State of Art, Project Management & Documentation¶

Interests & motivation¶

I have spent the majority of my career as a learning experience designer. I started out in the sciences, designing online interactive experiences for WGBH’s NOVA program, and then teamed up with learning scientists and the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to understand how people truly learn. I eventually landed back in the physical world co-designing community makerspaces and STEAM programming. I found the intersection of textiles and technology particularly enticing for engaging girls and women. Ever since, my personal and professional activities have circled around this area.

In the Fabricademy program, I intend to explore how my background knowledge, professional domains expertise, and those of the Fabricademy curriculum (particularly the wearables units), and my life experience all fit together. How might they inform and influence how and what I prototype in the skill capsules from week to week, which final project ideas I gravitate towards, and ultimately, and in which way I point my compass beyond Fabricademy?

Driving questions & ideation¶

Where do these intersect?

• topics and domain knowledge from a career in learning experience design
• the technologies and skills to be acquired through Fabricademy
• a sense of purpose
• the things I love (things that move me, favorite pastimes, loves, etc.)

Step 1: Map senses of purpose with things I love

I used Miro to create a mind map.

• Purpose (why?): To assist, expand, or deepen an experience; to enlighten, or to delight.
• Some things I love: Music, dance, hiking, and nature.

Step 2: Brainstorm project ideas

Step 3 Leverage domain knowledge and Fabricademy technologies and skills to test out ideas, discover new ones along the way, and bring project concepts to life.

References, research & inspiration¶

Preliminary research topic¶

At the intersection of neuroscience + dance + music: Augmenting proprioception

Proprioception is your body’s subconscious sixth sense — your body’s ability to sense its own position and movements in space. Proprioception is a complex automatic process that you can also fine-tune.

Contemporary dance improvisation — preliminary notes

Here is an example of contemporary dance improvisation. What would it look like slowed down? (placeholder, video to come)

How might these slow improv precedents work with paired partners?

Contemporary Dance Improvisation Exercise:

Improvisation workshop by NDT:

What about pairing slow improv and flamenco?!

And finally... how might textiles, technology, and biology be leveraged to assist and augment the experience of low-vision and blind dancers?

Boston dance communities to collaborate with: Abilities Dance Boston, Silent Rhythms, Dark Room Ballet, and the Boston Ballet Adaptive Dance Program.

Potential technical solutions

• Proximity sensors: Ultrasonic and Time-of-Flight (ToF) Infrared sensors - best for precisely sensing variable distances, but safe for humans; Capacitive Proximity Sensors; Passive Infrared (PIR) Sensors; Specialized Fabric Sensors (“smart cloth”), and Millimeter-Wave (mmWave) Radar.
• Analog solutions: Physical garment designed to detect proximity to another dancer, signals dancer.

Note the volume in Iris van Herpen's dress designs:

Documentation workflow¶

My website design principles: Keep to a clean, minimalist design to draw the eye to the content rather than the wrapper; use logical filenames rather than obscure numbers; and use clear and accessible language and accessibility practices, including proper heading heirarchy and image alt tags for screen readers, and adequate color contrast (contrast checker tool) for low-vision users.

Tools, platforms, and resources

Adobe suite is my go-to for image processing, vector graphics, and video, but I will also experiment with open-source options such as Canva (image and composition), InkScape (vector), Gimp (image), DaVinci Resolve (video), and others.

Example workflow for image sizing and compression:

Other tools and resources include: * Miro : A virtual design workspace, vision boards, mind mapping, etc. * Website configuration via Zensical and Zensical markdown documentation * GitLab Documentation Tutorial * Markdown Cheat Sheet * Class archive for alum inspiration and wisdom * Fabricademy Handbook

Design process methods

My go-to creative problem-solving tools and methods include stickies, mind maps, and human-centered design processes. In particular, I like to pair design thinking with the lean build-measure-learn cycle. This is my favorite diagram of how these two fit together:

Reflection¶

I don’t know if my initial direction is going to be possible — some sort of improv dance assist or related concept. My focus for the next few months will be on learning as much as possible and being open to possibilities related to my initial ideas, and to new ones that come along the way.