Project 1 Formstorming

Weekly Activity Template

Mikhaela 'Kei' Masaba

Project 1

Module 1

Activity 1

I wanted to experiment with parallel circuts and was intrigued by wiring and how it felt like a puzzle to me. My initial circuts were very messy and a lot of trial an error in terms of tape placement.

For some reasons, my first few circuts were rather weak, the power was not being distributed evenly within the copper tape circut. Some of the lights that I had connected lit up brighter than others, I assumed this was either the electricity not being transferred cleanly or the LED lights were on backwards.

My first sucessful circut after plenty of trial and error. I approached this assignment much like how someone would approach a jigsaw puzzle. Stare at it and just figure it out along the way. While this method was frusturating due to the many errors that occured, I was learning from my mistakes and doing my best to then avoid them in future attempts. I made this circut at my house after finding out one of the LEDs I had broke, leaving me with only two colors that reminded me of police sirens.

A lot of my circuts would activate, but not until some error occured, such as lights flickering or not operating as intended. I had to have a friend take the pictures for me, then forwarding them to me after several times during the in-class assesment. The amount of sheer joy and happiness I had when the circut worked, even for a little bit was indescribable. It was very satisfying.

A bird's eye view of my circut operating as intended with the three lights turning on very brightly. But in order to make this parralel circut work, I Had to hold one of th LEDs in place, or having it in a specific position in order to light up

Another view of me trying to get all 3 lights to work as intended, at this stage, only one of the lights didn't want to light up, I was under the assumption that this was a connection issue within the circut I had created and then began to plsy around with the layout to solve this issue.

My friend took a shaky picture because at this point in the in-class assignment, I was getting mildly frusturated with how this wasn't working. I was following the example image, even if my own circut was more messy and disorganized than the example. I was so happy and excited for this result, I began to laugh and told my friend to take a picture before it malfunctioned or stopped working.

I tried to make mix of a parralel and series circut, this was a major failure since I was just playing around with how to light the LEDs up

I added little symbols to tell me which would be plus or minus for the LED lights in order to make this easier for me. So I don't have to guess which way the electricity goes.

A three way parralel circut that I playing around with a lot during class that finally worked after a lot of tests, errors and tape.

Only one of my LEDs lit up at this moment.

Even after I wasn't Pressing down or putting pressure to the copper tape, the light still stayed on.

I flipped the battery coin and the other lights turned on much to my surprise. I was amazed and also incredibly annoyed because I was under the belief that all my errors were due to the copper tape connection not being strong enough for electricity to travel through it.

Only one light turned on during this test.

The circut remained on even after it was left alone.

This is the remains Of a circut I had abandoned in favour Of building a New one for this assignment. I hate wasting materials, especially when they're provided to me.

I don't understand how the electricity went through this circut in particular, but it worked somehow. This just proves I have a lot to do and learn in regards to circuts at this point in time

Zoomed out picture of my first board of copper tape circuts I made during the assignment.

A single light lit up despite having two connected to the circut.

Inactive or non-operating circut I created. This could be the result of the connection not working or my arrangement not being correct.

Taping together a circut without a strong understanding on how this works.

I used the tape strips left from the copper tape to help make the flap easier to make without balling up the copper tape. I also drew the cirut with symbols of which side the led is supposed to be placed to make it easier for me.

Activity 2

I thought it was interesting to make a circut that is at the bottom of the trolley that lights up. This is the wire layout.

Different view of the layout. I wanted the trigger to be motion triggered since the trolley can only move foward or back depending on the direction it was facing. I was in love with those toy cars that you pulled back in order to rev the engine.

Picture of the trolley before I came up with any ideas for the electrical circut to improve the item.

While it is already an electronic device. I thought using my DS system as something that could benefit from some improvements.

I thought a brighter light that would trigger when the battery from the higher part of the screen interacts with the circut.I wanted it to not only light up but play a noise when it's closed. I used to hide my original DS underneath my pillow from my parents during times when I was supposed to sleep. This would serve as something that would make a loud noise when it's closed. A silly idea really, but it would help parents or older figures see that the younger ones aren't sleeping as they were told.

I picked my tarot card box because I wanted to play around with the fact that it opens and closes, thinking that could trigger an effect.

Since the inside is dark, I thought that adding lights would illuminate it, resulting in providing a mysterious and even magical atmosphere for the user. Tarot cards are meant to be magical, used to tell fortunes. I also illustrated the circut layout in the upper right corner.

I rest my arms a lot on this arm rest while typing, sometimes from dusk to dawn. The touch is quite plush and soft. Sometimes I catch myself fidgeting it with it while attempting to focus.

Adding some lights would be nice to have especially if it were to be dark and I'm still working on something. Sometimes my posture gets more relaxed and I'm resting my arms on the armrest while working. Having lights would probably be helpful to me and they would also be similar to those small lamp lights people use for reading that are usually found in IKEA.

Lifted my figurine to show the bottom angle of it.

Upwards angle of the figurine with the circut design.

More detailed layout of the circuts. I wanted it to trigger based off weight from the character figure and then making it light up or play a tune.

Basica angle of the figurine. I display a lot of figures and acrylic standees in my bedroom, but it's difficult to have substantial lighting due to how much space having several of these items can have.

Picked an arcylic standee to give it Light.

When light hits the figure right, the colors of the figure is reflected and projected. I thought it would be nice to give the characters a spotlight. It would be triggered by inserting the standee in the slot used to hold it up. Connecting the circuts and making the lights turn on.

i use earbuds almost daily, but I have a nasty habit of losing them a lot, whether its in my pocket or in another place.

Having the lights or noise trigger when the case is closed could help someone keep easy track with them.

I have a lucky cat or maneki nrko resting on my desk to accompany me while working, it operates of sunlight supposedly. But I found that it works just as well, if not better with artificial light such as a lamp. So why not add LED lights to keep it on?

The battery would be underneath the figure, meaning I could have it on my desk while working and moving it after I'm done, actively switching it on and off depending on what I was doing at the time.

I collect various canned badges from different shows, some people attach these pins to bags and display them like a badge of honor. These are caled itabags and are mostly popular in Japan. I wanted to create a unique way for displaying these badges.

Alternate angle of the badge to display the width of the badge.

Wire layout of the badge to demosntrate my idea from another angle.

I keep snacks on my deck and snack on them especially while sleepy in order to remain focused on my tasks. This is just one of the many containers I use to keep my snacks hidden away.

The container would play a nosie when it closes, serving its purpose in waking me up and reminding me that I have work to do.

Project 1

Final Project 3 Design

Physical Published Model

The final model for this project includes a lightbox that blinks a motivational message in morse code. Alternating between two different colors to distinguish when a new word is being spelled. We used the arduino uno to program the LED lights to blink in sequence and combined various colors to change the color of the light, but also to increase the brightness of the light that leaks out of the model. The box is built out of 3D printed puzzle pieces that interlock and have been hammered into place. It is study and protects the breadboard contained within that has the LEDs and wires in it. The edges have slots that allow the wires to peek out, permitting easy acess to the arduino itself.

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