Started with a 3 meter plank of raw birch

And, milled it to flat and square. Created 16 pieces, each 36×36mm X 300mm

Oct 18 - Oct 25: Matt in Umeå
Draft Thesis Project Review with PR

Nov 26
Revised Thesis Project Description complete with schedule and cost estimates emailed to PR

Dec 9
Name of sponsoring company(ies) submitted to PR and Project Tutor complete with contact person information

Jan 4 - Jan 20: Matt in Umeå
5 minute presentation of Degree Project in auditorium on Jan 19

Jan 21 - Jan 25: Matt in Oslo
Work with Timo Arnall to make a workshop on Switches at Oslo School of Architecture

Feb 25 - Feb 27: Lift
Attend and ideally present at the Lift conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Matt, Timo and Adam are likely to be attending—would be ideal to have time planned for some discussion around the project.

March 9 - March 12: ETech Conference
Presenting a workshop on Holistic Service Prototyping: Sketching in Hardware and Software. Believe that Matt, Timo and Adam will be attending—would be ideal to have time planned for some discussion around the project.

March 13 - March 29: Matt in Umeå
Halfway Meeting with PR and Project Tutor on March 17/18

April 11 - April 18: Matt in Umeå
Five week out meeting

April 22 - April 27: Salone Internazionale del Mobile
Bring and hopefully formally present the swatches in Milano, Italia

May 8

(Matt submits Thesis Report via Email to the PR)

May 15 - June 5: Matt in Umeå
Examinination, Poster Submission, Report Submission, Degree Exhibition Opening, Graduation Dinner

This project will culminate in a series of sketches/swatches—not specifications for a product or service. With this said, it is my goal to discover product and architectural applications through this sketching process—these application concepts will be in rough-sketch form and only meant to inspire the audience. Since there will be no user ethnographic research or testing of ideas, any Sketch Application Concepts should be viewed only as seeds of ideas.

For this project I am proposing the formation of a project committee comprised of international thought leaders on ubiquitous computing, social objects, and design. This committee would participate in the ideation and sketching process in a variety of ways: online documentation and conversation, my visiting members at their locations around Europe, and during a three-day summit during the Spring of 2009. During this summit the committee members would be invited to UID to participate in a Friday of presentations hosted by the project then spend the weekend at the ICE HOTEL where we would engage in critique and ideation. The summit presentations and documentation of the ICE HOTEL visit would be major components of my final deliverables.

•    PROJECT COMMITTEE
o    Adam Greenfield, Head of Design Direction for service and user interface design for Nokia.

He has spent the past ten years exploring the intersection of technology, design and culture, with a strong focus on issues around ubiquitous computing. His 2006 book on the subject, Everyware, has been acclaimed as “groundbreaking,” “elegant,” and “soulful” by Bruce Sterling, and “gracefully written, fascinating, and deeply wise” by Wired’s Steve Silberman.

Previously a rock critic, coffeehouse owner, San Francisco bike messenger, psychological operations sergeant in the US Army Special Operations Command, and head of the information architecture department for the Tokyo office of the notorious early Internet consultancy Razorfish, Adam speaks frequently before a wide variety of audiences. He lives and works in Helsinki, Finland.

o    Matt Jones, Founder and Lead Designer, Dopplr

Matt Jones is a designer. He was creative director for the award-winning BBC News Online and Sapient’s London studio in the late 1990s, then returned to the BBC in 2001 to design the BBC’s first web search and a pioneering geo-located social network for social activism. From 2003, he joined Nokia in design research, then as a Director of UX Design. He is one of the founders/lead designer of Dopplr.com, a service for
frequent travelers.

o    Timo Arnall, Design Researcher, Oslo School of Architecture

Timo is a designer working with interactive products and media. He leads an international research project on mobile technology, collaborates on interaction design work and lectures in design, physical computing and design methodology. Timo’s work spans design, media and technology; specialising in emerging use of new technologies, sketching and design of user-experience, and the visual design of ubiquitous computing. Previous history of his design work has included projects on the web, location-based and mobile services, film and interactive television production, motion graphics, installations and exhibitions.

Timo is currently based in Oslo but regularly works in London, Helsinki
and Brussels

o    Mikael Wiberg, Mike Stott and Jasjit Singh from UID would also be participants

My project sponsor is:

CHALLENGE OVERVIEW
Furniture, jewelry, fine art, architecture are all objects that people tend to care for and hand-down through generations. What are the qualities that set these objects apart and how can a digital product transcend to having a place in this exclusive group? Consider the concept of “heirloom electronics”: What factors are involved with a person wanting to keep something for a long time, to hand-it-down between generations, to appreciate it beyond its monetary value. What sensual qualities make an object covetable? How can natural organic materials be synthesized with electronics? How can these parts and the interactions that they afford as an interface be intrinsically related—feel as if they were naturally born together; to be parts of a single anatomy; be singular and precious.

