inspiration.smiles

Life recipe

1 Take a full measure of passion
2 Add to this a full cup of commitment and courage (there should be no half measures in this recipe)
3 Then stir in a good dollop of inquisitiveness
4 Take a large heap of emotion and pass through a fine sieve, removing any unwanted lumps of apathy
5 Sweeten with some love
6 Add a generous pinch of don't give a fuck and a sprinkle of hope
7 Turn up the heat
8 Pour into a serving dish and savour each and every mouthful

Barefootin

You have the world at yours.
But do start off on the right one.
Then put your best one forward.
Keep them on the ground.
Be sure that they are loose and fancy free.
You might even have one in the grave, but don’t let that stop you.
If you get tired along the way, put them up.
When you know you’re right, have the courage to put yours down.
Don’t back-out if they get cold.
Think on them.
Don’t go putting one in your mouth.
And if you meet someone special, sweep them off theirs.
But above all, be sure the prints they leave are as small as possible.

Pause

For 10 seconds to take a deep breath.
For 1 minute to take in the view.
For a couple of minutes to brew a cuppa.
For 10 minutes to clear your head.
For 20 minutes to call your mum.
For half an hour to exercise your body.
For a couple of hours to read a good book.
For a day to find some fun.
For a weekend under the stars.
For a fortnight to recharge your batteries.
For a month to learn something new.
For a summer to be a kid again.
For a year to see the world.
For a lifetime to work out what it all means.
Or for just five minutes to do absolutely nothing.

These Are The Days. They Always Were.

Some of us live in the past.
Always talking about back then.
Some of us live in the future.
Always planning what we are going to do.
And, then there are those,
who neither look behind or ahead,
but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Reset Yourself

We are creatures of habit.
Of routine.
We are all in our own groove.
So try new. Try different. Try crazy.
Try unexpected.
Like punk? Try opera.
Wear black? Try white.
Love bubbles? Try still.
Speak Spanish? Learn Chinese.
Love to ride? Try running.
Always grumpy? Try happy.
Like science fiction? Try romance.
Never cook? Bake some bread.
Forever cynical? Try love. Try Trust. Try hope.
Take a different route to work.
Say yes when you mean no.
Wear your watch on the other hand.

Leave the comfort zone.

prototyping

the first two first images show the small mock up model i made initially to achieve more accuracy. this prototype was created to house the wacom tablet i have been exploring, the tablet functions well through a pad of paper - increasing the qaulity and realistic nature of physically writing with a normal pen. the user in question particularly liked the fact they could keep a physical copy of their hand written letter as well as send their email electronically. the form of the product needs further exploration.

thinking service

purchases

a pantograph (from Greek roots παντ- 'all, every' and γραφ- 'to write', from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a special manner based on parallelogram that they move in a fixed relationship to each other.

the CMP-PCWRITER is an electronic pen that enables you to write memos, notes and drawings by your own handwriting on paper up to A4 size and it will appear on your monitor screen. It works in a similar way to a drawing tablet except you write in a natural way onto paper - and get to keep the original document.

you can store the data, send it via e-mail, save it in different folders or add it to Word or Excel documents.

i have bought both these instruments.

fact

i found something out today that speaks volumes for my project. in one year an average student writes up 42 pages of notes and 500 pages of emails.

business case

these are notes taken from 'social trends and product opportunities' - a product by philips.

subjectivity : people are searching for identity, people take time out nowadays to reflect on what their true values of life are.

sociability : we need other people. families are becoming fragmented to the extent that relatives are moving, not only away from home, but often to another part of the country or world. naturally, through the medium of telecommuncations - phones, faxes and email, people are trying to stay in touch, but, in the future we will see the emergence of products which link people far apart in more satisfying ways than are currently available.

time and space : time can be considered in two different ways. one is to consider our ever accelerating lifestyle.people have a sense that a lot is happening at onece, that they are doing many things at the same time that they never have enough time and that they are constantly struggling to keep up with demands of modern life.

also consider the moments when times stand still: moments of rest, mediation or wonder. these are moments when we become aware of our relation with the past, our heriatage, and when we see ourselves as part of a continuing tradition.

