Emily Lee, MFA ’10

thesis abstract

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Name: Emily Lee, MFA ’10

Thesis cover

Industrial design adapts to new technologies such as computers, GPS, and the Internet. These interactive media provides more open-ended opportunities for creative communication between users and products in a larger system with a number of different products.

The objective of my thesis is to design a new level of user experience that comes from a particular digital object. Currently a lot of attention is given to sensory and touch screens, but they are mostly designed in a 2D screen-based platform. I am interested in physical responsive interface design using reactive materials or transformative construction. These types of dynamic interfaces will enable people to have more interplay with objects in space. Unlike the past, we are developing high technology and complex engineering that makes such a goal a reality.

Here are two questions central to my thesis:

What design issues must be considered when “smart” or data-sending objects are brought together within a particular community of users in a specific situation?

How do physical responsive interface designs, using reactive materials or transformative construction, enable people to have a deeper connection with objects in space?

With these questions in mind, my work explores numerous systems of communication that are interconnected with digital objects. The heart of my work is at the intersection between dynamic media and industrial design.