1 / My plan and schedule, link to a google sheet - link
i could only think for the next weeks just because i feel very comfortable with what i have accomplished so far. so it give me strength to give myself some free time
2/ Dear Matt Ross,
Overall, I think you have a great idea and a Good starting point.
What is working is the technology and its fucking awesome that you can detect the movement, the color changes, and positions. I really think it is great that you are
trying to solve a problem that I close to your heart and that you encountered within the past.
It reminds me things that I used to do as a kid, throw pebbles to ponds, sitting after a long hike on top of a mountain and throwing small rocks to hear how long it took them to
Fall, trying to throw really lightweight materials. I like the idea, there is something very primary and instinct to throw things and see the output of this.
Things breaking / things making new sounds / echo (haha) / time. Visualizing this effect will be interesting, because usually when we are throwing an object, we are losing a clear sight of it. Depending on the speed, it becomes far away from us.
Going back to your proposal, I would like to talk about the order of the interaction and what happens in each phase and some questions that I have:
1/ there is an empty ring (that is been displayed on a bigger screen and been interacted with user)
2/ there is an artist/user and there is a spectator? or they are the same person?
3/ who is throwing the tangible/tactile object into the ring - the artist or the spectator? Is this one user/group experience?
4/ I guess what I am trying to say is that you need to decide about the context of this experience, one person is experiencing by himself
Or it is one person playing for other people - spectators?
Going further, the tangible and tactile object is going to define the content. If this is m and m’s - they have their own content/questions/history/agenda’s/visual references
If they are "blubs", they maybe are more open and abstract to receive new content. I think that these objects are actually going to define the scale of the visual feedback.
why does it have to be large scale visual feedback? I think it should correlate with the content. Not all the objects will look great on a large scale projection.
You are converting video feed into music - What objects want to be filmed and converted into music and new visuals? what they sound like? (Relevant Feedback from music) Why do they need new visuals? What are you converting them to? I think the more you would know they why’s in every aspect of your project the more tight and strong it will be.
Going into more details, these are all questions that I have:
Story Telling + Visual design
You are going to create a story eventually
You should maybe choose: musical phrases or sequences? I think each one of them creates a different world in my head and it will help you
To focus better on the interaction and the music.
Are there instructions? Written? Displayed? Or maybe narration?
affordability? Every time that the user succeeds in doing something - they get a new sound? / “good job” / different colours?
Since it is a tools/instrument - it will be very subjective to each user. But there should be a frame of start-end. Start - pick - turn - end.
Even if the user is the one who is choosing to do every step.
Well thought out and executed vision
Start working on the music, I think it will bring much more stability to your project,
This is something that you are very strong in, you have a lot of knowledge. It should lead your project and you will be able to go back to
The more experimental place in touch designer.
What your ring looks like? Is it a box? A small box? Maybe it is a room? A floor? A ceiling?
Time Line
Going back to Start - pick - turn - end
You can have multiple starts/picks/turns/ends
But as long as you thought about it, you are good and safe.
consistency + gestures and content correlate + physical design + Materiality
The way I see consistency Is the connection between all the elements.
Think about what you are throwing inside your arena - food? shaped objects? /" blubs"?
What objects want to be thrown? Excited to throw? soft landing on surface? Lightweight vs heavyweights? Maybe it is a selection.
So It's like a coin fountain, you throw the smallest coin possible to make the biggest wish ever…
How can you make that story in your work….?
production value
I love the idea that I can see a system, that I can feel a system.
Just hard enough to understand so that people want to figure out how it works + Expressive to the user+ Brings Delight
This is a tool that can be enjoyed by users and mastered by a musician
I think the venue, context will give these answers. Maybe you should focus now on one crowd (the musician or random users that don’t have any understanding in music)
The joy will come from the beautiful music and the great object that you are going to pick. And the combination! Try to think where you want more abstraction - the objects? The story? The music? The arena? - it’s a tricky balance, I think abstraction come in best where you are given Enough recognisable objects in order to imply stories and feeling to them. Like something that almost looks like a clock but it's not a clock - its a way for me to enter the story and tell my self: “oh… we are in the future, where there are only 3 hours every day”…
Coherent graphic language + Ease of Use
I wonder about that, maybe you can create a real interface, that has more information and not just visuals. Like a cockpit: how many objects you have right now? How many colors you are using? When you are moving things around, maybe you see the detection?
For example, if the visual language has a user interface that looks like a cockpit and the visual feedback for the music is cloudy and sunny and the music sound like motors , then what will be suitable objects for this content? what will make since visually in term of your rings. maybe you need to use air mask / life vast / little dolls that look like stewardess / small airplanes / numbers....etc.
I think it can create a great dialogue with your users/musicians - revealing a bit from your code to the user/musician.