space can also be considered in two ways: personal space that is familiar and comfortable. this trend is often referred to as cocooning, the sense of feeling comfortable in one's own territory.

space can also be considered has having no borders. through telecommunications we are able to to communicate in real time, over vast distances. we can also join virtual communities whilst remaining members of our physical community. as a result our subjective experience of distance has changed, and physical borders no longer limit our ability to communicate with people in distant places.

i want to create ideas biased towards people and not technology!

to do list

one week!!

mock up texting concept and film.
( ask user questions regarding quality and value)

last week i stripped my research down to a concise statement : i want to transfer handwriting from one location to the other resulting in a tangible form.

input - output

find relationships. mix and match. create new relationships

manipulate code from fuzzmail somehow to create random capitaliser concept.

order wooden postcard and record user reactions.

create a plan of action for when wireless pen arrives.

create model to integrate tablet. ( use duplicate pad or foil to enhance experience)

what is missing from the communcation i have studied? be more specific - fidelity, variation, personality, value, beauty, worth?

create plan of action for when pantogram arrives.

create model based on image.

create user scenarios.

continue with business case.

have solid tangible output by the end of this week.

look at customisation techniques. users handwriting indicating where buttons should be etc.

pay for equipment bought : £42.35

model aesthetics

taking inspiration from this model at the pompidu centre in paris. i would like to create a model such as this to mock up my texting concept - it will also allow me to create a user scenario.

interaction design master class

these images show my exploration into a projector. as it was the first time i had usd an old style projector i was very consious of my reactions to the noise and weight of the object. the whole experience was very physical. i decided to take one of the slides apart to see how they were made, this allowed me to adapt a slide to incorporate letter writing. this relates back to one of my concept ideas of using a slide printer to store letters. the concept of having a letter on a rather fragile and small object increases the value and quality that i am trying to acheive.

i created a new slide using paper and then wrote a message on a orginal slide. both had very different effects but the user was drawn to the idea of viewing their handwriting over size.

this little video documents the experiment.

writing with light

these images show my exploring of laser tag technology. i intend to test this experiment with users to investigate the perception of the laser pen and 3.dimensional text in comparison with letter writing.

carve messages

Simply carve your musings onto this postcard-sized slice of cedar wood and deliver it to the object of your affection. If you’re a proper scaredy-cat you can even bung a stamp on it and pop it in the post (although you’ll need to use a pen for the address, as postie might be unable to decipher your child-like scrawl). Genius!

newspaper story

a letter from heaven

greetings 'from Heaven'

a man from the US state of Oregon has stunned friends and relatives by sending them Christmas cards, two months after his own death.

The 34 handwritten cards were sent and signed by Chet Fitch, who died in October aged 88, with "Heaven" given as the return address.

In a message on the cards, Mr Fitch said God had allowed him back to Earth specially to deliver the cards.

But his barber told local media they had planned the ruse together.

Patty Dean, 57, was quoted by the Ashland Daily Tidings newspaper as saying Mr Fitch had approached her with the idea in 1987, saying he wanted to play one last trick on people after his death.

She said he told her a week before his death that she would probably be able to send the cards this year.

'Little stinker'

The card showed Mr Fitch square-dancing with his wife Jessie, who herself died in 1995.

I'll probably be seeing you (some sooner than you think) - wishing you a very Merry Christmas From Chet Fitch's last message

"I asked Big Guy if I could sneak back and send some cards," he wrote in the card.

"At first he said no; but at my insistence he finally said, 'Oh well, what the heaven, go ahead but don't [tarry] there.'

"Better get back as Big Guy said he stretched a point to let me in the first time, so I had better not press my luck," he ended the message.

"I'll probably be seeing you (some sooner than you think). Wishing you a very Merry Christmas."

Friends and relatives were both amazed and amused.

Mr Fitch's daughter, Tangren Alexander, described the card as "sweet and funny. So much like him".

