Sunday, January 27, 2008

How do designers address the immateriality and relatively new language of use of portable devices?


Six students from Design Products, Industrial Design Engineering and Interaction Design at the Royal College of Art have designed (2005) a landscape of concept furniture derived from the statue-like forms of people sitting, standing or leaning against walls engaged in playing the PlayStation Portable (PSP).



about the project

Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote



source: adverlab

Reactive Cube


The reactive cube, like a piece of paper or computer monitor screen is a form of visual medium. It is a more visceral kind of screen, designed to transform digital images into apparently physical objects.

It works by projecting a two dimensional image through a three dimensional mass - in this case water mixed with a specially formulated emulsion. The emulsion is composed of micro-sized particles of oil formulated to stay suspended in water. The projected light is captured by the oil and appears to become a virtually real object.

Each version in the series is based on a particular form of interaction. Some cubes respond to sound, another to the force of a person breath and the most recent draws a line around the edge of a person's hand. In each instance the interface has been made as transparent as possible, avoiding technology that comes between the user and their experience of what happens in the cube.


Later versions of the cube were developed in collaboration with Tom Roope of Tomato Interactive and Andy Allenson of Romandson.