Wade and Leta is a design duo that has a creative studio based in Brooklyn. They are a couple who share a taste for quirky aesthetics and crisp design. They work together or independently based on projects, and they believe that work and play are forever intertwined. Their works and services ranging from branding to graphic design, art direction, photography and more. At the end of the day, their goal is to make things with great people for everyone.
Why I admire Wade and Leta?
Wade and Leta created their own principles that could define their works and distinct themselves to their competitors. Their principles are reflected in every projects. There are 2 principles that they work with:
Purposeful Eclecticism
Design as Performance
Purposeful Eclecticism
Wade and Leta make every projects become approachable and fun. They refrain themselves from using and creating black and white images because quoted from them, “The world isn’t much fun without colours”. To create purposeful eclecticism, they push the brief by reframing, recontextualize and repurpose it.
Design as Performance
Wade and Leta involve themselves in every aspect of the work, from sketching to ideation and executing the final outcome. Quoted from them, “We want to have our hands in the design process from start till the end, which add personal connection to our work.” They also often use the concept of reverse destiny, inspired by The Reversible Destiny by Madeline Gins and Shusaku Arakawa, where they grow younger as they age. Wade and Leta see their work as something that excite them, allowing them to keep them moving instead of seating behind the computer. Hence, Design as Performance was meant for them to keep themselves moving, be active and involved in every stage of the project.
Tooth decay is a common oral health issue among children who are 6 to 12 years old. Quoted from an online report in 2014,‘One in two Singapore kids has rotten teeth’. A dental officer, Dr Matthew Lau, said: “We are seeing more children with decayed and filled teeth.” Bad oral health can get worse as children grow.
Deliverable 2: Dental Care Kit
Objective: To encourage target audience to regularly take care of their oral health.
Final OutcomeBookmark in the packaging. Students can tear it off from the packaging.Colour scheme for Dental Care KitFirst draft of Dental Care Kit
The feedback given for image above is that it does not look coherent with deliverable 1 visual, which is comic pop art. Hence I had to revise the whole visual of the kit to make deliverable 1 and 2 look coherent.
Tooth decay is a common oral health issue among children who are 6 to 12 years old. Quoted from an online report in 2014,‘One in two Singapore kids has rotten teeth’. A dental officer, Dr Matthew Lau, said: “We are seeing more children with decayed and filled teeth.” Bad oral health can get worse as children grow.
Deliverable 1: Exhibition Panels
Objective: To educate target audience on tooth decay.
First 3 PanelsLast 3 PanelsMeasurement
I was going for a comic pop art look because I had a mascot, who is a superhero, and the mascot will lead the audience through storytelling in all the 6 panels.
Some references for my Deliverable 1Drawings of mascot1st Draft of Panel 1 & Panel 2
Initially, I wanted all my panels to be similar to Panel 2 (image on the right) where each panel will be divided into 2 or 3 sections and the mascot will be telling a story on how to fight tooth decay. However, I scraped that idea due to a few reasons. But one of the reason is that the text at the bottom will be too low.
Sketches of each panelInitial Idea that was rejected
Previously, in Task 1A, I mentioned that I wanted to do about screen time; how it is affecting us and what can be done to reduce screen time. However the topic was too broad and I could not decide which segment I want to focus on.
Hence, I selected my other option which is Oral Health. Oral Health or dental care is an issue among children who are 6 to 12 years old. Quoted from an online report in 2014,’one in two Singapore kids has rotten teeth’. A dental officer, Dr Matthew Lau, said: “We are seeing more children with decayed and filled teeth.” Bad oral health can get worse as children grow.
This survey is targeted to primary school students. The objective of this survey is to understand their views on oral health. The questions are meant to be direct and simple as young children have short attention span.
Age
How many time do you brush your teeth a day?
Do you floss your teeth?
Which of the following food is good for your teeth? Option given: Bread, candy, cheese, chocolate, milk, nuts, potato chips, tofu, vegetables
How many time do you visit a dentist in a year?
How do you feel when you visit the dentist?
Do you know that bad oral health can lead to more problem as you grow?
