Module 3 Activity Research

Weekly Activity Template

Livia Kurti - Testing & Prototyping

Project 3

Module 3

In this model, I was continuing from Project 2, doing more prototyping and refining the design, while trying to make actual progress.

Workshop 1 - Bodystorming

Challenge: Onboard a new user to a complex service app (e.g., for banking or public transit).<p></p>

<p></p>Roles:
Livia: User (frustrated/skeptical)
Darian: Smartphone Interface (a person who provides “screen” responses)
Marley: App Feature 1
Rianna: App Feature 2
Rayne: Observer

<p></p>Task:
Downloading and opening the app
Navigating initial screens
Completing a core task (moving money into another account)
Receiving error messages

<p></p>Planning:
Make giant phone screen
Download button
Login feature
Move money feature

Right after the round, it was interesting to see the kinds of observations we found:
<p></p>
The user was confused about why the banking app opened immediately after downloading.<br>
The transfer funds feature was unclear and confusing; the user was unsure how to transfer funds to another account.<br>
The error message did not include a back button.<br>
There was no clear resolution to the error.
<p></p>
Next Steps:
<p></p>
Add a home page so opening the app better simulates a real-life experience.<br>
Make the transfer funds process clearer by adding an additional step or page.<br>
Add a back button to the insufficient funds page.<br>
Add a third account so the user can resolve the error by transferring funds from a different account.
<p></p>
All of this was identified simply by trying to recreate the virtual interaction.

Then, in two more rounds, we updated the cardboard and the feathers they held. There were times when we completed rounds very quickly and spent more time iterating on the cardboard pieces.

It was an interesting workshop, more group-focused and I enjoyed it little as it felt refreshing from my single person workshops and activities. I still found the app-based interaction tricky when trying to do a bodystorming exercise, but I think the bigger problem was that all the digital features(text) were on seperty cardboard pieces. Even I, playing the role of the user, had to help hold the cardboard pieces, which made the entire theme and topic of the bodystorming workshop more engaging in a way I guess?

I liked the little flipping mechanism I made here with this cardboard interaction.

Workshop 2 - Soldering

Due to joining late in the workshop and having too many people around, I couldn’t really see the soldering process clearly. So, I looked it up a little, as I was a bit interested after seeing the demo in class.

In a video by wermy showed many examples of how to do different types of soldering. <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rmErwU5E-k'><p>Workshop Video Link 1</p></a>

Continuation from wermy’s video, focusing on the part I was interested in connecting the wires.

The other was a great step-by-step guide with a setup similar to what we have in the AA1A room. In Wermy’s video, those pieces of equipment were not shown much.<a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qps9woUGkvI'><p>Workshop Video Link 1</p></a>

In that video, I also saw another way to connect wires. This became more interesting when I was doing Activity 1, because instead of just using plain tape, soldering the wires together would have made both the aluminum parts and the wires more stable.

Activity 1: My Research - MakeyMakey

And so I focused on the physical part first. The copper taping from the previous project was already very close to the size I wanted, so after removing the copper tape, I started building it in a similar way to how it was done in the video.

For the first try I put cardbourd in middle just like in the video

Since GIFs are not supported in my documentation, I included the demo I created using a MakeyMakey prototype here.

As for when I tried to use with the lamp, it didn’t work mainly because it only responds to a gentle push from a very specific angle. But at least it was working unlike my previous prototypes from the last project.

So because my pieces were smaller than in the video, I removed the middle cardboard pieces for more touching/interactive space.

Activity 2: My Research - Arduino

After having success with MakeyMakey, it was time to remake it for Arduino. I wanted to use an LED to check if the electric current was going through when sensery is on or off. so i asked gemini for help and suggestion show can i make that

Here is the setup based on it. Even though I found it a bit strange that Gemini suggested going into the negative line on the breadboard, I haven’t seen resistors used this way before.

Similar to when I was using the Makey Makey prototype, you have to press a specific area for the data to change.

Here is also the demo using the Arduino prototype and running the Arduino IDE. It shows that the data was successfully captured but does nothing to the LED.

The LED wasn’t working, but the connection itself was fine. The more important part was whether the sensor was reading anything and whether the TouchDesigner would be able to read that data.

Activity 2: My Research - TouchDesigner

And here, on the TouchDesigner part, I heavily used Gemini because I was still confused how to build thing in there.

But it seems like even Gemini itself was confused it kept saying things that weren’t correct. Déjà vu from when I asked ChatGPT before.

It also told me to use index in the select, but it should’ve been value, since they’re numbers.

But later I found out we were missing way more than that, so I ended up making even more chats with it hoping it will writing something useful.

And then it gave me something interesting related to the animation and an issue I didn’t notice before was I keep my setup in pause and that's why animation didn't play first. But Gemini still doesn’t understand that I can’t connect the pink to the green or ‘switch’ components to anything.

Before I stop my research here, I explained the issues one more time. If it’s still not fixed, I’m just going to leave it as it is for now.

I remember we needed some sort of translator that converts the data into 1s and 0s, so I knew Gemini was glitching when it kept repeating the same instructions.

And the third time it happened, it told me to “just connect serial to DA,” which isn’t helpful. This is where I stopped my experimentation in TouchDesigner, but if I have time, I would like to find real examples of how to achieve what I was trying to do.

Additional Research or Workshops

Tehn after sharing more images and mentioning that I am using an Arduino Uno, it even gave a good video references I could use. <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAIZkKbOgOs'><p>Additional Research Video Link</p></a>

Surprisingly, the video showed how to do it, and I was amazed at how easy it was to make realizing how much I had been struggling for nothing in Project 2.

After watching the video, I thought it would be an interesting start.

Project 3

Project 3 Final Prototype

This was as far as I was able to go this time I couldn’t create a high-fidelity prototype, unfortunately.

And so, with the timeframe I had, this is what I ended up with. But I actually learned a lot more like how to make animation movement with noise, how to build a better prototype for the pressure sensor, and how working next to Gemini made me realize I’m finally getting to know TouchDesigner better, especially while fixing Gemini's errors. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make a high-fidelity prototype since I was once again a one person team with other project deadlines coming up.

Still, I feel like this part was the most valuable. Learning how make pressure sensor prototype that's working from MakeyMakey and remaking it in Arduino to use it in TouchDesigner was a good experience. If I have the time, I do want to finish the TouchDesigner part. You never know maybe that knowledge will be useful one day.

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