Kenneth Chu

Read the article and look at Keiichi Matsuda’s work. Write your blog post about your opinion on the future of how we interact with the world. What positives and negatives can you identify? Consider the subject matter of challenge 2 around disability and age in your response.

Both the article, and Keiichi Matsuda’s work were very interesting for me. On one hand the article provided me with some insights about our behaviours around smartphones by using the analogy of the evolution of lighting, and how the oil lamp became stagnant. If we rethink it, smartphones have allowed an unprecented amount of connectiveness around the world, however people often find themselves isolated behind their screens, which Keiichi Matsuda draws upon in his work. This is why it is important to always be aware of how we use our devices. Some positive and negative aspects can be found below. 

Positives: 

• AR would allow information to overlay with the real world, which would enhance, efficiency of tasks we are working on. 
• Better accesibility for people with disabilities, ex: it could help an individual with visual impairment to navigate more indepently the world around them. 
• Empower aging population, by displaying important information to them such as health info, and connecting them to people close to them. 

 

Negative:

• Sensory overload, as evidenced in the video. There is a point in which too much things being displayed, and this would make task performance less eficient, the same thing could be said for modern smartphones. A limit must be drawn into what is useful, and what is distracting. 
• Potential privacy concerns, If these technologies gather information about us to better understand us, wouldnt it make it vulnerable that it could be used in the wrong ways, such as it is evidenced in the video? 

Actions and contributions:

• contacted team mates, and created a group chat
• started a discussion on each other ideas.
• In the process of deciding which idea to work on
• decided on an empathy device revolving around visual impairment.
• creation of slides showcasing the concept. 

Personal Contribution:

• wearable vest with a proximity sensor, that would beep, once the user is very close to an obstacle. The user would never know until they are very near an obstacle, making them more cautious.

Mechanism: 

The vest will include an ultrasonic sensor, in the front, and will give the user haptic feedback behind the vest depending on how close an object is, thus allowing the user to almost bump into an obstacle. There could also be a possibility of incluiding sensors on the back. On the sides it would be hard to do so, arms would cover it.

Exploring further the concept of the least amount of design that Rams spoke about in our previous assignments, write your blog post this week on how this could apply to screenless design in modern technologies.

In an era dominated by smart devices such as smartphones, tablets, etc, screens are almost synonymous to them. They allow us to interact with them. However as technology advances, we are witnessing a shift towards more screenless designs. Devices that are voice activated, such as speakers, wearables, etc. The concept of the least amount of design possible aligns perfectly with this new shift. From the video, what I understood about screen design is its ability to simplify UX, by eleminating the use of a screen, interactions could be simplified, distractions could be minimized, and cognitive load could be reduced as well, all in order to make the experience better. Products that include this kind of technology are the following: Voice assistants- smart speakers, autonomous cars, HUD’s systems, smart thermostats, among many others.  

Give your personal opinion on the ideas discussed by the designers and speakers in the video. Do you agree or disagree with their ideas?

In terms of agreeing with the designers ideas on the video, I could say that I do generally agree. The one that caught my attention the most is the part in which most of us hear a “ghost” buzzing on our phone. This scenario demonstrate just how attached, and dependent we are to our devices. And in this case, as I tend to be easily distracted, I feel that any time I get a notification, I always tend to give time, thus losing time during the day. I think that if devices are simplified as Rams’s principles, it could help people be more productive, as well as simplflying overall user experience. and daily life as well. To conclude, screenless design is an innovative approach for technology, as it empahsizes simplicity, functionality, and UX, thus complimenting the way we use technology.

For this week final update, I finalized the design, by adding the soft bristles into the model. To do so, I used the sketch function, and then used rectangular pattern in order to multiply them sideways. Lastly I used the circular pattern to make the bristles appear in all 4 arms. I also did some renders with HDRI’s as practice. 

Render with Bristles:

 

Bristles closeup:

Outdoor render:

For this week challenge, I decided to redo my model, because the old one did not have mass, and I was already to deep in order to fix. I am almost finished with my model. Below are some renders that I did, as well as the process.

Closeup:

Right: 

Top Front:

Front Right:

Process:

 

As technology is rapidly advancing in our modern world, we often see newer, and more advanced inventions by the day. One of them being high tech prostethic limbs focused on people with limb differences. The article gave me a new perspective, and made me realize that one high tech design does not necessarily mean it will fit into a specific person. 

The reason behind this has been portrayal by popular culture in things such as movies and social media. Ultimately, the article has allowed me to gain a new perspectives.