Creative Process Journal, 22-23.

> Experimentation with Ardunio & Demonstration on LED Strips
> Solidifying my stance on HFI & Final Outcome

In the excitement of diving into interactive experiments pertaining to my topic, for weeks I have admittedly been keen to re-create a tutorial watched about creating an Interactive Coffee Table. In performing this, I’m not looking to make just something that reacts to an object’s placement but rather use that interaction to convey and quantify the weight of human consumption.

FUNCTION I WANTED TO RE-CREATE:

Andreas conducted a demonstration using an Arduino board and a LED strip to mimic this function by creating a switch using 2 jumper wires that would inherently perform the “if” function where a certain number of lights would change their colour. This is as per what I had intended but using this switch to fake the sensor technology of placing an actual object over the led strip for it to react. As adding sensors to each led strip was of a little more advanced level, he said I could start experimenting first we just the LEDs.

I decided that from here, I could conceal these strips into a strip row of squares first and conceal these with materials like cardboard and use a blurred acrylic board or semi-transparent paper to diffuse the light from the LED strip. Using this switch, I could record a video displaying the first steps of how I performed this table concept which I had hoped to develop more for the final outcome.

Consultation with Vikas on Dissertation Topic

I initially joined this consultation as my friend from a different atelier class was unsure of her topic and wanted to consult Vikas but needed a group to consult with, hence I and a few others joined her to do so. It was insightful as Vikas provided various resources from different angles and perspectives on the issue. He found the case studies on “Mother’s touch” interesting where the making of preserved food was mentioned. I mentioned how initially I wanted to explore this topic of food preservation in depth. He gave insight into how I could even do experimentation regarded with homemaking of preserved food. Lots of food for thought :D He mentioned his own experiences of creating fermented yoghurt which is healthier than probiotic drinks such as Yakult found in stores that contain more added sugar than necessary. This sparked my interest in how the creation of homemade foods and self-preserved foods could be encouraged in the direction of promoting health & awareness.

Vikas also mentioned regarding computation, to not look at this issue at a macro level and try to solve a problem as experiments may fail but it's the playfulness in design that matters more. He also mentioned a student who inject huour in projects with a topic similar to mine.

Eating Together by Justin Zhaung

Discovered a book about eating from Matin and was able to find this book at the library. Interested in the graphic case studies, I looked more into the authors Justin Zhaung and Sheere Ng who founded an editorial design studio creating various food design publications where I found other works of theirs that look at food from captivating psychological perspectives and is local to Singapore.

Constructing the prototype

I placed an object over the highlighted lights to form the notion that “too much food” is placed on the “table”.

On Friday I consulted Andreas once again to borrow his soldering machine!

Learned that I need not solder at the end of the LED strip as long as I do not criss-cross the wires that are soldered.

Only the first part of the LED strip lighted at first although all the wires were soldered to complete the circuit : ( Had to slowly check the strip to ensure I did not miss out any loose wires!

More stuff going on

It was much more difficult than I thought it would be! Stripping the wire manually with a plier was tough. Moreover ensuring each copper plate on the LED sensor was sufficiently covered in solder with the wire. I was anxious thinking that, after soldering so much, the LED may even not light up! Stripping the wire with a plier took a lot of hand practice and I tested different angles and found that pulling the plastic band on the wire in an upwards motion works the best compared to other angles. I also ensured the wires were correctly connected to the LED sensor where the corresponding wires flow to the correct sections before soldering.

The hardest part was keeping in the wire in place while soldering as it is less malleable under the amount of tape and also being wedged between the LEd, the wires stray in unpredictable directions. After a few attempts of soldering the wires, I used the plier to bend the exposed wires to stay in the correct position (within the copper plate).