Formative Presentation

We presented to the tutors using basic boards showing the story of use in Week 9. We recieved helpful feedback being that we need to consider a greater level of tangibility between the user and the object on both ends. Also Yasu was concerned about the flucuation of heart rate between individuals and suggested a pedometer may be more effective. We did however come up with a solution to the fluctuation of heart rate being that the device measures the percentage increase from resting heart rate rather than just the heart rate itself which may provide misleading data. We could focus on the competitive side of the device more for user interaction by challenging a particular competitor. The user could alternatively set a percentage increase goal and see if they reach it.

These are the boards which Lisa designed for this presentation to show the scenario of use;

The tutors acknowledged that with the presence of water, the technology would be very difficult to get working. They suggested mounting the fish on string and they could raise or lower, or on a track etc. We still have a long way to go in finalising our solution and coming up with a prototype but I'm positive we will get there.

Preliminary Design Brief

I took on the task of formulating a design brief for the formative presentations. 
Here are the key components and design factors;

2.0 Project brief  

To design a product that facilitates users the ability of being aware about the presence of friends or family and the status of a particular situation. The product design must address the significance of presence in a context that excludes face-to-face interaction.

Our design is based on the research that exercise is linked to endorphin release in the brain, which increases psychological wellbeing. Therefore we concluded by monitoring exercise through a heart rate monitor that this may indicate the wellbeing of the user as well as their physical wellbeing. Our design will be targeted at a group of friends, team mates or competitors who wish to monitor eachothers heart rate on a day to day basis which acts as an indication of how physically active they are. By witnessing a friends increased physical activity this may encourage a user to be more active to avoid being the least active in the group. This may also encourage a friend to get involved with physical activity with a friend who has been less active. The results will be inputted without user interaction through a heart rate monitor worn on the wrist. This will then be transmitted wirelessly to the fish that represents you (both yours and your friends).  The fish which float higher represent someone who has had a higher average heart rate and a fish which floats lower represents someone who has been less active.

2.2 Objective/s

·      Investigate ways of tangibly interacting over a distance to communicate in a meaningful and important way

·      Evaluate how the product will behave and what interaction it requires from the user/users

·      Evaluate the scenario of use

·      Evaluate what the underlying message is that can be interpreted from this information and why the user would want to know this about their friend/friends or family members

·      Discover a reasonable design solution which can act as a middle ground for communication

2.3 Design criteria

Human requirements

·      Should take the users heart rate without the user having to interact with the device

·      Ideally the heart rate monitor would wirelessly transmit the information to the object and represent this without the users input

·      This ensures that the object/objects do not send misguiding information about the persons wellbeing if they simply have been too lazy to transfer the readings to the object

·      The heart rate monitor should not interfere with the users ability to exercise and should not bother the user

·      The output of this information, being the fish and fishtank, should suit various environments and home styles

2.32 Form/function resolution

·      The heart rate monitor needs to be slim line, lightweight and aesthetically pleasing

·      The fish tank and fish, although novel, should not detract from the interior appeal of the environment which it is contained in

·      The electronic components of the fish need to be extremely waterproof over long periods of time to ensure durability

Group Collaboration

In the remaining time of the tutorial, I spoke openly with Tim about the evolution of our idea and how we could represent this. I suggested using lights to represent the data; the higher the light beam, the more active the person, however Tim was not fond of this idea. We spoke about integrated living forms, which is where our group had started, and I mentioned how we were considering using fake fish a few weeks ago but eliminated this due to our then,  elderly market. However, he loved this idea and I did agree that the novelty did suit our young and active target market. I put this forward to the group and they agreed that using the floating height of the fish to represent how active the person was was a good solution to work with. The technology was obviously going to be the hardest part.

So our idea at this stage was that each group member would wear a slimline heart rate monitor which would transmit this information to a sensor within the fish. Each fish would correspond to a different person and would have a distinguishing feature such as colour. The higher your fish floats the higher your heart rate has been on average. If you are inactive for a certain period and are transmitting a very low heartrate then your fish may die and you will have to reset your fish which may involve going to many of your friends houses and facing that humiliation. This could be used by a coach to keep an eye on his team, competitors and friends. Issues are the fluctuation of heart rate based on the individual.

