by Giuseppe Burdo

catch

build

combineshare show

Sketchingand the Technological Horizon

Sketching and the Technological Horizon

1st edition, paper and pdf version

Printed in Venezia, Italy

fonts

text: Scala Sans Light 9-13notes: Officina Sans Book 8-13titles: Scala Sans Regular 74-80subtitles: Scala Sans Regular 19-22pictures: Handwriting - Dakota 9-13

I submitted this document for the exam on the twenty-first of Sep-

tember 2009 of the Interaction Design Theory 2 course (Telecomu-

nicazioni) given by Gillian Crampton Smith with Philip Tabor at the

Facoltà di Design e Arti, IUAV University of Venice.

For all word-sequences which I have copied from other sources,

I have:

a) reproduced them in italics, and

b) placed quotation marks at their start and their end, and

c) indicated, for each sequence, the exact page number or webpage

URL of the original source. For all images which I have copied from

other sources, I have indicated:

a) the creator and/or owner of the image, and

b) the exact page number or webpage URL of the original source.

I declare that all other word-sequences and images in this document

were written or created by me alone.

Venezia, 21 September 2009

Giuseppe Burdo

Declaration of originality

Introduction

PART I: Explore and describe

What a sketch is

Paper media

Digital media

PART II: Imagine

Augmented Reality

Quantum Computing

Mind control

Conclusions

Are you ready?

Source List

Index

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6

Someone said that one image is worth a thousand words. Well,

this is not an assay on which media is going to win the marketing

cup on persuasion.

Since immemorial time, people used to make sketches on the

rocks for different reasons, for example to better express what was

in their mind. But nobody knows how many purposed they were

used for: safety, business, pleasure, education, and so on.

Have you ever told to a tourist how to reach a place? And vice-

versa? Well, if so you maybe know how sometimes it is hard to tell

it. And let’s see hand gestures or rough drawing on some waste

paper.

Images play an important role in our everyday life, as for a

designer to present a project, for a person to illustrate a map, for

an artist to show his world to the committee.

Imagine when the idea to express is made by more people.

Here the game starts to be hard.

The booklet is divided in two parts. The first one concerns

Introduction

in sketching nowadays, and the main uses. The second is a

personal possible view on how it could evolve in the next years

according to the most advanced technologies. Have you ever

thought to sketch without a pen..a board..a paper...mmm without

anything?

For this reason you will look at strange things here, as a new

virtual shared interface that enables us to sketch in an easy and

engaging way.

This opportunity is potentially useful for everybody; the image

has a more common dictionary than any other language.

The approach is itself sometime a sketch, so don’t be angry

if you don’t find too many details. But if you want to know more,

write to this e-mail address: iamtellingyousomethingnew[at]

future[dot]com

Kidding aside, remember to keep your mind with you. You will

know why.

I hope it will be an easy and enjoying reading.

7

Don’t speak loud, someone could be scared

8

Part I

Explore and describe

9Figure 1 Daily sketch

“quick, timely, cheap, disposable, plentiful, clear but not precise, minimal detailed, not too refined, suggesting, ambiguous” 1

As Bill Buxton says, a drawing to be called sketch has to assolve

different features. You don’t need a lot of time to sketch, because

of its inprecise shapes, it’s not fine art. You can do it whenever you

want, a piece of sheet or a napkin and a pencil are enough.

Thanks to its cheap property it’s also disposable, in a way that

it is always useful as a track of the design process and as a way

for ourself improving. It has to be not too detailed, because in the

brainstorming you don’t know how exactly what it will be and any-

way it has to assolve a great and essential function: to suggest.

If you show it to other people, stay open to more opinions as

possible ... because they can give you more details about their

experience, their needs and what they are seeking for. Welcome to

the design process.

What a sketch is

10

Figure 2 How do you feel, Bill Verplank

Sketching is not prototyping

The design process is made by different and continuous stages,

from the research, based on needs and desires, to the real proto-

type.

We can represent this process with a funnel, where at the start

we have a lot of pre-ideas to manage and we define the opportuni-

ties that are the way how we think the things will work. But while

the sketches have to suggest and explore, the prototype phase

has to explain what the concept is, if possible in the appropriate

scenario.

