Fig. 1

This post concludes my graduate studies and thesis: Memento Mori.

Memento Mori was defended against Liz Danzico, Chairperson, and Paul Pangaro, faculty member, on April 27, 2012; delivered on May 10, 2012; presented on May 12, 2012; and exhibited from May 12–May 17, 2012. (Fig. 1)

It may be viewed at http://mentomori.me.

Fig. 2

I worked throughout weekend into Monday to create motion graphics visualizing age in After Effects, then composited it with footage edited in Final Cut Pro (Fig. 1) The concentric circles seen in the study telegraph the user interface of the sensor. After further editing, I came across the line “Like a clock keeping time, the physical display communicates information at-a-glance” in the script and realized that I forgot to capture any footage during last week’s shoot to illustrate the point. I spent Tuesday afternoon recreating the scene in the bedroom of my apartment. Shooting a with a shallow depth of field, the two locations are indistinguishable. (Fig. 2) On Wednesday, I uploaded the first rough cut that featured all of the scene footage, motion graphics, and sound effects. (Fig. 3)

In preparation for thesis defense, I convened with classmate Cooper Smith for help in framing my thesis in light of quantified self and personal activity trackers, in particular the Nike+ Fuelband. I asked him about Nike’s metric, Fuel, and he cited an recent Fast Company article wherein Ricky Engelberg describes Fuel as a “universal currency” that isn’t about “reps or laps”, rather it is an “[…] index of everything you do.” Fuel is the metric to Fuelband as life remaining (life expectancy – biological age) is the metric to Memento Mori. Fuel is visualized by 20 color LED lights gradated from red to green reflecting universal activity; Memento Mori is visualized by living embodiments of chronological and biological age that age synchronously or asynchronously reflecting health behavior.

My thesis makes three proposals for the future of personal tracking devices.

1. As sensor and wireless technology become smaller and offer greater range, personal tracking devices won’t be offered as wearable fashion accessories or jewelry. Because of ever-reducing costs to manufacture they will be multiple and plentiful, look inconspicuous, and shrink. When they become too small to carry, they will be sewn onto our clothes as buttons, or they will become the very thread that stitch together fabric. If by 2017, the wearable tracking device market will number 170 million, by 2027, half of Americans will have some kind of sensor implanted in their body.
2. Interaction designers will devise new methods of making data “human-scale” (A data point of 1,652,665 steps is equivalent to a human-scale distance of 826 miles) and new metrics for fitness and health.
3. Interaction designers will look to the physical world to visualize data and metrics (I propose living organisms as avatars).

I began transcoding the uncompressed footage shot last Saturday the next day to begin a week of video post-production. I’ve been really influenced by ORIENTATION, a film by an RCA graduate that my thesis advisor Jackie Steck shared with me. I loved how it was shot, styled, and sound designed. I immediately sought out the creator to learn more. It turned out, its maker is speculative designer, Ilona Gaynor. Gaynor and I crossed paths on Twitter earlier this year; ever since then I’ve been an admirer. An exchange with her set me off on a hunt to track down ambient sound effects that have names like “room tone,” “drones,” and “hums.” I discovered online communities devoted to recording, sharing, and commenting upon these sounds. I finally land upon the charitable Web site of recording artist Moby, where he offers his music and sound effects for free to independent and student filmmakers.

The remainder of the week was devoted to video post-production and graphic and information design studies.

A sensor user interface study

A graphic design study

An information design study

I ended the week in a flurry, updating the branding, system diagram, and recording the voice over with an actor.

Branding

System diagram

“You can watch nature age quickly, tying that to human behavior is powerful.” —Tamara Giltsoff

This week, we participated in another roundtable session of critiques with faculty: Chloe Gottlieb, David Womack, and Tamara Giltsoff. I struggle to describe my project with models and diagrams alone, I wish to have the device and user experience video in-hand as an illustration. Despite, I received positive feedback and critique. Chloe asked what the significance of knowing biological age. The answer: someone with a biological age greater than their chronological age reaches death sooner. In January, I had apprehension taking on death as a central theme of this project, wanting to focus on aging. By February, I recognized death is the ultimate consequence of aging. However, in presentation to faculty, I didn’t mention death at all. In future presentations, I must make death as a consequence explicit.

