Continuing our idea of the working environment as a source of hidden data we refined and developed several approaches to transform the visualization of our data into haptic data. To do so we explored all sorts of possible dimensions and gathered many ideas for concepts that each member of the group brought forward. Moving forward our process from the visual results to the final haptification concept will be covered in this post.
Previous visualization
Our previous work on visualizing the hidden data we collected shows that we have multiple dimensions that are coexisting or also influencing each other. For example, the overall energy one has throughout the day can have a significant influence on how stressed one is or how much work one could get done within a given period of time. Following our previous work and result, it was clear to us that refining this board model is necessary because it otherwise could get very hard or even counterproductive to squeeze too many dimensions of our data into one haptification. Knowing this, the need for a healthy combination of multiple data dimensions or focusing on just one dimension of our Data is required. After much deliberation it became clear that stress as a central focus point could be the best dimension to work with due to its usability in the end and a clear connection to all previous gathered data types.
Material exploration
Hard / Soft to pressure
Stones or thick metal objects are hard and do not yield under pressure. Foam, cotton or dough-like materials sink and offer different levels of resistance to pressure.
These properties can directly be translated to the gathered data regarding stress. A foam with a lot of air enclosures can absorb more than denser / harder materials. This could be used to encode resistance to outside pressure in the form of stress.
Hot / Cold
It is a dynamic property. Metal is usually cold to the touch, but can be brought to be very hot. Same with glass or stone. In opposition, wood or fabrics like fleece usually feel warm.
Additionally, a lot of materials can enter different states of aggregation depending on their temperature, often causing them to shrink or grow in volume. These properties can be translated to multiple use cases. For example, one connects colors with different stages of temperature, so a haptification of stress could be a visualization in color that radiates heat depending on the state. The encoded meaning could be that hot or too hot resembles a high stress level.
Elastic / non-elastic
Foam-like materials, rubber and springs yield to pressure, but return to their original shape when this is removed.
Non-elastic materials stay in that shape, once the pressure is released.
Different foam, rubber and spring configurations then again have different levels of elasticity.
These properties can directly be translated to haptify a person’s individual characteristics for example a tightly string coiled spring which is hard to deform / pull can encode a stressed person.
Flexibility
Some materials can adopt different textures. Paper, for example, can be folded and treated to offer a rough pattern or used simply smooth. In contrast, there are elastic materials like those mentioned above that are also flexible but do not stay in the modified state.
Moisture / growing and shrinking due to Water
Moisture and its effect on different materials can have a great influence on their properties. Without moisture and containing nearly no water for example, water beads or dried food shrinks in size, loses flexibility, elasticity and gets hard and frail. After adding moisture and letting the material absorb it, the beads or dried food gain back the lost properties. The synthetic example of beads has a very high limit of water that can be added, making them very interesting as a material to work with. They could encode how much a person was able to “absorb” during a work day meaning that a big bead resembles high absorption, high productivity and high resistance to stress and the other way around.
Pictures of exploration
One can see the different materials that were explored:
1) Folded paper.
2) Sandpaper 500.
3) Polyfoam.
4) Fleece.
5) Paper with artificial texture.
6) Packing foam.
7) Sandpaper 100.
8) Opaque (sandy) adhesive film.
9) Eva foam.
All these different materials embody different combinations and properties of the dimensions explored. They offer different reactions to pressure, deformation and flexibility.
Following our exploration and combining ideas, we had many different paths to pursue. In the end, only one haptification prototype could be used but the collection of ideas was part of our process to find a solution everybody can agree on.
Concept Ideas on the way
As mentioned, many ideas were sketched. The following is their overview.
Foam based anti stress balls
This concept would directly connect a person’s stress level and the well-known foam based stress ball. A stress ball could be used to encode a person’s stress during the day. A firm or even hard foam ball would be used for a stressful day. A soft foam ball would be used for a relaxed / easy-going day.
Spring powered grip strength trainer
The elastic spring with different configurations possibilities is a concept very close to that of the stress ball. It uses the elasticity of a spring to encode stress depending on how hard it is to pull. With this setup one could change the angle in which the coil is pulled which directly influences the strength needed. A steep angle, meaning less force is needed, encodes a less stressful and relaxed day. A shallow angle, meaning more force is needed, encodes a more stressful day.
Usage of sounds or sounds made by different objects
Another more vague concept idea was to use the sound different objects make when one interacts with them. Due to the fact that this idea does not directly use the above-mentioned haptification dimensions, it was quickly laid down but could be an interesting property in further development.
Bio based material / food
Using different food or bio based material was another concept that one of our group members came up with. One could either use the different properties food has to heat and cold, or directly use the taste of different fruits to encode data. In the end it might be a gray area regarding how one would use the dimensions but it is still a very interesting base of a concept.
Building Blocks
Using well known building blocks like Lego or just material that can be used as such can also be used to build a 3d model and haptify it. It would be possible to make a direct translation from a few of our visualizations using these but one would not utilize all the dimensions we have at hand with other concepts, but still a very versatile and interesting basis.
Rubber bracelet
Another more exotic idea was to use a rubber bracelet that would be dynamically changing to one’s state of stress. Meaning that it would be able to expand / grow or contract / shrink depending on the individual’s stress level. The dynamic possibilities of this concept make it quite interesting but difficulty here lies in the doability and how a prototype could convey the idea as it was meant.
Re-shapeable rope
Going in a similar direction as the rubber bracelet, this concept uses a re-shapeable rope that can be dynamically controlled to change shape to exert constraints on the human body. Just as the rubber bracelet the concept could make it into an amazing product but our capabilities and resources limit us to more similar prototypes and ideas. Still this basis could later be used to add a dynamic component to a normally static idea.
Hurdles on the way
On the way to create a prototype we faced many hurdles and some of them were also the reason why some concept ideas were dismissed.
First of all there is the general “doability” of all the ideas we had. We have a somewhat strict time, material and cost constraints at this stage that limit us to certain concepts. Some ideas we had might have been our favorite choice if it would be possible to complete them in a given environment like the bracelet or the re-shapeable rope.
Another issue we realized very quickly is the sheer number of possibilities. Every single one of us had ideas or vague concepts in mind. The biggest task was to single out a doable good one that would enable us to concentrate our resources.
In the end, we decided to do this haptification as a first step to the three-dimensional space, based on a simple idea that we could easily build.
Final haptification
Our final haptification is more or less directly derived from our visualizations on the postcards, taking ideas and data from different ones.
We took the clock metaphor to represent a whole day. But instead of using symbols, we used size (radial and thickness) and the material to encode additional attributes.
The foam type used for the different time periods (arcs) dictates the density and encodes the stress at that point of time during work. The individual height of the foam bit represents the energy level. The radial length of the foam bit represents the productivity that was achieved while working on that task.
With the used combination of properties it was possible to nearly translate everything directly connected to stress that we wanted to convey with our haptification.
Outlook
Even after developing a haptification prototype, it is clear to us that we are far from a “product”. We were able to translate our idea into a working haptification but there is still a lot of room for refinement and evolution, addressing current issues. A baseline of understanding and normalizing the data is needed, to make multiple clocks of different people or even the same person comparable. Otherwise it could be difficult to utilize this concept practically. Moreover, the individual interpretation can still differ using this kind of 3D visualization: one can have difficulty decoding the properties we chose and could easily be be misinterpreted.
Our task is now to work with the feedback we received to refine and evolve the idea to utilize its capabilities in a clear use case.