There are already different studios who elaborate algoritms for

virtual environments, but they work just for prototyping in expen-

sive area of studies, where the final product is based on algoritms,

not just drawings.

Toward an experience design

11

fast to see+fast to touch+acustic beep

iconic language high visible, low energy

Figure 3 Sketching a Train Button

Figure 4 Sketching funnel, Bill Buxton

The act of seeing is not just an action. Think about where you

are, who is around, what you are dressing. Well, what you are do-

ing right now is more than reading. You probably are listening to

something else, volountary or not, or you are sitting on a comfort-

able chair.

This moment covers up a lot of stimolous, but just very few of

them are conscious. In a process design everyone tries to consider

more things as possible, as a matter of fact the branch od Experi-

ence Design has grown to become itself a new discipline.

It gets sense when the person feels and does, is related to a better

awareness of what surrounds us.

Paper media

Probably You have read that you need a H pencil and then a

stronger one. Well, it’s more simple than it seems. Surely colors

can add details and information about your scenario, but they are

not necessary. Take the first pencil or pen that you find comfort-

able and start sketching. If you don’t know how to make them ef-

fective and clear, let you get inspired by google images for example.

As Bill Buxton remembers2, maybe the first sketch was made by

Mariano di Jacopo called Taccola, from Siena in the fourteen cen-

tury. He was an engineer, sculptor and architect. His work has been

broadly recognized from his colleagues in the following centuries.

There could be several purposes, for example the figure 6

shows an exercise done in the Telecommunication’s course, where

we were asked to imagine a service for the mobile.

wide or narrow, heavy or light, rough or fine, white or coloured, from trees or rocks, these are usually the most flexible surfaces

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Figure 5 Taccola’s sketches

Figure 6 Alcove finder by G.Burdo, A.Filippi, V. Venza

Whatever is your idea, you have surely more chances to be clear,

and sometime also funny.

Fast prototype needs fast tools. The figure 7 shows how we can

design an application for a small device in less than one minute. It

doesn’t matter how it is refined at the start, it’s a good way to go

on in order to show how it works ... or how it will work.

“Sketching is a way of understanding the physical world”3.

Everyone has a way of doing that. And also you can be more aware

of what is around you, as for example to know how many plugs

are in your apartment. Sometimes it is a reason for the appliances

placing.

every line starts with a dot.every physical product grows out of a thought.

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Figure 7 Post-it way of thinking

Figure 8 Looking for plugs

Digital mediafast, portables, easy to edit, are no longer related to the heavy and voluminous computers.

Digital is about the information stored and eventually sent

using just two numbers, zero and one. Take for granted some bool-

ean logic, it’s amazing how many things our devices are able to do.

Think about deleting and re-drawing instantly without any

eraser.

Have you ever tried an etch to sketch board? Almost every

kid has used it or something very close to it. Someone has even

achieved wonderful results, often overpassing the sketching funda-

mentals to get into drawing.

Also the multi- award iphone and ipod touch are very suitable

for fast and small sketches. Use your finger, save or send it and

shake it to get a new blank window. That’s a deal!

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Figure 9 Etch a sketch board

Figure 10 Application for Ipod touch and Iphones

When computers started to show their potentialities, prob-

ably few people thought about sketching. The machine language

seemed not suitable for expressing something different from

complex calculus or hard-core programming.

On the left side there is a Google sketch screenshot This is used

for any type of project and sometimes also for serious purposes,

for example you can create your own building and export to google

map. That’s in just few minutes( yeah, more or less).

On the right, you can look at a funny web application called

iSketch. After the registration process, choose the language and the

level and get into one room chat. In turn while one member starts

to sketch, the other tries to guess what the object is. Then you get

a score. That’s also a good way for training. :)

digital for people involved in the work, analogue for everybody

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Figure 11 Google sketch

Figure 12 iSketch, web application

00101011 10001100 10101111 11110000

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Figure 13 From people to people through the World

DESIG

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Part II

Imagine

Augmented RealityLet’s keep it simple and fast what your world suggests to your mind

As Nathan Shedroff says, Science fiction has influenced also

Interaction Design. And surely, this is a part of truth.

