Bus stop map

I came to the workshop with an idea for a bus map that shows with LED’s the position of the bus in relation to the stops along the route, so users know how far away the bus is from their stop. Due to the limited resources available to us we needed to simplify the traditional bus map into its most simple form. We brainstormed alternative ways to communicate time, which is essentially the primary function of the design.

The solution was simplifying the bus map to something linear, in this case suspending a strip of LED’s on a chain inside a translucent piece of PVC pipe which, when lit up, represent the position of the closest bus. The stops are represented by outer rings along the length of the tube. The design is self sufficient and is powered by pulling down on the chain connected to the LED’s which feeds off a spring loaded rotary generator at the top the tube. So when the chain is pulled down by the user, (the chain is spring loaded so would then travel back up the tube) the generator sends power to the appropriate LED/s showing where the bus is in relation to the stops along the route.

A scenario for this design would be:

Jim Davies catches the bus to work every morning. He catches the 8:45 bus from Stop 16 in Ashgrove. Before he catches the bus, Jim buys a coffee from the café across the street. As he is a regular they give him a good deal and they know his name. This particular morning Jim is running five minutes late, which is the usual time he allows to cross the street and buy his coffee. The design concept has been newly installed at the stop 16 bus stop, so Jim pulls down on the chain and is able to check where the bus is on-route, and how much time he has until it gets to his stop. If it’s running late, as he was this morning, he still may be able to catch his coffee.

Introduction to interaction design

The first workshop exercise required us in small groups to come up with five different materials and list out methods to utalise each material as input and output interfaces to communicate ten different messages. As the final design criteria for this subject requires us to design an interaction interface for a social context our team of three kept the messages purely arbitrary with phrases like: ‘What are you doing tonight?’ and ‘Can I come over?’.

The team came up with a few simple material input-output methods before quickly moving onto brainstorming various design concepts for different contexts within a social network.

One interesting idea from Patrick was a pair of pendulums for two users wishing to communicate with each other. Each user would have one of the identical pendulums which have a series of messages arranged as pie shapes on a circular base that the pendulum, if tilted the right way, can point to. The two pendulums mimic each other via some sort of wireless system connected to step motors in the base so both users can interact with the messages at any given time.

Another idea helped along by a tutor Tim, was the virtual handshake experience. We discussed observations regarding giving and receiving handshakes and the importance the handshake has on social interactions, particularly when you meet someone for the first time. From these observations spawned the concept of the handshake booth, where a user could give a virtual handshake to another user anywhere in the world and receive the same pressure and style of shake on their hand as though they were shaking the users hand in person. This was a purely conceptual idea and to construct a prototype would mean all sorts of restrictions on ability, and also technology availability that would be needed for the final design.

Staying on this subject, I endeavor not to restrict what designs I put on this blog. I intend to communicate a variety of design ideas, concepts, thoughts, etc. no matter how comical or fantastical they may seem, for I believe the most simple and thoughtful solutions can be inspired by absolutely anything around us.

Hello and welcome

This blog is a resource to let me exhibit my activities, reflections, ideas and concepts from brainstorming and workshop investigations for DNB 601 Industrial Design. Comments and discussions are welcome.

Ned Raines