PROTOTYPE AND PLAY – DESIGNING IN THE CONNECTED AGE

PROTOTYPE AND PLAY – DESIGNING IN THE CONNECTED AGE

THIS SEASON’S FIRST CREATIVE CIRCUS EVENT PUSHED ALL THE RIGHT BUTTONS

Tuesday May 17th, the Creative Circus Spring Edition kicked off with “Prototype & Play – Designing in the Connected Age.” The aim of the workshop, organized by ADCN and partner Dutch Digital Design, was to explore how prototyping can bring an idea to life and working together in a team with different disciplines.

Bert Hagendoorn, founder of Dutch Digital Design, opened the evening highlighting how prototyping connects the real world with the digital world.

The group was divided into five multidisciplinary teams to create a prototype of an idea for transport, sports, fashion, games and music with the help of littleBits.

Each team was coached by an experienced creative technologist:

– Kees Plattel, Creative Technologist at ACHTUNG!– Ubi de Feo, Director of Secret Space Program at MediaMonks– Thijs van Hoof, Creative Programmer at Random Studio– Ruben van der Vleuten, Founder of FROLIC Studio– Koert Gaaikema, Technical team lead at Thispage Amsterdam

Ruben van der Vleuten demonstrated the importance of prototyping with FROLIC’s self-initiated project: The Bike Bell. Their case video gained a lot of exposure. “The first prototype is just the start. To make it real, you’ll have to keep prototyping.” Said Ruben.

Next up was Ubi de Feo. He showed the value of prototyping with a project he has done with MediaMonks: The Hope Locker. “You have to investigate your object, measure its size and understand what it does. While creating an idea, never forget to keep playing.” he explained his process. The first prototype showed that it worked and really sold the idea.

Kees Plattel introduced littleBits – easy to use electronic building blocks with a variety of functions. “littleBits puts the power of engineers in the hands of artists and designers.”

Every team consisted of people from various disciplines including UI Designers, Product Designers, Strategists, UX Designers, Producers, Architects, Art Directors and Developers. After getting to know each other, themes were picked and the brainstorm began. LittleBits boxes were opened and within mere minutes, the teams were experimenting with childlike enthusiasm, sticking things randomly to each other, hoping for an unexpected result.

The team laid every part on their table and tried different combinations to see what would work and what not. Club ADCN was filled with alarm sounds, turning signals, quick beats and high pitched sounds. There was a lot to learn from the backgrounds of all the members. “Multidisciplinary work brings you back to reality.” said Ubi. Some sketches were structured and obviously showed the hand of an engineer, whereas others were wild and free. The exchange of first experiments resulted in great laughs and more ideas.

PROTOTYPE AND PLAY – DESIGNING IN THE CONNECTED AGE

Halfway the process members from other teams appeared at other tables. They were sent out to exchange parts. This added an extra social dimension to the evening and created a good competitive atmosphere.

The teams finished up their prototypes and applied cardboard, marker drawings, stickers and the always-useful duct tape. Time to present the prototypes!

First up was team Koert. They made the Yoga Reward System. By performing a yoga exercise on the custom mat, a reward mechanism was activated. In a real life demonstration, someone had to do at least thirteen push-ups. The thirteenth push-up activated a small car stacked with pizza slices, that came rolling out of a box. The crowd loved it.

PROTOTYPE AND PLAY – DESIGNING IN THE CONNECTED AGE

Next up was Ubi’s team. Their prototype was called The Mad Max Sound System, a self-driving car that promised to be a music experience on wheels. By using the stroboscope light app on their smartphones, the car would activate itself, driving around while making beatbox sounds. It was highly experimental and received a lot of oohs and aahhs.

PROTOTYPE AND PLAY – DESIGNING IN THE CONNECTED AGE

The team of Thijs started with a fun presentation introducing the Wireless Cookie Control System. The problem? People stealing your cookies. Opening up the cookie box activated different soundbites that demotivated you to take one, for example: “Are you sure you want a cookie?” , “Have you ever heard of self-control?” Eventually the box would give up and say: “Well done Fatso, I give up!” It was well received and could be one of the prototypes of the evening that already had a market.

PROTOTYPE AND PLAY – DESIGNING IN THE CONNECTED AGE

We went to see what Ruben’s team had made. “It is hard to find a place to work from outside of your office.” They introduced Bee There, a prototype that allows you to find a power plug for your charger, can detect the scent of decent coffee and the best spot for a stable Wi-Fi connection. We all saw great use for the product and were ensured that production had already started.

PROTOTYPE AND PLAY – DESIGNING IN THE CONNECTED AGE

The team of Kees had the disputable honor of doing the final presentation. They created The First Digital Human Centipede, a device that will allow you to walk through the streets without ever having to look away from your phone. An indicator on your chest points out were you need to go and lights on your shoulder give a warning to other people indicating where you are going. Other smartphone users can follow right behind you, creating a long row of people who now no longer need to look up from their phones when crossing the street.

PROTOTYPE AND PLAY – DESIGNING IN THE CONNECTED AGE

After the final presentation, Bert Hagendoorn thanked everyone for their participation. The prototypes were functional, useful and all of them showed how much fun the teams had in building their prototypes. After the workshop was closed, people hung around to exchange experiences, thoughts and related projects. Some participants said they learned a lot from building the prototypes, having to change the way they think in the process and working with what was available. Others even discussed putting the actual prototype on Kickstarter. And for the first time ever, dismantling a prototype was not as much fun as building one. A big thanks to Bert, Koert, Ubi, Thijs, Ruben and Kees.

This event in partnership with Dutch Digital Design is part of ADCN’s Creative Circus. Take a look at all the photos we took of the evening on Facebook. Up next is ‘Advertising versus Design’ by ADCN presidents David Snellenberg and Richard van der Laken, May 24. In this session we will explore the differences and look for opportunities at the intersection between the two fields. Only a few tickets left for this session. Make sure to register today. See the full Creative Circus Spring 2016 program here.

The Creative Circus is brought to you with support of our partners De Persgroep, Heineken and KPN. Shop Around has created the artwork for the Creative Circus.

All Creative Circus events are free for ADCN members. For more information on becoming a member, please take a look here.

Mick Jongeling is a graduating Advertising student at the Willem de Kooning Academy. He has a passion for Art Direction, Digital Advertising and Internet Art. Recently, he started working on installation art. Next year, he will enroll in a MA program in Manchester, England for which we won a VSB scholarship. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Delicious.

Photography by Jonathan Roy