LOOKING FOR A CONCEPT
PROCESS
We started our second event in the Makers room / Fab Lab / at 8pm on the 26th of March. Even though it was quite late we got a great attendance with loads of people that came to our first event as well as few newcomers! I was very happy to meet everyone, as I wasn’t able to make it to the first event!
After a brief introduction (where we encourage people to join and post their research and interesting finds about the topic onto our Facebook page) we ground them into what to expect from this event. As we only had two hours we had a plan prepared that would ensure we get the most out of it!
First we divided ourselves into four random groups of five and brainstormed within the group for 30 minutes. Everyone had some ideas ready (as we specified this on the invitation) so the time was sufficient for each group to come up with a bunch of really cool ideas.
After the brainstorming session we put up all the sheets onto the wall and one speaker from each group introduce them to the rest of the participants. We allocated one hour to this part of the event and it was great! So many ideas sparkled up a refreshing discussion that sparkled up new ideas! We kept track of all the ideas for the final vote.
The aim of the evening was to have three concepts for the electronic feature of the garment, so to speak it’s function.
(for example it would lit up if one walks through dark space…or it would make a noise if I am falling asleep…)
No idea was too small or too big or too impossible!
(you can see the list of ideas in the ‘FINDINGS’ section of this post)
When all the groups finished their presentations we all took a short break to get some water and sweets (Thanks Ivor, great idea!) and think about the ideas. To be honest I found it really hard to pick three favourites as there was so many of them!
And then we voted!
Lucia
FINDINGS
We had a great mix of people so we had an overwhelming amount of ideas from various sectors…entrainment, performance, health and safety, medical, security, gaming, personal assistance, BIO recording, musical…There was no stopping for anyone to think about the form of the garment however that wasn’t the priority of the event. Form will follow function and that will be a task for our next event!
selection of ideas :
SYNCHRONIZED WEARABLE ELECTRONICS
HOT & COLD GAME CLOTHING
Clothing for kids interactive game that would signalize if one is close or far away, with various life saves.
(for example: releasing smoke, becoming invisible…for a chance to run away)
CHAMELEON CLOTHING
Clothes that would scan for color of surrounding backgrounds, other people’s clothing etc. and match the same color or generate complimentary color.
Clear shoes that change accordingly to the outfit by color detection and color display matching.
MOVEMENT DRIVEN CLOTHING
Clothing that would record and analyze movement and react with different effects.
(for example: lit up, make sound, change shape…)
EXPERIENCE ENHANCING CLOTHING
Clothing that would enhance an experience of someone or something else as a part of entertainment or enforcement for sport and gaming.
(for example vibrates for excitement, shock if surprised…)
FESTIVAL CLOTHING
Clothes with festival aesthetic with self expressive or interactive elements
( for example feather headdress with LED effect or mechanical movement function…)
LIGHT EMITTING SHOES
Shoes would be synchronized within the group or community( Facebook friends, hen night, stags, youth clubs, team nights out…) to lit up when together. They also could animate to dancing, moving or to the music beat or use some other displays of synchronization.
MOOD INDICATION CLOTHING
clothes that would detect mood in some way and display it with LED lights in a form of emoticons or phrase.
(☺/☹/OK/HAPPY/ SAD…)
Potentially for people who have a problem with communicating basic human emotions or for spreading a good mood (for example if I am happy you are happy…)
MECHANICAL WEARABLE ELECTRONICS
CHARGING CLOTHING
Clothes with a build in USB charger that would charge phones and other gadgets by storing solar and / or creating kinetic energy…
STEAM PUNK COSTUME
“Steam” powered clothes appealing to the eye, that displays number of rotating mini satellite dishes, rotating cogs… and other mechanical or electrical elements
RAIN PROTECTION CLOTHING
Clothes that protects sports people in the rain with automatic ‘umbrella’ like effect, that fits accordingly to the specific sport need by application of rain sensor and mechanical mechanism.
NOTIFYING WEARABLE ELECTRONICS
JIGSAW CLOTHING
Clothing made out of various pieces that fits into each other to create different shapes. Different kinds of clothing for example top could change from one with collar and short sleeves into one without a collar with long sleeves… transferable elements would have different functions based on phone various phone notifications. It would notify about emails, texts, fb feeds etc…each in a different manner
LIVE FEED CLOTHING
Clothing with multiple screens which would display live tweets, advertising…
HEALTH & SAFETY WEARABLE ELECTRONICS
SAFETY MOTORBIKE JACKET
Jacket that would enhance indicators by use of LED lights for motorbike drivers as a part of fashionable leather biker jacket.
X- RAY PROTECTION CLOTHING
Clothing or method that would protect from x-ray while being light and comfortable to wear.
HEATING / COOLING CLOTHING
Clothes with temperature sensing for health & safety and personal comfort purposes, that uses manual / automatic heater with temperature sensors. For example clothes could react early if a baby was running a temperature, and start to cool the baby, while raising the alarm to parents. Or clothes for comfort maintaining the body temperature – heating when cold and cooling when warm.
WARNING CLOTHING
Clothes that warns you if you are about to lift something beyond your strength, customized to different limbs. This clothes would use an application of strain-gauge measurement to log data and give immediate feedback to serve as a body protection and movement recording and evaluation device. For example it could also be used to ensure someone follows a prescribed set of exercises given by a physio instruction or in rehabilitation center after sports or accident injury.
LOCATION DETECTING CLOTHING
Discreet and comfortable safety gadget that would be integrated into child’s clothing. It would help parents with young children to help find them if they got lost in a shopping center or perhaps on holidays.
STRESS REDUCING CLOTHING
Clothes that would indicate if one is getting stressed, and perhaps have some soothing reaction or vibration that would encourage him to relax, and de-stress.
ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIVE WEARABLE ELECTRONICS
BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY CLOTHING
It would scan for weather and shine light accordingly.
(too cloudy it would shine more , too sunny it would shine less, heavy rain – animation of sun etc…)
HEAT SCANNING CLOTHING
Interactive animation on the clothing that would change based on the distance of another person. For example patterns or colors would change as person comes closer or touches the clothing.
GADGETS
CAMERA CLOTHING
Clothing with build in camera that would take pictures if person has a full hands or is in the rush
TELESCOPIC HEEL
Heels that would automatically lower if shoes are causing pain. Using a sensor to sense the weakness of muscles or a simple timer to reduce height over the time worn.
ITEMS LOCATOR
Gadget that would find items in bags or other storage spaces
Light up keys /phone by a touch button/switch in a garment or accessory
ELECTRIFIED GO-GO
Go-go that would straighten your hair / or notify you that your hair looks bad from the back
BIO FEEDBACK ACCESSORY
Pedometer and heart-rate monitor feeding back to a curved display wrapped around the arm.
LISTENING HAT
Hat with build in speakers for convenient entertainment.
ELECTRONIC DISPLAY FEATURE
LED BOOTS
Boots with LED strip around heels, with vertical strips up the height of a pair of knee-high boots, would lit up in accordance to the frequency of movement.
CHANGEABLE PATTERNS
Clothes with full LED light pattern and motion sensors. Light pattern would change in accordance to a movement while wearing the dress for example fast changes/ when dancing or moving fast and slow subtle changes when walking or dancing slowly.
AUGMENTED REALITY
Simple clothing that would ‘blossom’ under a camera.
LIGHT EMITTING CLOTHING
LED lit ball gown
