Clothes make the man

Personal Space Suit

2006-05-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

The Personal Space Suit was officially presented on May 1st, and later that week at the ITP Spring 2006 show.

I have included a LINK to the powerpoint presentation which hopefully gives you a clue as to my thinking and intentions with the project. At the final critique, I received a lot of interesting feedback, a few moral concerns but overall positive responses.

At the show, I received some negative comments such as "it's a mean project." Mostly, people wanted to own one for themselves to wear on the subway. It seemed that women responded more enthusiastically than men. No surprise there.

I will try to get a video up soon.

The Personal Space Suit was also featured online at wirednews.com. Here is the link.

Yo Taxi! update

2006-05-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

The project is no longer in my studio; it is on a Fedex plane on its way to Pisa, Italy for the Viaggio Telecom 2006 Future Fashion event. I'm excited about the honor and very proud to be in such good company (Kate Hartman, Gracie Kim, as well as Despina Papadopoulos!) I only wish I could have fit inside that Fedex box.

For those of you who won't be attending, myself included (boo hoo,) I've attempted to make a video that captures Yo, Taxi! in action. The file is a bit big, but your patience will be rewarded.

Yo Video!

Nose to nose

2006-04-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

Proxemics is a theory of personal space advanced by Edward T. Hall, an anthropologist whose work in 1966 was groundbreaking in the field of interpersonal communications.

Hall believes that although we all share the same sensory inputs, the way we process the information is culturally distinct. He maintains that we will adjust our degrees of personal distance depending on the social setting and our cultural backgrounds.

On a micro level, personal space is the “bubble” that surrounds each individual. On a macro level, that “bubble” informs how different cultures view the planning of cities, and how neighborhoods and streets are laid out.

Hall described four zones of personal space:
• Intimate space—the closest "bubble" of space surrounding a person. Only intimates are allowed into this space. (6-18 inches.) Embracing, touching, and whispering are possible.
• Personal space—this is the space allotted for close friends (1.5-4 feet.) Conversations of a personal nature, some touching but in a platonic way.
• Social space—this is the space beyond the intimate and personal in which we feel comfortable interacting with acquaintances as well as strangers. (4-12 ft) Ordering a coffee at the café, asking someone for directions, no touching at all.
• Public space—this is the furthest space beyond our initial “bubble”, where we feel the least in control. (over 12 ft) Riding a subway, sitting in a park, crossing a lobby…

servo2

2006-04-10T12:16:00.000-07:00

latest servo prototype

is here:

ServoMotorMotion2

Get your motors running...

2006-03-31T08:31:00.000-08:00

Servo-Motor Prototype

To test the mechanical system using a servomotor as the means of motion, I first had to program a PIC 18F542-ip with a basic pulse width modulation program. To that I added a pot to stand in for my IR sensor. The pot makes it easy to control the servo, and therefore the action of my quills. The linkage is a bit kludgey, but I was able to get a good feel for the potential of the servo.

In comparison with the selinoid, the servo obviously offers a greater range of motion, but the conversion from rotary motion to linear adds a little more complexity to the system. I fear this complexity—it adds to the list of things that can potentially fail. The servo I’m currently testing with is also larger than desired, so I will be sourcing smaller motors, and Danny Rozin has graciously pointed me to some of his sources.

On the positive side, the ability to finely control the position and speed of the servo offers opportunities that the selinoid didn’t. Combining the analog input of the IR sensor with the servo, I can control the deployment of the quills to correspond to the interaction of the PSS and its surroundings: if the IR detects a slowly approaching person, the servo can raise the quills slowly; if the person approaches quickly, the quills are raised rapidly. If the person backs away, the quills can “relax” and lower. This might lead to a more interesting interaction, creating a chance to play with the boundaries of personal space. The servo also allows the quills to stay deployed for as long as needed; most selinoids have a very limited amount of time that they can be powered, therefore the quill deployment would be limited as well.

The prototype also revealed the limitations of my parallel plan concept for articulation. It might be worthwhile to investigate a hinging or axeled rotation.