"When I opened his card, all I could think was: 'You little stinker,'" said Debbie Hansen-Bernard, an old friend.

anoto technology

The Hot New Medium: Paper

How the oldest interface in the book is redrawing the map of the networked world.

anoto is the pioneering leader of digital pen & paper technology. anoto technology optimizes paper-based processes by rapidly and reliably converting handwritten information from business forms into digital documents.

paper.

handwritten information no longer locked in a form. all types of ordinary paper can take advantage of anoto technology. to make the paper digitally legible a patent-protected dot pattern from anoto is added before printout.

the pattern
almost invisible to the naked eye, the anoto pattern consists of numerous intelligent small black dots that can be read by a digital pen. the pattern indicates the exact positions of the digital pen. what’s more, the pattern on each paper has a unique identity so that each page can be kept separate from another.

pen.




from ink to digital data: quick and easy. a digital pen looks and feels like using its normal ballpoint counterparts. however, it contains an integrated digital camera, an advanced image microprocessor and a mobile communications device for wireless connection. when using a digital pen you capture, store and then securely send the handwriting. here’s how digital pens convert and transfer ink to digital data.

what happens when you’re writing? when writing digital snapshots of the pattern on the paper are automatically taken (in fact, more than 50 pictures per second). every snapshot contains enough data to determine the exact position of the pen and what it writes or draws, including the time each pen stroke was made as well as which particular paper form was written on. All this data is then retained in the pen’s memory as a series of coordinates. the pen can store up to 50 full A4/Letter size pages of handwritten data.

transfer data from pen.

send data for digital processing. the digital pen user transfers data after it has been temporarily stored in the pen, either:

• wirelessly: by ticking a box on the paper, interpreted by the pen as a “send” command, the pen will use Bluetooth to instantly send data via a mobile phone
• via a USB port: pens connect to any PC

sent data is in proprietary Anoto PGC format and can either be handled locally or routed to the application server associated with that specific paper form for further processing.

digitizing handwritten information. the application receiving the PGC data extracts all information using an Application Programming Interface (API). The APIs are available both for PC and server environments. The pen data includes all information about the pen strokes written on the page, including:

• the location (coordinates for each pen camera picture taken by the pen)
• exact time of when they were written
• who wrote them
• the identity of the paper form and of the specific pages

data may be exported in any preferred format to suit the recipient system. typically, data may be exported as a picture (for example, in .GIF format) but most often it needs to be translated into letters and digits by character recognition software. this requires, for example, an .XML file as an input. finally, data can be integrated into the enterprise's back-end system for further processing.

nadine jarvis

this project is the creation of product designer - nadine jarvis.

Carbon Copies

pencils made from the carbon of human cremains. 240 pencils can be made from an average body of ash - a lifetime supply of pencils for those left behind. each pencil is foil stamped with the name of the person. only one pencil can be removed at a time, it is then sharpened back into the box causing the sharpenings to occupy the space of the used pencils. over time the pencil box fills with sharpenings - a new ash, transforming it into an urn. the window acts as a timeline, showing you the amount of pencils left as time goes by.

this work forms part of a larger research project into post mortem.

motorola branding.

a picture speak one thousand words - connotations of the seamless connection between the old and the new.

nebula.philips.

Nebula is an interactive projection system designed to enrich the experience of going to bed, sleeping and waking up. It provides intuitive and natural ways of physically participating in a virtual experience, through simple body movements and gestures. The aim was to create an atmosphere that encourages and enhances rest, reflection, conversation, intimacy, imagination and play. Nebula consists of a ceiling projector linked via the Internet to a database of content.

synthesis and analysis

jitterbox

this product called the jitterbox .
the video is realy nice and i am drawn towards the nature of interaction involved in this idea.

the JitterBox is a modern dance contraption!

change the tune and watch the beautiful tiny dancer shake and shimmy along with any song! But beware the talky talk radio, this dancer loves to boogie but hates chit chat!

printing with a difference

the print-bot

this project was the final project for ECE 4180 - Embedded Systems Design, 2007. the print-bot is a robot printer that can print an image of any size, on almost any horizontal surface. it can be used to print on sidewalks, floor, carpet or football fields. for now it uses powder as the printing medium.