The visual design of Virtuoso

This is how Virtuoso will look. 

The next step is to look at how it will work functionally.

Inside design sketches

I've first made a lot of pencil sketches to find the right shape of the inside of the musicbox.
I've found a shape that fits very well with the music theme, it reminds me of a musicstandard.
So I made it in photoshop and made several visual iterations of it to find the best pattern.

First model of Virtuoso

Today I've finished the first model of Virtuoso. It's not very accurate, as you can see, the upper part should be flatter. I've made it with Artiste clay and aquarel by hand. Next step is to make this more shiny. Maybe I'm going to improve this model with some transparent nail polish to see how it will look then.

I'm still working on the design of the inside of the musicbox, which I hope to finish tonight. In the weekend I will create an illustrator design file where I will decide the dimensions.
So little by little I'm starting with the making of the model. To do this, I will be making some more tests (this was test one - form), next time probably with wood and finishing layers.

Inside of musicbox

The visual design on the outside is done. But now I have to design how the musicbox will look when it is opened. I hope to finish this soon, so that I can continue with creating a real model of it!
I'm trying to put some elements of a concert room in it, because the upper part of the musicbox is the part that gives visual feedback and therefore that is where you watch and pointing at. So I'm looking for some kind of form that connects the style of the toy with the looks of a concert room or an orchestra.

Test test

The children were very enthousiastic about the visual designs. Again I've had two groups of four children, both containing two boys and two girls per group.
As predicted, the girls loved the pink designs, but also the original design of Virtuoso and the star shaped one. It was surprising to see that they also liked the blue version I designed for the boys.
For the boys, they loved the star shaped one and the blue one. The boys also liked the one bottom right,  because it had green in it. 'We really like the colors blue, red, green, yellow and orange, because that are boycolors', was their answer on why they liked it. So maybe I should try to add a little more green or even orange for the design of the boyish version of Virtuoso.
Both group also liked the rainbow colored design. But I am not too fond of that one myself.

Most important thing is that the children were attracted to my visual designs. I think it's time now to choose three and finish the inside of the product as well.

(Interactive) Music helps development baby

dutch http://www.nu.nl/gezondheid/2807483/muziek-helpt-ontwikkeling-baby.html
english http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509123653.htm
english http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/245312.php

A group of 6 months old baby's followed music classes for half a year.
There were two kind of classes; half of the group of baby's followed interactive classes, where they were taught songs and played percussion-instruments with their parents. The other half followed passive lessons, where they listened to music during play.

The children who took part in the passive lessons didn't really show any difference after half a year. But the children who participated in the interactive lessons turned out to laugh more, were less stressed and communicated better.

They pointed to objects and waved more than the other children and were less sad when something didn't went the way they wanted.

Also the interactive lessons changed their reaction to music. Baby's who followed the interactive lessons were more sensitive to the structure of music.

Laurel Trainor, director of the Institute for Music and the Mind of the McMaster University stated: "Babies who participated in the interactive music classes with their parents showed earlier sensitivity to the pitch structure in music. Specifically, they preferred to listen to a version of a piano piece that stayed in key, versus a version that included out-of-key notes. Infants who participated in the passive listening classes did not show the same preferences. Even their brains responded to music differently. Infants from the interactive music classes showed larger and/or earlier brain responses to musical tones."

Even though the infants listened to music in both music classes and all infants also listened to a similar amount of music at home, the biggest difference between both classes was that one class experienced an interactive exposure to music.

Study coordinator Andrea Unrau concluded, saying:

"There are many ways that parents can connect with their babies. The great thing about music is, everyone loves it and everyone can learn simple interactive musical games together."

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I believe this really shows the value of letting children play and interact with music at an early age. This is why (real) music-toys as Virtuoso are so important for the development of children. It is not only fun, but playing and interacting with music can stimulate development of communication, take stress away, make children more at ease (instead of all the over-energized toys that only make them over-energized and stressed - like the effect of sugar) and children can create a feeling and affinity for culture and music.

More visual iterations..

