Time Cube

Our final idea was the ‘Time Cube’. This is a tangiable user interface which can be used in different scenarios, depending on the users needs. For this project we have shown it used in a museum, as a way of transmitting further information to the user, via a digital timeline. As a team we chose to stick to a design concept and have our idea based in an 'Art’ section of the museum.

The main structure of our project is the actual cube. This is created using certain smart materials that allow the cube to become flexible, causing it to be squished and then transform back to its original shape.

It works in the same way as a clock, due to it having 2 hands in which the user can turn, depending on what time frame they would like to be in. The larger of the two hands takes you to a specific movement and the smaller hand moves between dates in that movement. If the user would like more information they simply press the 'Time Cube’ and the interactive screen provides in-depth details on certain artists and movements. 

Basic Prototype

The begining of our protoype

Paradigm

The main problem we had as a team was discussing what a ‘paradigm’ actually was. There are a few indepth ideas as to what a 'paradigm’ and we needed to know what it was before continuing on with our project.
After quite a bit of research our team have came to the conclusion that a Paradigm is the overall idea of something and an example of the final product. This was great as we already had our basic concept!

“A tangible user interface (TUI) is a user interface in which a person interacts with digital information, through the physical environment.”

TUI

The Interactive Timeline will work by using date based blocks, all within 20 year time periods.
For example: 1900-1920, 1920-1940, 1940-1960 etc etc.
Different time periods will be displayed on each side of the cube.

We have suggested a few ways in which the cube will work in our prototype. We have thought about using a paper verion, a cardboard version, a sponge version and even a stress ball. We need to use something that is able to be ‘squished’ as we are using this method as a zooming in/out function.

TUI: Interactive Timeline

As a group we decided on an overall TUI, that we thought had the most potential. This ended up being an ‘Interactive Timeline’, which could be used in various environments such as museums, education and if slightly changed could even be used in cinemas.

We have chosen to base our idea and prototype as if it is being displayed in an Art section of a museum.

User Interface Review: Photos (below)

The User Interface in which I chose to review: my home oven.

The reason I chose to review this was due to the fact, some aspects need updating. The photos I have taken are to show the oven overall, the main switch that stops the electricity flow to the product and the ovens ‘nobs’ that help select what mode and temperature you would like.