“ MOBILE LEARNING DEVICE FOR RURAL PEOPLE” - project 3

The Graduate diploma project of a duration of 4 months: Feb07 - May07.

The project is an attempt to arrive at a conceptual device, which acts as a complimentary system to the present classroom based elementary and adult education system, taking the content directly to the people while they are working. The advances in mobile phone technology and radio are studied and applied to arrive at this system, which is based on the recital way of learning.
The goal is to teach elementary language and mathematical skills, to the unlettered through voice and relative animations, through the device.

A process of learning, based on the three aspects - lessons, practice and motivation is arrived at, through which the interaction model and the physical device is designed.

Lessons broadcast through the device:

-Pre recorded content broadcasted through the radio network.

-Voice, text and image through messages, which could be recorded for repetitive playback.

Learning by playing back the lessons on the device:

-Recite along and save it to the device for playback later.

-Playback, check the recitals, re-recite.

Motivation by playing games stored in the device or sms sent to the device:

-Play different games to earn points, both while working and when free, to win a certificate and a prize!!!

-Answer real-time quiz in lunch hours to take home some more points.

-Get important tips in agriculture, public hygiene, community welfare, etc. as prizes for the quiz and games.

The controls - for navigation and usage are hardware driven, with the user getting feedback from touch, geometry - location and voice. The screen acts as a supplementary aid for learning.

The design catered to the aspect of 'wearing the product' while in use, so as a minimum disturbance was created for the users, while working. The product form was influenced by the interaction model and the wearability option, with lot of trials in models done to arrive at the final circualr dial. In another 'avataar' the device is converted as a handheld device, with the screen part 'fitting' into the control dial as shownbelow...

“ WHAT DO CHILDREN PLAY? When and why?” - an ethnographic research into a child’s routine.

A Special research project of a duration of 5 weeks : Jan 07...

It was a 2 member project, covering four locations representing a cross section of socioeconomic of children. Chennai, Trichy as the metro and big town and Harihar and Bhanuvalli (both in Davangere dist. Of Karnataka) as small town and village - these were my responsibility.

The project tries to answer these questions:
· What do children play, when and why?
· When do they change their game/ playpreferences?
· What motivates the change? Is there a group influence?
· Are there distinct differences in preferences of girls and boys?
It aims at being a point of reference for further in detail study related to the activities of children, cutting across the broad socio-economic spectrum of India, tracing the trends of favorite games, TV channels, books read, tastes and preferences and how these differ according to age, gender and location.

Around 40 children each, of various age groups, were interviewed and observed in both locations. And the data fed into Excel to come up with comparative analysis across different categories. Also a photographic documentation of interesting games that they play was done.
The study was a response to the need felt to understand the Indian children in the age group of 7 to 16 years for arriving at different design strategies by the toy manufacturers. But the findings are of importance to anyone who has to do anything with Indian children.

‘SELLING SOLUTIONS FOR SANDWICH VENDORS’- Product design project-2

Product design project 2 for a duration of 3 months: August 06 - October 06.

Synopsis:
The project tries to take a look at the life of the street side sandwich sellers in Mumbai, with the intention of learning their business motives and intentions apart from their present problems with their 'shop'. Apart from this their needs for identity and the feeling of 'owning a shop' are identified with.

The goal was to design a 'shop' which would cater to the identified needs in the above mentioned areas. Also, to arrive at system where in the vendors can invest according to their capacity and keep on upgrading their 'shop', with a local resource person identified as a mediator between the manufacturer and the vendor. Also, the act of the vendors interacting with this resource person for customizing the cart in various wayspainting, railings,name-boards, etc. - would also make them have a feeling of ‘owning the cart.'

The design also catered to the functional requirements of the vendors -

· Ease of work platforms

· Compact ability and mobility

· Storage spaces... Also each part had more than single role in terms of functions... As here the canopy folds down and becomes the cover (thus making the cart lock-able) and the pushing handle.

“ LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL ”- international design competition 2006 - winner of ‘honorary prize’

The design brief called for affordable housing for young couples in metro cities... The idea was inspired from the space utilization of ‘balconies’ by the mumbaiites, with a proposed modification of bye laws permitting use of projection spaces for residential purposes in commercial bulidings. Thus, creating a new form of landuse... The design is a generic unit of homes exploiting the ‘balcony’ spaces of office building for young couples- to save cost on land and commuting time... It operates at various levels of flexibility...

"MIRROR MIRRON IN THE BAG..." - winner of 3rd prize(Interaction Design) KYOCERA - WIRELESS DESIGN COMPETITION INDIA 2006

The competition brief called for us to select a user group and design a mobile device for the same. We two, selected the urban women users in the age group of 40-55, and briefly studied, brainstormed and created a persona - based on which the design was evolved. The design was also inspired by the ubiquitous mirror that they carry in their handbag...

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL-II : an entry for Peepshow International Pavilion Design Competition March 2006

The breif called for a design of a street side pavillion for display of art during the art festival, exploring the theme of 'truth' and 'illusion' - the theme of the festival. Also the other concerns were easy assembling and dissembling, context of the city, etc. We two, went over this for 2 weeks... The questions of ‘Truth’ and ‘Illusion’ have been the basis of human existence, and every human being has his own definition of truth and lies, based on his/ her experience... In "LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL-II", the dichotomy existence of truth and illusion has been the main guiding force... In the present context, ‘The act of experiencing an art form’ is the only ‘TRUTH’ and the whole world existing outside this, as in absence of truth, becomes the ‘ILLUSION’... This a structure which contains two layers/skins to enhance this experience of TRUTH and ILLUSION...

A. The INFORMED SKIN

B. The DEFORMED SKIN.

The INFORMED skin is the inner skin which when erected forms the backdrop for the display of various forms of art, thus it contains andfacilitates the TRUTH... The DEFORMED skin is the outer layer which plays with various level of transparencies and opaqueness along withdistortion to distort the TRUTH (of experiencing the art) and presents this to the outsiders as an ILLUSION.

The STRUCTURE consists of modules of 1m x 2.4m, which can be folded down as shown. These modules can be combined together and the whole space be built with relative ease. The SKINS are so structured that they facilitate easy dismantling/ collapsing of the structure. The floor module could have lock-able wheels below, so that the movement of the structures is also easy.

Revitalising 'KhauGalli' - a urban landscape...

Proposal for Naval Officers Residentail Enclave:

The brief wanted us to "make it look good enough for officers to come and have food under a minimum budget."

The site was visited and the patterns of usage - who and how and at what times, the surroudings, etc, were observed.

They were further exploited to bring in a wave of freshness, not only in asthetics but through programmatic interventions- paths and spaces.

Team of two members: an Architect friend and myself, went about it for 2 weeks...