Introduction—The user performs a biological age test.

Conflict—Days later, she receives a mobile alert that her test results are ready for viewing.

Conflict—The sensor display comes to life; a data viz is displayed (Idle Mode); she sees that her biological age exceeds her chronological age.

Conflict—In response, she begins practicing healthy behavior.

Conflict—The system provides feedback.

Conflict—Over time, her biological age begins aligning with her chronological age.

Climax—Her biological age aligns with her chronological age.

Resolution—In time, her biological age becomes less than her chronological age.

Fig. 1

I began scriptwriting last Friday. I’ve written several scenes. The most ambitious occur over weeks and months at a time. Classmate Benjamin Gadbaw observed: “Showing time passing in video is really hard.” Agreed, and vexing. I hope to depict an interaction model that occurs over days—tomatoes synthetically ripened in a period of 24–48 hrs—, and how the display can affect behavior change—which occurs over days, weeks, months. Other shared characteristics: scenes follow a classic narrative arc (Fig. 1) and occur in a variety of settings. This week, I’ve been scouting several locations: a fictional Apple Store, a design studio, a kitchen. In the Apple Store, an actor and voiceover will introduce each of device’s touchpoints; in the design studio, a connection between a clock—an appliance designed and pre-configured for a single use—and the device.

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

On Monday, I scouted Studio Chameleon, a professional photography studio. My criterias were space, backdrops, and controlled lighting—things the location of the previous shoot lacked. (Fig. 2) The north corner of the studio also had the potential to be transformed into a studio setting. (Fig. 3) It was perfect. I promptly made a downpayment to shoot all day Saturday with Paragini and crew.

Fig. 4

The remainder of the week involved recruiting and managing others: camera operator and video editor Yasunari Rowan agreed to fill the Director of Photography role, Christine Wong-Yap agreed to wrangle the shoot. On Monday, I received word that fabrication of the device, the essential prop, was behind schedule. Thesis advisors Jen Sutton and Martin Sullivan were scrambling to ensure that it would be in my hands by Wednesday. Half of the parts were delivered by then, the other half arrived the morning of the shoot. It is incredible how weeks of design, iteration, and fabrication came down to minutes. Assembling the device for the shoot was the first time I’d seen it in a form other than a 3D rendering. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

The shoot went went smoothly and the footage that we captured exceeded my expectations. I worked through the night and morning prior, condensing the script down to two settings: the fictional Apple Store and a design studio. In the process, I killed many darlings, the biggest of which include scenes depicting behavior change occurring over long periods of time. Instead, I focused on depicting the prototype simply existing in an adjacent future. (Fig. 5) We arrived at the studio at 8:30 in the morning and shot until 5 in the afternoon. The actor, Paragini Amin, appears stunning. Yas Rowan captured shots I would have never thought of. (Fig. 6) And, Christine Wong-Yap worked tirelessly behind the scenes.

We packed up exhausted, dropped off all of the equipment and props my apartment, and ended the day at the Bohemian Beer Garden.

Fig. 1

I edited and posted the user experience video study I shot with Dave Levin last week. The goal of the study was to depict a user performing a biological age test to establish a baseline age. The footage was shot with the wrong white balance, and the set was also naturally lit so the shots appear dark with a strong color cast. Despite, I’m pleased with the number and variety of camera angles I shot—they provided flexibility when editing. My favorite angle was a close-up head-on view of Dave swabbing the interior of his cheeks. (Fig. 1) I will have to find a better lit, larger location to stage the scenes—a sci-fi inspired Apple Store, a design studio, home office, a bedroom—I want to create. By the end of the week, I had a few personal leads and local photography studios in mind.

