electromagnets, continued

(Sent these from the wrong address earlier and they didn't post, sorry!)

Tried out the electromagnet configuration I illustrated yesterday, with not particularly exciting results.  I was using a 9v battery hooked up to a small nail coiled with about 32g wire. I went with such a small scale because if this is going to be part of a garment, it has to be pretty discreet and lie flat easily.  Once I had the two ends of the wire attached to the leads of the battery, I tried to pick up some nails with them (it's like 5th grade science class all over again, I know). It worked the first time (that blurry thing hanging from the end of the coil-wrapped nail in the last picture is another nail) but didn't work again after that. I checked the battery, no problem there, exposed more of the wire (stripping off more insulation), tried different gauges of wire but still no luck.  I had some pupil sized magnets cut up and ready to test with but never got back to that point unfortunately.  I'm really not sure what the problem was. I'm just going to have to test with different size nails or other materials and different wire wrapping patterns I suppose. Failing that, I'll bug Joel Murphy some more. 

Once I do get this part figured out, the next step is diving into Arduino so I can figure out how to connect this to my eye-tracking setup. 

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day 6, considering the book

So designing something physical in PowerPoint == trickier than expected. See slide attached. It's just not quite right - there's a lot lost when it's digital. I started to lay out the "slides" (pages) - see image attached - in thumbnail form, but will need to just start a mockup. I think that'll be better. I also started thinking about other ways (besides blog) to "infiltrate" classrooms, and began thinking of the classroom poster as something that could use some disruption. There are so many terrible posters out there - cliche, kitschy - and was thinking briefly about how to design some of my own that could represent the ideas I'm trying to communicate in book and blog. Still thinking. Goal for book is to have it done - or something very close to done - by the end of the month, as I'm presenting to another group of educators at the beginning of March.

christina

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This and That

I know I haven't posted daily but I've been sort of dallying around in the best sense. I feel like I had been holding onto a lot of preconceived notions about what I'm truly interested in and got sidetracked down a road that was quite tangential to my interests. I'll get to where I am now after these last few days but I thought I'd share the things that got me there. I didn't do one a day but like a little bit over a few days. 

The first thing was trying to figure out what exactly my "design rules" were after Cynthia rightly pointed out not to confuse or elevate observations with rules. I think part of me wasn't sure what to make of design rules in general. But it made me see that what I was talking about wasn't particularly getting at it. I tried to think back to what really inspired me about last semester and I came across the Objectified DVD and watched it again. And what I really took home was that I am interested in the way people interact with their objects and that technology objects were the objects we covet most now. Ok but now I'm back to my observations...

I ended up drafting a set of five questions that I can use when having conversations with people. I realized that I was interested in the narrative that people craft with their technology devices, and in that sense the way that I craft my conversations with tech through design. So I asked my roommate, the quickest person, five questions. Her responses made me see that my questions need a bit of tweaking to give a bit more information. The thing that resonated in me still was that she is a complete luddite and yet she had such a fond memory of her first experience with tech devices. I've attached the transcript as a pic.

Then I realized from that conversation and my last realization about narrative, that I am interested in a broader sense this idea of analogue and digital. That that's the reason why I love the mix of ceramics vs. tech, man's relationship to tech vs. tech devices. I wanted to position this visually so I did some research into different connotations of analogue and digital and how that could be used as motifs. I came up with a column of words that I could pull from when thinking of. 

Then I went and looked through a ton of design magazines to come up with two different mood boards. The first is my thoughts on digital. The second are thoughts of analogue and possible intersections.

So where I'm at now with thesis. My thesis (tentatively called "twentyTen") examines the role tech devices play in our daily lives by creating a series of objects for the home-the place that I argue is really the most impacted by our objects. These objects will be part critical design, part sculpture and made from ceramics. The pieces themselves will be expressed through lusters giving a connotation to each piece, giving either a digital or analogue feel. In this way, the lusters act as a narrative device, while designed with full awareness of that role. By designing these critical design pieces for the home, I hope to engage people with this relationship of the role of our devices. I see it as interacting in our tech world-this is 2010.

Some of the objects I've thought of:

-a series of disappearing or melting tiny devices (iPod nano sized) that disappear into a pool as sculptural triptych. Silver luster. Each piece 2" x2".

-create those commemorative handprint circle tiles but instead do them with tech devices.

-ceramic fridge magnets that have digital conversions instead of bakers conversions.

-tiles for the home based on the owners actual devices. Luster to suit their own relationship.

Those are just a starting point from which to refine, etc. So that's where I'm at after a few days of MIA-ness,

w

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Tourism in New York Survey

I made a survey tonight hoping to filter out the most visited touristic locations in Manhattan.
The survey can be taken here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5MFQ5TN
Results will be shared on thesis site and in class.