ServoMotorMotion

Final project

2006-03-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

I am proposing a garment that plays with our conceptions and perceptions of personal space. The garment will defend personal space when it is under threat of intrusion, questioning our notion of “ownership” over personal space. Like a cat raising its fur or a porcupine its quills, the garment will deploy an array of “spikes” to ward off invaders. The “spikes” both increase the physical space that is under the wearer’s occupation, but also serve as a visual deterrent to encroachment. The system will work by sensing the proximity of objects surrounding the garment, and will trigger a response when an object or body comes too close. The system will be based on a microprocessor, at least one sensor, and a mechanical system to deploy the array of spikes. At this point I have yet to decide if the garment will be comprised of multiple self-contained systems, or one large system with multiple sensors, and multiple spike arrays.

Videos of prototypes:

mechanical

pneumatic

Sensors under evaluation:

Sharp GP2Y0A02YK — Infrared send and receive

Quantum Research QT113 — proximity sensor

Photo Cell – light sensitive resistor

spike subsystem:

mechanical –

Spike material —

Plastic brush bristles

Steel rod

Actuator –

Selinoid push

Steper motor

Servo motor

Pneumatic —

Spike material

Tubing

Plastic sheet, heat-sealed

Actuators –

Selinoid valve

Air tank (air duster)

Compressed gas (co2 canister)

Air Bladder (inner tube)

Microprocessor

Pic #?

Power

9volt cell

Yo, Taxi!

2006-03-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

New Yorkers hail a lot of cabs, and it can become quite competitive at rush hour when it’s raining, or late at night when bars and nightclubs close. This battle forces New Yorkers to risk their lives wading into oncoming traffic, frantically trying to get a cabbie’s attention. To give the stylish New Yorker the upper hand, I’ve developed Yo, Taxi!, a design that is sure to stop a Yellow Cab in its tracks.

Yo, Taxi! is a coat embedded with a persistence of vision display, shown through a single row of LEDs positioned in the cuff of the coat. When the wearer raises his or her hand and begins waving it in the natural taxi hailing gesture, the LEDs illuminate. The POV strobes in time with the wearer’s action, creating the illusion of the word “TAXI” floating in mid-air.

Carol Doda

2006-02-27T15:48:00.000-08:00

As a kid growing up in San Francisco, I couldn’t help but snicker every time we crossed the intersection of Broadway and Columbus Streets. There at the corner stood a giant illuminated sign advertising The Condor, the city’s infamous strip club. The sign promoted Carol Doda’s Topless Love Act and there was an illustration of her and her storied breasts. The part that really got us kids going, though, was the red light blinking right where her nipples would have been.

The sign was taken down when The Condor was converted to a Sports Bar sometime in the 90s, and Carol has moved on to selling lingerie. But that image of her blinking breasts remains seared in the memories of all San Franciscans.

When I showed my soft circuit test to my girlfriend, she immediately grabbed the piece, put it to her chest and said, “Hey, I’m Carol Doda!” Thus I set out to pay homage to Carol and to San Francisco’s freewheeling past.

1491 - 1999

2006-02-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

1491 – Talking Knots

This was such an interesting article: imagine the history of an entire civilization locked up in a secret code, awaiting the right person to crack it. It’s almost too good to be true, so “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Where’s Indiana Jones and his fedora?

What I found surprising is that for years, we have thought of the Incan civilization as one that did not possess a written language. Yet it seems improbable that they would have been able to develop a far-reaching empire with massive architecture without some form of written language. Is it just Western arrogance to think of written language as something having to be transcribed/drawn/scratched onto another surface or was it the absence of a “Rosetta Stone” providing the key?

The other thing that was so fascinating is that Khipu seems to be a binary language, or as Urton puts it a “seven bit binary array.” It almost sounds like ICM discussion. The lesson is that communication can come in many forms, not just words on a flat surface and we have to become more receptive.

The quest for power – Stefano Marzano

This article is one of the reasons that I’m at ITP. As an industrial design student back in the 90s, I was well aware of what was coming out of Europe, in particular Alessi, Philips Design and the big furniture makers like Vitra. The Vision of the Futures project was a huge influence on me, changing my aesthetic sensibility, and more importantly, challenging my notions of what a product is, and how it fits into our world.

In “The Quest for Power,” Marzano continues this challenge. In addressing the need to move into Wearables, Marzano identifies one of the hidden truths of product design: that as designers, we are unable to deliver true “usability”. Yes, we can call our friends from anywhere, but we still need to carry the phone with us. Miniaturization has gotten us a long way, but we’re not completely liberated yet.

