Devon Pardue

[dpardue]

One Button Game - Final Documentation 

[dpardue]

One Button Game - Testing

[dpardue]

One Button Game - Process

[dpardue]

Voting Booth - Final Presentation 

[dpardue]

Process - User Testing and Prototypes 

[dpardue]

Process - Sketches and Mock Ups 

[dpardue]

Changing a Mechanism - Final Presentation & Code

https://drive.google.com/open?id=13SyPj-IWjVgpD8I_0i2E5gkrkrPlyvGo

[dpardue]

Changing a Mechanism - Testing & Presentation

[dpardue]

Changing a Mechanism - Process

[dpardue]

Add a Handle: Final Display

Ultimately I intended to create a space that was calming, elegant, and self-contained. Interested in ASMR experiences, I tried to maintain a degree of emotional separation so that the focus would be on the user’s action. For example, I avoided designing the display in a way that would make the wig seem like another individual.

With the final product in shambles, I used one of my prototypes instead, placing it on the plastic base. A lamp was included to give an additional soft lighting to the hair. There ended up being pretty high contrast between the interactive objects and the predominantly white negative space around them. I initially rolled a chair next to the table for people to sit in, but most chose to stand instead, so it was pushed to the side.  

[dpardue]

Add a Handle: Testing

My initial tests were just done on the purple brush prototype. I was trying to explore brush designs that were ideal for brushing someone else’s hair. The first prototype was successful in that aspect, but people consistently noted that it felt designed for use on animals rather than people. My roommate was even driven to use it on her dog. Not wanting to create an animal care product, I began researching animal brushes to see where this association was coming from. Most brushes used on dogs and horses don’t have handles, you hold them at the base, so it seems like just having the hand parallel to the brush was enough to draw a connection. 

After these tests, I started working towards the same concept but with combs. I created a few iterations and had them tested at once. The use of wire also made it to easy to tweak the design on the spot. I only gave a few directions when testing, I was interested in seeing if people would reach the conclusion that it was designed to brush someone else. Usually those testing used it on themselves first, but I was pleased to see most were drawing that conclusion after using it for a few minutes. 

My third prototype in particular got positive feedback, and a few comments drawing a connection to an ASMR experience. At this point I was thinking heavily about the action of hair brushing and how the social context affects our emotional engagement. I decided to try and emulate the serene calming atmosphere associated with ASMR. I was trying to avoid the feeling of intimacy, since adding a handle to a comb already created an element of distance. I wanted the piece to be more about an individual’s experience with the action. 

[dpardue]

Add a Handle: Process

In the beginning stages of this project, I was mostly experimenting to see how adding a handle changed the experience of a hairbrush or comb. I used wire, paper towels, and toilet paper rolls for the earliest prototypes. They were a little difficult to use since the wire wasn’t secure enough for the action of brushing hair, but the malleability made it easy to make quick adjustments during testing. 

Once I had found a handle design that fit the direction I wanted to go, I began work on the final object. I used a regular plastic comb for the base, and hand carved a long piece of soft wood that attached to the back. I purchased a few planks of this wood in anticipation of using it heavily in my final design, but it ended up causing a lot of problems. There were technical problems like the wood splitting and chipping, but I soon realized hand carving was going to be too time consuming for my schedule. The actual handle portion was a section cut from the wooden pole that I used for the display. 

I used pliers to curve the edges down to create a floral-like organic shape before attaching them to the sides of the two wood pieces. I painted the wood with black gouache to match the plastic base of the comb. I tried to layer sections of silk over the handle grip and the comb base to emphasize the elegant tone I was going for, but it was too difficult to work with. Without varnish the gouache kept rubbing off on the silk so I ran some scotch tape over where I had painted. Admittedly spending too much time trying to find a reliable way to attach the silk, I began running out of time to craft the side pieces that attached the grip. With woodcarving being too time consuming, I searched around for an equally  sturdy material that’d be easier to use. I ended up cutting up the back of a hardcover book to create the side pieces. 

The display included a purchased wig that was glued to an upside-down paper bowl so that the hair would hang naturally. Leftover silk material was draped over the plastic base, which was a piece of a paint set that repurposed for this project. I used the groves designed to hold a paintbrush to hold my comb.

After this had all been constructed, I attempted to use the final comb design on the wig. I found that there was way too much give between the handle and the comb, it ended up twisting and snapping apart. I tried putting it back together, but I soon realized that solving this problem meant starting over from scratch with a different construction plan. In the end I simply had no time, I used a previous prototype for the final display. 

[dpardue]

Text-only game production screenshots

[dpardue]

Fixing a Signifier 

Struggling to find the handle or flap on a soda box is a pretty common experience. When picking up one from the stacked piles in a store, you often have to turn the box every which way and squint to find the side with the box’s handle. When you’re ready to open it, you often have to get in close to see which side has the flap. Having to rotate a heavy box around like this is extremely awkward, and can lead to accidental drops. 

My proposed changes are intended to relieve some of that awkwardness so that the experience of buying and using a soda box is more natural. 

[dpardue]

Music Box: Part 4 

In the end I found it to be a valuable experience in thinking about interactivity. I started viewing the design in relation to other aspects of visual arts that I’m more accustomed to thinking about. Like the focal point of a composition, there are many ways we manipulate how someone is perceiving or approaching our work. 

A case that came up with my final product was that people’s instinct wasn’t to spin it from the handle in the center. So taking what I know from composition, elongating that handle and giving it more visual presence might help people feel more naturally inclined to use it. I’ll be applying these connections I made here to future projects. 

[dpardue]

Music Box: Part 3

In the end, most of my attempts to diversify the sound with different materials weren’t successful. I tried cardboard, clay, wire, rope, velcro, and others but most ran into similar issues. The centrifugal force of the motion combined with too much friction caused objects to simply get stuck. 

Nearing on the due date for the project, I decided to take a different approach and hang something inside the music box that would move like a tether ball when spun. I really enjoyed the sounds it made and almost wish I had designed the whole thing around the approach. 

Testing at this point was pretty positive, the classmates I tested it with spun music box and interacted with it as I designed. One technical probably I wasnt able to fix before our final presentation though was the fact that balls could get stuck on the bottom level. 

[dpardue]

Music Box: Part 2

For the second prototype I tried using a kind of cardboard box design, but quickly found that the centrifugal force would bring objects to the corners and keep them there. I kept using the carriage screw for the center, but for the sake of balance let it sit on a plastic bottle cap. 

Moving back to a circular design, I began using paper plates. I was able to get a metal ball to spin correctly inside of it, but it was too lightweight and would often topple over when tested by my roommates. I began brainstorming ways I could add more weight in the center without it losing balance. In the end I settled on using a metal grinding disk for the base, and filling the empty space of the bottle cap with a hardening clay for good measure. 

With everything structurally sound I moved on to experiment with to produce different sounds.