Any suggestions to encourage you and your friends to take care of your teeth?
In total, there are 16 respondents.
Half of them are 12 years old, while the other half are between 6 to 11 years old.
75% of them brush their teeth twice a day
12.5% of the respondents floss their teeth, while 68.8% don’t.
Majority selected milk, vegetables and bread. Minority of the respondents selected candy, chocolate and potato chips.
68.8% visit the dentist once in a year.
Majority answered scared or wanting it to end fast (negative response). Some answered ok (neutral response). Minority gave a positive response such as “I like going to the dentist to keep my teeth clean.”
All except one answered that they know bad oral health can lead to more problem as you grow
Suggestions given are making brushing more fun and easy, having video, make dental less painful and many more.
From the data above, my insights are:
Respondents do what they are told or thought to do such as brushing their teeth twice, visiting the dentist and avoid food that are bad for their teeth.
Majority of the respondents say that they have bad experiences going to the dental. Minority say that going to the dental is ok, they enjoy getting their teeth clean.
Majority need to understand that flossing is an essential part of oral health too, not only brushing and visiting the dentist. Flossing is helps in preventing cavities, bad breath and gum disease.
Respondents might be still be a bit confuse on which food are good for their teeth. Example: nuts contains phosphorus which is good for strong teeth. But only 31% selected nuts as a healthy food for our teeth.
Briefly share your experience going through Dialogue in the Dark. What were some of the feelings, thoughts, challenges and insights gained while role playing a blind person?
This is my first time being to a place with 99% darkness. When I first entered the place, there were a lot of things going on my mind such as will I bump into the wall, what happen if I lose the person in front of me and many more. I was overthinking. But after few minutes of walking, I decided to let it go and just rely on whatever I touch and hear. The mindset is an important factor in helping me overcome the fear.
After going through Dialogue in the Dark, my perspective have been shifted. We, as visual people, rely a lot on our visuals. Example, when we see a place from far, we can already know what is that place and what is happening there. Just with our visuals! But for people like Uncle Gary, who has been blind for years, has to analyse every single thing that he touches, hears and feels. Then he can conclude where he is and what is happening around him.
Hence, I feel that we take the small little things for granted around us. By playing a role of a blind person, it makes me realize that there are more than just visuals in our daily life.
Drawing on your experience, can you think and list some of the benefits inherent in the design research technique of role playing?
Experience of user
By observing or putting ourselves in the user’s shoe, we are able to understand the challenges faced by the user.
Talk, listen and understand the users and people around
People have their own point of view in certain things. By listening and understand to their concern, we can find the root cause of the issue.
Can you think of some contexts where role-playing can be useful to help discover and define design challenges or contribute to the development of design solutions?
During research, role playing can help to understand the target audience better and hence getting more insights to defining the design challenge / issues that we want to tackle.
During prototyping, role-playing can be useful to know whether the designs work for the users or not.
To be honest, I do most of the things by myself or alone such as shopping or watching a movie. I enjoy the peaceful time I have with myself, and of course, the freedom to operate on my own schedule. That is one of my biggest pleasures I find in doing things alone.
But why doing things alone seen as a socially unacceptable to do? Why is it always presumed that I have no friends to eat with? Or that people don’t want to do things alone?
By societal norms, activities such as eating out or seeing a movie are viewed as social activities to be enjoyed with others. But seeing someone out and about on their own does not equate to him or her being lonely, or having no friends. It grows exhausting whether one is an introvert or extrovert because we all need a little “me” time.
People with different point of view in doing things alone — example seen as an incredibly uncomfortable by the idea — are the ones who cannot be in solitude with their minds.
For years, the world has been relying on the ocean as a dumping ground for our plastic waste. Plastic pollution has become one of the ‘hot topics’ in environmental issues. Due to the rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products, it overwhelms the world’s ability to deal with them.
Due to plastic pollution on the ocean or by the beach, millions of animals are killed by plastics every year, from birds to fish to other marine organisms. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by plastics.