Although written in1999, the article is still relevant for Marzano’s call for “integration” has yet to be answered fully. Except for a few examples such as the Burton Amp Jacket, the worlds of fashion and that electronics have yet to collide. This sounds very much like the trend Angel Chang identified. The good news for us as designers investigating the possibilities of Wearables, is that there is ample room for exploration.

Burton Jacket

2006-02-14T10:53:00.000-08:00

cool article in the NYtimes on the USA Snowboard team jackets:

NYTimes

High Level Ideas for final project

2006-02-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

3 total, hope one works:

Personal Space Suit

Personal space—the physical space surrounding an individual that is required by the individual in order to maintain a sense of control and security—is unique to each culture and to the individual. Personal space is also in a constant state of fluctuation, depending on the social context in which an individual finds him- or herself.

The physical space which separates two strangers engaged in an exchange is vastly greater than the distance which separates intimate friends sharing a secret. This point was famously illustrated in a Seinfeld episode in which a character was known as a “close talker.” This character’s obliviousness to other people’s personal spaces caused him to repeatedly trespass people’s comfort zones, causing them to recoil and in some cases, practically backbend to avoid his intrusion. Obviously, this was played for maximum comic effect, but it was a great example of how our society has very clearly defined personal spaces.

We all experience these sorts of invasions on a daily basis—when we squeeze onto a crowded subway, or when waiting in line for a coffee. If someone is a little too close, we begin to feel threatened and uneasy. Equally, if we’re simply having a discussion with a colleague or classmate and they begin to back away—in effect, widening the personal space—we feel undermined and self-conscious. Is it the ten cups of coffee on our breath? Are we boring? Are they shoulder surfing? Could it be we’re not as fascinating as we think we are? Or do they just not like us?

I became acutely aware of personal space when one day while waiting to use an ATM in Paris, a Parisian sauntered right up and stood almost on top of the person using the machine, completely unaware that I was next in line. I realized that my American notion of what constitutes the expected space (a good yard and a half) between someone using an ATM and someone waiting to use the ATM, was tremendously different from a French person’s. To the Parisian, my yard and a half may well have been a kilometer, as I was so far from the ATM that I couldn’t possibly be waiting to use it!

Since then I’ve become more sensitive to these cultural differences in personal space. When I’m with my French friends, we’ll greet each other with a kiss on each cheek; my American friends, on the other hand, stiffen up at the mere thought of a hug.

I am proposing a garment that plays with the differences and fluctuations in personal space. The garment could both attract and repel, depending on the wearer’s mood or whim, or the garment could react to its context, seeking to defend personal space when it is under attack, or to attract those deemed to be intimate.

Possible technologies to be used:
- proximity sensors
- video tracking
- RFid
- IR
- Pneumatics

Ways to attract and repel: a change in state
- color
- sound
o to attract: music, birds chirping, ocean waves…
o to repel: music, sirens, buzzers etc…
- size
o to attract: get smaller
o to repel: gets larger
- form
o to attract: soft
o to repel: hard
- texture
o to attract: fuzzy, downy, sticky…
o to repel: spikes, barnacles, warts…
- smell
o to attract: honey, flowers, musk…
o to repel: skunk, dirty feet, rotten eggs…

--------------------2--------------------------

LoveNote

The taste and scent of Proust’s madeleine unlocked volumes of recollections in Remembrances of Things Past. Scent has always had a way of bringing forth powerful images, memories and associations. We are constantly updating our own narratives with careful applications of shampoos, deodorants, colognes and perfumes. In this way, we are not just attempting to mask our bodies’ natural odors, but are instead creating a kind of ephemeral ideal self: one that is hypnotizing (Hypnôse by Lancôme,) intoxicating (Beyond Paradise by Estée Lauder) or is living the dream (in notes of amber and rose, Euphoria by Calvin Klein.)

You are never more aware of someone’s scent than when you are close to them. A fragrance may be one of the most lasting memories of a brief encounter, remembered long after a flirtatious exchange. How often have we heard the cliched phrase, “Her scent lingered in the air”? With time, a scent can grow to have more meaning, becoming the embodiment of your significant other. When I travel, my girlfriend will sneak one of her scarves into my suitcase so that when I open it at my destination, I will have a reminder of her. It’s not the physical object that I respond to, it’s her scent. The fragrance is a much more intimate form of communication than a text message or a photo of herself could ever be.

