BUY? Interactive Installation

| | | | | | | - December 25th, 2008

I was part of a group called “crowdconnection” which was assembled by the HKU to create innovative concepts for the Telematica Institute. I helped develop various concepts including “Mirror me this” and “BUY?”. BUY? is an interactive installation which changes the way we shop, it consists of an interactive fitting booth connected to clothing items in a store, instead of letting yourself being manipulated by branding and image, BUY? aims to visualise the production proces, designers view and social network of clothing. These elements should have a more prominent role in the shopping process.

Visit the Crowdconnection Website
Visit the Youtube Channel

BUY? Installation Design

BUY? Pathways, Concept, Production and Social BUY? Logo on interactive fitting booth prototype BUY? Installation entrance BUY? Interactive fitting booth BUY? Interactive fitting booth BUY? Interactive Fitting Booth BUY? Social Network Content Picture BUY? Social Network Content Picture BUY? t-shirt

BUY? was an ubiquitous computing experiment, the goal was to create a whole new shopping experience, where the user was presented with relevant information previously unavailable. To accomplish this we chose to make the user interface controls almost completely sensor based (using infrared LEDs, augmented reality QR tags and an ultrasonic sensor), the GUI is a combination of the persons reflection in the mirror combined with floating elements projected around it, due to the nature of the specially coated mirror it’s impossible to see how this effect is achieved, where the projection is coming from and where the edges are. A truly unique experience that is hard to describe.

I created the interface elements and a total of 12 short content videos for the first prototype of the BUY? installation, the interface has 3 icons, each representing a different pathway the user can choose, Concept (Light Bulb icon), Production (Sprocket icon) and Social (Heart icon). Concept shows the idea behind the print on the shirt, where the idea originated and the designers opinion or statement. Production visualises the production process and the materials used. Social shows information about the people who bought the shirt, their lifestyle and their opinion about the product.