Below you will find links to the projects I have been working on for the last semester!
PUBLIC SPACE & BIKES
We were assigned with looking into the concept of public space, what exactly is it? and where can we find it. As an avid cyclist I began to think about the idea of perpetual moving public space. As a bike rider you inhabit a public space in motion and often people in their cars begin to obstruct that public space you have acquired, also known as the 3 feet rule. For week one, I created a website to focus in on some critial aspects of Rhode Island bike laws. The website is seen as a tool or a resource page to spread the knowledge of safe riding.
When revisiting my concept for week two, I wanted to work with data and a stronger message. In the time that I had I wanted to create visuals for data that was previosuly difficult to find online or simply not discussed.
If I were to expand on this project I might pair it up with a twitter bot or some mechanism that could aggregate data and work on its own to spread the message.
YOU NEED TO VOTE
For unit two we were tasked with taking inspiration from a local coucil meeting. Our goal was to see how the web and democracy could merge together. I found the gestures of the voting process during the meeting was something that was lost when a regular citizen goes to vote. I was interested in how the mobile device could be used as the medium of voting. I worked on an app called VOTER. I worked on two version with two interfaces for the voting process.
The second design was based off of feedback from crit. Before the voting process is based on a screen tilt “up” and “down” for “yes” and “no”, I decided to pursue a more ambiguous spectrum with a four way directional voting system allowing the user to specify or contextualize the vote. This app would be used as a tool to quickly get a tally of resposes for a council member to then act upon. Knowing a quick concensus of a your voting body allows for a more accurate stance on measures you’ll vote on.
COMMUNITY SOUND
Unit three was all about sound for me. I was very interested in the idea of communal sound. Some questions I came up with were: what does a neighborhood sound like? What is a truly public radio? What is a sound creator? I became fascinated with this idea of communal radios, or community generated sound. I thought the web would be a perfect place to try and crowd source a communal sound. This project took a few directions with a little bit of an interest in java script and how that could enhance the experience. For week one I was focused on this idea of making the process of music making communal. So I was interested in creating a real time sequencer on the web, essentially a constant stream of music programmed by the community.
After critique I was led to develop a more functional tool, focus in on the user as the generator of sound. Before I was stuck up on the interface, but with the user now in mind I changed to a mobile device because of the utility. I realized that a community soundscape should be built by the community. So allowing the user to capture, record and then share sound anonymously for a specific area became interesting as an idea.
I VOTED STICKERS
After an in class discussion with John Marion, “a lobbyist working to better voting access and policies in Rhode Island.” He came specifically because he posted a tweet asking for a “I Voted” RI sticker. We looked to see how design could help the problem and maybe to intertwine the medium of the web. I personally believe that voting should be more enforced, one way to do that is to have a government sponsored branding campaign, neutral in the vote, but interested in increasing voter turnout. The government would subsidize a campaign to take over all corporate advertising space. Every billboard, poster space, bus panels, digital signs etc… would be forced to display one branded ad, eventually matching the theme of the stickers. The goal is to create one unified voting experience. The sheer multitude would be a spectacle for any, and most certainly create jobs in the process.
If I had more time to work on this project, I think I would add an additional icon on each sign piting towards the nearest voting booth.
RESEARCH PROJECT
Online division three soccer ownership group based in Japan. Fujeida MYFC has a very unique rise in the soccer world, once being saved by onlne crowd funding. link to project–>