I’m finally done writing.. which says nothing about the work i have left to do to prepare for the end of year show…hmm so much to do so little time.
You can download my full 52-pages-in-single-spacing report here or read this handy resumé : )
Stint
By Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
With the global growing concern around sustainability and over-consumption we find ourselves having to question our relationships with high-tech personal devices and the business models that support that industry. Using the mp3 player as a case study, this thesis proposes to explore the design opportunities that surface when we design high tech devices with forgotten behaviors, community, status and emotional attachment in mind, using textiles as a way to display history and emotionally rich platforms. Stint is the result of this.
A music sharing service made of physical tokens that represent links to people’s virtual music that are coupled to a widget that talks to the main music application. Each “stint” represents one friend and is made of leather. By giving it to a friend, one links it to the main player, collecting the stints into a network. By pressing each one, a song from that person’s music collection that she has sent it to you, is played. A song can be sent to a friend by holding both the stint containing that music and the one representing the friend we want to send it to. As you interact with the stints the ones with a richer interaction get used and worn, showing history of the relationship. The online widget will show the listening the origin of each song as well as who you have sent it to and how often they have listened to it since receiving it. This builds a visualization that will help you choose better or more appropriate music for that person or to discover what they’re musical tastes are. Stint creates a meaningful relationship between the user, the container, the content and how they affect each other, allowing for richer and long-term relationships to exist with high-tech devices.