Previous process: Time Capsule Pt.1
Prompt: Ideate, sketch, and prototype several ideas for what shape and form your time capsule will take.
After last week’s class discussion on readings and peers’ work, I felt my choices of objects were too limited by my linear mindset as I was too focused on physical objects that were specific and represented the meaning to me at a specific time but neglected many more options that were abstract and non-physical or already a part of my life. Thus, I decided to make some small adjustments to my object selection.
The main theme of my collection is my journey so far of becoming an engineer and is linear based on a timeline. Therefore, I want to remove some objects that I received at a similar time while adding another new object that represents the actual starting point of my journey.
I have updated the objects in my Time Capsule Pt.1 blog post, and here’s the updated interactive content for my items with a timeline:
Time capsule design process:
My understanding of the time capsule is something that carries objects from the past with the message that the person who made it trying to convey. With this basic perception, I started off thinking about some container/carrier options around me to help me trigger some inspiration.
1 – Toolbox
The first one I thought about was the toolbox as I received a lot of tools and parts during my undergraduate study and they are all stored in plastic toolboxes. I think this should fit my theme explicitly as the toolbox also represents a factor in my journey.
2 – Metal Box
The second one I thought about was the metal box with a vintage style because I like the texture of metal and it could be really cool.
3 – Package Box
The third one I thought about was the package box. I use it for moving and I do online shopping often, so there are always a lot of shipping boxes in my home, and they have already sort of become a part of my life.
There could be many more options for containers but I realized that this does not meet what I expected for expressing my objects. I do not want to simply put all the objects in a pretty box, instead, I want to store and display my objects in a more meaningful way. Then, I started to brainstorm more abstract ideas. As my choice of object is linear in time, I really want to show that timeline in the design of my time capsule. Therefore, I came up with the idea of a book or an album as I can show each object on different pages in the order.
I added the words “Hello World” to the cover page for two reasons: 1. This is usually the first output of testing for a program, which matches my theme of engineering, and 2. This is the greeting from me and my time capsule when it’s found 125 years later in the future.
I was glad that all my objects were flat so that I could easily insert them into a page but they are still three-dimensional and will need extra room between the pages. My initial thoughts on it is to add a piece of thick foam on each page and then cut a hole the size of my object so that I can put it in there, and my expected result would be something similar to how Andy hides his rock hammer in the Bible in the movie The Shawshank Redemption.
However, I didn’t have enough proper material to achieve that, so I simply added some supports at the corner of each page to raise the page up. I also thought about the way to place the item on the page as I don’t want to glue them to damage them. Therefore, I added a small bag on each page to place the item. This design makes my “book” look similar to a souvenir album.
After the basic design, I started building the prototype of my “book”. I set the size to match the largest object I have as I don’t want to make it too big.
All the pages are made of cardboard, and the little supports are made of foam. I used the tape to adhere them all together. The product is not really solid but should be good enough for demonstrating.
With everything I need, I put my objects into my “book” and add more decoration to it. I took a video of when I turned the page.
My work on the “book” is pretty much done at this point as this achieved the way I want to show my objects. However, I still want to add a container for this “book” so it will be easier to store for a long period of time and be found in the future. This brings me back to my original brainstorming of containers at the very beginning.
I thought about 3D printing a toolbox and did some research on the models (because I’m not good at 3D modeling), but it seems going to take a while as the parts are complicated and I need a size that is big enough for my “book”, so I just gave it up.
I skipped the idea of a metal box because I do not have any existing ones with the right size and I don’t really want to build a new one from scratch. Thus, another option left is the package box, which should be easier to make.
I think the package box is sort of meaningful for me because my objects were with me in the shipping boxes while I was moving. In addition, using a shipping box as the container of the time capsule represents that I am shipping a period of time/memory from the past to the future, which is an idea I really like. Luckily, I just happened to have a small parcel with the perfect size a few days before I came up with this idea and I can utilize it directly.
I also drew a conceptual shipping label for decoration.
With this design, my expected interaction with my time capsule after it was found would be: to open the shipping box like how you unpackage your parcels, then take out my book and read it page by page to learn my story.
Reflection:
This assignment took me a long time on the ideation part. I am glad that I came up with more abstract ideas. It really helps to think from the perspective of the person who interacts with it because I can then think about how to make it more intuitive and make sure that people are able to approach that as I desire.
The overall design and prototyping process is sort of smooth, but I could make it more sophisticated if I had more time to do more brainstorming and build with other materials. For example, I could laser cut some wood board for the pages, which could make the book more solid and pretty.
— 10/18/2023