Looking back over previous work (long overdue)

 This is something I should have done at the beginning of the project but just never did, probably because I was so focused on what new directions I could explore with this project. Whilst it is exciting to start something new and have a million different directions it could go in, it's also a good idea to take stock and think about what you've done previously, what worked what didn't, what you enjoyed about the project and why you decided to do it in the first place. This is something I've never been good at - even during a project, I very rarely look back over what I've done, which is foolish as I often forget some really effective experiments or incredibly strong concepts etc.

Given that this project is all about how materiality can enhance the user experience and a lot of my previous work has centralised around interaction and tactile materials, it made a lot of sense to take another look over what I've done before! Outside of uni work, my creative hobbies are all very tactile as well (soap making, candle making, flower pressing to name a few) which isn't something I have really stopped to think about in the past. I generally find interactive activities that don't just include sitting at a desk/computer to be overall more interesting and engaging for me, as someone with an attention deficit disorder so that is no doubt why I always have an interest in these kinds of activities. Of course I can't be sure but I would guess (and may do some research to find out) that most other individuals with an attention deficit disorder would be more inclined to interact with something hands on than an article.. I certainly would and truth be told, it would probably take me less time to take the information actually in that way, even if the process itself is longer.

I realise I'm probably repeating myself a lot throughout these posts BUT, I find it a good way to understand my thoughts and to connect them together and understand where I'm going with some of my thoughts - not entirely related but just a thought that popped into me head!


Anyway, these three examples of my previous work are the ones that are most heavily interactive:

Further photos can be found in my google drive:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15T16agbpBaT2YRzBTc6WVryP1H7plXeT?usp=sharing


The intended age for the ocean concertina and inventing room were never 100% clear. Presumably I was aiming the inventing room at children, just didn't have the time to develop it enough to be durable for children! The power we possess is definitely aimed at children and the activities are designed accordingly. 

These three are an interesting example of information delivered through interaction and imagery - the ocean concertina is communicating how the ocean moves and behaves from day to day with no words, purely imagery and the unfolding of the page. The inventing room communicates how this made up chocolate laundry is made, mostly through imagery and motion with the inclusion of some words - acting as somewhat of a visual recipe book. Admittedly neither of these are attempting to communicate anything serious and so it isn’t so important for the communication to be incredibly effective and accurate. The power we posses on the other hand, is! It is much chunkier and contains a lot more text but said text is broken up by interactive elements that involve the reader and make them think about what they are reading. Without even realising, I created a small but effective information gap as the information was all there, with the fun being working it out before revealing the 'correct' answer.

The power we possess is a sort of mini scavenger hunt itself as the purpose of the wooden case and the puzzles within is that they work into the story, which gives them context and understanding and everything inter-wines to create/communicate an over arching message.

I'm not overly sure how applicable the actual interactive elements will be with this project but the concept of communication with as little heavy text is something I need to keep in mind here.

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