Assignment 1 by Patricia

1. Video reflection

Design for Dreaming was a classic watch on seeing how we in the past, tried to predict the future. I felt like instead of considering the reasoning behind why design choices were made, designs were illustrated of the future based more so on aesthetics, and a futuristic aesthetic of that era. Compared to more recent futuristic movies such as Blade Runner, the props that were designed focused more on the interactions between the human to artifact, and on top of that, they modified the overall appeal to look more sleek and modern. Thinking of the modern Blade Runner movie and MCU movies, current futuristic products have a trend of resembling high-tech tools for war (probably since these movies all heavily involve combat). This is different from the Design for Dreaming future designs, where they were more geared towards future home living (although products were heavily gender-oriented).

2.  A useful interaction: Smart Bathroom Light

Thinking about day-to-day problems that I personally wish I had a solution for, one of the things that bother me at night is when I would have to go to the bathroom and have to turn on the light when I can’t see anything. The bright light immediately wakes me up and takes me out of my deep sleep mood.

With this, I hope to create a sensitive motion sensor that detects movement in a dark space and will light up a soft LED light so that there’s just enough light to see what’s in the environment but not enough to wake you up.

 

Proof of Concept:

Components: 1 Motion sensor, Multiple LED lights

When the motion sensor detects movement at the door frame (footsteps walking into the bathroom), the LED lights in certain areas including near the sink and toilet will light up.