HONOURS PROJECT

Look Back Photo Map

My Honours Project from my final year at university.

Look Back is a photo viewing experience, in the form of a 3D map of your photos. It combines a physical interaction to choose a location, with a digital display of photos from that location. The target market would be people who enjoy taking photos for the memories.

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Process Highlights:

An area for design? Photos

First I found an area for design, which is based off one of my interests, but also something that many people use and experience in their own ways. Photos.

At this early stage in the process I was also interested in incorporating Arduino technology and a playful spirit in the project, but was yet to see what form this could take. The earliest 'brief' I constructed asked the question of 'why and how do we look back at our photos?' and that became the basis for my research.

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Research & Insights

This design journey began with some research, asking around twenty people through a questionnaire, about the reasons they take and look back at photos. Many people commented that they chose to look back on their photos for nostalgia or to reminisce on holidays, travel and trips.

In identifying this theme of holidays, trips, and travel, I realised this could influence my project and focused on the responses related to these. The question, "When you look back at photos, what is your reason for doing this and what are they photos of?" brought back a number of responses talking about the idea of nostalgia, reminiscing, taking a walk down memory lane, etc.

“for the memories”

“holidays and places”

“to look back at special events”

“nostalgia”

“to remember fun events in my life or trips that I took”

“for reminiscing”

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Idea Generation & Interim Pitch

The research stage led into idea generation. I took the best ideas that I'd come up with, and thought about what linked best to my themes and insights. I also considered the importance of how each photo has a story and knew that I wanted to include at least one element of photo's story in my design. I thought about the six questions we use to tell a story and how I could ask these to help find out the story of a photo.

What is it of?

Where was it taken?

When was it taken?

Who is in it? / Who took it?

Why was it taken?

How was it taken?

The 'where' and the question 'where was it taken?' related to the theme of holidays, trips and places from my research, and also linked to some of the ideas I had been coming up with. Notably, one outlined simply as a:

"3D map of all your geotagged photos"

This was the idea I pitched at my interim presentation. I pitched this using a globe as one representation of a 3D map but I knew there would be other forms to consider.

At this point of the process, specifics, such as the map form or how exactly the photos would be found, were not set in stone.

With feedback on the presentation and the next steps in the design process, things would likely be reshaped as they moved further forwards.

Mark I Prototype

In my Mark I Prototype I explored a different kind of 3D map, like a flat map but built up in layers. Having the map on a larger scale allowed for more precision, and making it a UK map makes it less restrictive to those who haven't been on many world travels. This map fitted nicely with a dedicated screen into a sort of book form, which could be a photo album or atlas of sorts.

I described the experience as:

"Looking back at photos,

in a way that combines a physical interaction

with a digital viewing experience."

Video I produced showing my prototype and talking about it at that stage of the project:

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This prototype and video showed the experience but didn't yet have the technology to identify the locations.

I had considered the space requirement behind the map for the Arduino and components - and at this stage knew it would either be a few sensors or a number of conductive areas that would identify the location of the pin.

I would then be able to send the data from the Arduino to a Processing program on the tablet which would show the corresponding photos.

Mark II Prototype

My Mark II prototype followed on from Mark I, developing in a lot of areas including style, construction & materials, and technology.

The style took inspiration from the design language of books and albums.

I started to think about what materials would work for a final prototype and took a step towards these in my making to make a more solid prototype.

I made the prototype mostly out of hardboard, which gave it a more solid structure and allowed me to prototype the stands. The spine of the 'book', I covered in fabric to give it more of the look and feel of a book spine. I decided that cork would be a suitable material for the map, being something we are already used to sticking pins in. The cork didn't make it into this prototype but I had it ready for the next stage.

I got the prototype working to a basic degree using Arduino connected to tinfoil patches under the map. Each patch of foil was connected back to a different Arduino pin, and when touched by the positive voltage of the map pin, it acted like a button being pressed and identified which area was touched. The Arduino then sent the data to Processing on a tablet which displayed the images from whichever location had been identified.

Another important development was the stand feature. This was designed to give Look Back more of a presence in a room, which would let it be used as a shared experience as well as a personal one.

A video of my Mark II Prototype working:

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Final Prototype

I refined the materials to improve the appearance, to further reflect the book style and to make the final prototype as neat and reliable as possible. This included making the main structure from MDF, the map out of cork, and using fabric and paper in the outer covers to imitate book covers.

I refined the technology to make it a fully functional prototype, using copper PCB board to form more accurate and reliable map areas. I settled on the name and branding of Look Back and incorporated this fully.

The Making Process:

The basic structure is two boxes held together with a spine. Each of these boxes is home to a stand.

Two outer covers attach to the bottom of the boxes, which form the outer covers in book mode, or the resting place for the stands when in stand mode.

On the inside of these covers are end papers, like found in hardback books, but these reflect the map theme also.

In one of the boxes is the tablet to display the photos, and in the other is the map and the Arduino technology required to identify the locations.

Behind the cork map is a piece of copper board, as used for printed circuit boards. This was divided up into many areas, and each of these links back to a pin on the Arduino.