NATURE AS INSPIRATION
The name Dandylight derives from what we analyzed and used as inspiration, the dandelion behaviour, that spreads seeds into the air and we used this as metaphor od communication. Like the real flower, Dandylight spreads its color, sends messages to other people and help them when they want to start a conversation with someone they don’t know.
FIRST IDEAS
Our target since the start, has been the creation of something useful, funny, interesting. Something that could facilitate the communication between people, which is somewhat affected negatively by social media and by all the technological devices that people use everyday.
We started with a research on nature and particularly we were fascinated by behaviors of flowers, how they react to the environment, and we used that information as inspiration for the development of our device.
The greenhouse was another source of inspiration, we imagined what we would like to experience in a place like that.
The greenhouse was another source of inspiration, we imagined what we would like to experience in a place like that.
IT IS USEFUL FOR
After some interviews it became clear that people socialize better when they have a pretext, for instance offering a drink or a sigarette, but they talk even more freely when they are involved in a casual situation that has a humorous tone, like the one originated by a game; which is exactly what Dandylight does.
You can then use it if you are alone and you are interested in meeting someone you see for his/her dress, for what he/she is reading or only because you find him/her beautiful. On the other hand you can use it to contact a group and create a new group with your friends and the make new ones! The list of possible uses is endless, we can synthesize it in this way:
- A person wants to meet another person
- A person wants to meet a group
- Two groups wants to meet
- A person wants to meet a group
- Two groups wants to meet
Dandylight allows people to shoot colors at other people who take their fancy. With its funny play of lights it creates an atmosphere that ease the socialization.
It is an effective device, in the way it can create connections, and it is equally simple. In fact we were able to develop a fully working prototype, which differs from the final product only by the microcontroller used, Arduino isn’t suited for a large scale production because of its price, and by the paper flower, which with a die cut will be easier to produce and much more precise in shape.
TECHNOLOGY
The technology we used for the project is very simple and cheap. Instead of using complex accelerometers to sense the shoot of the color, we put a tilt sensor inside the flower that triggers a signal when it shakes. The program in the Arduino ignores for a second the subsequential signals derivating from the bouncing of the flower.
The communication between the devices is made through infrared light, the technology commonly used in remote controls for TV; we associated a specific code to send for every color, depending on the state of the device.
Interaction Design Lab II at Iuav, University of Venice.
Professors: Gillian Crampton Smith, Philip Tabor.
Professors: Gillian Crampton Smith, Philip Tabor.
Team: Tommaso Bertagnin, Loris Bottello, Stella Morelli, Valeria Sanguin.
May 2012
