IxD Lab 2: work in progress

Gillian — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 23:13:29 +0000

Please click HERE or on the tab above to see the final solutions.

First taste of electronics

Gillian — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:24:34 +0000

The first week of the course started with a workshop taught by Yaniv Steiner to introduce students to electronics.

Working in teams, the students designed a game and built built their own WII controller to play it, disassembling a keyboard and using the electronics inside to build the controller.

See how it went>>

Aequilibrium - pre prototyping crit

margherita_urbani — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:57:47 +0000

Here is the presentation of Aequilibrium for the preprototyping crit in March 12th. Some aspects have been then changed in the prototyping phase to keep the project more simple. Click to download the PDF here: aequilibriumpreprototyping.

New plugin for youtube video link

Gillian — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:50:40 +0000

This is a way to embed YouTube videos
Where you want the video to appear put between square brackets []

youtube:URL WIDTH HEIGHT
or
youtube:URL

(leave no space between brackets and text)

Making new final project pages

Gillian — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 10:24:31 +0000

Your final project pages are accessible not from the normal sidebar but from the tab above.

To write them, pick Write/Write PAGE instead of Write POST in the Dashboard.
To make a new page, pick Manage/Pages and click on Create a new page

If you make a new page as a sub-page to your main final project page:
1) add two full points to the beginning of the title, so it makes a visual hierarchy in the sidebar.
eg
TREE OF LIFE
..Tree 1
..Tree 2

2) make sure the new page has your main project page as its parent page. Here ..Tree 1 has as its parent the page TREE OF LIFE

Component costs

Gillian — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:08:04 +0000

Including IVA, where appropriate:

Breadboard 22.38
Wiring board 53.50
2 x LED drivers 27.38
IR filter 44.81
IR lamp 18.07

Final documentation

Gillian — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:51:16 +0000

By the exam hand-in, please document your final project, as a record and as the exam submission, in one or more ‘Final projects’ pages. This documentation aims: 1) to show people, who don’t know about your project, its aim, what it was and how it was done, and 2) to allow them to build upon it, just as you have built on the work of others. The documentation is as important as the project, because it is all that remains afterwards.

The documentation should include as a minimum (it may include more):

• Elevator pitch, of max. 150 words (this could be the short descriptions I wrote for each project—see Summary of Projects posted 10 March), and a seductive, informative, introductory image
• Description of the installation: who is it for? where is it? what information does it give? how does it do this?
• Description of how the real installation would be made (largely technical but also practical)
• Description of how your prototype works, and was constructed
• Any code you used, with instructions on how to run it, and/or electronic diagrams
• Description of any problems which emerged in the design and construction of the prototype, how you solved them (if you did), or how someone might solve them in future (if you didn’t)
• Declaration of who in your group did what.

The pages should be vividly designed within the limitations of WordPress, and generously illustrated by diagrams, photos, videos etc. You will have much material, so probably need more than one page; remember, when you write a new page, to make sure it’s parent page is your main project page.

Those people who did not post their pre-prototyping presentation should please do so in the ‘Projects in progress’ category.

.:prototype:. tree of life

benito_condemi — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 01:03:23 +0000

The period of prototype is begin.
In collaboration with the group of Marco and Margherita we bought different materials to build our scenery.
I and Pamela finished programming it our timeline in processing. And we introduced the video and sound.
Margherita and Pamela cut and colored the wood for the creation of the floor.

I finished with processing.
Today, with Darrel, we saw for the first time our sensor, and we experienced its operation.

But now there is a problem.
How we recall from processing this sensor?

If we do not succeed to do to work the ultrasonic sensor, then will use the sensors to pressure with Marco and Margherita.

Summary of projects

Gillian — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:46:12 +0000

Here is a summary of everyone’s projects in table form. You may find the descriptions useful in the future when you designing a communication about your project.
Project summaries (Excel) (28kb)
Project summaries (pdf) (40kb)

Question: what’s this site for?

Gillian — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:20:18 +0000

Answer: to communicate the importance and unique character of the work done by the students of Iuav’s Interaction Design programme – to the class, visitors, people we know, and eventually, after the end of the course, the public.

Through this site the programme will become known for being serious, active, inventive (maybe witty too). This will attract interesting students and teachers to participate in the programme. It will closed career doors to the programme’s current members and alumni. And it will stimulate others to build on what you have done, just as you are stimulated by projects you see on the Web (Davide and Luca’s YouTube video, for instance, prompted enquiries from Belarus about how they achieved gesture recognition).

So when you post, think not just about your own post, but also how it works with the others on the ‘NEW’ page. How can you help make this page communicate clearly, and look vibrant and exciting? When readers click on your project in the sidebar, what impression will they receive? People surfing the Web have short attention spans: can they get an accurate first picture of your project within three seconds? Enough to make them continue looking? Think like graphic communication designers as well as interaction designers.

On the ‘NEW’ page, please use the ‘[more]‘ tag and a small summary (probably maximum 12 lines) that will make clicking on ‘[more]‘ irresistible. Use thumbnails, and make the text wrap round them to give a more varied and vigorous layout. If you include a file, give readers an idea of what they will find if they click to download it. Include a few ‘teaser’ thumbnails which will stimulate curiosity. Tell readers the size of downloadable files. If you include an application, tell readers what they must do to run it.

You are lucky to be in an exciting and fast-changing field. The disadvantage is that few people understand it, so it requires special effort to communicate it. Your future success as interaction designers depends on the quality of your designs – but only if this quality is communicated in a clear and lively way. You are doing good work: the site must reflect this quality.