The design briefing had one point only: Cater to the topic of
the exhibition "Take a stand". We did not want to make another
survey station with a screen and keyboard, as often found in
public places. So we came to concepts so reduced, that they
would definitely not be reminding the user of a survey. Our
favourite was a box with two small screens that showed antonyms,
with a slider as input inbetween them, to input where someone
positions themselves between those two words.
During the development of the exhibition as a whole, the team of
Depot Basel had shifting requirements to the Automat. The data
the Automat would save, should be able to be representative of
what the visitors thought of the contemporary field of design.
Depot Basel would later turn this data into infographics similar
to the ones hanging in the exbhibition. The Automat was in
danger of becoming the screen and keyboard survey pillar.
Nonetheless, the goal could be achieved in several ways and the
final product was developed together with Depot Basel to the
satisfaction of both client and designers. Our position to not
include a keyboard had an influence on the way the questions
were phrased and in the end made it much easier to use the
answers for infographics.
The Automat resembles a Gameboy and is thus easy to use without
any explanation. One button confirms the answer, while the
second button returns to the start of the questionaire. Visitors
"play" with the object, to understand how it works, and are thus
already involved before they might notice that they are filling
out a survey. Visitors could choose between two or four answers
over ten questions total. As a thank you, at they end of the
survey the Automat prints a quote from one of the designers
showcased in the exhibition. During the four months of the
exhibition the Automat collected 3500 answers.
For the Automat we decided – true to the motto of Räuber &
Stehler: "We take what we need and give what we can!" – to
combine existing components. A Raspberry Pi with a screen and
thermoprinter. Code and wiring were taken from an OpenSource
project on Adafruit.com. The user interface was written and
designed by me. Bevor writing it in the unfamiliar to me
programming language Python, I had created a mockup in
Processing to discuss it with the team of Depot Basel.
A photogrammetrie scan setup to be used with a single camera.
The arm rotates around the person and an unwinding wire lets the
camera slide down with each rotation.
With this setup and subsequent motorless version I was able to
capture people in about 18 seconds, just enough time to sit
roughly still.
Drawing with Light – Cyanotype
Using a lightsource as active drawing material enables a new
form of painting/photography. Playing with heights or speed of
the UV-LED developes the Cyanotype solution accordingly.
Especially with height differences a feathering can be produced,
blending the bright areas smooth, while darker areas are more
defined.
0_SIN_N
Interface test
Buffet SNCF
A videoinstallation in the old kiosque of the french
railwaystation in Basel in collaboration with Hochschule
Offenburg.
The video projected onto the windows with six projectors
reimagines the bustleing life that once was in this old
trainstation cafe/kiosque
Plantsensing
Prototype
Testing Disney researches multitouch setup to use a plant as
input device