team forming, ideation, and the first presentation

Let’s get it started!

Our individual performance was followed by a bodystorming session, which was really unexpected, yet fun to do. We had to observe each other over lunch, and again, act it out after the break. Short after our summer break our wheels still operates kind of slow, so this exercise wasn’t that smooth for all of us.

Then came the good old creative speed dating when we discussed more concrete ideas driven by the main questions of the module:

What drives the design? (example: is it functional, speculation or critique)

Where could the data come from? (example: sensors)

How do you map the data to a geometry? (example: using a metaphor)

Or is the form making process inspired by existing models? (example: fungus, cell division, mathematical geometry,…)

What is the fabrication process?

By this time, we all had a kind of idea what we find interesting, so the speed dating was not only a good opportunity to come up with ideas, but also to find future teammates. However, I liked a lot of concepts that popped up during the conversations, I wanted to stick to my original intentions. I wanted to make a body extension kind of wearable that has one function: to express personality in a way. This was still a broad idea, not detailed enough.

I found some common features in our short “pitches” with Manuel and Michael, so we teamed up. With a fresh head the following day, we spent the morning with brainstorming, sketching out ideas and finding answers to the mentioned questions. It was not an easy process. Started slow, but at a point, the guys mentioned the social credit system in China that is developed for a couple of years now. It suggests a score for everyone based on various metrics and defines the value to the society of the inhabitants. We saw potential in figuring out such a system ourselves. We presented afterward in front of the class.

• We want to make a critical project,
• that uses personal data, that shows a contribution to the society and creates a score out of it.
• This score will be represented as a wearable.
• Its form will come from an inspiration from the animal kingdom.

Well yes, at this stage the idea was still kind of broad, but we were looking forward to the feedback and of course, to dive into details. We got some really nice critiques: be aware of not creating yet and other “stamp”/stigma to put on people, try to find a possible context here in Zürich, Switzerlan and the wearable should not just show the result but its function should be emphasized.

To detail more the aspects of the projects, we decided to write future scenarios and put the wearable into context.