Challenge
Investigate the pilgrimage ritual and use speculative design to craft an interactive experience powered by Arduino® technology. The deliverable is a kit that can be delivered directly to the user’s home, produced by a specific company with its own branding and identity.
Solution
In a future where being constantly busy is the norm and personal time is overlooked, Viatora stands out. It’s a movement that challenges this focus on non-stop work by encouraging a step back to focus on spiritual health. Followers of Viatora get a kit called Itinero, which is designed for a daily ritual to take a break from the daily grind and to feel connected with others in the movement.
My role
I crafted the HCI, focusing on the theory of slow interaction, coded the experience using Arduino and three different sensors, wrote the final video script, and contributed to the project’s branding.
2021
Politecnico di Milano
topic
Speculative design,
Human-Computer Interaction
with
A. Brunetti, A. Fuga, G. Lisoni, S. Gubiolo
Brainstorming phase.
We conducted extensive research on Pilgrimage in its various forms, exploring numerous hypotheses during brainstorming sessions for our speculative project. After several rounds of mindmapping on Miro, none of our initial ideas met the professor’s expectations. Ultimately, we developed a concept of a dystopian future where productivity becomes a religion, leaving no time for escape.
Future scenario building and concept development.
We developed the future scenario by envisioning how people would live in a world where productivity becomes a religion. Once the scenario was established, we imagined a counter-movement called Viatora that would resist this system. From there, we focused on crafting the experience and designing the contents of the kit to reflect both the dystopian lifestyle and the rebellion against it.
The interactive experience.
The user inserts their phone into the top of Itinero, which presses a button that make productivity sounds start playing.
The user places their fingers on the side buttons, and galvanic sensors measure their stress response to the sounds. A pulsing LED indicates the stress measurement is in progress. Once complete, the lights stop pulsing and user removes their fingers.
Itinero calculates the required laps based on stress levels.
The LED guides the user in circles, and laser sensors count the laps. The LED stops when the target is reached.
As the user walks, the sounds shift from productivity to natural. At the end, a light appears: the user retrieves their phone, triggering an NFC notification that links to a website showing their contribution to the Viatora movement.
The fictional brand.
