Project: Be here, See there
"In the project ‘Be here, See there’ the focus is on different methods of perception. 'Feels like Home' was developed by Nikki Butter and Luca Giacolini, as part of the B1 group that included Jasper Schenk and Lars Hottentot. The concept addresses home-sick children, who find comfort in a glowing blanket that responds to their parents movements over a distance. The design process jumped back and forth to different concepts, finally resulting in developing one of the first ideas to the higher level of an experiential prototype. The group dynamics were a true challenge, which did not facilitate a smooth process. However, the way the group dealt with it and the lessons they learned from it are very valuable for their future careers." – Coach Piem Wirtz
Teamwork and Communication
“You developed a large awareness of the impact of a (dis)functional team on the group dynamics and workflow. Due to the challenging team with many different levels within the bachelor you found a way to still function as a group of four. This is worth a big compliment. With regard to oral communication, you need to stand up for your rights a bit more. Don't take strong opinions always for granted and don't allow bossy fellow students to take control of the group. Trust your own skills and knowledge, and dare to defend them.” – Coach Piem Wirtz
My first semester revealed that, due to the fact that I am very self-willed, I was having too much influence on the group. I did not listen enough to the opinions of others and kept pushing the project into the direction I desired. This semester I have tried to be less influent, but this has had the wrong effect. In the future I will have to find the right balance between the two extremes.
Integrating Technology
“You reached a good level of awareness in Arduino programming, and got to learn several smart textile techniques” – Coach Piem Wirtz
I will not take the credits for programming the arduino, since Luca is one who has taken this task upon himself. What I did learn is integrating technology into wearable’s and fabrics. This was something that was completely new for me, but with the knowledge Luca gained during the BUDA-weekend and the help form Martijn ten Bhömer I have learned a lot.
In the future I have to focus more on the programming part, so I will understand this better.
Design and Research Processes
We should have focused more on collecting information based on science and literature. During my first semester, my project was based mainly on research, user focus and social cultural awareness. Therefore I wanted to give the research part less attention and focus more on making prototypes during the be here, see there project. As in the case of teamwork and communication, I will have to find a better balance between both extremes in the future.
Ideas and Concepts
”You come up with personal ideas and concepts, but I would like to see more of them. – Coach Piem Wirtz
By focusing more on the ideas and less on the research, I had the chance to generate more ideas and to have more iterations during the project, which is a big improvement compared to my previous project, where we had almost no iterations at all. However, an improvement does not mean that it is perfect. Iterations and ideas are important in for making a good design, so in the future I have to generate more ideas before proceeding to a next phase.
Descriptive and Mathematical Modeling
To improve this competency area, I have individually made a prototype for the theme day. In order to make this prototype I started by measuring all the technology that had to be implemented. After that I made drawings of how the prototype should look and how to assemble the parts in a way that all of the technology would fit. After making a paper prototype and a prototype in Solidworks I laser cut all the parts and assembled them.
By making the plan for the prototype step-by-step I managed to get all the parts fitting without having to make adjustments, which saved a lot of materials and time.
