The final delivery for this project inludes a coded prototype that can be experienced and a mockup of the app displaying its functions related to the physical product.
The Physical Product
In my (for now) final iteration of the physical product, the focus lies on providing easy access to the control panel while placing it in such a way that it doesn’t interfere with the reading experience.
I also tried to provide direct feedback during the physical interaction via the use of LEDs.
The other main part of the physical product is the “mascot” found at the top of the product, intended to create a bond between the user and the product that elevates the product from a tool to a reading companion. This are also contains the sensor used to detect the turning of pages.
The App
The app focuses on simple navigation as well as displaying the same playful and figurative (yet non-distracting) aesthetic of the physical product.
By reusing the icons and colours from the physical product as well as figurative elements a clear connection is created between the physical and non-physical parts of the product in its entirety.
Below is the code used to activate the LEDs upon pressing the buttons as well as the code determining the brightness of the LEDs when the finish button is held down.
int but[6] = {2, 4, 7, 8, 12, 13};
int buttonState = 0;
int added = 0;
int val[6];
As briefly described in the previous post, the final page of the application contains the bulks of texts linked to input from the user. Here we find the main combined function of the emotion-button input and the page-counting sensor. Via the use of these two, the product can know where in book input was selected. By using this it is possible to display the text that caused the user to feel emotions, and let them relive the “highlights” of the reading experience
Navigation-wise, the mobile application focuses on using as few as possible different interactions. Each page has two interactions: tapping and swiping.
The main page where all read books are displayed uses tap to open the page of a selected book and swiping up and one to scroll through the list. The second page, showing a specific book, has emoticons that can be tapped to reveal a new page and can be scrolled down to advance in the timeline and reveal the recommendations section. The final page, which is shown after selecting an emoticon displays the passage of text related to the input that created the emoticon, swiping is used here to scroll through the text.
On all pages the app icon can be tapped in order to return to the first (bookcase) page. This is also the page the app will always load to, seeing as children often use the home-button of the device rather than back button, built into the app.
The main function of the product is to encourage further reading. One tool I’ve chosen to include in the app is a recommendations section. After selecting a title and scrolling down past the timeline the user is presented with a two-title section of recommendations. The information about the frequency of the input over the course of a book as well as information about genre can be used to find other titles that have received similar “emotional ratings” and are in the same genre.
I first intended to directly display the input of other people along the timeline in comparison with the user’s input. But I found out that reading is such a personal experience (thanks to a discussion with Oda - http://odaheier.tumblr.com/), that imposing the opinions of other so directly might be discouraging and function as a critique of the user’s personal experience. Because of this I chose to instead collect all the information users had about all titles and use this information to create a section of recommendation based on comparing other user’s input related to the suggested titles with the user’s input from the currently selected book. This way All feedback can be combined into a functioning database, without intruding on a personal level.
For the product, it is important not to disturb during the reading experience, as reading requires a significant amount of concentration. This is one of the main reasons the control panel has been moved to the bottom of the book since the last iteration. By placing the buttons here much less attention is stolen from the actual content. In addition, the placement encourages to give input more. By placing it at the bottom it feels more natural to give input at the end of a chapter (which usually starts at the top of a new page), seeing as the control panel is experienced as being placed “between” pages.
The figure as described in the previous post is also placed/made in such a way that it doesn’t disturb the user as is mostly disappears behind the pages of the book, hiding all areas that have more detail.
Since changing the target demographic to children, I’ve wanted to use figurative elements. Figurative elements can be found in two variants in my project.
The first is in the physical product in the form of a mascot-like figure at the top. The idea behind this is that the print will act like a companion, strengthening the bond between children and the product. When the product is not in use, and therefore not covered by pages the entire print is visible. When the product is being used only the top-most part from the eyes and up is visible. The intention of this is that the creature is given the function of a reading companion as the eyes follow the progress along throughout the book.
The other figurative elements found are in the app. Instead of using plain lists and lines, elements are framed by graphic representations of real-life items. The overview of read books is placed in a bookcase and the timeline along which input is placed, is a book. Both are intended to help create a clear connection between the app and the real world.
