Experience Prototyping with Tellart

Matt and Rian from Tellart came to Umea for a 1 week prototyping workshop. It was great fun to work with them and all the stuff they brought to play around with. Our task was to prototype something to make a full working day at the computer less boring and less unhealthy.

I worked with Youle and Mike in this project and they had a lot of great and funny ideas. We ended up with three prototypes:

Prototype 1: Work out with Colleagues!

After a certain time of sitting, working and starring at the your computer screen, the picture on the screen seems to shrink. You have to take both handles and pull as hard as you can, to drag the picture on the screen back in its normal position. But its not possible to do it on your own, so you have to ask a workmate or friend to help you. Our intention was to make the people in front of their computer get up from their chairs. Get your mind away from your work for a moment. Have some small workout and meet other people and talk for a while. Their is also a small fan and a blender connected to the computer, providing you with fresh air and a cool drink after the workout.

Prototype 2: Drink sufficient Water!

Our second prototoype focused on the drinking habits of people working at a computer. Sometimes you forget to drink water while working, but drinking is very important for your brain to concentrate and to be creative. So we build a system that senses how much water you drink during your work. There is a small widget on your screen, indicating the water level in your glass. When you forget to drink water for a while, the screen begins to darken… as if it runs out of power (like you are because you didnt drink enough water). After you drunk water, the screens brightens up again.
We used a pressure sensor and some actionscript coding to calculate how much water was drunken. And it worked surprisingly well.

Prototype 3: Share your Files!

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