Environments Studio III — Augmented Body
Experiment with ways that we can change a person’s relationship to their (natural) physical environment. Design wearable, physical artifacts to impact our senses through amplification, dampening, distortion, isolation, etc. to have an impact on the wearer’s perception.
Brainstorming
The Senses
With this project, we have been tasked to think about the way humans experience the world, therefore look at our senses — sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. Each sense has a particularly interesting and unique set of challenges when it comes to designing something that impacts it. For my own project, I first want to narrow in on the sense that I want to focus on for the project —
Smell
I chose to focus on smell for this project because it’s a sense I have not particularly thought about before in my projects. Also, I have been told by multiple people that I have a particularly sensitive nose, and am quickly bothered by bad smells around me.
The Purpose
After sketching out some ideas for the prototype, I wanted to greater flush out the purpose of the tool. While its primary purpose is to control the smells around you/give you that control, I wanted to see what else could be possible and what its other implications are with the tool.
In terms of the tool being something meant for consumers, the smell pouch could be customized to any scent that a person might want, which could be useful, especially when the smell in a specific place is overwhelming.
However, the project also had me questioning what the implications of changing the smell and in turn the associations a person forms with smell and place. I think that this tool would be interesting to use overtime to see how changing the smell of a place creates long term affects on a person and that specific smell.
Prototyping
Model #1
For the first model I tried mimicking the nose shape itself in a more rectangular fashion. The mechanism that I started with was putting the pouch in a piece that attached to the main piece with a gap large enough to fit a cardboard piece in between.
However, I did not like this mechanism. The cardboard piece that was part of the mechanism itself was a separate piece that the person would have to carry around. I also did not know how to put the “smell pouch” onto the nose shape. So, I wanted to come up with a new mechanism attaching the “smell pouch” to the actual piece, and not needing an external cardboard piece for the control.
Model #2
With the second model, I shifted to a rounder shape as the prism shape was quite uncomfortable to wear. It did not fit particularly well to the shape of my nose and the piece was hard to attach to any mechanism that would fit to your face. There was also no need for the design itself to be a prism. I also designed a new interaction for the smell pouch using rubber bands. The user can grab the pouch, pull it down and flip it, between the smell side and the cardboard side.
The Smell Pouch
For the smell pouch model, I used a bag of tea for my scent. I created a smaller pouch from the larger bag and attached it to a cardboard piece. I then attached 2 rubber bands to the cardboard that created the mechanism.
The piece itself attaches to the person’s face through adhesives that are safe for the skin. For the model itself I used artist’s tape just to mimic what the actual feeling would be. I then attached the smell pouch to the model through copper wire rings that the rubber bands could hook onto.
The mechanism for the model itself worked quite well. However, actually wearing this model was pretty uncomfortable. The tape adhesive felt quite unstable, and I’m not sure if the skin safe adhesive would feel much better. The copper wire rings also scratched the skin in an uncomfortable manner, so I also wanted to find a new way to attach the smell pouch to the main piece. I also wanted to find a new way to attach the model to my face.
Model #3
For the 3rd and final model of my prototype, I made the changes I mentioned above. I changed the method by which the device itself attaches to your face, using elastic that cups behind your ears. I also ordered some brass fasteners that would replace the copper wire to keep the rubber bands securely in place on the device. The elastic keeps the device more secure on the face. This model reminds me of a mask but one specifically for your nose.
The Final Model