On the other hand, even this genre is really inspirational, actu-

ally it is so artificial that people are no more humans, and this is

the last thing that IxD designers want.

Here we have a screenshot of the Matrix film, made in 1999 but

set in 2300. The police agent is using what it seems to be a com-

mon interface for retrieving data.

This is very close to the augmented reality, where you are both

in two spaces, real and virtual. The second one is able to give you

a more effective way of operating, and also more engaging. It’s not

by chance that the first purpose of this technology was used for

military simulations.

catch what you see

build what you need

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Figure 14 Sketching in the augmented reality

Figure 15 Matrix frame movie

While you are sketching something new, it is common to use

many things and objects from the real world. So, why should we

redraw something that is already real?

What you see in the picture above is the new way of sketching in

the augmented reality.

You can catch whatever you want thanks to a gesture recogni-

tion system and put it into your virtual sketch. Even if there are

several steps, you can come back whenever you want. Now you

build upon what you have just caught or closed to it. Other people

can also share the same space and editing or adding something

new. You can also keep your design process private, because of

your own glasses.

At the end you can show your sketch to the committee thanks

to a hologram projector.

show the virtual sketch to your committee

share the virtual space

combine whatever you want

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Figure 16 Haptic glove scheme

Figure 17 Virtual-reality glasses

Quantum computing“Nanotechnology allows control of physical properties of nano-structures and devices with single-molecule precision” 4

Do you remember the first computers in the world? Well, surely

you have seen them just on tv. They were big as a room, expensive

as a house, and so complicated that you needed a master in engi-

neering for using them.

In few decades of years, while they were used for even more ap-

plications, the prices were going down allowing more research on

them, in order to be the most fast and small as possible.

If a “normal” computer works by units of zeros and ones, the

next generation will not be based on bits, but on qubits5. Here, the

basic information is not just zero or one, but it could be both and

something else.

That’s why computers will became even smaller and able to

elaborate more information at the same time. When this technol-

ogy will be ready on confirmed improvements, it will be integrated

everywhere.

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Figure 18 Molecule structure

“We are just atoms and molecules”. I remember this sentence

from the high school, and I almost hated that because of its cynic

view. But actually, it is surely a true point of view. When we will be

able to catch easily information from molecules, we can extend our

potentialities to every kind of surface, more or less tangible. For

instance we can import the textile properties, or also the drawing

above that and export it to a new surface, just to say if it looks good

or not.

Think about tattoo. You will be able to transfer a new one

directly to your skin, and then you can decide if you really want it or

how long do you want to keep it.

We can extend the output of our imagination to all objects

around us, give them a different shape, size and color according

to our preference. Virtual is just what we are going to do, not just

awesome effects in dark environments.

In the future it will be possible to elaborate everything from and to whatever our senses can feel

tools

objects

environment

people skin

screeens

holograms

streets

wearebles

liquids

bulb projector

as humans, each innovation needs the communication of matters and shapes

walls

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Figure 19 Internet of things based on atoms

Mind control“It’s the thought that counts” says the Emotiv Team. It’s not just a way of expression, but also an interaction tool.

Have you ever realized to turn off the light when you were

already on the bed? Ok, maybe someone could clap his hands,

someone else uses a remote control. But think about to do that

just by the thought. Is it useful, isn’t it?

This research field was born in the last years with the purpose

to give a better living to paralyzed people. Actually scientists know

few things about, but some of the first experiments have already

achieved effective results.

How does it work? Well, the picture shows something like a hel-

met with sixteen electrodes. Each one gains signals from the brain

areas involved and they are interpreted by the software. Then the

recognized patterns are able to turn on the programmed devices.

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Figure 20 Brain Computer Interface device

signal processingand acquisition

signal classification

nowadays is almost possible to control things by our mind, but what if viceversa?

Until the previous possible innovations people have to use at

least their body, as the arm gesture, for using tangible devices, in

the future the thought will be already enough.

When scientist will be master on that, it will be possible to cre-

ate physical interaction without any physical movement. The chal-

lenge is about the training, both for the person and the systems.