The other shapes weren't as popular with the kids as the original shape, which had my preference as well, so I decided to not put too much effort in them and continue with the design of the original shape. I want to design at least three different 'skins' for Virtuoso, so that children (or their parents) can choose their favorite and by that create their first bond with their Virtuoso. I've created four designs now that are definitely in my 'yes'-list. One is based on a star shape, one is based on a cake, one is based on a eastern city and one is based on a mushroom. I'm in love. Now I must find out if my test-panel is in love too.

Form iterations

Out of the sketches I choose three favorites and rendered them. My favorite is still the original shape, but I'm still going show them to my testpanel to see how they react on them.

Some more pattern iterations

I forgot to post these ones, but I made these iterations after the last playtest. I also made some iterations in material (reflectiveness), I have a big favorite as you can see. But I'm first going to design some more forms to see if the current form is okay or if there is something better.


Today I talked with my supervisor, Tarek Atrissi. He really liked the current designs, especially because there are so much variations. It would be a nice idea to design different variations of the toy, so that children can choose their favorite one. Just like you can choose an Ipod in your favorite color. It's a great way to let your user connect with your toy, because he already create a bond with the variation he or she picked as his or her favorite.
So for my toy I'm going to design (at least) three visual variations for Virtuoso. A girly one, a boyish one and one that is attractive for both boys and girls.

One step back, two steps forward

Based on my last post, about chosing material, I've decided to take a step back in my visual design process.
If it is important for me that the toy product is 'round and shiny', I want to make sure that the form of the toy agrees with this and also that it correlates with the material.
After doing research about using rich 'plastic' materials in toys, Hiroshi Yoshii turned out to be a big inspiration to take the form of my design a step further. He has a great blog about how he produces his own toys (from a 3D file to a 3D model) and it gave me some insight in the possibilities of 3D printing and using materials like epoxy, but also I love his use of shapes and graphics.

Anyhow, I felt that my current shape is nice and fun, but that it could be better. Inspired by Yoshii, I'm now trying to make a more 'round' design with more character (without making it a character). I'm happy with my decision, I've got the time to take this 'risk' and it already shows off in the new designsketches. I believe that by the end of tomorrow I will have at least three beautiful designs. Friday I will make them in 3D, like Yoshii does. I hope to meet my testpanel next monday to see if they like the new designs and which one of them they like most. After that I'm going to choose one and make a real model of it!

3D printing

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?47708-3D-Print-for-Toys
http://yoshii-blog.blogspot.nl/search/label/Toys?updated-max=2007-04-21T23:59:00%2B09:00&max-results=20&start=34&by-date=false
Yoshii about 3D printing his toys

Materials

I've always had a weakness for using wood and other natural materials in my designs (Cardboard Mechanics, Nonsense). Why? Because I liked how natural materials can give you the idea that something is handmade with love. It is friendly and close to nature. Also I love to surprise users with making the natural product interactive.
For Virtuoso however, I'm thinking about using plastic instead of wood. Why? Because it is easier and cheaper to produce, the form of Virtuoso is very round, which is very hard to make with wood and it takes a long time to make. I want to create something really colorful (as I said in the beginning), something that is merry and cheerful. Colors can really pop out in plastic, and the form of the toy can be emphasized by making it shiny. And this toy is something I really want to get on the market, let as much people possible have fun with this. So it has to be payable.







I however don't like to make it look cheap. So the plastic has to be strong, have volume and a bit of weight. I'm going to cry if my toy will look like the toy on the right.
You can already see that the material process of this plastic was made as cheap as possible. Now, I'm not a material designer, but as a consumer I really won't expect a fun original toy experience out of this toy. The magic of this interaction is already gone, because it looks like a piece of plastic instead of a good design.

Visual test

I just came back from the 'playtest'.
I asked two separate groups of four children (in each group 2 boys and 2 girls) what design they liked most for each poster (A3).
 First I wanted to know what form they liked best, so I showed them the first poster of the iterations in shape, which had no difference in colors. The original shape was found to be the most favorite, so that was an easy one.
Then I showed them the first 28 iterations (all on one poster) and asked them which one was their favorite. As I expected the girls had other preferences than the boys, but luckily there were some designs loved by both the boys and the girls (they all gave at least three preferences, because they found it hard to choose one). In general, their first decision was the rainbow like designs. When they took a better look at all of the designs they also loved the checked pattern. All of them didn't like the stripes based on my moodboard (the ones on the right). Too bad.