With the output, I focused on creating room for reflection by showing the total of the input. This is first done by the direct feedback of the control panel. The button light up when pressed in order to provide direct feedback; this function is used again at the end of a reading experience. When the finish-button is pressed the LEDs underneath the buttons light up with various intensity based on how often each button has been pressed. The button that has been pressed to most will light with maximum intensity, all other LEDs will shine based on how often they have been pressed compared to the most frequent.
This information is also visible in the app. Here the input is structured based on frequency as well as when in the book the input was given. If a button has been pressed a lot, the size of the icon increases. The placement of the icon corresponds to the pages in the book where the input was active.
The iconography created for the buttons and app is largely based on feedback from others. I created a number of icons for each emotion without noting what they represented. By asking people as I moved forward through iterations, I arrived at a point where everyone understood the general meaning of each icon. Additionally, the icons are simplified as much as possible, in order to be easy to understand and legible regardless of reading situation (light, angle etc.). The final icons only make use of three areas - the mouth, eyes and eyebrows – in order to convey their meaning.
In repeated the same process in order to find colours that people felt corresponded with the emotions. The examples I presented to people are loosely based on charts presenting the common meaning of colours in our culture.
An initial idea in order to increase reading motivation amongst children was to reward good progress/performance. This could be done by providing for example a chip, based on the number of pages read by a child during a session, which could in order be collected.
However, after reading about the effects of rewards and incentives related to reading in various publications, I concluded that a solution based on direct rewarding was not only ineffective, but could even be detrimental to a child’s reading motivation. Rewards that aren’t directly linked to promoting further reading can cause the child to link reading to a guaranteed reward, switching focus from reading for the purpose of reading, to reading for the purpose of being rewarded. This way rewards can increase short term motivation but decrease the chances of a long term positive attitude towards reading.
As a result I instead opted for a reward in the sense of creating a feeling of accomplishment without moving the focus away from the reading experience. Via the app linked to the product it is possible to create the same sense of collection and reward provided by handing out chips without majorly incentivizing reading.
The method I opted for in promoting the emotional value of reading and hopefully increasing all-round motivation to read due to a greater awareness of the core values, was to give children the opportunity to directly connect their feeling to the content they’d read. By letting children easily give input over the course of their reading experience by selecting the emotions they feel/felt. To simplify the concept of emotional experiences as much as possible in order to make it accessible to children I divided the full emotional range of emotions into six main representatives: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise. These choices are based on the findings of Paul Ekman’s (a pioneer in the study of emotions and facial expressions) research.
As described in earlier posts I discarded the idea of directly reviewing reading performance in terms of amount or speed and began instead to look at alternative ways of increasing reading motivation. With this change of focus, my target demographic also changed: from everyone, to children.
Based on research published by Clark C. and Rumbold K. in 2006 included in the UK Department for Education’s “Research evidence on reading for pleasure”, the two primary reasons children read are reading to learn and reading for emotional value. I decided to work on promoting the latter of these.
(This is the first of a number of posts where I’ll be describing various aspects of the final delivery of my project.)
For the final model, I reintroduced the function to count the number of pages turned. The information gathered provides many new possibilities in the app, which is an integral part of the product. The vibration sensor is placed at the top left of the structure, by placing it aligned with the top of the book it may to some degree decrease accuracy but greatly decrease the disturbance cause by the pages hitting the sensor during reading.
Based on the decisions made during the mock-up phase of the final concept I began working on a working prototype in the final intended materials.
I recreated the casing of the mock-up in a single piece of aspen wood. The light colour of the materials would provide good visibility of the buttons and reduce the possibility of stealing attention during reading sessions (as opposed to a darker wood like walnut). As seen on the picture there is a diagonal edge facing the book, the vibration sensor used to detect the turning of pages could be places either on top or on the side of this area. The decision to create a diagonal rather than a vertical edge is that this corresponds more with the turning radius of the pages, which increases the number of pages that can be turned before changing the placement of the device.
