Collaboration Project

Interaction Design and Jewellery Students Collaboration

Amanda Lucey, Liana O’Cleirigh, Kate Storan, Emily O’Toole and Beau V

Research

We were asked to design 2 prototypes of a wearable communication system in span of 2 weeks. During the research process we explored into many subjects that we thought would be interesting to communicate. We discussed our ideas in a loose and open manner that were a possible outcome for us.

The two concepts we decided on are;

1. A way to instantly alert allergy sufferers of near by allergens.

2. A way to raise awareness of the potential dangers of facial recognition A.I

A way to instantly alert allergy sufferers of near by allergens - Be Allergy Alert

The jewellery students Beau and Emily was in control for the bracelet because it’s more into their course. Started with a few sketches of the concept and how it’ll work. Then moved onto paper prototyping, what shapes would look good and how the actual mechanism fit onto the actual bracelet. The use of paper prototyping allowed us to measure correct measurements before making the actual bracelet. They also played with pieces of copper to show us different designs and textures for the bracelet and what it could look like as an end result. For the small mechanism we connected a small button, a small vibration motor, a 3V battery and wires that were soldered together. We tried to make it as small as possible for it to not be seen when it’s in use.

A way to raise awareness of the potential dangers of facial recognition A.I - Digital Armoury

Digital Armoury was inspired by the Hong Kong Surveillance Protests a few months back. We began by considering the value of our biometric data to private companies or government institutions. We explored the ideas of a wearable that can be easily distributed, and can instantly communicate this concern, naturally we went with a mask. A mask is the simplest way to hide our identities from A.I. recognition, but as A.I gets more sophisticated some systems and programs can surpass the mask to read our identities. The main purpose of this is distribute and create awareness for the dangers of facial recognition surveillance not only in Hong Kong but around the world. We assume that in the near future most countries will start using this for surveillance in cities. To distribute the message we decided on putting a QR code onto the mask for people to scan. Once it’s scanned then viewer will be lead to a AR feature on your phone that has a short brief of the dangers, if the viewers want to more or get the mask themselves, there is also a website that has more information and there is a pdf for user to print and make their own Masks.