Enchanted Objects

Who would ever said I would have learned magic tricks at Ciid? And how magic tricks are related to design? This week we have the most enchanted week of the year. Together with Adrian Westway and David Rose we applied magic thinking to product and service design.We started our research questioning ourselves about magic and what makes people perceive products and services as magic, finding out it’s not only about the smart application of technology but also the experience and the narrative we build around them.

Performing a magic trick is very challenging and useful to test your ability of storytelling while performing a manual task. The trick itself is weak without a good story around it. That is what we learned in the first exercise where we have been told to enchant a piece of furniture and make a video to tell its story. We created the matching bench for public spaces. It tells you if you are sitting nearby someone you match with, analyzing your Internet open data. Being connected to the surroundings, it gives prompts about the matching person helping you in starting a conversation.

As a final exercise we analyzed the problems of an open space studio like Ciid is and, after an inspiring brainstorming session, we came up with the idea of showing the levels of noise created by people while working in order to increase noise awareness and self control. Here you can get a look at our tangible interface, Hover.

This class has been special for me. When I applied to Ciid I was a little bored of product design and I arrived with the intention of learning how to innovate furniture and products through the invisible use of technology and I think this class was actually answering to my need. Not only, Adrian and David managed to bring a unique sense of palpable harmony to the class. I think I will bring with me, together with their teaching, Adrian’s constant optimistic attitude and David’s curious glance.