Month: September 2017

Week 5 – Future World @ ArtScience Museum Reflection

Overall, TeamLab’s exhibit at the Art Science Museum was really an eye-opener. It was my first time at the exhibit, and I was really impressed by it. My first impression of the exhibit was futuristic. It really gave viewers space for imagination. We could see our design and drawings turn “alive” through technology. Our drawings were incorporated into a futuristic world shown on the screen, where it would move and live in the world. It really encourages viewers to use their imagination, and that nothing is deemed unfeasible. It really felt like a reminder that we have lost our creativity and imagination while growing up, and we shouldn’t let reality undermine these valuable creativity thoughts we had as a kid.

The next exhibit that amazed me was the Crystal Universe. It was an installation where we could walk through the ‘universe’ and experience all the different variations of the light display. It was really an inspiration for iLight. The installation gave a first-hand experience to view the lights and allowed us to create our own universe. Through a web application, we could decide the type of light display we wanted for the Crystal Universe. As an engineering student, I was amazed by the interaction provided to viewers through the web app and how they incorporated art and technology together to create such an interactive display.

 

Week 4 Reading Response: You Are What You Carry

Chipchase once again talked about the 3 important things we need to have with us: phone, keys, and money. In this chapter, he further analyses the psychological reasons behind them. A few concepts he brought up: range of distribution, center of gravity, point of reflection and ‘strings of the networking yo-yo’.

It is interesting how the range of distribution can vary among countries, which is essentially the range of distance people are comfortable to let their belongings stay unattended or unsafe. In his example, Chipchase brought up an example of a girl in Shanghai. She wouldn’t let go of her purse for a second, as she has generated this habit through the fears of being robbed. However, in other countries like the UK, people would feel free to leave their bags unzipped, but there are still certain circumstances when they feel protective of their belongings.

Center of gravity is a place where most of the important things people carry around would gravitate to. Phones, wallet, keys are usually placed on a visible and easily accessible table. these places are the first place we would look for if we are finding anything.

Point of reflection, definitely what I do every day before I leave home. Patting my pockets and ticking the list I have in my head to check if I brought everything out. It is a plus if the certain product has the function to allow users to check back on what they have in a more accessible and effective manner. A good point to consider when designing products.

From what I understand, the concept of a networking yo-yo is similar to that of range of distribution. It shows the threshold level of a user on certain products, especially when he loses it or have it left somewhere far from him. Depending on the function of the product, the threshold level of the yo-yo string (how reliable the user is on this product) has to be adjusted.

Week 3 Response: Chipchase’s TED Talk

I very much agree with the points Chipchase mentioned in the video. three important things we bring out: keys, phones, and money. Mobile phones have become such an important part of our lives that many would say they can’t function without mobile phones. If we didn’t bring keys out, we can always wait for others to open the doors for us, or worst case scenario spent the night at other people’s places. Of course, there will be scenarios that you forgot to bring the keys out and left an important item in the house. The mobile phone will then come in to contact your family for help.

Money is an important aspect of our lives too because without money one can’t really survive. We need money for food, purchases, and other basic living necessity, so no doubt that your wallet is one key thing to bring out, especially if you are overseas. If you forget to bring your wallet, the first thing most people would think of is to contact someone to bring it out for you. Actually, in most cases, we would just Whatsapp someone to say they forgot to bring their wallet out and seek assistance from there. Or maybe share about it in social media.

From the above, mobile phones are actually the most important item that people most rely on, especially this generation with the world being increasingly more connected. Apple Pay, Android Pay are functions that actually replaces money, so a wallet isn’t actually important in the future. And that was one thing Chipchase overlooked, the impact of advances in technology have on people.