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Enlight Augmented E-Reader for Physical Books by Sam Wander, Leroy Tellez and Lucy Knops for Smart Object at SVA with Carla Diana

How might we find a balance between the benefits of eBooks and the experience of reading printed books?

People love the tactility of printed books but have grown to love the features of eReaders.

Enlight is a smart object that changes the way paper books are read. It is an augmented reading system developed by designers Leroy Tellez, Sam Wander and Lucy Knops.

In the last few years, eBook sales have slowed, but hardcover sales have risen [Source: Forbes]. Paper books aren’t disappearing any time soon. As James Surowiecki of the New Yorker predicts, “co-existence is more likely than conquest”. In a world where eBooks and printed media continue to co-exist we might miss some of the features eBook technology has made familiar. With the insight that people love the tactility of printed books but have gown to love the features of eReaders, Tellez, Wander and Knops asked themselves how they might find a balance between the benefits of eBooks and the beloved experience of reading paper books.

The team set out to address this challenge with three goals: to extend the life of printed books, to enrich the reading experience, and to enhance research capabilities. Their solution is Enlight, a smart desk lamp that enhances the reading experience for researchers, students and book lovers. It brings features previously limited to eBooks to all books, however old they may be. These features include: definitions, highlights that spark contextual encyclopedia definitions and other data, image scanning, and social highlights from other users. Enlight uses projection mapping to display its interface across the pages of the book. Book titles are highlights are stored to the cloud and organized within the Enlight app. Currently, Enlight exists in the form of a desk lamp and is geared towards the academic research reader. The team sees Enlight developing into more mobile forms in the future, such as a transportable bulb that can be screwed into any common light fixture.

#smartobjects #ebooks #augmented reality

CULTIVASE plant for joint nurturing by Phillip Chang and Sabrina Li for IPD528 Design of Contemporary Products with Instructor Carla Diana.

Full description: Cultivase is a pair of smart planters, one for each person in the long distance relationship, which allows the couple to nurture their relationship through the act of growing a plant. The planter is not meant to be a replacement for a phone or video calling; it is meant to allow the couple to share the experience of growing a plant together and then facilitate that communication over a period of time rather than a set, scheduled time.The planters communicate with each other by telling how well taken care of the plant is and when the planter is interacted with through a series of LEDs. The top, blue set of LEDs indicates the health of your plant, while the bottom, red set of LEDs indicates the health of your partner’s plant. The brightness of the LEDs indicate how well watered the plant is. If it is dim, it means the plant is properly watered. The LEDs get progressively brighter as the plant requires more water. The planter also indicates when it is being watered by an LED follower pattern to mimic a “waterfall” animation. The LED pattern would also appear on your partner’s planter. So when you water your plant for example, you would see your LEDs blink on your planter and your partner would see their LEDs blink on their planter.The planter itself monitors the health of the plant by checking how watered it is through a soil moisture sensor. It uses a wifi module to talk to the paired planter. The mouth of the planter is designed to accept a standard 4” pot. The top part is hollow to fit the electronics and batteries. The base is concrete, and the watering tray is made by thermoformed styrene.We wanted to avoid any apps or text message alerts because we found that the smartphone was a source of stress and reminder of the distance between the couple. We wanted a planter to have a real, physical presence in the couple’s home or workplace.

#smartobjects #pennIPD

LEMO is a stone-like pendant that allows you to communicate your thoughts and memories through time, whether it is to your future self, a stranger, or a family.

By Gary Polk, Yilang Peng, and Jessica Soe for IPD528 Design of Contemporary Products. Instructor: Carla Diana.

#smartobjects #PennIPD

Forager Edible Plant Mini Environment by Jung Soo Park and Luke Stern

Forager is a smart growing system that connects its users with mother nature. It educates users on how edible plants grow in the wild and equips them with the knowledge to grow these plants on their own. The goal of Forager is to educate upcoming generations on the conditions of growing edibles in order to create a more sustainable future.

In areas containing wild edibles a user collects soil samples with the Forager pen and brings them back to the Forager base. The base reads the sample and gives the user readings on the soil composition and weather conditions from the area surrounding the samples origin. It teaches them how to replicate wild conditions and encourages the exploration and growth of edibles. It excites users about the potential of growing their own food and increases awareness of sustainable growing practices and food production.

