Background

Background

At the beginning of this assignment our group got together to discuss our thoughts and ideas on the topic. Our first ideas stemmed from the physical computing reviews presented to the entire class, focusing on the particular pieces of work we responded positively to. Physical computing works we responded positively were the interactive wall, floor or space/room installations. Initially we tried to merge our ideas together as two group members had common reviews on interactive floors, whilst the other two reviewed technologies on mobile phones. However we collectively decided that we preferred the concept of single or multiple users interacting in a designated space opposed to the idea of one user interacting with a single piece of technology like a handheld device.

So taking inspiration from reviews on the Interactive Wallpaper and the Drag and Draw we started generating several ideas based on the idea of interactive installations.

The idea of interactive wallpaper inspired us because we thoroughly enjoyed the idea of displaying a visual representation on the wall as you walk past it. Interactive walls meant that multiple users could interact with a wall in a group space. Interactive wallpapers respond to the people interacting with them intentionally or not intentionally. Some examples of this technology show people interacting with the wall as they walk past it without realising its reacting to them until the walk backwards and forwards around the screen. This particular technology is fun to interact with no matter your age.

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1086142


The Drag and Draw also inspired the group as we are all kids at heart and the idea of being able to draw on a wall with lights without the fuss of cleaning up mess, is innovative and allows children to explore their creative side without damaging the wall. However in addition to it being a creative way for kids to explore their artistic talents, it’s also animates the drawing, this all adds to the children’s experience with the work.

http://www.simplicityhub.philips.com/_pages/tomorrow.php


Real inspiration didn’t strike until we skimmed through a magazine recommended by an external source. ‘Make Magazine’ (http://www.makezine.com/) contains a lot of resources on different technologies and how different individuals use them in new innovative and creative methods. One particular article spoke about how to turn motion into sound by using a few materials. We all liked the idea of sensors detecting movement in a room and responding with visual and/or audio feedback. With this idea in mind we began brainstorming ideas on how to incorporate the ideas of sound and motion in a designated physical space. To further inspire us with ideas we explored further online, using references mentioned on the individual blogs and just individual searching for anything interesting and fun, or as one group member put it ‘fun and useless’, just to get the ideas flowing.

In addition to research and brainstorming ideas on creating a physical space with sound feedback we also began to research possible technology solutions. As a group we are prepared to learn how to use the different electronics and technologies to complete the assignment, but we first need to know what technologies are out there to know what ideas are feasible and what ideas should be scrapped immediately. In an assignment this big, it is important to know how what can be done in the time frame set.

It’s obviously important to make sure the project relates to the overall topic of ‘Everyday’ so we need to ensure that our idea can relate to everyday life and that everyone can use it no matter his or her prior technical knowledge or knowledge on how to use it. This is were our first initial idea ‘The Chill-out Room’ originated from, the idea that in the future everyone will design the interior of their homes with a room where they will go to relax and de-stress. Different people relax in different methods, so the initial idea was to have the room respond to the persons needs. However we all had conflicting ideas on how the room would work and how it would be achievable. Luckily after the presentation we were able to focus on one single idea that was achievable in the short time frame we have from now until the project is due. We took one feature from our original concepts to create an improved focused idea. Thanks to advice given to us from the tutors we used some of our early inspirations of interactive walls, to design a concept based on something we like to call an ‘Interactive Feature Wall’. It’s a wall that homeowners will have in the future, that allow them to create their own feature wall in their home where they can add or remove image designs to it daily. So with a concept we all agree with our project know begins.