I’m very glad to have taken in part to the Visual Voltage Workshop addressing professional designers and product manager. The main topic it was very closed to my thesis project proposal. How can Design invite people experiencing the energy consumption? Make people reflecting about thery own consumptions and awareness to a change in behaviour. It has been a one-and-a-half day meeting of inspiring presentations, reflections but overall brainstoming.
It was the stop in Berlin of the swedish Visual Voltage exhibition, run 22nd-23rd Januar 2010 in the Nordic Ambassy. The Visual Voltage is an initiative organized by the Swedish Institute in collaboration with the Interactive Institute. The Workshop has been organized by IxDs Berlin.
More info:
Visual Voltage Workshop official website
my review on my thesis blog
Visual Voltage official website

>> go to Liaison

It consists of a pair of interactive houses for two people sentimentally connected, which provides a domestic intimacy in very gentle ways. We developed three versions: paper, ceramic and plexiglass, each one with its own character and behaviour.

paper

ceramic

plastic

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Liaison was designed by Erika Rossi + Maria Chiara Toncich + Kui Wang during the Interaction Design Laboratory 2: Laboratorio degli artefatti interattivi taught by Gillian Crampton Smith + Philip Tabor, ClasVEM, Venice University IUAV, 2008/09 Venice

Questo/a opera è pubblicato sotto una Licenza Creative Commons.

Imagine to walk in Venice in a fresh end-summer evening,
imagine your mobile phone as a torch, which enlights the way to find an itinerant cinema which
takes place once a year, imagine to enjoy those events maybe projected on a wall of an ancien courtyard, maybe in a breezy ‘calle’ projected on perfumed hanging sheets or just by sitting in a boat in the middle of the Lagoon…
Welcome to Cinomadic!

Cinomadic is an interactive system, accessed by mobile phone, which allows people to discover
the projection sites of an itinerant and open air cinema around Venice.
But it is not only a phone application.
We imagine Venice as unique scenario for the second screening of the existing Circuto Off short films. It is an international short film festival which happens during a week in September and once in the year. It propose itself as an alternative film festival.

Our project would be a part of them as collateral event which would take part the week after the
festival with the main aim to enlarge the Circuito Off audience. We designed also a whole unrepeatable and unforgettable experiance in a unique city like Venice just by letting people be welcome into its marvellous places.

Here you can try the simulation of the Cinomadic software. Click over the follwing image and use the pink buttons to interact.

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Cinomadic was designed by Silvia Basso + Suzana Laub + Maria Chiara Toncich during the Interaction Design Laboratory 1: Laboratorio di comunicazione visuale e cinetica taught by Gillian Crampton Smith + Philip Tabor, ClasVEM, Venice University IUAV, 2008/09 Venice

Questo/a opera è pubblicato sotto una Licenza Creative Commons.

It was designed by Claudia De Angelis, Enrico Rudello, Maria Chiara Toncich, Daniele Tonon during the course Interaction Design Theory 1 Design dell’interazione taught by Gillian Crampton Smith and Philip Tabor, ClasVEM, Venice University IUAV, 2007/08 Venice.

Questo/a opera è pubblicato sotto una Licenza Creative Commons.

The balloon is a common an playful object which recalls childhood fantasies. The idea is to invite people to immerse themselves into this field of familiar objects and let them rediscover the creative ancient instinct of producing sounds.

>> visit the klingelloon’s ufficial site

The light takes an important part. Two light sources enlighten from the opposite sides. I imagine an interactive enviroment like a igloo or a labyrinth made in this way.

DESCRIPTION
This is an interactive installation which is made basically of straws and light. The straws are held by two layers of chickenwire. People can interact with both sides just by pushing the straws. Not only, the light takes an important part. Two light sources enlighten from the opposite sides. The light seeps through the emptiness of the straws. It reflects on the plastic surface but also penetrates through the transparent surface of some straws.

EXPERIENCE
The interaction is really simple and immidiately understandable. By pushing, the spectator can feel like immersing into it. Someone reactes very gently, others push very strongly and want try what can happen. By moving, people can explore the different play of light; like a kaleidoscope. By staying between the light and the straws the shadows change the shade of the colour and create new silhouettes. It will be noticed by the other player on the opposite side and it will affect his perception.

CHILDREN-TEST
While I was working on the prototype at my university a lots of people passed by and was very intrigued by it. Walking on the street everybody was watching at me and amount of passer-by got confidence and showed their approval (it works better than sexy clothes, because in this case women and children are attracted too). That evening I was bringing it at home, but some classmate and me decided to have a drink. I placed it on a table. I noticed people get closer and start either ask questions about it or start to play with. I have never imagined such success, I was really astonished. After a while I didn’t care anymore about it. After that, we noticed two young girls playing with it. They were very relaxed and they understood perfectly how to play with it. Children get confidence and without a permission or an explanation, they started to play with it. In that moment I felt satisfied. It works!

Questo/a opera è pubblicato sotto una Licenza Creative Commons.

SCENARIO

This urban installation imparts an aesthetic feeling to the waiting experience. During the night people can see recorded fragments of the daytime life of other imbarcaderi as if through a peephole. The spectator makes appear a sequence of videos which were recorded during the day and returned later in modified form. The spectator has to discover it by moving in front of the windows. It will happen from time to time over the course of the year.
The imbarcaderi constitute the nodes of Venice’s transport network. They are “non-places” like hotel rooms, airports or supermarkets, places of transience without significance. At the same time they are the one of the few modern buildings in Venice, but also the least attactive spaces, especially because of their night-time illumination. So it is particulary tempting to imagine an intervention like Dreamstop.

>> MORE INFO

The project was designed by Andrea Collet + Alberto Granaiola + Maria Chiara Toncich during the Interaction Design Laboratory 2: Prototipazione degli Artefatti Interattivi taught by Gillian Crampton Smith + Philip Tabor, ClasVEM, Venice University IUAV, 2007/08 Venice.

Questo/a opera è pubblicato sotto una Licenza Creative Commons.

The video was made in collabration with Massimiliano Musina during the course Sistemi di elaborazione dell’immagine run by Massimiliano Ciammaichella 2009 at IUAV.

Questo/a opera è pubblicato sotto una Licenza Creative Commons.

This picture book is based on the book “The Canterville Ghost” written by Oscar Wilde. The noir atmospher around the english castle and its ghost clashes into the american Otis family’s materialism and sceptic style of life. I tried to express the mood through the contrast between gothic and pop design. I designed also a related book series called “My Favourite Colours”. We imagined a book serie, in which each book suggest a particular colour. I choose the blue color to designed “The Canterville Ghost”.

Designed during the Editorial workshop taught by Enrico Camplani + Daniele Balcon, ClasVEM, Venice University IUAV, 2007/08 Venice.

Questo/a opera è pubblicato sotto una Licenza Creative Commons.