Idéum, a workspace for building brighter ideas and better brainstorming behavior
In the eyes of our users (middle managers at a large company in Karlskrona, Sweden), creativity is a cryptic, mysterious process, one which requires a magical X-factor that they simply lack. In reality, learning to be creative just takes hard work and diligence. Researchers who study the greatest creative minds can point to a well-defined set of behaviors that allow them to make new connections and see design challenges in a new light. The d.School has concrete rules of brainstorming that have been shown to create better and more rapid output. It is easy enough to tell teams these rules, but it takes time and practice for this behavior to become internalized. What if, instead of telling them these rules, we showed them? What if the form of your brainstorming tool made these behaviors intuitive, a natural consequence of use? How might we build confidence and make a user feel like an innovative genius, with a tool that actually helps develop creative skills? The result of following this line of thinking, arrived at through extensive prototyping and user testing, is Idéum.
How might we build confidence and make a user feel like an innovative genius, with a tool that actually helps develop creative skills?
IDÉUM is a workstation for building brighter ideas. The IDÉUM experience is designed to encourage behaviors that result in better idea generation. Inspired by the d.schools Rules of Brain- storming, it incorporates some of these mantras into its physical form. This focus on tangibility - on physical movement and sensory stimulus - creates a sense of play. Evoking memories of toy blocks and imaginary worlds, it encourages users to lose some of the inhibition of the corporate meeting room.
A soft glow highlights ideas as they are added to the surface, reinforcing the value of each contribution. Spotlights follow tiles as they are slid around, injecting kinetic energy into the discussion. They glow brighter and bigger as ideas are gathered together, echoing the mounting excitement. Organize your ideas on hexagonal tiles that magnetically snap together with a satisfying click. Building on others ideas becomes intuitive, gratifying, and fun. Tangible ideas can be easily clustered and reconfigured, inspiring new structures and connections. The dynamic hexagonal shape makes teammates face each other while keeping the work area within arms reach, ensuring equal and active engagement. The horizontal work surface and standing configuration encourages physical movement and energy.
HOW IT WORKS
The basic working of IDÉUM is explained in the image above. A camera is looking at the top surface and tracks the position of the hex tiles. This information is relayed to a projector via a computer. The projector casts a soft glow that shadows the position of each hex tile. The computer acts as an interface between the camera and the projector, in that it interprets the position of the hex tiles from the camera image and generates an image with white circles mapped to the position of each hex tile. The position data of each hex tile is tracked with the help of a fiducial marker that is on the bottom of each of them.
INSIDE IDÉUM
HEX TILES
The hex tiles used in our system were designed to combine the best aspects of Post-its and white- boards. Like Post-its, the hex tiles limit the amount of information that can be placed on them, making users headline their ideas (one of the Rules of Brainstorming). We chose to keep the utility of small modular pieces, but enhance this by making it easier to link (with the help of magnets along the perimeter) and group them (thus the tesselating shape). In order for the hex tiles to be "read" by the Reactivision system, a unique fiducial marker is placed on the bottom of each tile.
IR CAMERA
The camera module is the eye of the table. It frames and captures the bottom surface of the table top and sends a live video stream to the computer. The camera works in the infrared spectrum of light so that the projected image is separated from the captured image. To capture infrared spectrum data, the IR filter on the lens of the webcam was carefully removed. Light from the visible light spectrum was then blocked using a filter. A wide angle lens was added on top of the camera to ensure that the entire surface of the table top was captured. Infrared flood lights were installed strategically inside the table such that the surface is evenly lit and individual pixels in the image can be distinctly resolved.
ENCLOSURE
The enclosure of the table primarily houses and protects the components that power IDEUM. The enclosure has a boat like form that was inspired by the naval history of Karslkrona. The enclosure material was carefully chosen to be 26 gauge 304 Stainless steel sheet stock in a 2B finish. The sheet was first waterjet cut into the different required shapes, then backed with 1/8 plywood to give it rigidity and make it easier to bend. To mount the steel sheets onto the aluminum frame, the top edge of the sheet was rolled over such that the edge fits onto the L-channel. The rolled edge on the top edge of the steel also gives participants a comfortable rounded edge to rest their hands on.
