ideation-and-prototyping-blog

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Future Dystopia Final Prototype

I adjusted the final prototype based on some of the feedback I received last week. I purchased all the supplies from Blick and obtained larger stems that have a softer feel. I also made the string inside the sphere more difficult to untangle and rolled up the paper containing the three questions in order to not make these questions visible before attempting to untangle the string. The string, paper, and the ink used to write the questions have a metallic color. This provides the object with a more “futuristic” feel. The handwriting could be perceived as “sloppy” since the group of people from the future who are sending back the message do not have much experience writing using ink and paper.

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Future Dystopia High Fidelity Prototype

For this version of the prototype, I opted for a round shape instead of a box. This makes the object easier to grab and it feels more comfortable/natural. This enhances the reflection/mediation portion of the message. This also makes it more challenging to access the questions that are inside the sphere, thus enhancing the innovative thinking portion.

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Future Dystopia Low Fidelity Prototype

Object that acts as a puzzle and intends to represent three subcategories of the message: reflection/meditation, creativity/innovation, and critical thinking. The straws are meant to relax the user when they press on them and thus help with meditation. The string that ties the triangles together are supposed to promote innovative thinking since the user has to find a way to untangle it in order to find what’s inside the box. Finally, the questions inside the box encourage critical thinking on the topic of media and privacy.

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

Discovery Log Week #11 - (4/23)

This week I decided to give 3D modeling a try. Since I’m a beginner, I started out by learning how to use Tinkercad (https://www.tinkercad.com). It’s a free online tool that allows you to create models very quickly and share them with others. It’s a great rapid prototyping tool and extremely easy to learn if you’re looking into 3D printing a simple object or creating a model that’s not very elaborate.

The Tinkercad interface is super easy to understand even if you’ve never worked with a 3D workspace before. Tinkercad allows you to drag and drop generic 3D shapes into the workspace and then customize them to create a unique object. Another convenient aspect of Tinkercad is that you can download your project in a file format and with the appropriate dimensions for a standard 3D printer.

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

Future Dystopia Storyboard

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

Future Dystopia - A Data-Fueled World

Description

In the year 2117, technology and the corporate world will be in complete control of civilization. The widespread use of social media and the world wide web gave prominent corporations the opportunity to gather every individual’s data regarding their online activity and personal information (e.g. likes, dislikes, location, career, etc.). Businesses, advertising agencies, the media, and the government utilize this information to impose products, news stories, political beliefs, and ideologies onto the public. We have become so used to being told what to think, what products to buy, what food to eat, and which candidate to vote for that we are not capable of living without being bombarded with these ideas at all times. Besides sleeping, we don’t get quiet time to connect with our own minds anymore. This lack of self reflection has killed our creativity/critical thinking skills and we have become slaves to capitalism.

Problems

The main problem that will be faced by humans in 2117 is the fact that no innovation stems from them. Computers have achieved a self-organizational state in which they produce new outcomes and “keep humans happy” with solely the use of human data. Humans won’t need to work and create as much as they did in prior generations due to machine labor. History and the arts have died. No importance is placed on culture anymore. Instead, people favor shallow social media interactions and consumerism. Humans of the 22nd century have no idea what life was like in the early 21st century since historical evidence of this time has been completely lost due to the lack of historians.

Cause

Technological innovations within machine learning and the high reliability of businesses and the media on online data/social media has led to an extremely capitalist society where the citizen is no longer an contributing member of a democratic system. The citizen has turned into a consumer. The sole purpose of the middle class human’s existence is to buy products. The rise of social media has pushed society into a culture of vanity and peer pressure. It created the perfect medium for advertising agencies to exploit and place products in the most manipulative style.

Message

           The small group of rebels from the future who decided to “unplug” from this date intensive dystopia decided to send a message of encouragement to the past. This message will urge people of the 21st century to think outside the box and to question what appears on social media masked as a “fact”. In an engaging way, the people of the future will prompt us to reflect on important issues such as tolerance and individuality.

