working prototype……

as promised here we have a working technical prototype of our idea. this was meant to show how the concept would work and how the users would interact with it hence it was simply made of kappa board and although its not evident all the wires and the breadboard were hanging out of the back. it was also very useful in communicating our idea to other companies since we are going to be joining up with another company from the Interactive Media Design group. and for the feature presentation……….DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

the chairman

the EURICA moment!

it was a lazy sunday evening when the team met to see if we could thrash out a workable idea before the day we had to present it to the rest of the group. then it hit us harder than a runaway freight train. we had been going around the idea of some sort of a product that would allow chris’s grandfather, hamilton, to share his thoughts on the books that he reads as he reads a lot but he doesn’t have the motivation to join a book club or any sort of thing like that. since he does most of his reading in an armchair we decided to design an armchair in which he would record his thoughts. but since it needed to be a networked object we decided to design another chair which would be placed in a public place like a library or community centre so that people can sit and listen to his thoughts and respond to them if they choose to. have a look at the concept board and look out for the technical prototype.

we (HEART) blogging

here's some inspiring work done by a polish electronics student. he managed to transform an entire building into the classic Nokia game Snake. this is a good example of how we can push interaction into common yet unexplored territory.

new post.........FINALLY!!!

last week we had a visit from Richard Banks (check out his blog http://www.richardbanks.com/?page_id=1350) who is our link to the world of Microsoft. we presented our ideas and how we have interpreted the brief to him. inevitably, he told us what he thought about our ideas so far and how we could develop and iterate them from simple ideas and concepts into mindblowing interaction that challenge our perceptions of things. probably the best piece of advice he gave us was to think of what working is. is it working if you do something for your family and friends?

Meet the Team.

this is the brilliant brain box that is au courant design.

Our Company Values

credit goes to Phil, our master wordsmith who managed to sift through all the word jumble to come up with a clear and concise set of our company values.

We will design products to enhance the lifestyles and improve quality of life for older people keeping them up to date with a rapidly advancing world.

• We will respect the people we work with and for.
• Be sensitive towards their needs and lifestyles, aiming to improve, not intrude.
• Be conscientious towards moral issues involved in working with older generations.
• We will not shy away from challenging people’s perceptions of older generations.
• And are not afraid of approaching design issues with bold solutions.

Writer’s or Designers Block???

we are now in the third week of the project and it still seems as if we are struggling with ideas. don’t get me wrong we have done a lot of work to generate the multitude of ideas that we have now but yet we still feel that we haven’t hit the proverbial nail on the head yet. as a result we have been going back and looking deeper into our research and this new piece of technology that microsoft has been developing has stood out to be an indication of where technology is driving our way of life.

if you want to know more about this visit this site: http://www.microsoft.com/SURFACE/index.html  and tell us what you think.

A New Way of Working

Our brief asks us to look at 'new ways of working' for the older population. We must involve networking and sound into our solution.

Our company has decided to interpret this brief as 'new ways of doing everyday things'.