Other than that, Microplastics is also a major issue. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic which come from larger plastics that have degraded over time. Sea animals often eat it because of its small size. And plastic contains toxic chemicals, which can increase the chance of disease and affect reproduction when eaten by sea animals. After ingesting microplastics, the sea animals, may suffer for months or years before they die. Hence reducing the number of sea animals.
If plastic pollution are not reduced or resolved, there will be more plastic in the sea, higher rate of animal death and this can lead to more endangered species.
Report in 2014 shows that one in two Singapore kids has rotten teeth. Dr Matthew Lau, a dental officer with the School Dental Service, said: “We are seeing more children with decayed and filled teeth.” This can be due to a few reasons:
poor brushing techniques,
poor diet (do not know which food can cause tooth decay);
afraid of going to the dental which lead to irregular dental check ups.
Parent also plays a part in taking care of their child’s oral health such as instiling good health habits from young and supervision the child brushing habits. Instead of using the dentist as a threat to get your child to stop eating sugary snacks, parent should take care of the child’s diet and know the foods that can causes tooth decay.
When a child starts to have oral issue at a young age and not going for regular dental check ups, this might carry over to his adulthood. Hence, it is better to start practicing good oral health at a young age.
“Research shows heavy amounts of screen time affects sleep patterns and overall brain development,” said Linsly Donnelly.
In recent health article, based in UK, researchers say the number of children 13 to 16 years old who need glasses has doubled the past 10 years. This is due to the increase in screen time which is causing eyesight problems in teens and young adults. Those children are spending 26 hours a week in front of an electronic screen, including televisions, which mean that their screen time is about 3.7 hours daily. While Singaporean adults spend 3.7 hours online every day, excluding time at work.
In the past, about 1960s and 1970s, kids were warned not to sit near to the big boxy televisions because this can cause eyesight problems. But now, with the advancement of technology, computers and cell phones have been household staples. Children engage electronic devices most of their time. They have the tendency to hold screens closer to sensitive eyes due to their short arms.
Issue:
With the number of phones and iPads out there, (kids) aren’t getting the proper development with their eyes. This can affect their sleep patterns and overall growth.
Who does it affect?
Children, age range of 6 to 16 years old.
Target audience and why?
Children, age range of 6 to 16 years old, and parents.
By having parents as target audience, they can be more aware of the consequences of screen time.
Visual Research:
Eye Care 20 20 20: Put Down Your MobileNOT FOUND by Maribel MartelIllustration book, Amanda the Panda: Outdoor Play Keeps Myopia
Among all 4 visual research, it can be seen that there are 2 target audience here – Children & Adult. The first two visual research has a minimalist style, which is lesser colours and more text. While the last visual research, which is the illustration book, has pictures and colours. It uses panda as metaphor and the illustrations are based on storyline, so that children are able understand it
Social class refers to a group of individuals who occupy a similar position in the economic system of production. Within that system, occupation is very important, because it provides financial rewards, stability and benefits like healthcare.
In Singapore, socio-economic status (SES) is divided into 2 parts: High socio-economic status and Low socio-economic status, according to Complete Guide To GCE O-Level Social Studies Volume 1. SES is a combination of social and economic statue to determine the social standing of a person in Singaporean society.
Intention of interaction & Concept
The audience will experience the interaction via button smashing, specifically as a competition. An example is Bishi Bashi Arcade. This game requires two players at a time.
Bishi Bashi Arcade GameSketch of PrototypeMid-term PrototypeWorkflowFinal Prototype
(video above is part of the whole experience)
There are two buttons, one each for two players, and two scoreboards similar to that of a hammer-smashing arcade game. One button will be able to gain points at a faster rate than the other, even when both buttons are pressed repeatedly at the same rate.
This reflects the difference in efforts between people of a higher status to one of a lower status when it comes to working hard. Someone from a better socio-economic class might be able to reach a certain goal in their life (better salary, faster promotions, etc.) faster than someone of a lower socio-economic class, while sometimes the latter might not be able to reach that goal in life no matter how hard they try. Due to the huge gap in classes in today’s society, the latter is unable to move any higher and it shows the privilege the former class has in most situations.
