TINK - sketching product experiences of connected objects

18 - TINK
1.1.5 Graduation assignment
The designer’s toolbox has been enriched
in the last 15 years with all sorts of tools
to realize experiential prototype, such as
Processing. However, in the emerging
field of the Internet of things (IoT) very
few tools designed to address the specific
needs and varied levels of competencies of
interaction designers. 5
Because of the level of complexity of the
systems designed in the area, most of the
tools currently available are designed by
engineers for engineers. As a result, these
tools require significant expert knowledge
in programming, electronics and signal
processing.
Tools targeting engineers are built on the
assumption that the user of the tool knows
exactly what is he going to build and how
is he going to do it. Instead, in order to
support interaction designers, there is a
need for tools with “sketchy” qualities:
tools that are versatile, rapid to use, and
that encourage and support exploration.
Those consideration lead to the formulation
of a graduation assignment:
Design a tool that supports the sketching and interactive prototyping of IoT products.
The tool should be suitable for education as well as professional design practice.
This tool should not require expert knowledge in programming, electronics, and signal
processing; rather it should allow interaction designers to tinker with their ideas and
stay focused on their creative process. It should enable interaction designers to sketch
the interaction they may envision among data, people, and one or more physical objects
without having to bother about technical details. However, it should be designed so to
satisfy the needs of both first-time and advanced users 6 .
The tool won’t just help interaction designers overcome technical problems, but it will
also enable them to explore new possible interactions arising from interconnecting
data and objects.