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

Future Dystopia Prototype

Disconnect and go off the grid. Spread the word.

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

Future dystopia message iteration and further brainstorming

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

Future Dystopia Research: Media Devices and Their Importance in Society

Radio - The radio was applied to communications for the first time in 1881. It then became one of the major broadcasting tools during the first half of the 20th century. 

Newspapers/Magazines - Printed publications have been around for centuries and have been an important part of civil society ever since. Information is shared with the literate portion of the population

Pen/Pencil - Tool that has been used for centuries to express one’s thoughts and opinions. It has also been proven that writing down ideas on paper requires more brain activity than simply typing them on the computer.

Cassette Tapes - One of the earliest portable audio storage devices. Information could be spread and consumed by anyone who owned a cassette player and then easily passed on and shared with others.

Journal - Journals and notebooks were used by individuals to store their ideas and perspectives. It is a medium through which individual thoughts could be expressed freely.

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

Discovery Log - Week #10 (4/16)

This summer, I set a personal goal for myself to learn a new skill. So this week I’ve been searching for Meetups I could join that would help me improve at a particular skill. I found this Meetup group called “Unity Education NYC”. This Meetup consists of workshops in which attendees can learn how to use Unity and it’s also a great networking opportunity since it connects you with mentors who are experts in the VR field. I hope to learn some basic VR development skills through this group.

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Discovery Log - Week #9 (4/9)

This week I discovered the variety of plugins that are available for Sketch. I’ve been using Sketch for a while now but I had no idea that there were plugins that could be used in addition to the software that are for so many different purposes. 

A really cool plugin that I found was “Qordoba for Sketch” which allows you to translate your mockups to other languages. There are over 100 plugins that make your life easier when you’re working on a UI with Sketch! You can find all the plugins below:

https://www.sketchapp.com/extensions/plugins/ 

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

Improving the Experience of Reading the News

Why does it need to be improved?

Right now, you have to look at a screen (your phone, tablet, etc.) and read the text. This can be very distracting and inconvenient.

Why is looking at a screen distracting and inconvenient?

It’s distracting and inconvenient because you can’t be fully aware of your surroundings. 

Why do you want to be aware of your surroundings while reading the news?

I want to be aware of my surroundings while reading the news because I’m usually also doing something else like commuting somewhere.

Why do you read the news while you’re commuting?

I read the news while commuting because that’s the only time I have to read the news

Why don’t you have time?

In today’s world, we are expected to juggle multiple things at the same time, which leads to a tight schedule.

This experience taking in information, whether it is the news or even a lecture, could be improved by removing screens, text, and audio (which can be distracting in these times of constant multi-tasking). In the distant future, we should be able to simply “absorb�� information through some advanced version of a brain computer interface. This could be accomplished by attaching a device to your body that could transfer information to your brain through haptic feedback.

[ideation-and-prototyping-blog]

Ira Glass on Storytelling

In his four part video series, Ira Glass gives great advice to those who want to get started in storytelling and/or want to improve their storytelling abilities. Throughout the video series, Ira Glass encourages viewers to push their craft further and practice as much as they can in order to create great work. While we hear this piece of advice too many times, it cannot be said often enough.  

Ira Glass highlights the 3 most important elements that good storytelling needs to include:

an anecdote (a “story in its purest form” or a sequence of events that can help create suspense)

raising questions from the beginning and answering them as the story progresses

a moment of reflection (an “explanation” of why this story is worthy of attention)

Even though I have never explicitly given any thought to these points, I now recognize that they are in fact what make a story great. Watching Ira Glass’ video therefore helped me put into words what I had always sensed when watching or reading a story.

Another point that was brought up in the video which resonated with me was the idea that every storyteller goes through a phase in which their work has potential to be good but hasn’t reached that level yet. It was reassuring to hear that you have to push through that phase and not give up. I have definitely had those moments of self-doubt and it’s great to hear that there’s a way out of that stage: practice, practice, practice.