I. Inspiration and Significance
Vicky first came up with the idea of a storybook as our prototype. I had this vague theme of “music.” We hit it off right away: a MusicBook.
Interactivity
Interactivity of a project is always prioritized during our brainstorming. Previously, with our Group Research Project “Carnival Mirror”, we designed the function of reflection switching to achieve interaction – that is, the interaction between the viewer and the reflection. The originally mechanical reflection from the viewer gradually develops self-awareness, which in turn affects the viewer’s thoughts and behavior.
Another artwork that gave me inspiration for the interpretation of “interactivity” is this “Arduino-Controlled Robotic Drum” by Randy Randofo. It was not a too sophisticated project, but it did stand out to me as I scrolled through tens of Arduino artifacts for 2 reasons:
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- It applied Arduino functions to motors and control large, loud movements of very “physical” pieces, like wood sticks, kicks, and drums. And these “actual” touches and real-time feedback, from my perspective, could significantly improve users’ experience and perceived interaction;
- “It can play any drum beat with precision and ease,” suggesting this project exceeds human power in some sense and is capable of “better” performance. Namely, I believe a good interactive project always does something “better” for humans with its creativity or precision.
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Therefore, in our project, we finally came up with the combination of a very real keyboard with good touch and sound feedback, and a touchless distance-sensed guitar. We see the MusicBook as an ideal platform where users can freely travel between reality and above in an easy and fun music world.
Targeted Audience
Our intended target users are children from 3-12 years old. To accommodate that, as shown previously, we painted our project to be visually appealing and vibrant. The operation of the Musicbook is also straightforward so that children won’t be confused by “how to play with it.” Users can also freely connect or disassemble each piece of the instrument by fastening or undoing the ring.
When I was a kid, storybooks and instruments were both my enlightenment teachers who helped me develop my personality and music interest. Therefore, we hope our project will be able to combine these two meaningful “toys” together, and invite more collaboration among users as well (to be further explained later).