Reading a recent blog post by Peter Janiszewski made me think about designing flexibility into habit frameworks. For instance, Peter proposes a plan to increase his daily activity level by taking a mini exercise break several times a day. Each break consists of 3 sets of 30 repetitions. He never performs the same set twice in one day [...]

This article is in line with my thesis work, and it seems fitting to share as people start in on their new year’s resolutions: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-tischler/forget-new-years-resoluti_b_798710.html The exercise described in the article prompts individuals to document their impression of the current state of their lives. Such reflection can lead to a redesign goal, such as, “My [...]

I spent the afternoon in the digital fabrication lab in Margaret Morrison and got to see models being created in 3D modeling software and carved by machine. So cool!

As a mini-project in the course Making Things Interactive, I created a prototype of a pop-up piano with six keys. When a key is pressed, the corresponding musical note plays through a speaker. A pull-tab can be also be pulled or pushed to dim or brighten an LED by means of a paper variable resistor. [...]

Behold my latest masterpiece for Making Things Interactive, a dazzling demonstration of mechanical movements. circuit driving the DC motor 4-bar linkage pivot point made of pipe cleaner twisted and duct-taped to my rapid-prototyping rig (aka my desk) string harness holding wooden dowel Unrelated to the final device, this is an earlier attempt at creating a [...]

A table-mounted, latch-equipped winch that raises a wooden stuntman in a pipe cleaner cage! Yes, my class Making Things Interactive rocks.

A simple board soldered with 32-gauge wire as a connector between solder blobs

For the course Making Things Interactive I am taking this fall, I had an assignment to make a switch. I decided to make a footswitch, which you can see in action here: Download now or watch on posterous Footswitch.m4v (4329 KB) To make the footswitch, I used two cutting boards that were laying around the house. [...]

Today’s class in Pragmatics of Color was tactile, beautiful, and tasty. Here is a sample of my own salad, which I attempted to capture in colored pencil.