Project Proposal: Interactive Booth Elements

Intention

I would like to combine what I've learned in the E-Textiles course into a current project I'm undertaking as a participant in the Spring Carnival tradition of booth making. My organization's theme is Legend of Korra, an animated show that features "bending" of elements and spirit animal hybrids. I would love to add more interactive and tactile elements to the booth.

Research

I began with visual inspiration, and what exactly I would want to be interactive. The examples showed in class helped me narrow this down - we were shown a capacitive pom pom that would change the color of a LED - this got me thinking about how spirit animals change color (they glow differently) depending on if they were "good" or "bad", and how this could a be foundational inspiration for the interactive elements of the project. Just seeing the pom pom was a good proof of concept for me - this would definitely be possible to execute. 

I continued to think about what the booth would be like and how the elements could be contained. Booth hallways are at minimum 3 feet wide, but also can't have too many bulky things in these corridors because it would interfere with safety requirements. Therefore, the interactive pieces themselves would have to be pretty flat - potentially plywood cutouts with additional attachments (such as pom poms or touch spots).

I figure this would be possible to do with the gemma+neopixel combo we learned how to solder in class, and also kept visual note of how to do so:

Visual Component

After thinking about the technical and contextual requirements for making the interactive elements, I began to sketch out what they would look like. I focused on the idea of making a few elements interactive - so that visitors could reach out, touch spirits (in a tapping way, or squeezing a capacitive pom pom), and they would change colors like they do on the show.

Reflection

It was great to see how a micro course (with just three meetings) led to me being able to flesh out a plan to make some interactive pieces for the booth. It was great to learn how to solder and strip wires correctly, as well as be introduced to how textiles can be incorporated into projects. I had never been exposed to conductive thread or the use of battery packs like in class, so it was great exposure as well. I also thoroughly enjoyed the artists and projects shared in class - I made sure to write them all down, as they definitely served as inspiration for this project, and I'm sure they will for others in the future.

Sample Book

Here are samples made in class:

Neopixel soldered

This is the finished el-wire hooked up to battery, that showed me how hard it is to cut and solder the wire!

Muscle wire attached to fabric