The first week of Computational Design at CIID we welcomed Patrick Kochlik, from The Product. On Monday, he presented a selection of works and gave us a short introduction to the history of Computational Design. Different fields have explored this discipline, such as graphic design, typography, fashion design, product design (check Fly Lamp) or architecture.
As a first exercise, we became instruction processors, executing the ‘code’ written by a colleague using blue and white tape.
Result of the code I wrote and Dean executed
The next days we used Processing as a tool to design interfaces and applications. OpenCV helped us to develop a bunch of small applications with face/eye/body recognition. One example is an application which allows to control the volume and pan of the music by moving your head forwards/backwards and left/right.
For the last couple of years I’ve been surprised about the power of Processing for designing interactive applications, visualise data, or simply… do art. I’m specially attracted by organic images created using Processing. 1, 2 and 3 examples from Eno Henze. Some of these pieces have a high similarity with some art created by elements of the nature. There are other artists that achieve similar results as computer-made artworks with a totally analog approach.
Glass is one of the most amazing materials, for its properties and beauty. At the same time, it is probably one of the less used materials while prototyping due to its difficulty to work with, and the lack of proper workshops.
With the aim to incorporate the glass as a material to be considered for prototyping (specially combined with light, an increasing passion), I’ve been around the glass workshop. Eric, a CIID student who is glass designer, taught me the basics of glass blowing, cutting and sandblasting. I cannot wait to have more time to practise, I couldn’t make a round ball so far…
Eric at work
Me rounding off the first glass piece
I’ve already used glass for a couple of projects, and hope I’ll do in the coming ones. It’s an amazing world to discover.
The second assignement for the Video Prototyping week was to design a service around ‘energy saving’ topic. After a short brainstorming, we worked in pairs to develop the concept and sketch it. Together with Eric, we designed a service for increasing people’s awareness about energy and culture of maintenance for a better efficiency and longevity of our appliances and devices. We decided to sketch the concept using a doll, shooting in the stop motion studio. This allowed us to control the light and the sound (no voice over), probably the main issues when shooting with basic equipment.
We sketched the story, built the scenario and the props…
…and we shot until late at night. It was fun!
Probably we missed a bit the focus of the service in the first version. We had another day and a half to refine the prototype and put more emphasis in explaining the concept. More footage, editing and fun.
I enjoyed this week a lot. Music, sound, photography, lighting, props, communication… video prototyping is design.
Video sketching is one of the most powerful tools for communicating a concept to the project team or a client. Vinay explained us different techniques and tips for shooting, editing and producing video prototypes. Resolution and fidelity need to be adjusted depending on the purpose of the prototype, the target audience, the timeline and the resources.
As a first exercise, we were given a small text with blanks in order to imagine a story. Working in pairs, we shot the story and then we exchanged the tape with another team, editing their material trying to imagine what was the story line. Here the resulting videos:
We used iMovie for editing – simple, intuitive and enough for the majority of the video prototypes.
The 3rd week at CIID we received Matt Cottam, co-founder of Tellart. The goal was to “introduce us to core concepts involved with interaction design” through an analog experience, with any use of technology. The course was structured to work on different small projects covering different topics, as well as film viewings and discussions.
During the week we run a project in parallel to the short ones: “What is a switch?”. We were asked to create at least 20 switches using scraps we found around us. We worked until late at night, converting our tables in a coloured mess of pieces of everything. By Friday we had a broad collection of switches, ranging from a simple contact of two pieces of paper, to high elaborated and complex artifacts.
On Day 3 we designed icons for “add a friend” and “unfriend” buttons for a social network interface. After brainstorming around what these concepts mean in different environments and groups of people, each of us created a mural 24×24 post-its in a selected surface. Here my process and result:
We explored other fields of interaction design with the other assignments, such as cities as platforms, visualisation of virtual relationships, mobile application for arrange a meeting or re-design of an old interface.
I experienced this week as a perfect warm up for the whole programme, regarding both content and intensity.
Other pictures of the projects developed this week here.
As part of the collaboration between CIID and Danmark Designskole (DKDS), our programme can take profit of DKDS facilities. Amazing workshops for metal, wood, glass, textile, electronics, photography and stop motion are available at any time (including weekends), allowing people to develop academic and personal projects. During the second week we were taught about how to use the machinery to work with metal and wood.
The 14th September I started a 1-year course in the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID). The experimental programme explores interaction and service design, encouraging peer-to-peer education, hands-on learning and prototyping as an essential part of the design process.
We are 21 students from 12 different countries and backgrounds, with a common feeling for design and beautiful experiences. From the very first day I was amazed at the incredible synergy of our diversity of skills, thinking and culture.
During the first day Simona and Vinay gave us an overview of the curriculum and the philosophy of the programme, as well as an exciting vision on how CIID approaches design. Here some quotes from the presentation:
“We use the experimental nature of the programme to help us evolve our
definition of design.”
“We look for insights and inspirations, not proofs.”
“We are into the craft of technology and not the science.”
“Our design goals are not visual or physical aesthetics, we work towards crafting beautiful experiences. It’s still about aesthetics.”
While travelling, I’m always intrigued on how different cultures meet their needs through unique objects.
The solutions that cover a need are conditioned by the available resources in the region, ability to industrialise, purchasing power, etc. In developing countries with handicraft tradition and less resources, people stretch their minds to come out with the smartest and simplest solutions. Some examples from my last trip in Brazil:
A bottle opener made with a wood stick and a screw
A carriage puller made of the motion parts of an old VW Beetle
A 'mechanically distributed switch' for stop request (also seen in old buses in Spain), instead of the most extended 'electrically distributed buttons'
Sometimes an entire region/country/continent doesn’t use an specific tool, perhaps because the need do not exist. Then, a big opportunity for some, a big ethics issue for others: “create the need, sell the solution”.
