Posted on

Conductive Crystallized Textiles

Sandy Hsieh

Cultivating conductive embellished textiles with electrolysis and exploring its potential for embedded electronic circuitry.

http://doc.sandyhsieh.com/category/fashiontech/

Description

Inspired by “artificilae/matter”, Hannah Croft's extensive collection of samples where crystals are grown onto woven and embroidered textiles to create mineral surfaces of ‘cultivated embellishment', I want to explore and expand the potential applications of growing conductive crystallized textiles with electrolysis. Conventional methods of crystal application typically involve hand-sewing or adhesives, which can be labor intensive and expensive. Growing crystals is an obvious and elegant alternative, and the results have an organic aesthetic. I will be focusing on integrating the crystallization of copper within textiles to generate traces for electronic circuits.

Classes

Expressive Interfaces: Introduction to Fashion Technology, Soft Robots and Other Engineered Softness

Posted on

Haptic Wayfinding Bracelet

Vidia Anindhita, Sandy Hsieh

Wayfinding wearable device and mobile app that translates turn by turn directions to haptic vibrations to safely guide visually-impaired users to their desired destination.

Description

For people with visual impairments or blindness, wayfinding, or the process of navigating unfamiliar spaces to reach a destination, is a complex and intimidating task. Although mobile phones now come preinstalled with screen readers (ie. iPhone VoiceOver and Android’s TalkBack), Google Maps and similar GPS navigation apps are not user-friendly. People with visual impairments or blindness rely heavily on multisensory feedback from their environment to navigate spaces, but the auditory feedback from the screen reader tends to overpower all other senses and can be very overwhelming for the user to concentrate on what steps to take next. This could potentially put the user in a distressed and vulnerable state, especially if others in the surrounding environment are also distracted (i.e. smartphone zombies). We are proposing to design a different user experience using principles of calm technology. Calm technology is a type of information technology where the interaction between the technology and its user is designed to occur in his/her periphery rather than constantly at the center of attention. Using Maps API and Bluetooth LE, we are developing a wayfinding bracelet and mobile app that translates turn by turn directions to haptic vibrations to safely guide visually-impaired users to their desired destination.

Classes

Bluetooth LE, Designing Meaningful Interactions, Expressive Interfaces: Introduction to Fashion Technology, Looking Forward 2: Design for Accessibility, Looking Forward 2: Design for Accessibility, Tangible Interaction Workshop