After this, I showed them the third poster with the remaining 10 designs I made later on in my process. I expected the pink one on the left to be loved by the girls and the blue one on the right to be loved by the boys. I was right in this. The big favorite of this poster was the one left, below the pink one. Both boys and girls really loved this.
For each poster I asked the group to choose a favorite design together, to see if they could point a design out they all liked. In the first group the four children really were discussing and negotiating with each other to choose a design they all liked and they came to a clear conclusion quite quickly.
The other group had an other manner in how this was discussed; three of them all pointed one design (without discussing or negotiating) and the other first pointed out an other design, but once he saw that the favorite design was already chosen, he choose that one as well.

The two separate groups had a lot of similarities in their preferences. They all loved the rainbow colors in the start, but when they looked better they all also loved the checked pattern, the one with the white triangular stripes on blue on the other poster and the original design of Virtuoso.
They didn't liked the striped ones, not because they were stripes, but because the combination of colors and width of the stripes didn't appeal to them. I understand this, I think the color palette and pattern I created was a bit too adult for them, it is more something I would choose.

Stripes, colors, triangles and blocks are still very popular. Boys do not mind a bit of pink at all, as long as it is not the focus of the palette, the same means for girls with boyish colors.

I also looked at the chosen design together with Tom van der Linden, also a fourth year game artist. He said that the checked pattern wouldn't be the best choice, because the squares takes the round forms away of the shape of the toy itself. I totally agree with this.





I think I'm going to make one more iteration and then choose the final visual design. Once I've chosen the final visual design, I'm going to make a model of the visual design to see if they understand how to interact with it. If they don't understand it, I will make the 'user script' more simplistic and test it again. If they do understand it, it means that my visual design is finished and ready to be combined with the technical prototype. :) Can't wait!

the favorites.

Playtesting

In half an hour I'll will be going to primary school De Dubbeldekker, to show all my visual designs to my 'testpanel'. I hope to find a definitive favorite in the visual designs I made to get a good understanding of what is attractive to both the boys and the girls.
I've printed all the visual designs out (not only these in this post, but also in earlier posts) and I let several groups of children choose which one they like best. I already did this test earlier, where I came to the understanding that my target audience is very fond of patterns, that's why you see so much designs with patterns in them.

Tom Testerom (Dutch)

http://www.een.be/programmas/tomtesterom/hoe-word-je-dirigent

Further iterating

Pattern iterations of Virtuoso Design

I've made several iterations on the original visual design of Virtuoso, based on my pattern moodboard.
I'm going to my 'testpanel' to see which they like best and if there is a difference in preference between boys and girls (I'm designing this toy for both boys and girls, so I want a design that is attractive to both sexes).

Green light for Mock Exam!

Yesterday I had a green light for my MOCK examination. Which means that I'm doing great!
The examination commission was very enthousiastic about Virtuoso and my research.

But I'm not there yet, in 11 weeks, I have my FINAL examination. My project and supportive narrative have to be finished then and I have to present it (just as I presented my project and supportive narrative in its current state at my MOCK). So what do I need to do in these 11 weeks to get my Masters degree?

My research is as good as complete
I need to write my research down in my supportive narrative (30% complete at the moment)
My project is at 50%. Visual design is clear, but I still want to make some iterations and test a model of the design to see if the affordances are clear. So Visual design is at 70%.
The technical design and music design still has a lot to do, I still need a working technical prototype and an adaptive music system. Although this is not my responsibility, this is very important for my project.
The adaptive music system will have enough time to be created in time.
The technical prototype however, has the risk that it won't be finished in time.
So for that risk I've designed a plan B: fake it. Make a movie of a child conducting with my toy and let the music designers compose music over it.

So what do I need to do?
- Finish visual design (2 weeks max.)
- Create life size model (2 weeks max.)
- Test it (2 days) and iterate it (1 week)
- Write supportive narrative (3 weeks)
- Prepare FINAL presentation (1 week)

So I need 9 weeks, which leaves 2 weeks for possible delays and surprises (or plan B).

:)