Fig. 2

I’ve been working with Tim Daly, owner of Dalymade, to finish the sensor prop and gas cylinders. On Sunday, I dropped off a few dozen sensors and six cylinders for paint. We discussed how he would need to smooth the edges of the sensors before painting them. (Fig. 2) Upon closer inspection, I decided that the sensors were too unrefined as compared to the other device components (stainless steel gas cylinder regulators and CNC aluminum display). I found suitable replacements in the form of perfectly machined disc-shaped magnets. I had them delivered directly to Tim’s studio, he was able to turn around all of the parts by the end of the week.

This week was a flurry, coordinating actors and crew. My plan was to film the user experience video with an actor at the end of the week, who, had agreed to the shoot weeks ago, but was difficult to get ahold of as the date approached. By mid-week, I cancelled because depending on him was more risk than I was willing to take on. Luckily I had the foresight to plan a fallback: friend and ITP student, Paragini Amin, was an early sounding board for this project and willing to devote up to up to three days playing the part. I was, and will continue to be, indebted to her desire to collaborate. Paragini and I plan on shooting the next week, which leaves just days to receive the display that is being fabricated in California, scout and finalize a location, organize a crew, and, not to mention, write a script.

Fig. 3

All the while, industrial engineers Jen Sutton and Martin Sullivan have sending updates on prototype fabrication, estimated delivery dates, and a parts hitch. Since we had finalized the drawings last week, Sutton and Sullivan “released them to the floor.” The prototype consists of a base and cap that require lathing and milling. Lathing was complete by mid-week (Fig. 3), however, milling won’t be able to occur until Saturday, pushing the delivery date close, very close, to the shoot date I have scheduled with Paragini. Sullivan also sent word of a snafu with the quartz glass display cylinder: one of them has the manufacturer’s logo etched into it. Although the manufacture offered to receive the parts, acid wash the logo off, and flame the area to smooth it over, doing so would set the project back days we couldn’t afford.

I end this weeknote with a quote by game designer and creator of Passage, Jason Rohr:

“You die only once, at the very end, and you are powerless to stave off this inevitable loss.” —Jason Rohr

The capstone of my thesis will be a user experience video. The video must explain the thing that I’ve made, communicate how it works, and depict a compelling experience of use. I’ve begun the process of scriptwriting by jotting down scene fragments that come to mind. The fragments tersely describe action, camera angles, and editing techniques: ” Assembly [Cut] Talking head.” (An actor assembles the device. The camera cuts from assembly to a talking head. The talking head describes the significance of what is being assembled.) Once the number of fragments reach critical mass, I will begin writing a cohesive script. I’ve also started gathering inspiration for how I’d like the video aesthetically shot. I’m really inspired by the work of Everynone, the frequent Radiolab collaborators. In particular, I admire Symmetry, for its head on camera angles, shallow depth of field, and sound editing. A promotional video for The Inverted Bike Shop features gorgeous colors and depth of field; however, much of the camera work is hand-held, mimicking a first-person perspective. I intend for my video to feel more anonymous.

Fig. 1. A 37 Signals style user experience flow

This week, I planned, created props for, and shot a study for the user experience video: a scene depicting the device’s onboarding process, a biological age test. The goal was to recreate the aesthetics that have inspired me. The week prior, I created a user experience flow (Fig. 1) that detailed the interaction between a user and an iPhone app providing instructions on how to perform the test. I designed wireframes and assembled them into a tapthrough as the actor’s main prop. Finally, I coordinated with my friend, Dave Levin, to play the part. Working with Dave was great, he is really laid back and takes direction well. We spent half the day in studio of my wife, Christine Wong-Yap, filming two takes of the same scene with multiple angles. I experimented shooting head on perspectives and shallow depth of field with good results. The tapthrough worked really well. The shoot wasn’t entirely frictionless: the quarters were cramped and the lighting poor. I also forgot to set the white balance of the camera: all of the footage had a deep blue color cast.

