Assignment 3

Brief

Document the design of your Smart Thing and reflect on your learning during the course.

Report

The report supports and substantiates the design of your Smart Thing. It is a design rationale, not a technical manual. Maximum 4 pages.

It should cover four things:

1. The object

Which object did you choose and why? Ground your choice in the thing-centered methods you used: what did the object diary, character analysis, and other exercises reveal? What made this object a good candidate for a smart, sound-driven behavior?

2. The sensor

Which sensor did you choose and why? How does it connect to the character of the object and to the interaction you wanted to enable?

3. The mapping and sound behavior

What are the rules? Describe your mapping in plain language: what sensor values trigger what, and how does the sound respond. Why did you make these choices? Include any non-linear scaling, thresholds, or conditions that shape the behavior.

4. The sound design

What does your object sound like, and why? What guided your sound choices — synthesis method, timbre, register, rhythm? How does the sound relate to the object’s character?

Reflection

A personal reflection on your learning during the course. Maximum 1 page.

It should:

• Identify two or three concrete things you learned — about sound, about design, or about working with sensors, mapping, and code
• Reference specific moments from the homework and in-class exercises where relevant
• Reflect on your object’s behavior in the collective installation at the Lucid.Bar: what did it sound like alone, and what happened when everything played together?

Deliverable

Submit a single PDF to Canvas by the deadline.