Reflection and Critique:

As predicted in our premortum, our biggest challenge was indeed configuring the Spotify API. The circuitry was relatively simple; however, we did have some difficulty in soldering the neopixels and ensuring that they would fit within the specifications of the frame.

While we believe that the value this product exists, there are certainly shortfalls to our approach - and several ways in which it could be improved. Using genre to communicate mood may not be the most effective approach, as genres do not necessarily reflect mood. Some genres can better be generalized in reflecting a mood, such as EDM, but other genres, such as rock, pop, and blues, are more nuanced and therefore less indicative of mood. Instead, we would have wanted to explore using other elements associated with a Spotify song, such as BPM or danceability, to communicate one's mood. Higher BPM would likely indicate a more elevated mood whereas lower BPM would indicate a more relaxed mood. The same is true for danceability. Nonetheless, we think the frame in its current state, and in the context of the time we had to work on it, poses a powerful way to communicate with your friends. It sits passively in the background and informs you of what your friends are listening to, their 'mood,' and also allows you to communicate to your friend(s) that you're thinking of them via the addition of a song to a shared playlist.

Another avenue we wish we had more time to explore is privacy. One question that comes to our minds if what if you don't  want your friends, or others, to see what you're feeling or listening to? Is there some way to receive incoming messages but prevent outgoing messages? This is a feature we would want to explore in future iterations; though, as for the immediate version, one could argue that privacy can simply be addressed by turning the frame off.

One thing we really enjoy about this communication approach was that it could fail gracefully. If the IoT mechanisms were to fail, the frame would still be fully functional - that is, it would still function for what it was ultimately intended for - to hold and display a picture.

The value of looking back at overlooked, forgotten, or otherwise older works has been infinitely valuable in our approach. We were able to apply different features that worked well and learn about what didn't work well (and making changes accordingly). We were able to synthesize these features into an ordinarily functional device into one that was enchanted.