Designerly perspective on IoT
T&R | C&A
During this course I was challenged to design for and with IoT. This was the first time I was working with connected systems and the first time I designed a growing system.
The main learning points were how to combine seemingly impossible assests, like the intangible IoT and rich and tangible interaction, and learning to work with IoT and growing system functionalities. We needed to work creatively and think about how we could generate meaningful input for the growing system, without using text and images everywhere. Additionally, we discussed rich and embodied interaction is, and how important it is for the interaction a user has with your product.
The result can be seen above. We designed a modus operandi for a home IoT system, revolved around a shared music experience, in this case a Spotify party. Because of the different interfaces on the ball, users were able to control their Spotify without having to look at their screen. Throwing the ball will increase or decrease the overall tempo of the songs, rotating the this half of the ball lets the user switch between playlists.
To also make this IoT system a growing system, spheres controlling other IoT functionalities can be attached to the ball. The image to the left shows an added half which can control light.
Putting different lights together creates different emergent functionalities. The combanation as seen above creates a ‘party-mode’, where the light responds to the music. Combining the music half with for example a half which controls the curtains would create a mood setting, where music would become softer when the curtains are closed.
