generative design and embodied interaction

7/23/2019 Generative Design and Embodied Interaction

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Generative Design &

Embodied Interaction

// Lachlan Philipson



2

Central Proposition

To explore how generative design methods allow

designers to create forms of digital communication

that adapt dynamically to their audience. My final

design solution takes the form of an interactive

installation made in collaboration with Harmony

Repia.

Motivation

This project was born out of personal fascination

with technology and more specifically computers

and digital media. Following my first semester of

investigation, I decided I wanted to relocate my

experiments from the purely virtual medium of the

screen and engage with users in a more embodied

form of interaction.

Embodied Interaction

Throughout the history of computer interfaces, we

have traditionally been forced to communicate to

machines with a machine language. The onerous

task of the translation required to communicate to

machines has always been laid on us, usually in the

form of pressing buttons or moving a mouse. With

the recent release of devices such as the Kinect

motion sensing camera, the Oculus Rift virtual

reality headset or the Leap Motion controller,

new forms of interaction are possible. This

trend (explored by a number of Massey student

projects) moves towards more human modes of

communication, such as hand gestures. All of

these technologies are beginning to move the

responsibility of translation between modes on the

machine. Paul Dourish broadly labelled this new

generation of systems as ‘embodied interaction’.

He defines this concept as a mode of interaction

with computer systems that “occupy our physical

and social reality, and exploit this fact in how they

interact with us” (2004).

Design Strategy

// Introduction &

Final output, a spatial interface ↓



3

Generative Design

Throughout the year of inquiry I have studied

and implemented the generative design model

in my practice. This process can be described in

flow diagram above. The first stage requires the

designer to abstract an idea into a series of rules.

Once a set of human readable rules have been

written, these must translated into machine code.

A programming language offers three distinct

building blocks to implement this:

• Repetition - computers may work on a problem

repeatedly or manipulate a system over time

• Logic - used to create control structures (e.g.

“if ”, “else”, etc.) based on static or dynamic

variables. (E.g. integers, true or false values,

etc.).

• Randomness - can be used to create variation.

Either through true randomness or measured

doses such as the Perlin Noise algorithm.

Once an idea is translated into code it can be

interpreted by the computer and image or design

generated. Then the designer will evaluate

the output. Very rarely will the initial result be

satisfactory. Rather than manipulating the output

directly the designer returns to the rules or the

parameters of the underlying abstraction. With

each iteration of these stages the generative

system will be refined until it creates a final

product.

Abstraction Translate into

machine code

Modify rules

Modify code

Evaluate

Interpretation by

machine

Idea Rule Code Output

Designer

The generative design model ↑



4

Experimentation

Openlab Logo Generator

One of my first research experiments manifested

itself as a collaboration with Thomas Le Bas,

a masters student working in Open Lab. The

Open Lab symbol, dubbed ‘the gear’, is meant

to be representative of the Lab’s dynamism and

adaptable approach to design thinking. With this

idea, we formulated a set of rules to determine

the generation of the permutations following

Bohnacker’s model:

• A series of four anchor points are placed at

random on 6 x 5 grid.

• No points may be on top of each other.

• Lines are generated connecting these points in

this order: yellow, pink, blue.

• The multiply blend mode is applied to these

lines creating the secondary colours: green, red,

navy and coal.

This project was extremely helpful for my research.

Firstly, when learning a new program it is so much

easier when you have a set goal. The blank canvas

of a text editor is extremely intimidating for new

programmer. To complete my own small program

from scratch felt incredibly empowering.

// Design Process

A small selection of the permutations→



5

Generative Typeface

The alphabet presents a unique contradiction to

the quest for originality.

“Every designer who works with the conventional

forms of the alphabet is condemned to endless

repetition of those accepted forms.”

- Eye, no. 15 vol. 4, 1994

The generative script I wrote creates a web-like

typographic form that detaches itself from this

notion. Each letter form, although created by an

identical set of rules, is unique. Spidery, strings

connect letters across the chasm of white space

to form an ephemeral typeface that is only savedfrom being wiped from existence by a line of code

that exits a repeating loop.

Final typography ↓



6

Drawing Machines

I have always valued the drawing process in

exploring a design idea. Sketching is a more

appropriate choice of words, as it describes a less

precise, more exploratory act (Glaser, 2001). Just

as a painter may construct elaborate drawings

before painting, a composer will work with a piano

before scoring and an architect will build models;

it is important to work with related materials to

approximate a finished product (Reas, Fry, 2014).

With this reasoning, to sketch digital media it isimportant to work with digital materials, in this

case a programming language.

