Process
Reflecting on my other work as well as this project, it is clear that most of my ideas develop out of personal experiences with my cohabitants. I store these events and when it feels right, I explore, turn and twist them to get a perspective on all the different angles and stories. I value interacting with people from all ages and cultures. I thrive from it - it makes me and my design stronger and better. In return I hope to bring something to the table. Maybe it is to find bridges for gaps, to give a stronger voice to something that might not be hurt, to change perspectives, or to put a smile on someone’s face.
In the Media Design Program I learned to be flexible and adaptable to many situations, happenings, and to the sensitivity to my surroundings.
With my work, I aim to tell or retell stories on the daily things surrounding and happening to us - not necessarily the glamour story but rather the little everyday ones. These stories might not seem important on a first glance but at the end of the day they are the ones that connect us in some way, ticker memories, or just make us stop for a minute in our busy schedule. It took me a while to grasp this idea and find my strength as a designer... but continuously exploring, following my interests, listing to my gut feeling, and not being afraid to take a risk and march into unknown territory has brought me to the point where I am today.
I once heard a war story on This American Life (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/). Not about a soldier’s experience but about a girl whose job is to fill up the candy vending machines at the soldiers base stations. It was exciting and charming. This story was a turing point in realizing that it is not always the big extraordinary things, but the everyday, which intrigue us and allow us to connect. Who would go to a war territory to collect a story from a girl filling the vending machines, finding out if soldier prefer Snickers over Beef Jerky... Brilliant, if you ask me!
To ground my research empirically I observed individual people, objects and cohabitants in the home. As I was interested in their relationships, perceptions and communications with each other, I set up different questions, scenarios, and used one outcome to direct the next. In order to receive a multi colored set of stories, perspectives, and information, I collected my data by communicating with friends and strangers (“Mechanical Turk” 7 users) I concentrated on the domestic space, the “heart of the home” as a private and personal space where intimate relationships develop and thrive.
Key questions are:
ANTHROPOMORPHISM
- Is your electronic objects out of control and moody? (Out of control electronic objects)
- How do electronic objects see the world and their user? (Perspective of electronic object)
CUSTOMIZATION
- What things are you and have you customizing in your home? (People customizing objects and their living space)
- If you had super powers and could customize anything, what would it be? (People customizing anything - from the husband to the toothbrush)
- If choosing a roommate was like a lego system, how would you build your perfect roommate? (People customizing their perfect roommate - cohabitant)
- How would an object customize its perfect owner (Objects customizing their perfect owner)
DOMESTICATION
- Have you ever tried to tame or domesticated your roommate? (How people, objects, and cohabitants live together)
- What is a roommate for you?
SHIFTING PERCEPTIONS
- Could and maybe does a gadget already take on the role of a friend, a pet, or better a domestic partner
- How do you think your gadget perceives you? (How a person thinks its electronic object perceives him/her)