The message that we are trying to send to the audience is that due to the huge gap between high SES and low SES, it might seem impossible for any of the lower class members to achieve anything without the right resources that the higher class is entitled to. Likewise, anyone who is not part of the high SES part of Singapore (the middle socio-economic class, specifically) are made to achieve goals similar to those of the higher class, while not enjoying the benefits that the higher class has.
Another point of interaction we wish to try is to be able to randomly decide which SES each player is before the game starts. This adds on a new layer that we do not get to choose what class we are born into.
Characteristic of interface
User has a limited role → User can only smash the button observe their level of lights, and interact with their competitors.
Intuitive selection/result relationship → intuitively decide its a competition, decide if they want to continue
Constant element providing continuity → which is used in smashing the button then lighting up the lights.
Linear selection; no variation permitted; routes defined → There are only two ends to this experience
Technical Description
Circuit before inserting relay and bulb
We had to work with 2 Arduino Unos, as our project required two players for the full experience of competitive disparity. Initially, we tried to make use of one Arduino Mega to create a [select player] option but it was hard to make Arduino multitask, so we decided to work the two systems separately, having the coins decide if the gameplay for that specific machine be LOW or HIGH SES based on the number of coins slot in for that particular user’s game.
We required many light bulbs, which meant many relay modules to convert the voltage accordingly to be controlled. It was one of the biggest hurdles to in our project, as this required high voltage and it was dangerous enough working with one, let alone more than 10 light bulbs. Initially we wanted to do a row of 8 each on each machine, but 6 was more than enough since these bulbs were rather bright, and having each bulb connected to one 2-pin plug was A LOT of electricity. This was mostly for our safety and sanity. Visually the 6-lightbulb set up still worked out pretty well.
We used the piezo buzzers provided to us in our arduino kits, using simple 8-bit sounds to create audio to signify [start of game] and [end of game], and the [end of game] sounds differ for [loser] and [winner].
Role of us
Our role are equally divide such as buying materials, prototyping and development. However, Azizah did more of the coding while Celine did more of the wiring and relay module.
Reflection
Azizah: Since I did most of the coding, one of my takeaway is not to copy other people coding blindly. During the process, most of the time, me and Celine are unsure of what to insert in the code. So one of the way to solve that problem was to do online search and watch Youtube tutorial. And by doing that, we have the tendency to copy their code without knowing how it actually works. Through all this process, from the start till the end, the copied code was always wrong. Hence this was a lesson for me: not to copy other people code blindly but instead understand the code and then adjust it to fit into my coding.
Another takeaway from this project was it is always a trial and error, where we can’t expect it to work perfectly at one try. Instead, we have to keep trying different methods to do it. Similarly to our (me and Celine) experience in buying the material. When we build one part of it with the materials that we bought, it wasn’t enough ot the some parts of the material wasn’t working fine. Hence, we had to keep coming back to the shop to ask and buy for more materials. This goes the same for coding. When I was doing the coding and it doesn’t work, I had to break the coding into smaller parts to know which part when wrong or try different method/words.
Celine: I had initially thought that our idea was very simple: we press some buttons, and there’s a variation in doing so, but working on it had been a whole different thing. Creating it from scratch had been a very difficult process of refining and debugging and unfortunately, tripping of electricity. I found working on the relay to be extremely tedious too; we had to do a lot of trial and error and had also spent a lot of extra money in the process of doing so. Finding out where to buy certain things, making sure we weren’t cheated of our money, or even getting the right material to begin with was a big deal when you’re new to Sim Lim Tower, and generally, the art of building things from scratch. I found joy in seeing our wires now, considering how much we spent on making sure they didn’t kill us. Really, look at those black strings of glory. While I struggled deeply with coding I think I had a knack of figuring out what wire did what and which one went where.
Coding was always a chunk of words to me and my bad eyesight (and attention span) really did not do me any good. I tend to copy chunks of code and slap it in, and if it worked I’ll just copy it again and modify it to my preference. I did not take away a lot from it until Azizah started explaining what she did to edit the code I slapped, and I’m suddenly very glad I had her as a partner (lol). I’m just really happy that I found some parts in this project that I could excel in, which was the more physical, hands-on part of it.