A three dimensional

landscape generated

in real time through

the movements of the

mouse and randomised

with the Perlin noise

function in Processing.

←

Circles that follow

the path of the user’s

mouse and slowly

warp over time due to

the velocity of their

movements.

←



A generative drawing

machine written

in JavaScript that

captures the path

of kinematic, multi-

segmented arm. I

would like to build

this machine with an

Arduino.→



8

Collaboration

This project was only possible with the coming

together of two very specific skill sets that work

hand in hand technically and conceptually. This

was the convergence of Harmony’s conceptual

thinking in her research concerning the

storytelling of Māori wāhine in World War One

and my exploration into generative design and

embodied interaction. We identified that our

practises and research over the course of the year

both paralleled and extended each others body of

work.

Space

The Kinect sensor gives access to the unseen

spectrum of infrared light. This technology allows

a blurring of the boundaries between the physical

and non physical. Integral to a Māori framework

is the reality of these two realms Te Ao Kikkiko

(realm of the physical) and Te Ao Wairua (realm

of the spiritual) as inherently interconnected. This

is key to indigenous thinking and is constantly

reiterated on different levels through the

narratives - particularly the cosmological narrative

of Ranginui and Papatuanuku.

The spatial interface constructs an experience

that exists beyond the surface of the screen. It

recognises the tangible and intangible spaces

of Te Ao Kikokiko and Te Ao Wairua. By using

embodied interaction the interface facilitates

the audience to navigate beyond the realm of

the physical and be touched by the non physicalwairua of our ancestors.

Roles and Performance

By situating our final interactive piece in a gallery

space we are questioning the established roles of

authorship and audience. The installation moves

dynamically between a series of strategically

considered ‘states’ depending on the proximity

and attitudes of the audience. Berys Grant (2010)

states the audience assume a role of “performance”

in relation to the context of interactive art; as a

result, they “partially determine is instances and

features”. Within this definition, the audience’s

performance is an integral component of the

aesthetic effect.

Spatial Interface

// Final Output



9



10

User testing

We identified ‘interactive discovery’ as key feature

of the installation. Under no circumstance do we

want to have to explain how the system works to

the user. The system should reveal itself to the

user through the interaction model itself. This

process was accelerated once we implemented

Stuart Forster’s concept of the ‘digital shadow’; a

digital representation of the viewer in screen space.

Following extensive user testing, we determined

there is a position in the spectrum of abstraction of

this representation. Given too literal imagery, e.g. a

video feed of themselves, the user would feel too

self-conscious and not engage with the installation.

However, if their image was too abstracted they

wouldn’t identify their role in the work.

Other important findings in the user testing

included the range of behaviours demonstrated

across the age of the testers. Younger people,

especially children quickly discovered the limits

of the system, and then attempted to ‘break’ it by

contorting their body or confuse the sensor by

standing behind other people. Others, typically

older testers, where much more cautious, and did

not want to move more than their arms.



11

Learning Outcomes

Skills

This project has provided a unique opportunity

to both expand my design skill set and explore

new design concepts. From a practical stand

point, I have achieved my goal of learning how

to code. Although I will continue to learn and

improve, I now feel confident that I can quickly

prototype new ideas and solve programming

problems. Learning how to programme has been

a tremendously liberating experience and is truly

a completely new way for me to conceptualise a

design problem. This skill will be invaluable to me

moving into an industry increasingly perpetuated

through software innovation.

“What code offers us is the potentials of a newmedium: it can automate processes, model

abstractions, and design interactions. And I

would say its defining characteristic is the

immediacy, which lets us quickly iterate

variations of a single concept and evaluate them

in visible ways. Code is a luxury that artists

didn’t have throughout history.”

- William Ngan, 2015

Challenges

But one drawback of code is its immediacy; its a

potential confusion of cause and effect: that by

tweaking some parameters of a function, one can

generate a whole new set of dazzling effects, and

much of the original thought can be lost.

Like language, code channels our thoughts as wellas conditions our thinking. Weak thoughts get

carried away by stronger currents, but stronger

ideas can persist and are perfected through

iterations. We may discover these stronger ideas

not by playing with parameters, but by looking

outside code. By collaborating with Harmony I had

to the opportunity to contextualise my process

and not be distracted by its method of creation.

Conclusion

This unique collaboration has created the potential

to explore emerging technologies which has

resulted in the final design output of a spatial

interface that facilitates an embodied experience

through an interactive mode of indigenous

storytelling.

// Critical Response



// Lachie Philipson, 12072422, 2015, lachie2015.tumblr.com

http://lachie2015.tumblr.com/

http://lachie2015.tumblr.com/

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