Fig. 2. A three dimensional rendering detailing the gas hose inlets

I’ve been working closely with industrial engineers, Jennifer Sutton and Martin Sullivan, to complete the design for the final prototype. Every week since January, I’ve sent them sketches to specify device features, ranging from an LED display to exact-diameter hose fittings; every following week they’ve returned renderings that reflect my specifications. This week they finalized the CAD drawings that will be used to mill the final prototype’s parts out of aluminum with a CNC machine. (Fig. 2) Working with Jen and Martin has been fantastic. Prototyping with industrial engineered material forms has been a completely new process for me. So much of interaction design is immaterial—systems, fields, networks—, collaborating with Sutton and Sullivan is a reminder of material’s resistance to design intentions. When working with material forms, so much can lost in the translation from sketch to CAD drawing to fabrication on the shop floor, I’m lucky to have them working to keep my vision intact, every step of the way.

Fig. 1

On a meta-level, a conversational level (Fig. 2), I aim to discuss a range of topics, such as, how data might be visualized in the future and the use of biological age as an alternative metric to Nike+ Fuel.

Fig. 2

Last week, we participated in group critiques with faculty members: Frank Chimero, Paul Pangaro, and Amit Pitaru. Each student had a few minutes to present and faculty had the same amount of time to provide critique. Pitaru was concerned about the “mapping” of health data to the aging of a tomato; Pangaro had a similar concern. Since then, I’ve changed the design so that instead of a single tomato representing biological age, the display will be a comparison between biological and chronological ages. One tomato represents a person’s chronological age: it ages, withers, and dies as normal. The other represents a person’s biological age. If a person has a biological age greater than their chronological age, so too will the tomato. For example, a 30 year old, with a biological age of 40, and a life expectancy of 60 is 33% “biologically older.” A mature green tomato will age, wither, and die over thirty five days. Mapping the biological age of the person to the tomato embodiment equates to aging the tomato thirty-three percent, or eleven and a half days.

The algorithm to calculate how much time (TIME) a tomato must be aged to reflect a person’s biological age is detailed thusly.

Avatar Life Remaining (ALR) = Avatar Biological Age − Avatar Chronological Age.

∆ Human Age (HA) = Human Biological Age − Human Chronological Age

Human Life Remaining (HLR) = Human Life Expectancy − Human Chronological Age

TIME = ALR(∆ HA/HLR)

Fig. 3

The other critique I receive from Pitaru and Pangaro is that I must convey the emotional experience. A conundrum: all I have in hand is a model of a feedback loop, an Arduino circuit, and a rendering. Until now, my goal has been to create a working device—I believed the power of its existence in the world would be enough to convey emotion. I was wrong. In my weekly meeting with thesis advisors Jen Sutton and Martin Sullivan, I shifted our goals from creating a working device to a model for exhibition and a user experience video prop. This equated to removing components and features that would be unnoticed by the viewer, such as the accommodation of sensors or multiple voltage circuits. (Fig. 3) Although I felt as though I made a major concession in terms of vision for the project, I didn’t get the same sense from Sutton and Sullivan. I suspect because so much of what they do as industrial engineers is prototype parts that are later manufactured at a large scale, this pivot was standard operating procedure. Later on in the week, they sent an updated rendering with the following notes.

1) We made the tunnel [the tunnel the power cord will be routed through] .1875″ in diameter. If you can measure the diameter of the cord you’ll be using we’ll adjust the tunnel to correctly accommodate it (not all USB cords are the same diameter).

2) The tube itself is 5″ OD, .25″ thick wall, 12″ tall. I ordered one off of MMC and will get it in tomorrow to see how it looks and how close actual dimensions are to nominal.

3) Right now no, they’ll [the hose fittings leading from the gas cylinders] stick out quite a bit. We can change that though. We can make through holes on the outside surface of the cylinder and move the fitting to the inside of the assembly threaded directly into the underside of the floor of the base. That would actually be easier to fabricate if that’s the direction you like.

