Final model DSDN112 EXPRESS-A-SMELL

Description

My idea was to make an abstract interactive tool that the user can practice and enhance there drawing ability. My initial idea was to incorporate a different sense that would spark an image for the user so they can visualize what they are drawing. This is what I thought was an easy way to teach someone how to imagine a portrait. The idea developed after some experiments and showed that most people related the certain smells to something easy and manageable to draw. From these findings I wanted to the user to express what they felt instead of drawing what they see. This was a better interaction with the user, which meant they didn’t have to step out of their comfort zone when attempting to draw the smell. The tricky part was the means of the expression, so I thought of a few ideas but drawing in sand was my favorite. Because of the reason that most drawings would look the same and have the same result in the expression of a smell. I believe the final model represents what I wanted to achieve from the start as the development of the model went through a few changes it ended up very pleasing.

Instructions

-       FLATTEN OUT THE SAND EVENLY

-       PLACE YOUR FINGER (S) IN THE SAND AT THE LEFT

-       START TO SMELL THE SAND FROM THE LEFT TO RIGHT

-       NOW SLOWLY FOLLOW WITH YOUR HAND TO DRAW AN EXPRESSION DEPENDING ON THE CERTAIN SMELLS

5 Interactive images of final model

New model

The EXPRESS-A-SMELL

The refined design toke out the two functions of the "smelling box" and made it into one sleek design.What i learnt from this process was that the paper had to be designed with small holes to help the smell sneak through. Also the smell of the sand would cover the other smells which made things a little bit difficult so i had to limit the amount of sand so they could be smelt. The colour of the paper had to be white because the type of sand would leave dust particles on the black paper which meant the user couldn't draw effectively. Overall i was happy with how it turned out and hope the idea is very usable and interactive. 

Black paper

White paper

Construction

Making the box

My first attempt to the design was just a basic wooden box with cups in it to hold the different smells. I thought of making my final model like this from the start of the project and thought it would look very appealing being out of wood. The design looked very chunky and dis-organised with a bottom piece connected to it to make where i would draw. So i decided to review my design an come up with something that looked much different. 

The New Design

At this this point of the development i found it hard to scrap my old model and come up with a new idea. I also didn't want to stay with the drawing idea so i thought that i could pastels and people could scratch on it, or using a type of sponge fluid where people could play with and move around. But the best idea was to use sand as i thought that people usually draw in the sand no matter how good someone can draw. Making a sandbox that smelt was challenging but i enjoyed playing with down in the workshop to create the design.

The process

Started off with a piece of wood cut down to correct measurements.

Using the drill press i chipped out a layer 10 mm down out of the wood and then chiseled around the the outside to make it flat and even.

The corners were curved just for aesthetic's i think.

Then i drilled bigger holes anther 7mm down around the board to place chunks of the pate of smells.

A thin type of paper was placed on the design to help the sand sit on top of the smells.

Development of Smelling Box

Development
This was the last experiment that i made which would instead make the user draw what they smelt it made them express what they felt about the smell. In this test i wonted to see how i could make this work and what it would look like when someone would express a smell.

Findings
What i learnt was that i needed two parts to the design one for smelling the other for drawing. Also i learnt the different ways someone would express a smell for instance the user draw a line across the page for the three smells each overlapping. But when the user draw a single line for all the smells it looked less intense and more valuable. The problems i would have is that drawing would seem to take up a lot of paper and be inconvenient and i need to find out how i could join both parts together?

3rd Experiment

Three lines drawn

1 line drawn

Second Experiment and Findings

Experiment
In the second experiment i started to play around with the type of final box i wanted to make, and see if it would work. Also i wanted to explore a different number of smells and combinations as well. In this experiment people would draw different types of pictures relating to the different types of smells and number them off as the closet would win a prize.

Findings
This experiment was very critical to the development of my design because i found a few key areas that needed improvement. The first being that the box didn't work as well as i thought it would because the strong smells would overpower the weaker ones, due to the boxes inside being a bit to close together. Also i found out that it was hard for a user to interact with the object because it meant people would have to step out of their comfort zone and draw which would make people not wont to interact with the design. 

First Experiment and Findings

Experiment
The first experiment was relating different types of sound to imagery. The way i did it was, that i made three "smell boxes" and put a  different flavored fruit Lollie in each one. Because the user could not see what they were smelling i wanted them to picture what they smelt and draw it on a piece of paper.

Findings
i found that using these types of smells was very easy to picture and imagine so maybe even doing a combination of different smells would be very key. Also i found that everyone would draw the same type of image lets say a banana because all bananas look the same. If i was use chili and pepper this would make drawing the smell a bit difficult and people would imagine different things.