Here are the questions asked:

1. Were you ever a tourist in New York City?

  • Yes, from abroad
  • Yes, from USA
  • No I live in New York
  • Other (please specify)

2. What is your age?

3. Rate your most frequent activity as a tourist in New York (1 Most - 4 Least)

  • Sight-Seeing (attractions)
  • Park promenading
  • Museums/Gallery viewing
  • Restaurants sampling
  • Bar hopping/Clubbing
  • Other (please specify)

4. When sight-seeing, how would you rate the method you used the most:

  • On sight
  • Bus tour
  • Helicopter tour
  • Boat tour
  • Bike tour
  • Other (please specify)

5. Pick what you think are the top 7 touristic attractions in Manhattan (1 Most - 7 Least)

  • Empire State
  • Statue of Liberty
  • Grand Central Terminal
  • Rockefeller Center
  • Staten Island Ferry
  • American Stock Exchange
  • Battery Park City
  • Brooklyn Bridge
  • Times Square
  • Chinatown
  • Chrysler Building
  • City Hall
  • Ground Zero
  • Radio City Music Hall
  • South Street Seaport
  • Soho
  • Wall Street
  • Union Square
  • Central Park
  • Madison Square Park
  • Ellis Island Immigration Museum
  • American Museum of Natural History
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
  • American Folk Art Museum
  • Guggenheim
  • Dahesh Museum
  • Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum
  • Other (please specify)
-Grace

Day 6 blues

Spent the better part of today ripping off all the skin off my puppet because I tried to create a tight skin layer with ace bandages like I did on my last puppet. The problem is I wanted to create that same texture for the face and it ended up looking like a demented mummy. Looked online for advice, and it seems that Latex is my best option!

First Image is a close-up of my destroyed armature. Sad, I know.. but luckily it might still be salvageable.

Second is from the Heather Zielink's "I Can't Draw" Animated short. She used latex for the hands with molds, it ended up working really well. The only problem is Latex is expensive and hard to work with so my skin problems might not be resolved by tomorrow. 

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Survey to Get Feedback/Form User Group

I have been working very hard this week to actually conceptualize what I want to do/what I have to visualize and how I can do that. I feel like this was extremely helpful and I have a lot to work with, so now I need to see if everything I have been thinking falls in line with what other users will be thinking. I do consider myself part of my audience but I'm obviously super close to the project, so it will be interesting to see what opinions others have to either confirm or disprove my assumptions. I sent this survey out to everyone on facebook and posted it on twitter, I'll also ask a few people who aren't on either to take it as well but I'm pretty sure this covers most bases. Since people tend to ignore these things I'll also try to directly ask as many people as possible. I specified that users who are interested in baseball (if only slightly). I also have a hidden agenda with this survey: anyone who takes it will automatically be a candidate for user testing and I'll have a nice list :) 

Anyone here who is reading this it'd be cool if you could take it, I'm about to take Conway and Hillary's surveys now since I never look at facebook and jsut realized they posted them as well.

I'm attempting to attach the survey as a PDF, it'll be interesting to see how Posterous handles this.

Here is a link to the survey, if you're not on my Facebook or Twitter and have a good heart/a couple of minutes I'd appreciate it if you could take it!

-Steve

Click here to download:
Survey_13372389.pdf (41 KB)
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Day 6: Research / Questions

As I mentioned yesterday, Beth wanted something that she could wear during exercise that was discreet, comfortable, and attractive. While I like the idea of creating something that is utilitarian, many of these products already exist. What I'm doing now is researching these companies that make products for pumps, finding out where they are falling short, and brainstorming how I can put an innovative spin on it that is also in line with my concept and visual aesthetic.

Here are some companies making utilitarian/fashionable products for the Medtronic Minimed pump:

Where are they falling short?

First of all, the websites for a vast majority of these companies are absolutely horrific. What I still find interesting is this encouragement of concealment. At the website Accu-check Spirit their tag line is "Pump therapy is your business, no one else's." How has Apple made their products something people show off and others covet? How have eyeglasses become something that those who are not visually impaired begin to buy and wear as fashion accessory? Beth was saying that while she likes the empowerment aspect of my existing designs, she feels that it could be equally empowering to have clothing that hid the pump comfortably and discreetly. However, with the plethora of companies out there making these products, why does she not have any of them? Is it an issue of marketing, is it the terrible web design, is it the look and feel of the object? Is it all of the above?

I think that the design of the pump as well as the design for the objects that help conceal them are sending such a strong negative message. I would hope that whatever Hanky Pancreas ends up being, it helps change that reality.

Regarding the actual design of these objects, some companies have a better fashion and design sense than others. MediFashion is the closest I see to something I was thinking about for Beth. However, what would be the point of making something that already exists? I could just send her a link to these sites and be done with it.

Brainstorming Innovation

I think that the potential for Hanky Pancreas to stand out and be successful is in the social aspects. By 'social aspects' I mean the visual metaphors that can be empowering on both public and private scales, the story-telling integration with the design, and the actual involvement with my target audience. I believe one of the main reasons Apple products are successful has a lot to do with the visual aesthetic and culture that people feel they belong to when purchasing the products.

Going back to the methodology of combining Beth's personal story with mythological symbols, I have been looking into Greek Myths of the Olympic Games. Beth is a very active and athletic person, she received her masters in fitness education and really desires solutions for athletic clothing. With this in mind I am trying to come up with some visual metaphors that could be incorporated into the designs for her that allow this object to be comfortable, utilitarian, discreet, and attractive while also making her feel like she belongs to a larger culture.

Sketches coming soon hopefully.

1&1 Is The Worst Hosting Service Ever

Unfortunately I hit a big snag in developing my "Highlander" prototype today, as I pretty much have the worst hosting service ever. I started building it out based on the flow chart I posted yesterday, but I ran into database problems. I can't connect to my server to update things, so I may try a different approach for the time being. Frustrated that a few hours of work and a 45-minute phone call w/ Tech Support have yet to resolve my issues. I'm going to try to work on it more later tonight and try and find a solution. Sorry this is such a lame post!