Prototyping Iyagi
With a final concept in hand, we began exploring options to prototype our idea for our final presentation to Philips. We settled on a name, Iyagi, which means story in Korean, and began looking at the technologies, partnerships, and interactions that would bring Iyagi to life.
Making it Happen — Considering Technology
To work as we envision, Iyagi will consist of a network of connected devices, controlled by an app. Some of the technology we envision does not exist as of yet, but our research shows that the constituent elements exist in wide enough use to suggest the possibility of a technology like the one we’re suggesting.
The Iyagi network system would consist of a central hub, controlled by an app, that connects various devices in the house to enable an immersive storytelling experience.
In addition to controlling the lights (the house dimming as a child moves through the routine) and any range of screens (tvs, ipads, computers), the hub would connect to a series of projector strips that would be installed throughout the house (in any of the rooms where the bedtime routine takes place).
These strips would contain a row of pico projectors, microphones with voice recognition and speakers. This would allow the story to unfold over space, triggered by keywords spoken by the parent. Additionally, a soundscape might accompany some stories, and could be projected from the speakers embedded within the strips.
When assembled, we imagine these projector strips might look something like Hue’s lighting strips, and could be easily installed on walls, ceilings or any other surface in the house.
Because of its modular design, the Iyagi system would allow users to build immersive stories across as many, or as few, rooms as they’d like to. This flexibility makes Iyagi well suited for a range of family structures, bedtime routines and even house sizes.
Partnerships
Because we are designing a solution for a company with the resources to make our design solution a reality (if they so choose), we thought it prudent to consider potential partners and collaborators that might be able to help bring this idea to fruition.
Animation
We imagine opportunities for a collaboration with someone like Disney or Pixar to provide Iyagi’s illustrations and environmental animations. Some of these books might be original for Iyagi, while others might simply purchase rights to existing story illustrations and add the animation that would bring these stories to life in the homes of Iyagi users.
E-Commerce
While we imagine Iyagi would come with a starter set of books, selected based on a child’s age and general interests, providing some sort of e-commerce solution for purchase of immersive stories would be necessary. For this, we imagined someone like Amazon might partner with Iyagi to sell the immersive story alongside their paper and kindle version.
Defining the Interactions
While the app can utilize more conventional UI and interactive elements, the immersive nature of Iyagi, and the fact that the bedtime routine is often a hands-intensive process, required that we explore opportunities for hands-free interactions.
Exploring Gesture
Because we wanted the storytelling to feel natural and really immersive, our first exploration into alternative interaction looked at gesture. This would allow a parent to simply wave at the projection to advance, pause or snooze the story. We liked the idea of gesture as it would create minimal interruption into the story.
We then looked out into the world to see what types of technology might facilitate gestural interactions with the Iyagi system. Oblong Industries G-Speak technology seemed to allow for the types of gestural inputs we were imagining.
Our biggest concern for this type of interaction is the complexity of technology it would require. Not only would this dramatically increase the price of Iyagi, it might also make the technology bulkier and more intrusive into a family home.
As an alternative, we considered how the user’s phone might serve as the remote for the immersive story, with gesture happening with, or over the phone. Anyone who’s ever given a child a bath, however, can attest to the fact that having a phone lying around doesn’t sound like the best idea.
Moving to Voice
Discouraged by the complexity gestural input would add to our design solution, we began looking at voice input as another form of interaction. We had already considered the use of voice (parent speaking keywords) as a way to propel the story from room to room. We began thinking about how voice might play additional roles in the interaction of the Iyagi system, and began sketching those, as well as the corresponding UI elements, to see how the system might work.
Defining the Concept Narrative
Finally, we put together a detailed storyboard for a video prototype we will be filming in the next few days. This video prototype will capture Iyagi in action, and we hope will give a good sense for how it might fit within the everyday lives of our intended users.
