MEMO
For some, the idea of a library opens up a vast fantasy of books long forgotten and waiting to be discovered again, while for others it is just a place collecting dust. The National Library wants to make its library a place for everyone by creating a 'Living Library'.
Meet Memo, Start Your Journey.
Vision
In collaboration with the National Library, an interactive environment is designed with the goal to connect people with the library and inspire them through personal stories of past visitors. In this way, the environment encourages people to discover the library and to find a connection with the library themselves.
“What is it that they are passionate about? How did they get to know the library? Where does their pursuit for knowledge lead them to?”
With the stories from past visitors out of different cultural backgrounds and different age categories, the environment makes the National Library more relatable for people and tries to attract new people. The environment gives the National Library multiple faces and in that way truly makes it a 'Living Library'.
MEMO in detail
Memo consists of multiple light pulsing carriers stored in a station. When a user walks closer to the station, a LED strip above the carriers in the station will light up to invite the user to pick up the carriers. When picked up, the carrier changes colour and makes a greeting sound. Next, a personal story from a visitor of the national library will be played. Through the action of the user having to place the carrier close by their ear, there is created an intimate experience.
At the end of each story, a hint is given to the user that they can walk through the library to be able to hear other stories. Once they enter a new listening zone, the carrier makes a purple light pulse and plays a confirmation sound. Next, a new story will be played. After wandering through the library and listening to different stories, the user can put the carrier down or put it back in a station.
The carrier is a 3D printed shape with soft ridges to provide for a firm grip. The top has a tilted opening with smooth edges and foam inside where sound can come out. Conductive wires are attached to the outside of the carrier and connected to a capacitive touch sensor, microboard, speaker, dfplayer, and LED ring inside the carrier. Once touched they will provide a trigger for changing the light colour and playing the sounds.
Wifi zones are used to specify different areas in the library. When the user changes from wifi zone a new story linked to that zone will be played. The station that the carriers reside in, is made out of a hexagonal wooden shape cut by a laser cutter, wooden cutouts for the carriers, and multiple LED strips connected to a seeeduino and a time of flight sensor.
MEMO the process
MEMO is a five-month project which started in duos. Together with Nadyne Aretz we kicked off the project with some initial ideas using brainstorming to get an inside on possible target groups. After this, we did user research within the library. We interviewed multiple visitors and staff to get an inside of what connection people had with the library. This is where we bumped into very special and personal stories of people and how they connected to the library. We found this so special that our design goal is to inspire new visitors to find a personal connection with the National Library.
From this on we brainstormed using methods like How can you's, Ultra Rapid Prototyping to test by acting, SCAMPER, and Interaction Vision to come to a new iteration of the concept. During prototyping, we user tested and evaluated this. At the end of each iteration, there was an exhibition with guests where we could user test the concept and iterate on this. The concepts 'Portreya', 'StoryBlocks', and 'Elfa' were created like this.
Next, groups were combined to work out the concepts more. Our concept was developed further within a group of six people consisting of Catarina Pinto, Isa van Gameren, Nadyne Aretz, Shiva Aghei, Sijmen de Vries, and I. Via design methods, user research, and prototype tests the concept became more and more detailed resulting in MEMO.
PORTREYA
STORYBLOCKS
ELFA
WANDERSTORIES
MEMO VERSION 1
