One week project with Angus Chan and Milan Prucha, 1st year, 2003
In this project we want you to design a horoscope vending machine, an object which accepts payment for and then delivers in some way your own personal horoscope. For the project we would like you to consider a number of issues, from details of how you interact with the device (How do you pay for it? How do you select your birthsign etc.) to how we create the whole experience. Horoscopes work on a complex set of belief systems that are dependent on our own psychology, philosophy and culture amongst many variables. They forever betray our aspirations and fears. Though few people will analyse them religiously, for many it remains a kind of daily entertainment. How can we design the experience of buying a horoscope from a vending machine in a way that deals with some of this stuff and engages in a way in which it isn't just like buying a bar of chocolate?
Our group, Andreas Berlinger, Angus Chan and Milan Prucha, aims to utilise the current obsession with partner horoscopes, which is indeed indicated by the vast number of websites luring visitors with free partner matching horoscopes. Apparently there is a correlation between the star sign somebody was luckily, or not so luckily, born into, and the star sign of their most suitable future partner. Since the brief of the project was to design a publicly accessible vending machine, without the involvement of "Mistress Pasqualina", we took advantage of existing photo booths, thereby avoiding the necessity to invent a completely new technology and infrastructure. Nevertheless, we equipped the booth with a few extras: for example a connection to a central database, which stores information gathered from and sending to other booths established all over the city or even the country.
Regarding the interaction between the user and the machine, the goal was to keep it on a simple and intuitive level. After the user has inserted a coin into the slot relevant to his/her sexual preference, he/she chooses their personal star sign by turning a wheel in front of him/her. The following process the user goes through is similar to the one in a photo booth. After the picture has been taken, the user waits impatiently for several minutes to finally receive the result. The photo strip surprisingly shows the user juxtaposed to the proposed partner. Your first picture with your future wife! Turning the strip reveals the contact information of the destined love.
Though the user is confronted with a situation he/she might have encountered before, the sign on the front of the booth simultaneously promises something unexpected. All kinds of associations arise, which the user tries to fit together into a logical picture. Photo booth? Dating? At this point one could discover a black-box principle which undermines the usual routine of making internal processes visible to the user. Here the unknown is welcome, supporting the mysterious experience mediated by an 'omniscient machine'.
Images made at the real-time presentation:
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