4) The fiberoptic rod for the LED is .125″ in diameter. That’s the smallest we’ll physically be able to go. I know some devices get smaller than that but they employ some fab tricks I can explain over the phone that we won’t be able to do on this. —Martin Sullivan

Fig. 4

Now that I decided to create model, I’m much more free to speculate on how the system might work without certain constraints. First, I began rethinking the sensor. Thesis advisor Jackie Steck and I had been working with the Fitbit API to pull down my personal data for use with the working prototype. Now, I was able to consider the ideal sensor. My main criteria was that the sensor be small to the point before one might consider an implant—about coin-sized. (Fig. 4) I provided the dimensions of the sensor to Sutton and Sullivan for fabrication. For finishing, I began a conversation with Tim Daly of Dalymade, to have the sensors painted, along with half-a-dozen ethylene gas cylinders. Finally, I began designing the exhibition leave behind: a biological age test, self-administered by the user to initially calibrate the system. The goal of giving away an artifact-from-the-future is to make the system all the more real in the mind of the viewer.

Fig. 1

For months, my attention, energy, and time has been devoted to acquiring knowledge from various domains to engineer a speculative device that will regulate the ripening rate of fruit. (Fig. 1) The underpinning of the system are robust: it is informed by the sciences and industrial engineering. As thesis festival approaches, I must transition, from researcher and engineer, to a storyteller. In the gradient, I leave behind several loose-ends. First, prototyping with a sensor sensitive enough to detect low concentrations of ethylene gas—the fruit ripening agent. Second, pressurizing and exhausting a chamber to contain a fruit enveloped by gaseous atmosphere. I enter a new phase of thesis: applying data visualization and interaction design to create and communicate value through storytelling. What will the device visualize? how will the device be experienced? and, finally, why is the experience valuable?

The form of my thesis has radically changed over time—from scholarly paper, to futurescape, to speculative device. When I shared my intent to create a speculative device with Liz Danzico, she stated, “I think it is risky, but I would be concerned otherwise.” I’ve found, sharing my ideas broadly, with thought and practice leaders outside of the department, minimizes design risk. This week, I connected with Justin Pickard, futurist, designer, and co-creator of Song of the Machine, (Fig. 3) a short film that speculates upon the blind’s experience of prosthetic vision technologies in an adjacent future. Strong similarities between Song of the Machine and my thesis exist: mining science and engineering to expand possibilities and applying design to facilitate a conversation about those we desire. We spoke conceptually—the need for experience designers to embrace uncertainty, as opposed to the “frictionless” worlds portrayed in Microsoft’s future visions—, and practically—the effectiveness of illustrating multiple use cases in the film to richly depict how new technologies may fit into the natural rhythms of life.

Fig. 3

I conclude this week on a high: this kind mention from Justin. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 4

From a technological perspective, my thesis may be classified as both an ambient and tangible display. BERG London explored alternative futures for media utilizing ambient surfaces—idle, “listening,” and non-interactive environmental screens—in a collaboration last year with Dentsu London. In a blog post summarizing their work together, BERG principal, Jack Schulz, describes ambient surfaces as “available at a glance,” “[speaking] more quietly,” and “ignorable.” Although these surfaces don’t demand interaction, their abilities to communicate are rich. The Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab aims to “seamlessly couple the dual world of bits and atoms by giving physical form to digital information.” For more than two decades, the group, led by Hiroshi Ishii, has created tangible user interfaces to create “direct interactions” with the digital realm. As for myself, working along the seams of the ambient and the tangible elicits varied responses. On one hand, most welcome the idea of ambient displays, especially when I cite the clock as an example, on the other hand, some are skeptical, even wary, of tangible displays and tangible user interfaces. Perhaps, because they think of the digital broaching the physical realm as an intrusion, or, projections of light from diodes as innocuous, but, the properties of physical matter—such as the deformation of shape—as not. One thing is certain: the 20-year-old promise of interlinking the digital and physical made by Durrell Bishop’s Marble Answering Machine has yet to be fulfilled. I believe, as others do, that tangible user interfaces are decades away from plateauing into a productive form. To get there will take the sustained efforts of many.

Among other things, such as, hacking with classmates for GOOD, I folded the failings of last week into success, with the completion of Prototype 3.0: