Thoughts on furniture

So recently I have begun to think about what I might want to actually exhibit in my final degree show- in particular the karate chop chest of drawers, and the action hero door. I do not think these objects will be shown as they are. The context of the products completely changes how they work, and what they do. When used in the context of the classroom (as the door is in the video) they become a tool for play- showing off, messing around, meaning that the user does not actually become someone else, they are still them, it's just that they are messing around with a door.

I think that when placed in the context of the home, the objects will work much better at acheiving their aim- to make the user act as someone completely different. Placing the objects in a sistuation where there is no one else watching will mean they are taken seriously. When discussing this with Tom and Milan it was also brought to my attention that it will be interesting to see wether the user replaces the foam door or not. 

This raises another question about if the products should force you to use them as they are meant to be used or not. With the kung-fu chest of drawers the only way to open them is to push the buttons, there is no handle, no other way of opening them. The door however has to be replaced by the user, a choice can be made about wether to do this or not. There are situations which would make it impossible not to replace the door though- for example if it is a toilet door in a shared house- or a bedroom door in a shared house- as the user would need privacy.

I have also been thinking about one of the main points raised by my tutoril feedback- who is the user? The question is valid, howeevr I can't help but think that the user is simply anyone who wants to be someone else. If the 'user group' for my designs needs refining, I want to know how to go about this- do I need to focus on refining it? Or will that come naturally with the development of the project? All these are questions to raise in my next tutorial (5 days time) Inbetween now and then the plan is to continue making the drawers and foam door, until they are at a standard to be placed in a home environment and tested.

Here it is

I have been working on prototyping all my ideas for the last month or so, which is why I haven't blogged in a while. These weer in preparation for the Prototype presentations (I will also post my feedback here later)


So, there were a few main areas that have emerged through the prototyping I have been doing. The idea of moving away from products that force the user to act like James Bond has been replaced by broader areas, (mainly films) which include a stereotypical character for the user to swap into. I believe that using a more ambiguous character it becomes easier for you to see yourself as that character. Products to allow someone to act like a specific person also have a high risk of becoming cheesy, or a novelty product, which is exactly what I don't want.

ACTION HERO

These are designed to subvert the mundane use of objects (for example a door) and force the user to act as if they are in an action film. These products are all very much in the prototype stage.

I made a door out of foam that can only be opened when punched or kicked, I hoped that for the split second it took to jump through, the user would become a different person, an action hero.

Images below also include subsequent experiments and prototypes exploring ways of creating break-through doors.





I also made some light switch covers, which make it impossible to turn a light switch on or off unless you punch it really hard.



KUNG-FU FIGHTER

Action hero creating products turned into and idea to create a Kung-Fu chest of drawers, which could only be opened by karate-chopping it.



FILM NOIR

I thought it would also be interesting to develop a range of products that made you feel more sophisticated. I made a load of prototypes exploring different techniques used in film noir, and tried to translate those into products. Some of the ones that worked best were constantly smoking rings



And lampshades that cast shadows like blinds across your face.




The main problem with these designs is that they rely rather a lot on someone else viewing them, and the aim of the project was always to make the individual feel different based on an action or experience they carried out, not based on other people viewing them acting differently.

One of my favourite, although least developed concepts, is one which aims to replicate the parts of film noir when the actor is in a car. I am not sure how I will do this yet, but I basically want to create a structure including a mirror, and a video screen, so that when the someone looks into the mirror, they see this:



I am also going to blog the trascript of the feedback my tutors gave on these ideas.

It's Been a Long Time...

A month is a long time to not blog in. I finished my context report (soon I will upload it to my website) since then I have been working on about a million prototypes. Photos of these will also be up here soon, so watch this space. Or just go and do something else until then, and come back in two weeks, that is probably a better idea.