Setting Up My Techbox

Introducing my project for this semester

Loneliness is a common human experience that can happen to anyone, but it doesn't define who we are. Understanding how loneliness affects us and those around us can help us to better cope with it. It should be remembered that loneliness is often beyond our control, but we have the power to seek support and connect with one another. By converting loneliness from a personal to a social struggle, we can overcome loneliness and build meaningful relationships that enrich our lives.

This is the reason why I have joined forces with 4 other talented designers in the team The Loner Cinema Troupe to create an interactive art installation called "Distortion of Loneliness."

To create this interactive art installation, each person in my group produced individual techboxes, which were then combined together. In this post, I will share the significance of techbox, and what my techbox consisted of.

our group techbox, created in miro

What is a Techbox?

Prior to making a techbox for this assignment, I was not aware of what the techbox is, or its importance. Here is a brief explanation I found that explains what it is.

One of the primary responsibilities for a UX designer is to create intuitive and engaging user interfaces that meet the needs of your users. However, designing a user interface is only half the battle. You also need to ensure that your design can be implemented accurately and efficiently by developers. This is where techboxes come in.

In interaction design, a techbox is a detailed specification that outlines the technical details of a user interface element or interaction. It includes information such as the programming language, data format, or hardware specifications needed to execute the design. Techboxes can include diagrams, descriptions, and other technical specifications that help communicate complex design ideas to developers and other technical stakeholders.

My Techbox

Based on our group's field trip to other interactive art installations, I had an idea that we want to use tools such as Arduino or Touchdesigner, where we can use sensors from the former tool to receive personal input signals from the users, and make artwork with the latter tool. With this in mind, I created the techbox below.

My idea was to create an artwork where its pixels are distorted when the user turns on the rotating knob. It is meant to represent people "zooming in and out of reality" in public settings, such as when they are in the crowd, in class, at a party, or looking at social media.

my techbox

Our combined group techbox

After each of our groupmates shared individual techboxes, we created a group techbox. This can be seen below.

We decided to use my idea of distorting the reality, but combine it with other teammates' ideas of actually putting users within the artwork. This can be done by showing the user in the screen, or creating specific backgrounds that are meant to represent individual audiences.

combined group techbox

Project Details and My Role

The video below demonstrates an idea of the project we want to do. Instead of having a still image (as seen in the video), we plan on making the art more interactive by putting the users in the artwork. There will also be some artworks we created in the background that represents situations where people often feel the need to "zoom in and out" of reality.

My role in this project is to code the Arduino tool that connects to the device. This includes:

• Connecting camera that captures users and insert them into the artwork

• Rotating switch that allows users to distort the image

The tools I would need for this project includes:

• Arduino Uno Board

• Cables

• Rotatory Encoder

• 3D Printed Case (this may be replaced with premade switch)

• Camera

Arduino Toolkit

My other group mates will work on connecting the device to touch designer, creating the graphics, installing up the artwork, etc.

Stay tuned for what is to come!