INTERACTION DESIGN WORKSHOPS
SUMMER COURSES 2010
 

Overview
How video games would look like if the screen onto we watch them were walls, stairs and rooms?
The workshop Race! will focus on the design and the realization of prototypes of video games based on a mix of physical real-world environments and virtual computer-generated ones: the space becomes a platform for the development of new landscapes and ways of game interaction.

Goals
The workshop aims at conceiving and realizing a prototype of game through the use of architectural mapping projections and interactive systems based on the software Processing. Participants first learn how to manage traditional input devices (i.e. joystick, mouse, keyboard, and microphone) in order to develop a video game based on the format of racing games. In a second phase, a new video game of different typology and concept is developed, focusing on the design of modalities of interaction and on the visual output according to the features of the available spaces.
 

Overview
he evolution of sensing and networking technologies allowed a paradigmatic change in the conception of our environment: sensible physical objects, physically interconnected, turn spaces into something smarter and active by interpreting our needs and influencing our behavior.
Making spaces talk is a workshop focused on the design of prototypes of interactive environments based on hardware/software systems that perceive, interpret, and react to the real world by providing the user with information or metaphorical, visual, and tangible experiences.

Goals
The goal of the workshop is the design and implementation of interactive environments through system based on sensors and actuators controlled by Arduino, the open-source platform for electronic prototyping. Participants will acquire methodologies and techniques for the design of an interactive spatial experience, by learning how to handle sensors and actuators through Arduino, and how to manage Arduino with the software Processing.
During the first phase of the workshop, basic notions of physical computing will be developed together with an introduction to the platform Arduino and to different typologies of sensor and actuators compatible with it. The realization of the projects will be supported by specific intermediate presentations according to the features of the prototypes proposed by participants (i.e. how to manage light, how to track movement, etc.).
 

Overview
The design of interactive environments concerns a world apart: it means designing a world in itself, cutting it off the real world and establishing new modalities of interaction within it. It is moreover a way to challenge the perceptions of users and to encourage them to rediscover themselves and their actions.
This workshop will focus on the design of interactive environments where modalities of natural interactions contribute to immersive experiences generated by real time digital videos manipulation.

Goals
The workshop aims at developing interactive environments based on projections that respond fluidly to sound waves and users’ physical movements.
In the phase dedicated to visual programming participants will be introduced to the use of visual programming software such as Isadora (www.troikatronix.com/isadora.html), vvvv (www.vvvv.org), and Max/MSP (www.cycling74.com), which allow to manage the interaction between digital media. At this stage the real time manipulation of digital videos will be deepened.
During the phase Ambient lights, projections and sound effects, the audiovisual experience and the features of the interactive environment will be defined, i.e. by manipulating lights through a lighting system of infrared LEDs for night vision.