This is a first try at using TSL230R to measure HRV (Heart Rate Variability) levels. It will be used as part of a larger project to collect users’ heart rates and translate this data onto a mobile (potentially wearable) screen as a non-verbal messaging system that reveals a somewhat hidden state of ‘being’. The messages will be set to be sent according to the value range of the heart beats as dynamic visualizations (for the time being I will be using Processing). In addition to this, each message will have a specific time span and a specific ‘mood’ or ’emotion’ attached to it. To do this I will be using a second variable EEG: Electroencephalography. HRV and EEG are interesting values to juxtapose as they symbolically represent the physical, biological, and social connections existing between the heart and the brain. This second variable will add a level of randomness to the system, which will enable messages to have a wider visual scope.
more articles |
“Conducting a Usability Evaluation” – Patrick Jordan
After having listed various evaluation methods, Jordan provides a guideline for choosing the most appropriate method(s) depending on the level at which a prototype is developed and shows an example of how such testing might be conducted.
An Introduction to Usability (continued…) – Patrick Jordan
Designing for usability is a user-centered approach to design. Jordan lays out the different considerations to keep in mind during the design process and proposes a set of methods (some empirical, others non-empirical) that can be used as testing tools and discusses the advantages and disadvantages that come with each method. His writing allows designers to understand better that there are different ways of testing users and that some styles are more appropriate depending on the content of tasks involved in using a given product or interface and its relation to a demographic/technographic target audience.
The Backtalk of Self-Generated Sketches – Gabriela Goldschmidt
"The inventive process" is an iterative process of jotting down ideas in the form of language or graphic drawings and of modifying them, reevaluating them, editing them, and so on, to transform or perfect an initial concept or solution.

