DSDN 112: Project One

Research Stage / Week Two

For our second week for this paper, we were asked to bring 2 objects in to our lesson. We needed to bring 2 objects that had a good "user" interaction. One that is very functional and one that is fun or interesting to use. For my functional object I chose to bring an Xbox 360 controller. The reason I chose to bring this object is because it is designed for one purpose and to suit those who use it. It fits perfectly into your hands and you immediately get the feel for it, meaning you learn how to use it fast. My next object which is the fun one, is one of ties. I brought a tie because it has an interesting way of interaction, the way you have to tie it up to fit etc. Also it is visually fun. Ties come in many different shapes and sizes and colors. Its more of an emotion thing to what tie you wear, so generally it fits the interaction of most people these days. After showing off our interesting objects and talking about them, we got into pairs and filled out a chart to identify each "group" of object e.g. Kinetic/Visual/Sounds etc. Yes as you can see we came up with some pretty interesting things..

From this lesson, I had an idea of what I could do for this project. I chose the sense "TOUCH". I plan to relate it back to the controller that I brought along with me. One thing I realized when people are gaming and using the controller, is that they get so into the game and don't even realize that they're holding it! (that is unless they're "raging" at the game) So my plan was to design my own controller, with each button having a different texture to it, so people realize and get a new experience from holding it. So far I've researched the present and past controller designs for the famous gaming platforms. I've also gathered together some materials that could be a possibility to work on:

Clay (to build the base and core of the controller)

Sandpaper (I bought different roughness so you'll be able to tell the difference between each one)

Tin foil (it has a unique surface to it, still undecided about this one)

Wood (different wood that I could look into, include balsa and MDF)

Wire (wire mesh could work well but I'm afraid it'll be too expensive)

This is just a brainstorming stage for now, but if I can pull this off it should be a pretty successful project to go with. Here are some of the controllers I have researched.