think that would be truely beautiful. It would encourage a shared connection, joy, love and most importantly interaction.
4. The next object, or more a fixture that I looked at was a door. Essentially it allows you to walk in and out of a room or space. It opens, it closes, or consequently says hello or welcome, or goodbye, now its time to leave. What if it could record how many people went in and out of a room at one time? Maybe that could be of some use to somebody.
5. Next I looked at a single die. It assists in games and gambling, contains six sides with the dots representing the numbers one to six. The die represents luck and chance in life. What if the die could sense how lucky you were feeling before you went to the pokies. Would this help a struggling gambling addict, and in turn create a better relationship with their family and friends?
6. The next product I looked at was a hat. Assists in protection from the sun and protection from a 'bad hair day'. You can take it off, or put it on. But what if a hat could protect your 'thought levels' or to take it one step further, your 'emotional levels'. What if you could say one day 'right, today, I dont want to be bought down by anybody elses negative emotions' and what if by putting on a hat, it would allow you to do so.
7. Next I looked at a babies dummy. It assists in keeping the baby calm and at ease, allowing the baby to feel safe and relaxed. But what if this could somehow create a connection with the mother. Orr even record information about the baby's diet, or maybe when the baby should stop using a dummy.
8. Next I looked at a perfume bottle. It assists in smelling great, and essentially attracting the opposite sex. It provides a confidence boost. What if a perfume smell could instantly attract you to someone else who shares your morals, intellect and chemisty?
9. Next I looked at an apple. Initally I think of that saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" What if everytime you ate an apple, your doctor could be notified of your health and then consequently call or contact you if something was out of the ordinary?
10. Lastly, I looked at a common pen. It would be great if it could record what you write/draw, or what your thinking, record how many times you use a particular word, and even spell check a word you've just spelt wrong.
SO MANY PRODUCTS! so many considerations! I think its very easy to get carried away looking at everyday products and the endless possibilities. But I think its very important to bring it back to the two key words we highlighted in the first blog, and thats INFLUENCE and CONNECTION. Bringing it back to these two key words, its evident not all of the possibilities for these ideas aligns with these products. However, the books, the perfume, the hat, and the car/house keys certainly do! Perhaps these are more areas I need to look in to? Perhaps this is all just experimentation and I won't use any of this, who knows! But I'm excited to find out!
Until next time !