#smartobjects #svapod #svaixd

!@N : The Swear Jar with Personality by Elan Kiderman and John Johnston

Meet !@N, the swear jar with personality. Though he can typically be found showing his shy, idle side, do not let this fool you. Set him off with profanity (he is always eavesdropping) and he will lean your way and spit his cork at you, repeating your curse along the way. The only way to stop !@N’s mocking repetition is to cork him back up.

His purpose in life is to make those around him be more deliberate about the words they use — which words in particular are up to you. !@N can be taught as easily as he can be provoked. His brains may be made of speech recognition software and sound localization algorithms but his heart is of playful and innocent gold.

#smartobjects #pennipd #penndesign

Music Mix Train by Steve Faletti and Zena Pesta

Basic Concept and Embodiment: The Music Mix Train is a children’s toy that allows the user to mix and play music loops. Each car serves as an instrument, and pushing it along the track scrubs through the playhead timeline. Loops can be played at any speed as well as forward and backward. Connecting cars together acts similarly to compositing loops in a music editing tool, such as GarageBand or Logic, again with the ability to scrub through the playhead timeline.

#smartobjects svapod svaixd

Pen Pal

PenPal is a pen that helps you get started on your work. You connect to other PenPals, which uses light to notify you when others are working. PenPal connects you and your friends to be motivated by each other. Helping you get started to make great things.

- George, Amy, Trent

#svapod #Smart Objects

Moment Magnifier -

Recording childhood memories through the child's eyes.

- Hanna Yoon and Vidhi Goel

Communicating dog activity in a visually appealing way

- Mansi Gupta and Adam

#svapod #Smart Objects

From Ashley Marie Quinn and Rona Binay

#svapod #Smart Objects

This is a concept video created to illustrate the experience for a smart bike lock system called Vice.

By Damon Ahola, Jennings Hanna

http://damonahola.tumblr.com/tagged/Smart-Objects

#svapod #smart objects

Color Hunt

By Emi Yasaka, Willa Tracosas

#svapod #smart objects

Weeble

http://www.pamelajue.com/Weeble

Click the first image to see the video.

The Weeble concept straddles the line between a digital and analog device, giving the users a unique connection that is quickly becoming lost in today's world. This plush communication device records and sends your heartbeat via wireless or mobile networks to your partners device, and vice versa when held just so. When both Weebles are held simultaneously, they emit heat, mimicking each other's touch.

By Pamela Jue, Matthew Barber

#svapod #smart objects

NOM!

http://awards.ixda.org/entry/2014/nom/vote/

A kitchen projection system that guides cooks through new recipes, kitchen skills, and meal logistics.

By Shelly Ni, Tyler Davidson, Gaia Orain

#SVA #projects #videos

Flow

In this project we are designing a smart object that can alleviate stress from people by interacting with sound and imagery. It is designed to be a simple, yet immersive user experience that will help relieve stress, and increase concentration. We avoided forms that are commonly used in consumer electronics as a way for the user to have a more tactile, personable experience with the object. It is our intention to create a smart object that can alleviate stress without the user focusing on that as the specific goal of the interaction. We intend to stimulate a flow type of experience, where the user gets totally immersed in interacting with the object, which will relieve their stress.

This is a video of our visual sketching, which is one of the methods that we used during our ideation process.

By John T.Kim, Clay Kippen

#SVA #projects #videos

Flow

The objective of this project is to create simple, immersive user experiences that will help users establish a state of flow. Flow is a psychological process where a person is completely immersed in their work or activity, and is not influenced by outside factors. This state can help users alleviate stress and increase concentration.

Flow is a psychological state of operation proposed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Csikszentmihalyi theorized that people are the happiest when they are in a state of flow

By John T. Kim, Clay Kippen

#SVA #projects #videos

The Cube

A music system to play your cloud-based play lists.

The Cube is a media system consisting of a large cube speaker and a small cube that acts as a remote control. The media system accesses the owner's cloud-based music platform and specifically his or her playlists, such as on Pandora or Spotify. The owner then sets up the playlists via the smartphone app or computer to sync with the speaker cube. A playlist can be selected to play by changing the cube's orientation or 'rolling the die' to shuffle. For visual feedback, the illuminated colors of both the large and small cube match and change, with each playlist having a unique color related to the style of music featured in the playlist.

By Anke Stolmann and Richard Clarkson

#SVA #projects #videos

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