Concept wise it was really fun to make as well, since it was something that both of us really wanted to do and portray in our works. If not for the passion on the topic, I wouldn’t know if we would have put in that much effort in showcasing the desired effect of disparity from a difference in financial capabilities since birth. I feel that the ability to put your words into the experiences audiences feel through your art is something that’s very new to me, and probably the whole point of interactive media. While I’m still not very good at it, it shows me a whole new perspective and variety of things that one can do art in, and I wish to delve into it more with my newfound knowledge on arduino, perhaps in the future.
SketchesReference for ideation 2 (Image taken from Pinterest)
When I was sketching for ideas, the keyword that I had in mind was playfulness. Hence I wanted my invitation card to be interactive, where people are able to interact with it by pulling, twisting, etc.
From the sketches above, I have shortlisted a few ideation that I would want to work on. The shortlisted ideation is 1, 2 and 3. Reference image for ideation 2 is on the left.
The material that I’m planning to use is holographic paper, transparency and matte paper (above 100gsm).
Numerical representation is applied in our (me & Celine) project.
“Media becomes programmable”, “Converting continuous data into a numerical representation is called digitalised.”
The biggest component of our project is the coding part. One of the coding part is the steps of game (refers to the number of time the button is smash) which have been converted into numerical representation in Arduino. Other than that, the sound will also be a numerical representation/digitalised version in Arduino.
Modularity is applied in our project too.
“Because all elements are stored independently, they can be modified at any time without having to change the Director “movie” itself.”
An example of modularity, in our project, is coding. In coding, there is a systematic way to input the code where the setup will be the base of our code, followed by the loop. Within that loop, there are smaller loop in it. Hence it is similar to a tree branching out its leaves. Having the code in this systematic and modular way, it is easier to edit, delete, substitute or add new things in it without changing the whole coding.
Automation is not applied in our project.
For automation, it requires computer programming to be there to assist user. Example in games such as Sims, where “high level” automation of media creation is used. In games like this, it requires the computer to understand the choices player make and most objects in the games are generated with programming.
Sims – mobile version
For our project, automation is not applied because there is no computer programming to assist user while playing the game.
Variability is applied to a certain extend.
Firstly, information about the user can be use by the computer program to customise automatically the media composition. For our project, the computer program only takes in the number of time the user smash the button hence lighting up the bulb.
Secondly, branching type interactivity. In our coding, me and Celine have already branch out how the game will be like. On the prototype, there are 2 button smashing station and user are allow to pick their station. Depending on which station they pick, they will end up either having the easier way to win or the harder way. This also depends on the branching in the coding.
Thirdly, scalability in terms of the level of the bulb. The faster and more the user smash the button, the bulb will light up to represent which level the user is at. Also, depending on the station they picked, either user get an easy way to a higher level or a harder way to a higher level.
In conclusion, our project is more towards the closed interactivity, where fixed elements arranged in a fixed branching structure. An example: a player picks a station > start smashing the button > every 20 time he smash the button, one bulb will light up > continue smashing > all bulb light up before the other station = win. This example shows a fixed branching structure where there is only one way to the end. Hence user do not have much freedom in controlling the variability in our project.
Transcoding is applied in our project.
“In new media lingo, to “transcode” something is to translate it into another format.”
To my understanding, cultural layer refers to old media using analog and mechanical engineering. While for computer layer, it refers to how new media often uses digitalisation in their work such as programming.
Bishi Bashi Arcade Game
In my opinion, our project differs from Bishi Bashi Arcade Game because Bishi Bashi Arcade Game is a one branch interactivity where the user smash the buttons to get the highest point. Previous player and the next player will have similar experience in playing Bishi Bashi. But for our project, we programmed it in a way that the experience of game are made differently from each player. So, each player will insert the token/s, and depending on the number of token/s they insert, the game station is programmed to which chose for them wether its easy to win or harder to win.
