October 28th, 2009
Last week we bumped into a noteworthy half-meta concept, The Rationalizer. Jointly developed by Philips and ABN AMRO, it consists of the EmoBowl and EmoBracelet. Officially intented for online investors working at home, the lights intensify and turn a brighter red when your emotions heaten up, offering a ‘mirror of emotion’ to warn you that it might be a good idea to calm down a few minutes before making any irrational financial decisions. Technically, the EmoBracelet detects your pulse and translates it into a light spectrum. Both bracelet and bowl visualize this spectrum.
An interesting idea, especially in a society where stress becomes a more common phenomenon everyday, even among younger generations. I think Philips and ABN AMRO have done a great job breaking the taboo around psychological health by transforming monitoring devices into designer objects.
However, I doubt if the Rationalizer in its current state really works. It looks like most attention has been given to its aesthetics, but what really misses here is some sort of training functionality. Although there is a feedback loop (the lights will change color again once you relax), it fails to advise you HOW to become more relaxed and stay relaxed over time. One could think of an online interface that would help you train through exercises. It could also plot your statistics, so you could see yourself develop over time (like Nike+). And if self monitoring won’t do the job, your doctor could track your statistics online and advise you directly through the interface. That would be a nice way to enrich the product experience, and make The Rationalizer a bit more useful.
Tags: Meta Products, Sensing wearables
Posted in Sensing wearables / No Comments »
October 24th, 2009
SmartUs products remind us of all those oldskool games you did on the school yard. With SmartUs several devices are added, such as a grid, RFID scan device and info poles by which many different games can be played.
During the game statistics of all players are uploaded to the web. Afterwards the players can review the game online by means of a score board and their personal performances. They can also connect with each other and expand their network of players.
Despite problems like vandalism and wearing, I still think this concept works. Leisure during school breaks and education through the analysis of statistics go hand-in-hand with SmartUs. Not to mention the fact it lets children work on their condition in a playful way.
Tags: Meta Products, Toys & games
Posted in Toys & games / No Comments »
October 17th, 2009
I was taught Industrial Design Engineering at Delft, University of Technology. A great education which I can recommend to everyone. However, I think it should reconsider its mission statement. Take its name for example: ‘Industrial’ Design. It refers to the era from which it stems (somewhere in the sixties). Back then it was all plastic fantastic, and mass production was the way to build. Many of the courses I took involved designing products for mass production. Terms like ‘design for manufacturing’, ‘design for assembly’, it all aimed at mass producing goods in the most efficient and cheapest way.
However, 40 years after its foundation the world demands more and more flexible, personal and unique products. I first noticed this a few years ago when students, including me, sought for interesting graduation topics and found the industry demanded design solutions in single produced products or small series. Most of the graduation proposals that students handed in at the faculty’s graduation commission got declined, since these topics did not involve mass production. How could they be so rigid and blind for what was happening out there?
Recent trends and innovations all point in the same direction, which is the exact opposite of mass production (The Long Tail). Here’s an example that illustrates what I mean: in a few years people will be able to produce and replace certain broken parts in their coffee machine themselves, simply by downloading a CAD-file, which they’ve paid for, and printing it with their own affordable 3D-printer. No mass production whatsoever is involved here!
In these cases the ON-OFF connection will become more and more important, since the web is the most flexible platform you can think of. It can help people with designing, customizing and even building their own products. So start designing for flexibility, start designing for the web, start designing Meta Products!
Tags: Education, product design
Posted in General / No Comments »
October 13th, 2009
Walking around the subway net of Paris while absorbing walls after walls of advertisements, I realized (and you must agree with me) no one is really getting happier with this amount of information yelling for attention. The irony of all this is that these ads are trying to sell you a product which should make your life easier, more fun, and in the end happier. The result however looks more like the opposite. I can think of 3 reasons why these kinds of advertisements are wrong:
1. You cannot ignore them. The human body is simply programmed to respond to bright colored, eye catching objects entering our personal space. So in a way, advertisers are simply forcing you to give them your attention. I think you should be able to decide for yourself whether you want to or not.
2. They pollute the city landscape. Buildings are filled with 23 feet high neon lighted attention grabbers. Instead of making a symbiosis between ad and building, advertisers do their utmost best to differentiate as much as they can from the context in which the ad is placed. Seriously, there are other ways to stand out.
3. They cost a lot of energy. Whether ads are put on paper or on neon signs, a lot of power is needed to produce and distribute them.
Having this in mind, I wondered how all this would look like when augmented reality sets in on a large scale. Just aim with your whatever-kind-of-connected-meta-device at the urban landscape and see advertisements pop up. You can filter if you want to, geo-tag locations or do whatever you want with the information. And the best thing is: you’re disturbing no one! City landscapes could be cleaned up, printers could stop polluting, but most importantly: you could ask for ads when you want to. Advertisers on the other hand will have an easier job getting your attention, since you were the one who requested the information in the first place and so your mind is already receptive for advertising.
Sure, as an advertiser you’ll have to take one step back while waiting for consumers until they request ads, but in return you’ll have a highly interested target group willing to learn more about your product.
Tags: Advertising, augmented reality
Posted in General / 4 Comments »
October 5th, 2009
Webkinz pets are lovable plush pets that each come with a unique secret code. With this code, you can enter Webkinz World where you care for your virtual pet and go on adventure with it!
We like the fact of having a real plush pet together with its virtual alter ego on the web. This combination works great for kids. The real pet serves as an everlasting friend, whereas the web takes on the educational aspect.
Webkinz proves meta products don’t come solely in consumer electronics, but can be as soft and heart warming as plush pets. And sometimes meta can be as simple as an entry code that comes with the product and which can be used to enter the online world. However, it would be nice though if ON-OFF could merge a little bit more than just by an entry code. Our search for meta products continues…
Tags: Meta Products, Toys & games
Posted in Toys & games / No Comments »
Meta Products – Building The Internet of Things
