Designing for Physical Interaction

Physical computing is a discipline that puts technical tools into the hands of nonengineers and engineers alike, allowing us to incorporate the power of electricity and digital logic into our everyday environs. In this seminar, we will approach designing for physical interaction from a critical but open perspective, focusing on the junction between the user and the technology. We will trim and add functionality as we go along, honing in on the core experience that creates a successful project. We will study existing work while, at the same time, manifesting our own ideas by building them out and breaking them down. Student projects can be functional, purely artistic, or somewhere in between. Experimentation and learning through concerted effort will be paramount. This class will build upon our experience from Physical Computing: Beginning With Interactive Electronics, refining our practice of designing successful interactions and increasing our knowledge of the technical tools. Students wanting to participate in this seminar are not required to have taken Physical Computing but will be expected to have some knowledge of the Arduino platform and basic circuitry.