After completing the casing, work on the buttons began. The initial intention was to cast buttons in silicone seeing as the material is translucent and gives a satisfying tactile feedback when pressed. Unfortunately, the process of casting silicone into a silicone mould took a long time and had large failure rate, due to it being difficult to ensure there were no air-bubbles in the poured silicone and estimating the correct amount.
Because of the problems regarding silicone moulding, I abandoned this production process and instead made buttons out of two layers of acrylic glass with a print between them. However, because the acrylic is hard I lost the wanted feedback.
In the first attempt to recreate the tactile feeling I used springs, but when using 1-2 the construction became very unstable, and if the amount was increased, the combined resistance from the springs was too great. I therefore used thin layers of sponge instead which approximately created the desired effect.
With all the necessary parts of the construction apart from the clip on mechanism completed, I soldered the electric components to a prototyping board, which could be placed directly underneath the sponges. The prototyping board was described to me as, and looked like, a private-eye board (meaning that none of the copper squares are connected). Unfortunately, it turned out to be a line board (meaning that every row is entirely connected), due to a connection underneath the visible layer. This meant that many of the components were connected when they should not have been. I tried severing the connection by cutting through the second layer of the board but could not make this work.
Because I got started on actually building the prototype quite late as well as experiencing a number of setbacks along the way, I was not able to finish my models in time for the presentation and exhibition.
As soon as I’d made a decision with regards to the final concept I wrote some of the code I knew I’ll be needing in my final product.
The code so far is built up so that all button presses are recorded in an array. The code then finds the button that has been pressed the most and assigns the corresponding LED the maximum value. All other LEDs are sent a signal based on the amount of times they’ve been pressed compared to the most used one. These values are displyed when pressing the “finish” button.
There are a few mistakes that need fixing (for example do the LEDs currently recieve both a “turn on” and “turn off” signal when any of the buttons are pressed, but all errors so far seem easy enough to rectify.
The brightness of the LEDs after pressing the finish button is also a little off because of the power supply; something I’ll have to fix by using batteries as power input rather than channeling power through the arduino.
After dicussing my previous iteration with Einar, we agreed on a number of changes that were necessary in oder to create a good product. I’ve looked at a number of things such as graphic elements, placement and size.
As in the previous iteration, there are six buttons, each representing a unique emotion. Since then I’ve focused on improving the design of these emoticons so that they’ll be easier to understand.
I’ve attempted to use a few elements to create a clear distinction between the icons. I’ve limited myself to using the mouth, eyes and eyebrows to make each icon as accurately as possible show the desired emotion. These emoticons will either be sandblasted or stuck onto (using matte cellophane tape) the silicone buttons.
Making sure that these icons work properly is not only important for the control panel but also because I will be using them in an app. Einar and I agreed that a key step to take was to link the information collected by the device to an app providing further information about the reading experience and further promoting reflection round the reading experience.
Another aspect I’ve looked at is the placement of the device. Possiblities include for example separated from the book, integrated in a bookstand or clipped onto the book. I chose the last of the three as it provides easy access during reading sessions and accomodates a variety of reading situations (at a table, in bed, on public transport, etc).
Based on the decisions made so far I began working on the physical shape and size of all the elements. The first process revolved around the clip-on mechanism. I first considered a clothespin-like construction but saw that even at the lowest required thicknesses the shape would become far too large to be comfortable in use.
After talking to Helene (helenemeeyun.tumblr.com) I realised that it would be more easy to use and produce if the clip-on was a simple attackment to the panel that could be pused apart and grip around a number of pages when released.
For the clip-on shown in the images above I drew a number of possible shapes in three main categories: Figurative, abstract geometric and decorative geometric.
The size of the buttons and theiir enclosement was the next consideration. I tested button sizes using foamboard and springs to see what size would be satisfying to press and large enough to display the icons. The size of the box around the buttons is largely determined by its content, so I only looked at the shape. I made the base box and a number of edges where I could place the vibrations sensor used for page detection.
Seeing as the workshops are closed for the weekend I decided to make a crude model with approximately correct sizes to prepare for the construction of the final models on monday.
theartofmadeline
andulkaphoto
vaporwave
tangentwithtanner
kaledo-art