Object Tutorial 2

This tutorial was directed towards distinguishing why we love products and why we hate them. We began by discussing products we loved and hated within the group, most of which had been owned by the person. I shared my dislike for my old laptop and my love for my mac laptop. My reasons for not liking my old laptop were that it was heavy and uncomfortable when taking it out of the home, it had a very short battery life and the overall interface design wasn't so great. My reasons for loving  my mac were completely the opposite; it is lightweight, has a great battery life, and like all apple products, has a great interface design. I also associated Apple as an example of a company which is beginning to dominate the technological world and felt as an Industrial Designer that I need to be a part of this.

Generally those who had owned the product they loved/hated had issues with or praised functionality where as those which had not been owned were generally comments to do with the aesthetics of the product and the status that the product evokes.
This tutorial really allowed students to delve deeper into the reasons why we love or hate products and how we can use this knowledge to design effectively.

Research

I found so much research which reinforced the positive effects of exercise through the release of endorphins. Although endorphin release cannot be measured, there has been numerous studies that conclude that exercise gives a boost in mood, happiness and self esteem. The following links document these findings;
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f02/web1/sfrayne.html
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro05/web2/mmcgovern.html

Group Collaboration

By the time we collaborated as a group we did not have much time. Lisa and I chatted about how it would be difficult to represent multiple people through a visual environment without using a screen. She then suggested that we used music as an indicator of mood, with the recently played songs being made available between the users. However, I really questioned the link between music genre and mood, and thought that this could be misinterpreted. Also we could not find a way to further this idea and failed to answer the question of why, why does your friend want to know this information?  We tried to use music in a different context as perhaps a way to trigger memories of certain experiences between friends but we could not find an ulterior purpose of great importance and therefore this idea was pretty bland.

After timely consideration, we decided to try and move on and we were all really stuck with these concepts. Eventually I thought that exercise may be a great way to interpret happiness due to the direct release to endorphin release. Also the assumption was made that people generally wont exercise if they are unhappy. Therefore we thought that this could work well as an indicator to friends of mood and also work as an encouragement to get back into excercising as a way of keeping up with your friends progress. This could also encourage a friend to catch up with his/her friend and take them out on a run etc. We left the class with myself deciding to look into endorphin release through exercise and Yoakim looking into technology which can measure whether the person has been exercising eg. pedometer, heart rate monitor. We feel like we are heading in a good direction now and this has a lot of potential.

Object Tutorial

In this industrial session we broke down into object/behaviour/ scenario between group members and all participated in a separate workshops. I undertook the object workshop led by Tim that focused on mind mapping skills and the ways in which a map could be made. We were shown mind meister- an online mind mapping program and an Ipad mind-mapping app. For the purpose of this session Tim formulated a mind map on the object of a coffee cup using the whiteboard and the students input. We expanded the map to consider form, function, manufacturing, volume, temperature, human usability, quality and social/cultural contexts and conditions.  Ritualistic conditions of drinking coffee had to be considered as well as cultural. The form’s dependence on the type of coffee or tea also was recognized. We did decide the context would be for the home or for dine in coffee shops. The form was then decided to be aluminum.  The whiteboard was a great way to draw a mind map as errors could be erased easily; electronically this is the case also. Pen on paper makes it that much more difficult but Tim did suggest that using post it notes as the subheadings and drawing in the links on a3 works well also.

The Natural Fuse System

The simplest system is one Natural Fuse unit and one 9V appliance on your desktop - we'll provide you with a lamp, a radio or a fan. You can choose to be "selfless" or "selfish" in your consumption, but remember to keep the water bottles topped up so that the Natural Fuse unit can take care of watering the plants as necessary.

By networking Natural Fuses together, the plants are able to share their capacity and take advantage of carbon-sinking-surplus in the system since not all Natural Fuses will be in use at any one time.

If people cooperate on energy expenditure then the plants thrive (and everyone may use more energy); but if they don't then the network starts to kill plants, thus diminishing the network's electrical capacity.

If systematic breakdown occurs 1 random plant will die, it may not be your own. 

I found this system quite extraordinary and I thought it related quite well to my initial concept. This system works on the mindset that if one person is being selfish be using excessive energy than someone else will suffer. And really we all will suffer through selfish use of energy eventually.

Both concepts use the thriving or dimishing nature of the plant to send a message to the user. In this case, it sends the message that people are still being selfish with energy, and leads the user to question there actions, are they being selfish enough to kill someone else's plant? 

In my concept the message was one of unhappiness which told the user that there friend or family member needed some company. By using something living, it  makes the message that much more powerful.