Thesis

I got a good feedback on my thesis from last class and I met my advisor last Friday and we talked over my prototype for quite a while. First of all, we both agreed that we should redesign the ticket-layout. I mainly used logos and graphs, but it didn't seem attractive and not to remind people about the experience. So, a new ticket will be composed of one picture and short texts. Users need to pick out one picture and write a word or a very short sentence to express the day. It should be very concise and implicative. Lastly, I felt like it's a waste of paper to print out tickets every day. Therefore, I am going to use recycled paper to reduce a sense of guilty and additionally recycled paper looks more nostalgic, so it will help users be lost in memories.

I printed out some trial tickets on letter-sized hard paper. One positive thing I learned is that hard paper works on a ordinary home-printer, but one negative thing I learned is cutting paper and making holes is tiresome. I am going to think more about how to utilize our home-printers and how to design a ticket layout.

1. Is it more or less promising? Why? - Neutral, because making physical stuff is interesting but similar product has already existed and printing will cost some money. 2. What were unanticipated challenges or successes? - The concept of ‘Little Printer’ was quite similar to mine 3. What are key insights and implications of this exploration to your thesis exploration and concept? - I should have researched more before I dig into new idea. 4. Regardless if this is the idea you'll be pursuing moving forward, reflect on the insights learned that may be applied to future prototypes (for example, lessons on reward, cue indicators, etc.). - Constant or repetitive use will make my product more worthy. So, I should find out how to make users use my product frequently.

Write out your idea/product lifecycle Data gathering / Printing / Browsing / (Scanning) / Remembering Some aspects can be before/after actual interaction with product Users can remember their experiences Will your product be integral to each phase? Is it weak in any phase? Is it unnecessary in any phase? All in all, my product is essential in most phases but it is not necessary when a user browses tickets.

- FOR paper fanatics WHO want to record their daily lives, “MOMENTO” IS A mini printer THAT print out your significant activities of everyday. UNLIKE other products MOMENTO makes a ticket for you everyday.

Fresh Start Brainstorming Part 1 Sun-Young and I talked about my thesis and she said that my idea is interesting but she didn't think she will use it frequently. The problem is that my idea is not as much as attractive to use everyday. Because we go to museums or sports stadiums occasionally. So, I focused on our daily life. Honestly, I think most ordinary lives are usually boring and not special. However every single day is different from another single day. Each day is unique so I could say it is special, but we don't recognize it. How do we feel that everyday is special? How can I help people feel like that? Sun-Young and I had a very similar idea. We get a ticket when we go to a specific event or place. However, what if we make a ticket for our daily life? Is it memorable and useful? I'm not sure but Sun-Young and I thought a special ticket printer of our daily life. The ticket will be printed out from a small box-shaped printer and it will contain main events of the day. It is not only for myself, but also it could be for my family or friends.

I talked with Marcelo and Jess last week and I got some valuable feedback from them. At first, what I want was to give continuous experience to visitors. So that my idea can help them recall their experience with a brochure even at home. Hence, I tried to provide hidden images and other features on a paper, becuase I thought it would provide more ingenious experience to visitors. However it has some limitations in regard with feasibility. So I was lost for a while. First of all, Marcelo and Jess empathized my intention and fleshed out my idea. Especially, using AR and VR sounds attractive. I thought of using only analogue material and have not thought of pairing analogue and digital together. If I combine a paper and technology such as AR and VR, it may be able to provide more plentiful experience. So, currently, I am struggling to creating new features that combine both analogue and digital ways of communication.

