Prototype:  

While I was brainstorming ideas in how I could decide what type of a form to give my object, I realized that I was going deeper and deeper into design questions, that should be addressed later in the process. I realized that I was thinking too much about user preferences, materials, and forms when I should actually focus more on the process of creating. I started looking at objects specifically, stress balls and fidget cubes, and realized that what I was looking for was an ergonomic shape on which I could imprint my memories, realizing how technically challenging creating this structure would be, I decided to build a small-scale structure of our brain's synaptic network out of used note-cards and masking tape. I had been inspired by looking at a brain and seeing a visual of the complex and large networks and wanted to visually reconstruct it. As I built the structure I varied the "length" between the blue connectors (symbolizing the memory) and the red tubes (which symbolized the connections and pathways between synapses), making the structure a bit abstract but it gave me a structure which I could use to explain how new memories are formed and how the synapses in your brain can branch out and form new connections, when a memory is revisited. After finishing my structure I turned to look at what technologies, were available to make my "Ergo" a reality and even though I was not able to physically wire and code a prototype of its functions, I came up with a diagram to show how it could work.