Friday, November 30, 2012

catch video


a pitch for our multimedia experience system, "catch," a way for alzheimer's patients and their families to try to preserve memories together while they can.

the box



the standard screen. william wants to catch a memory.


he has five inputs. 4 digital, and 1 physical. he's inputting a physical object. 


he holds it up to the internal camera of the box's screen.


the camera focuses and catches the key.


next, he will teach the screen what the pressure sense of the object is. 


now the box can recognize when the key is placed on it.


three inputs are available for the primary description method.



they use the video recording to descrive the object.


touching the camera icon turns the recording on and off.


this memory has been caught!


later, william wants to reminisce.


he lays an object on the box.


this displays the memory map associated with the object, as it has been added to by others.


the mobile app allows william's grandson jacob to capture a memory on the fly, as well as scroll through the most recently added memories.


the hub, as seen through a website.


rollover states describe the two options.


twila wants to catch a memory.


she can add a new memory from her webcam, or upload from her computer.



she uploads from her computer. 


the photo becomes full bleed with the opportunities to add information about the memory. 


twila can circle a moment to tell its story.



twila adds her memory to the photo.


as more people add memories to the photo, these vignetted designs will allow each moment to tell its story individually.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

rosedale identity & communication

this is a two-part initiative to unite the citizens of rosedale under a single visual identity that they can take pride in and that can represent them positively to the outside community, all while helping to facilitate communication between the neighborhood's many organizations & resources and the community members that they serve. this is divided into 6 components: a new identity system, environmental implementations, supporting materials, a promotional video, a kit of parts for branding further video productions, and a rosedale guide booklet of resources and directories.

Final Presentation


with love,
the superduperultramegaübergroup (michael armstrong, eli brumbaugh, abby carr, ashley einspahr, collin rausch, and jessi wilson)

Sunday, November 4, 2012

belated blog post: rosedale healthy halloween!



last weekend was the rosedale healthy halloween festival in whitmore park, across the street from the rosedale development assocation office.

(backstory: it was the same day as national portfolio day, so i didn't think i was going to get to help out, even though my whole beloved ultragroup was going to be there, so i was very sad, but then i tried that magical trick called "communication" and i negotiated with my kcai boss to let me work a half-day so i could go to rosedale as well!)

because i discovered with some amount of late notice that i could attend in the first place, erin had already staffed the stations with volunteers, but spares and backups are always handy during events like this, so abby and i (as well as my boyfriend and his roommate, who just-so-happened to be in town that weekend for a concert, and as such, got roped into helping out too) turned up to see how useful we could be.

the extra gentlemen i brought played a terrific, ongoing, and variable game of something that was kinda like hackey-soccer with a bunch of fast and mighty kid-athletes, as well as helping brumstrong with the masks.

i helped produce some masks, took some pictures, did some wicked dancing with abby, heidi, & the little girls of rosedale, and then really hit my stride when mckenzie wanted a break and let me paint faces. i doled out tremendous mustaches to young and old alike, as well as pumpkins, spiders, kitty whiskers, hearts, and one power rangers lightning bolt i had to google on my smartphone to figure out before a little boy started to cry.

it was a fabulous experience, and so genuinely fun for everyone of all ages, volunteers, organizers, and most of all, festival-goers. it was great to see rosedale families taking part in the opportunities that exist in their community, and all the kids having such a good time at a neighborhood party that proves you don't have to be unhealthy to have fun.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

degree project problem questions.


how can communication technology through mobiles and the internet help support people in long distance relationships?

how can poetry become interactive and spatial and touchable in such a way as to make non-creative people care?

how can love stories of all sorts of people be told through data mining and information graphics? 

how can tweens&teens be taught about how their brains work in such a way that it inspires not fear or unease but excitement and joy through motion?

how can the narratives of the internet weave a reaffirmation of the good of people, not just the violent, for those who don't understand technology?

how can social media help young people be convinced to trust and say words at each other without fearing abandonment?

how can a group of people united by a place use experimental and gestural storytelling in a physical space to connect with one another and their home?





these came a great distance. in the reflective exercises and the original "think about your life" questionnaire, it was confirmed that the things i care about are people and feelings and words. it was confirmed a lot. it was confirmed so much that i got kind of frustrated by how little variation i was getting in my reflection that i started in with some absurd existentialist poetry in the form of problem questions. this turned out to be way more generative than i had expected and, when it came right down to it, really did give me the seeds for the questions above. so, i mean... hell yes. creative writing. anyway, here's that, if you're interested in reading where this all began.



how can i, a person, in a place, doing a thing, made out of flesh and feelings and flaws, ever hope to impact another human, existing in his or her own constellation of experiences, through, say for instance, kinetic typography on an ipad?

how can the collecting and sharing of stories in a physical space help people feel significant and connected to their home and the people around them?

how can a dialogue

how can we refocus

how can 

how can poetry become interactive and spatial and touchable in such a way as to make people give a shit?

how can i induce feelings of love and safety and cautious hope in individuals who are willing to participate in a system to facilitate such 

how can i subvert the workplace the money the monsanto the audience the 

how can i let people care about each other when they're scared to do that across the country or across the street. using a motion graphic?

how can autobiographies fit together into a mosaic of archetypal experiences that nevertheless express the perfect sublime humanity of each solver and connector they represent

how can people be taught how their brains work in such a way that it inspires not fear or unease but faith and excitement and trust in the incomprehensible machinations of the universe and makes them want to reach out and touch one another by the hands

how can accountability be generated to hold people together who want to be held together but don't trust themselves alone to do the holding? (barring a marriage contract.)

how can the narratives of the internet weave a reaffirmation of the good of people, not just the violent, and allow the expressions of exhaustion to be a testament not just to priorities but to devotion?

how can rhetoric be used to justify the never-ending experience of mattering to one another, of the ordinariness of basic human connection and the denial or attainment of physical or emotional needs through the transition and duration of motion

how can people be convinced to trust and say words at each other without fearing abandonment? does it require social media? 

how can formal experimentation with analog image-making techniques help people relate to one another and bond over the meaning of being a human in a place that is impartial to whether or not you happen to call it home despite your proximity or lack thereof to the ones that you love?

how can intuition drive innovation through the augmented generation of expressions of human connectedness and communication through the ease of cooperation and the support of ubiquity?

how can the goodhearted help people to take function over form to make meaning happen, between understanding and continuation?

how can the emotional struggle of expression through bodily exhaustion be reassured through the allowances of mobile interaction?

how can design pontificate companionably over the unwavering difficulty of withstanding a single monday?

Monday, October 22, 2012

mx "catch" visual directions

box information input


box viewer


hub information input


hub viewer


hub viewer rollover state (original color of image)


mobile (after taking photo) information input



mobile (simple feed only) viewer


box information input


box viewer


hub information input


hub viewer


mobile (after taking photo) information input


mobile (simple feed only) viewer