I went to some cathedrals and churches for on-site research. Each of buildings had different circumstance. Some buildings were crowded with people but other buildings were secluded (+ some were not open). In addition, some buildings were quite dark, while others were not that dark. In the Trinity church, I sat in the chair and observed people. Most of them had a party and they chatted each other. It seemed like a tourist spot, not a religious building. They took pictures and was standing in a long line for bathroom. Also, a lot of people looked like foreigners and church provided guide brochures with several languages. However, it does not look efficient. It might be a kind of waste. Can I combine it as one? In fact, if I use a digital device such as mobile phone, it is a very easy problem. We can change the language with one button. However, I want to make it with paper(analog material). How come I am obsessed by paper. I thought of this question for a while. First of all, I do not want to spend my mobile phone storage for one-time application. I will get rid of this app after I look over there and it is annoying. Second, if I am in foreign country, I am sensitive to use data network. Unless I install the app before leave, I could not install the app on the tourist spot. By the way, I want to give patrons fun with my idea providing hidden images and is it generally fun? I am not sure because it is subjective matter. However, if I add some pragmatic features (ex. multi languages on one slide) on it, I could persuade people more easily.

Timeframe Week 1 - Go sightseeing imposing edifices Week 2 - Organize ideas and make a low-fidelity prototype

I talked to my wife about old buildings. She used to work but now she is a graduate student in the States. We went to quite a lot cathedrals and museums together and from my observation, I think she is a bit obsessed with bringing flyers home because she seems never forget have them with her. However, she rarely sees them again and those are tucked in a basket. She said, from tourist perspective, it is just like a souvenir to her but it is not attractive enough and hasn't felt necessary to look them again. One interesting thing is that she remembered senses of humidity and smell when she thought of old buildings. Most of them were humid and had their own smell. Plus, she thought that inside was relatively dark, but not dark dark. I have concentrated on a visual aspect of old buildings, but maybe I overlooked other senses and focused too much on visualization. I saw lots of researches regarding smells and auditory sense. If I can mix multi-sense interactions together in my thesis, it would be much more compelling.

We can find out lots of hidden images in our lives. This implicit expression give us having fun and more remarkable impression from time to time. Maybe this kind of design is not directly connected with human evolution. However, we always get excited when we realize what we have not known before and this stimulation could make people happy and more creative. Therefore, I believe that giving unexpected experience is helpful per se for human evolution.

This is very rough ideas of my thesis. I’d like to make a kind of interactive brochure or ticket. First two ideas are related to a dark space and the last one is about a sports stadium. 

Sun Young and I talked over my image cluster and overall thesis idea. First of all, I learned that my thesis idea is too specific and practical. It means that I can imagine anything even if it is not feasible and whimsical in this process. Because we are seeking our thesis idea, not finalizing it. I think this trait might come from my work experience. Because I worked at a mobile handset company for several years, I was used to time pressure and had to be realistic. For this reason, I tend to focus on pragmatic ideas. However Sun Young suggested watching art installations and it would be helpful to develop my thesis idea. So, I will try making ideas regardless of feasibility for a few weeks.  

This is an amazing video because lots of things in this video has been implemented similarly in 21st century. Especially, a cleaning closet is remarkably similar to a recent "Laundry Styler" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muo-CLmYN10) and the "central home computer" system makes me reminiscent of a NAS storage. In addition, those in the video used so many display devices in their house and that happened to be exactly same in my home. However, some predictions are not likely real in present days. Students still go to school five days a week and instant foods are losing their popularity. In my opinion, the director focused on technology too much and overlooked that people are social and organic creatures. People should interact with other people for healthy lives. Thus some traditional activities tend not to be changed continuously.

Unexpected discovery is always fun. This is renewed Canadian passport and you can see hidden images under UV light.

Whenever I started new projects, choosing a topic was always the hardest and time-consuming work. During the last semester, to be honest, I had no ideas about my thesis. I was out of mind catching up with classes and I couldn't put sufficient amount of time to think over my thesis project. After our spring semester ended, I began to be concerned with my thesis idea. Meanwhile, I audited a summer class "Architecture in NYC" and I saw a lot of buildings and sculptures. Especially, churches in NYC were very interesting. It was huge and as beautiful as European churches I've ever seen. So, I thought of architecture as my thesis subject. Above all, I am interested in classic buildings like churches. Those buildings have something in common. Most classic buildings are prone to dark and have high ceilings. Maybe I can make fun interactions using that characteristics. For now, I have only rough ideas yet I am going to continue developing it.