Module 1 Formstorming

Project 1: Connect: Circuits and Interaction

Hannah Sancho

Project 1

Module 1

This module places emphasis on interactions and affordance, with and emphasis on applying circuit technology to objects and enviornments while considering their application alongside these concepts. The first activity focused on creating basic circuits and figuring out what materials were required to make them work alongside techniques to building effective circuits. Activity 2 took this one step further, incoperating switches and asking how interactions in out daily life could be improved by using circuits activated by them realted to the context they were build into. This module was a helpful introduction to the basics of circuits that I see myself applying in future projects.

Activity 1

This image features various circuits and materials that we got to expiriment with for this activity. Referencing some of the sample circuits helped me get an idea of how they should look if I got confused with the placement of my materials

The first circuit I created. This is a simple circuit, and it only required one battery and led. Having no previous expirience creating them, this was a good stepping stone to creating detailed circuits

Somehow my circuit actually worked even though I didn set up the positive the way I planned to. I'd go back to this ciruit to test if my battery and LEDs were working for future cicuits since it's easy to set up

I jumped straight into creating parallel circuits due to me getting frustrated at constructing a series circuit. This one follows the same set up as the image in the lecture

My first attempt at a series circuit. I built the circuit first without really planning, so I couldn't actually connect my batteries together to activate it

After the last circuit, I made sure to plan all my materials before constructing them. This is a picture of the materials I used one of my parallel circuits before I placed them together

The parallel circuit from the previous picture assembled. The planning helped a lot and I was able to create a circuit that was accurate to the lecture diagram

The tape I cut out was long enough to allow me to properly activate the circuit. There weren't any issues with this one and this gave me ideas for future designs

One idea I had was to connect more LEDs onto a parallel circuit and combine multiple different colors together

I attempted to add the additional light onto my prexsisting circuit, but I ran into trouble with connecting it. Even when I applied new tape or smoothed it out, I couldn't get it to work and decided to try a different design incase the issue came from the initial circuit

This time, I drew out a diagram of where exactly I wanted each peace to be placed. Aside from helping me cut an appropriate amount of material, specifying which sides to keep the positives and negatives prevented me from getting confused while bending each LED in place

Unfortunetly, my three LED circuit still ran into some problems despite the rebuild. Instead of the first two LEDs working, only the first and third lit up; the second one off the entire time

After smoothing out more of the tape, I did eventually get all three LEDs to light up. However, I could only accomplish this if I held the battery and top slip of tape in a very specific way, and applying less pressure would cause it to fail again

Another issue was the flickering. Looking back, I'm pretty sure this was a sign that some of the tape still had some loose connections and I could've spent more time fixing it. I took a couple images of the circuit while it was flickering, and this was the best photo from them.

I remember seeing the sample video show circuits created with rounded edges, so I tried to draw a design that resembled a leaf to expiriment with different tape thicknesses and creating curved circuits

Pictured is the leaf circuit set up as a simple circuit to test if electricity could still be conducted. The circuit didn't actually end up working properly, and I tried to fix it by adding more tape and replacing the LED, but nothing seemed to work

Looking back, I think this circuit also failed do to a loose connection and I should'ce spent more time placing the tape carefull and smoothing it out. The creation of this design reminded me that I need to be patient working with these materials and that I need to keep iterating if an idea doesn't work the first time

I went back to creating a series circuit after the previous designs. This picture shows the entire circuit before connecting both ends of the tape together

It worked this time since I was following the diagram as close as possible, including the flap and spending a good amount of time smoothing the tape down. I could see some potentiall interesting designs that could come from this design of circuit

The final ciruit design I explore with in this activity was this idea for multiple circuits in a sequence. I got inspired by one of th lecture examples which featured a design that lit up depending on where the user place a certain piece within the design

To make things simple, each circuit followed a basic simple circuit design, and would be lined up on the bottom so the batter could move through them smoothly. I indicated which way the batter should go so I new were to place my positives/negatives

This was the finished circuits side by side. I built each of these incredibly close together so I was worried it could cause issues with conducting electricity if the battery overlapped in some places. Additionally, I had to keep one end of each circuit folded and held up to a specific height so the circuit could reach both sides

Testing was successful. I was worried that my setup would conduct weak signals but it held up surprisingly well. In the future if I created a similar functioning circuit, I'd build it on a larger scale for more control

While this design is pretty simple, creating it gave me many ideas that could incorperate this structure and motion to create something cool if planned properly

Pictured is a circuit created by conductive paint. I didn't use it for this activity since it involved a Makey Makey, but it was something I was considering using instead of copper tape in the future

Activity 2

One of the enviornmental interactions I thought could be improved was an stove knob. The one on mystove doesn't have a clear indicator close to it, which could pose some risk. It's also difficuit to tell the heat level unless you look closely at it

My first sketch planning the circuit. I wanted to have each individual setting have it's own LED beside them to make it easier to see, but i quickly realised this was going to make the design crowded and impractical