I would like to design an accessory that captures the romance of intimacy non-verbally through communication with scent. There will be two parts: a sending component, and a receiving component (but ideally the device would act as both sender and receiver.) The sender will be able to electronically send a “love note” that the receiver would recognize as the sender’s scent.

Possible technologies to be used:
- SMS
- BlueTooth
- Cellular phone
- Ultrasound
- Heat
- Mechanical atomizer
- Solenoid

--------------------3----------------------------

Yo, Taxi!

New Yorkers hail a lot of cabs, and it can become quite competitive at rush hour, when it’s raining, or late at night when bars and nightclubs close. Unlike other cities I’ve lived in, New Yorkers risk their lives wading into oncoming traffic, trying to get a cabbie’s attention. In Paris, there are taxi stands and you wait in line; in San Francisco, good luck finding a cab unless you’re downtown or at the airport! Los Angeles is so big that you can’t wait on a corner, you have to call a cab company.

To give stylish New Yorkers the upper hand, I propose Yo, Taxi!, an accessory that is sure to stop a Yellow Cab in its tracks. A wrist-worn device, or perhaps one embedded in the cuff of a jacket or coat, Yo, Taxi! uses single row LEDs that illuminate once the wearer raises his or her wrist and begins waving it (as in hailing a cab.) The LEDs strobe in time with the wearer’s action, creating the illusion of the word “TAXI” floating in mid-air.

compactimpact.com

Possible technologies to be used:
- LED
- Microcontroller
- Tilt switch

off the cuff

2006-02-13T08:23:00.000-08:00

Creating even the most basic flexible circuit proved to be a lot tougher than I had ever imagined. I had problems with both the fabrication of my cuff as well as with the electrical circuit.

Having no experience with conductive fabrics, my assumption was to think of them as thin flat wire. However , the flexibility of the fabric—a feature which makes it so useful—also proved to be problematic in the circuit construction. I had a hard time insulating the fabric, leading to shorts in the circuit. I had this issue with the LED as well as with the battery. I ended up solving it (at least for the LED) by layering the conductive material between cotton muslin. The battery connection proved to be a lot more challenging. I had planned to sandwich the battery between the two ends of the cuff, and use the force of the clasp to provide the needed tension to make a solid physical connection between the fabric leads and the poles of the battery. I found that the flexible nature of the fabric and the thinness of the coin cell didn’t work well together: the cell was enveloped in the conductive cloth creating a short.

As for the fabrication, I didn’t have much fun with the Juki. That thing is impossible to control. I was never able to get a handle on the speed, leading to embarrassingly sloppy seams and construction. On the plus side, the constantly breaking thread made me become quite proficient with threading the machine. This project taught me a lot about fabrics, and how hard it is to stitch them into submission.

Designers, carry on!

Urban Armor

2006-02-05T10:15:00.000-08:00

Having seen Lucy Orta’s work in a gallery, I found it interesting that one of the first points Paul Virilio makes in his review is that her work is best viewed in a real world context. Because her pieces touch on homeslessness, isolation, physical as well as social threats, Virilio believes that the Urban Armor derive more meaning when seen through a wider lens.

I had a similar response when I saw her work last week. The pieces were thought-provoking when seen as sculptural object s on pedestals, but viewing them in action (on video) really brought Orta’s ideas home.

While I agree with some of Virilio’s points (his take on Orta’s Collective Wear and its correlation to societal links) I had trouble following others. I failed to see how Orta’s work comments on the breakdown of the nuclear family, and I had trouble seeing how today’s “streets are hell.” It seemed a little overly dramatic to me.

Masks

2006-02-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

The mask that reveals me is modeled after a Moka Express stovetop espresso machine. I picked this object to represent me because it embodies a lot of values that I hold dear: classic design, balance between art and engineering, and great, dark coffee. I also love the machine's alchemical qualities, the way that it can transform a bitter bean into a magical elixir. Also, having lived in San Francisco and Paris, I am a firm believer in cafe culture, in the idea of the cafe as a place where ideas and people interact.

The mask that disguises me is a pixelated portrait of myself. It's common to see this treatment used in magazines and on television, to protect someone's identity or to satisfy censors. I thought it was interesting because it says a lot about how we are losing parts of ourselves in this digital age. Visit any of the Starbucks surrounding NYU to see how ubiquitous technology has replaced conversation in the cafe setting...