Mark 1
a J.A.R.V.I.S Industries Production
Created by: Julia, Nicole, Mariana, Elyssa
SUMMARY
The aim of this project was to develop a speculative design project (SDP) that was centred around a somatic approach towards making while incorporating the speculative design strategies that were discussed in class and learnt through readings. Due to the large range of ideas that haptic technology could encompass, my group touched on ideas ranging from an educational puzzle brain teaser that could serve as a stress outlet to alternate ways that one could possibly soothe a migraine with a somatic focus. Eventually, we came to the conclusion of an alternate form of digital navigation that could serve as both a stress outlet while replacing computer mice and touchscreens.
Duration: Entire of Feb
​
Team: 4 people
​
Role(s) played:
- Ux researcher
- Interaction designer
- Product designer
- Project manager
FOR MORE INFO
At the end of the day, I played a role in helping to pitch ideas as well as doing the rapid sketching that would give our prototype form before being built. The rest of the group took part by putting out improvements that could be done for sketches and with Mariana, Nicole and I pitching in altogether in order to get the presentation for Mark 1 ready, Julia was able to assemble the sensors in Tinkercad to later be 3d printed. Overall, the prototype for Mark 1 was a case where we were trying to incorporate too many things into one prototype. It is due to this flaw that it highlighted the understanding of why some digital web and gaming companies just go with one idea then later focus on improvements through patches that they would later add to their released product. It wouldn’t be until Mark 2 where we address on fixing these issues to make the second iteration more cohesive.
CONCLUSION
DESCRIPTION
The prototype takes on a ball form (made from putty) with blue plastic studs embedded to signify the sensors that would be used that would enable users to gesturally navigate within their chosen device (ex. Computer, smartphone etc)/ program (such as any design program such as Adobe, Tinkercad etc.)/ game (picture any video game). Ideally, the user would be able to move the studs around in the putty as a sort of fidget function while also being able to remove the studs to attach to their fingertips for the gestural navigation function. Due to the focus on soma and haptics, the materials that were used were picked with the function to demonstrate the sort of weight, feel and textures that our users would experience when using our product. Therefore due to the limitations of our materials and our building capabilities the prototype is low fidelity where just enough was built in order to convey our ideas.
Due to the project being of a speculative nature, a lot of references to movies, literature, and video games were referred to in order properly convey our ideas to make sure we have the same mental models when picturing the execution of our ideas.
​
​For Mark 1, the reference that was brought up when explaining the premise of our idea referred primarily back to the Marvel cinematic universe. Within the Marvel universe, with the computer interface that Tony Stark uses for his personal projects, especially with his personal computer, it was seen that he doesn’t interact with touchscreens often, instead, he resorted to the use of gestures to navigate between screens and data. The same idea comes up when referencing to the way Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes sorts through his ideas for a case or when Obake from the Big Hero 6 television series navigates between screens when coding or stalking the team.
PROCESS
Taxonomy of Futures
After making our references, we then brainstormed ways in which we could bring two ideas of stress relief and the new form of device navigation to life, often making sketches then delegating tasks to be finished before our next group meeting. During this time, there was a lot of troubleshooting that was needed to be done since we had issues with bringing the two problems together (stress relief and an alternate form of digital navigation) and with the attempts to incorporate the use of all the experiences for user soma to flow seamlessly (the putty was the main issue). It was due to these issues of wanting to bring everything together that, during the prototype presentation, we had issues crossing the perceptual bridge in allowing our audience to properly understand our idea.
Goals:
- Accessible
- Functional
- Great UX
- Believable