My solution was to combine specific heat levels to one of three colors associated with lower or higher heat. That way a user would have a way to tell how hot the stove is without having to turn away from the element

The circuit would work by connecting a strip of tape to the top of the nob, and when it came into contact with the tape connected to an LED it would light up. Tape would be placed connecting the knob tape and a ring created all around the knob higher than the base so it could conduct electricity from the battery, with a small ramp being added to ensure a proper connection

Mockup of the circuit. If possible, as much of the tape would be placed on the side to make it look less cluttered, and the battery would be placed within specific material to protect it from heat

I own a board that allows for a lot of customization by giving each shelf hooks that can be placed anywhere on the board. I use this shelf to display trinkets and other items I've collected, so I think adding a circuit with lights could help improve my display and give the things I collected the focus of my board.

Sketch of what the front of the shelf would look like from the front. The leds would take up some of the holes used for hooks to indicate where a shelf should be placed if it wants to light up a specific light

View of the concept from the back. The idea is to have a battery attached to a shelf, and tap reaching both sides, alongside tape on the shelf itself leading to the LEDs. When a shelf gets hooked on, it will switch the light on as it completes the circuit

An alternate idea involved attaching lights directly to each shelf, and using the weight of object as a switch to turn one of multiple LEDs depending on where it was placed. Shelves for the board come in various sizes, and this idea could be adapted to fit any size and a variety of objects

Mockup of an activated light for a small shelf. The LED would be placed directly above where each shelf is supposed to be for consistancy and to avoid colliding with the object itself

This interaction is an envionmental one that focuses on blinds. Sometimes people in my family work at our dining table for so long that it gets dark and they forget to close the blinds. I think having an obvious indicator of them being closed can be a helpful reminder, and also provide a bit of light if it gets too dark

The idea for this circuit is place tape and LEDs on each panel which when open stay disconnected, and when they're closed, each row of tape connects together and switches every light on

This is essentially a very long parallel cricuit. One battery would have tape connected to both ends so the circuit can switch on at any time. This design would also be simple to make, but it would cost a lot of reasources

Mockup of the circuit in its off state. Ideally, tape would connect to each end of an LED and wrap slightly around the sides of each panel so there's enough room for them to connect signals between each other

The circuit in its on state. This design also has some potential to be customized since the colored LEDs can be arranged in any way possible without any difficulties, making this circuit functional and decorative

This object-based interaction focuses on my drawing tablet's stylus and its holder. My tablet has a small light that turns on when it detects any pressure applied to it, and I think adding something similar to my pen holder could not only make it consistant with the tablet, but also motivate me to use it more so I don't keep losing my pen

The idea is that the pen will have a ring of tap that completes a circuit once it placed in the holder.Tape would have to be wrapped on the back and front of the holder to make the pen can act as the switch

This is an image that shows how the circuit would be set up from all available sides. The battery would idealy have a compartment to protect it from scratches. This also shows the position the tape on the holder should reach, and where the tap should be placed on the pen iteslf

Mockup of the pen holder circuit switched on. The LED would be placed near the bottom since placing it any higher may effect how stable the holder can keep the pen. As is, its already pretty flimsy, so I'd imagine the pen tap would also have to be doubled up

Another potential idea came from the other use the holder has: removing stylus pen tips. The bottom has a hole that makes it easy to replace nibs. A circuit could be made that makes use of the pressure required to get pen nibs out to activate an led that indicate a successful replacement

This my ita bag, a style of bag that's designed to show off pins and keychains with a speacial clear compartment to attach them to. The point of an ita bag it to bring attention to the obejcts in it, and I think adding lights could help emphasize this purpose further than it curently is

My bag in particular has many patches shaped like stars, so I wanted to make them literally light up some how. I also wanted to add lights to the insert (the panel that holds pins inside the bag) so the object I keep in there can be illuminated and draw attention to them alone

Sketch of how the circuits on the starts would work. Each star has one or two leds connected to tape following the star pattern, leaading to the back of the patches. batteries for each star would be measured and have tape for both side placed far enough to switch the circuit on once the bag is close fully

For the insert, I want lights running across the top and bottom rows with tape conennecting them in a parallel circuit. A battery would be place on the inside of the outermost part of the bag, and the placement of the tape would allow for the lights to turn on once the insert was fully inserted in the bag

Mockup of the bag with all the lights switched on. The lights emphasize showcasing the objects within it, which enchance the effect the original bag tries to get across on another level

Project 1

Final Project 1 Design

Non-Wearable Interactive Affordance Based Circuit

Me and my partner for this assignemnt, Kei, created a non wearable design using the Arduino Uno. Our design is a light box that blinks a message in morse code at certain intervals that was programmed into the Uno. Our interaction involves the puzzle pieces used to create the base of the box, as once the top piece is palce, the light is able to project out of it in a way that illuminates the entire box. The message blinks out the words "focus, open up your senses" refrencing a mutual interest me and Kei have connected over. The puzzle piece design encourges viewers to complete the box to finish the message