Sometimes the way how the brain works is a little bit different from

each other. For this reason, the calibration is essential.

Each eeg signal with a particular range of frequency could be

assigned to a specific command, where all the external devices will

become part on the own body.

Many theoretical implication could come up, but as all the dis-

coveries and inventions done until now, the life of humans is also

due to their responsibility.

mind controlled

wireless controller

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Figure 21 How it works, general scheme

Figure 22 EEG Signals

Are you ready?

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Figure 23 A Human approach to the diversity

LAND ART AWARD CEREMONY

Dec 2104

Every object that we use could tell a story. A story of people

who have lived and continue to do it designing objects. If you

think about journalism, when you are not in the same place where

things happen, and you are not updated by any gatekeeper, you

don’t know anything about them. Well, probably it’s the same when

you are managing something tangible.

As a matter of fact, this tangibility doesn’t have a sense when

there isn’t a relation of the user. This relation of any kind of form

and context is called experience. Variables as time and context are

absolutely essential not only for evaluating, but they are the integral

part of the meaning.

The contemporary art also gives examples in this direction,

where artists consider their work to be finished by the spectators 6.

Obviously the value of experience has also affected the techno-

logical world. Even if the hardware is the same, the software can

make the difference, as the behavior of who you like or not. That’s

way you can listen to different opinions by mac and pc users.

So meanwhile computing becomes more and more invisible, in

the next years we’ll probably talk about human and artificial media

instead of hot and cold ones 7. Maybe over time we will resign

ourself to it, even if before we will be challenged from the same

people who at first consider innovation as an alien, and later they

will forget which is the difference from him.

Do you believe you are a medium too?

The media are us

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Source List

Text

1 Buxton Bill, http://www.sapdesignguild.org/community/book_people/review_sketching.asp2 Buxton Bill, Sketching User Experience, pg. 1053 Hart J, http://web.mit.edu/iap/www/iap01/searchiap/iap-2957.html4 http://www.youtube.com/user/dineshvadapally5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qubit6 Arturo Schwarz, The complete works on Marcel Duchamp, pg. 8857 McLuhan, http://it.wikiversity.org/wiki/Media_freddi_e_media_caldi

Figures

2 http://www.seisdeagosto.com/indica/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/howdoyou.gif

4 http://www.vuidesign.net/wp-content/images/BillBuxton_Mix09.jpg

5 http://www.facsimile-edition.com/3882261706c.jpg

9 http://www.coolest-toys.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/flairclassic-etch-a-sketch-the-worlds-favourite-drawing-toy.jpg

16 http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6748604-0-large.jpg

17 http://www.gearlog.com_images_17977.jpg

18 http://www.flickr.com/photos/21210850@N06/3378473847/

20 http://www.lewiswire.com/us/uploaded/front-whiteSM.jpg

21 http://nitrolab.engr.wisc.edu/images/BCIoverview1.png

22 http://www.neurodevelopmentcenter.com/uploads/pics/eeg_traces_01.gif

About the booklet

Sketching and the Technological Horizon is the second

booklet asked to make in the core theory courses in the

Visual and Multimedia Design graduate programme at

IUAV University, which are run by Gillian Crampton Smith

and Philip Tabor.

We were asked to explore, describe and imagine possibile

futures about our topic after the basic lessons concerning

the key concepts and techniques of computing and tele-

communication technologies. The size had to be in A4.

more infos at http://www.interaction-venice.com

About me

I was born in Terlizzi, near Bari, in 1985. After gaining

a Diploma in Electronics and Telecommunications, I

moved to Ferrara University to study Multimedia Design,

gaining my undergraduate degree with an experimental

thesis on visuo-haptic interaction in virtual environ-

ments. Meanwhile I worked in Milan as a multimedia

content manager for a communication agency and in

Lucca as product designer for Sca Hygiene Products.

Now I am in my second year of IUAV University’s Visual

and Multimedia Design graduate programme and as

erasmus student in the MSc Medialogy course in Cope-

hagen.

For any suggestion and/or comment I look forward to

hearing from you at giuseppe.burdo@gmail.com