This project will embrace a material exploration as the ultimate deliverable. Through a series of sketches, swatches (simple abstractions involving both organic and digital materials), I will explore a variety of form and behavior compositions. This process of sketching with natural physical materials, hand craft, and both the hardware and software of digital interaction will be driven by intuition and will rely on iteration and discussion with colleagues to continuously and spontaneously guide next steps.

The few constraints that I will start with include: combination of natural materials and digital materials; objects/interfaces will be designed for humans; high quality natural materials and high craft will be valued over hyper-efficiency for mass manufacture. The majority of “swatches” (interactive compositions of natural and digital materials) will be relatively small scale and abstract. Their function will be as a sketch, to enable design exploration—to act as a sounding board for myself and as vehicles for conversations with colleagues. Success of a swatch will be measured by the contribution it makes to the sketching process and the curiosity, surprise and delight it brings to a participant—they should be coveted. Together the swatches should form a palette from which one could imagine a variety of applications.

* “New Covetables” is from a short film by the same name by Charles Eames

So often digital products and experiences lack the aesthetic quality that comes from handicraft, and the speed with which digital technologies become obsolete often preclude the use of natural materials and time-consuming manufacturing techniques. I would like to explore how craft traditions can be brought into the center of interactive digital design.
I believe Sweden’s cultural design heritage joined with the Institute’s core philosophy will create an especially rich arena for exploring the integration of these digital and craft disciplines.
At the beginning of the last century, the Swedish Society for Industrial Design linked artists with industry with the motto of “More beautiful objects for everyday use.” Visiting Sweden I have felt the resonance of this movement. With a social-aesthetic philosophy based on that of the German Werkbund and the Bauhaus school, Swedish craftspeople and designers proved that it was possible to utilize contemporary technologies without sacrificing aesthetics and utility. I believe that we are again in a predicament where mass manufacture, digital technologies, and a globalized economy stand to threaten the quality of the goods and experiences we design and use. LCD faces on gold Rolex watches may not be the solution, but what is?

INSPIRATION: Brio
In an older issue of Svensk Form Magazine I read an article explaining that Brio has sought to reinvent itself in recent years in the face of significant challenges. Strategies have included exploring innovative products, new marketing, partners and distribution channels, lowered production costs, and repositioning as a hip brand for active mobile parents. Through this all, CEO Thomas Brautigam explains that the key challenge is in “making Brio modern while retaining its credibility.” These ideas inspired me to think about Brio’s position through the lens of “what could digital technologies do to enhance these much-loved traditional products–products that almost must be made of wood?” While the growth of manufacturing in Asia threatens the livelihoods of local craftspeople, this company’s brand is built on high quality Swedish design and craft. I think that this problem has many interesting facets including:

•    Natural materials and high-craft mixed with digital technologies
•    Globalized manufacturing versus local craft traditions.
•    Lower environmental impact through longevity (“heirloom electronics”)
•    Software layer updating to maintain a product’s relevance (keep up with intellectual sophistication of a kid as they grow; or, stay culturally modern)
•    The socio-economic issues involved with business planning for a high-quality/high-fashion brand that people will want to invest in over cheaper lower-quality options

EARLY INTERESTS
•    I am interested in the perceptual dissonance created when combining digital technologies with natural materials and high quality craftsmanship. This dissonance is often the result of the relatively short useful lifespan of digital components contrasted by the relatively long potential useful lifespan of objects made from natural materials.
•    What emotional impact is involved with having natural materials and high quality craft in a physical human-computer interface? How can this be done in a way that is not merely a case modification (i.e. rosewood case on a laptop) but rather in a way where the digital technology and the physical object are in harmony, are intrinsically related—feel naturally born together.
•    How can the high quality object act as a lasting platform for technology? Is it possible to make any computer/electronic hardware components swappable or to use mature and relatively simple digital components so that they can match the object in useful lifespan?
•    Can a high quality object have a longer useful lifespan when a software layer can be swapped and updated to match the interests, abilities, culture of its owner? Imagine a growing child with a chair and table that can be physically adjusted as they grow taller, and when its height is adjusted, the sophistication of the interface and content grow to match the intellectual development of the child.
•    Can a digital object create less of a negative environmental impact when its useful life is extended significantly by having the qualities of an heirloom electronic (high quality craft, natural high quality materials and appropriate digital technologies)?
•    Wood is a classic natural material for high quality crafted objects and when farmed responsibly can be a renewable resource. It is also biodegradable and requires relatively less caustic materials and processes in manufacturing when compared to most plastics used in digital products today. There are also a number of wood based recycled materials that could be utilized while keeping the effect of natural material. There is an international competition called Sustainable Wood that has a deadline of June 2009. A goal would be to submit the results of this project as a proposition that augmented functionality through interactivity could extend a wooden products useful life.