michelle li » marbles

Masters Thesis Exhibited: Memorables

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:07:36 +0000

After 2 intense months, my Masters class finally presented and exhibited our thesis projects. It was wonderful to see everyone’s hard work come to fruition. I was delighted to receive such positive feedback from viewers and to watch them physically interact and play with the real models I had created. More details of the project is available here.

Inspiration: Bubblegum Sequencer

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:27:16 +0000

Bubblegum Sequencer is another inspirational tangible device allowing one to create drumloops by physically organizing gumballs a grid of holes.

Inspiration: Math Marbles

admin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:15:03 +0000

In researching various forms of play, uses and applications involving marbles, I came across a nifty marble calculator. Not only does it really add binary numbers, the playful visualization and sounds make it a wonderful little contraption. Brilliant!

Toy Street

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:17:49 +0000

In search of marbles I had to forage the streets of Hong Kong. Mainstream toy stores nowadays like Toys ‘R Us only stock the new, high-tech, “in” toys, but when I ask if they have simple marbles their automatic answer is “no.” I eventually found out about Tai Yuen Street, aka Toy Street, in Wan Chai that brings me into a bustling world of local street markets filled with the sounds of everyone trying to sell their wares. Lined along the sidewalk behind the street stalls are the toy stores stocked with old-style and simple toys like Play-Doh, wind-up robots and… marbles! The marble designs were quite homogeneous and plain, as opposed to all the wide varieties available to me as a kid (I remember boulders, godfathers, and peawees!), but nonetheless they were marbles I could use in my prototyping.

Concept Direction: Lost Marbles

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:30:42 +0000

To lose one’s marbles is an expression meaning to lose one’s mind or to forget. I play on this phrase for my concept direction. Baby Boomers are afraid of forgetting, whether through the natural aging process of inheriting Alzheimer’s Disease. Marbles harken back to childhood nostalgia; they can be used as playful, portable, tangible devices to store tidbits of memories for reflection, sharing and exploration.

Below is an slide excerpt of my interim concept presentation.