This project seeks to visualize the effects of obesity on fuel consumption in the United States through the illusion of gross exaggeration.

An estimated 1,000,000,000 gallons of gasoline were used to compensate for the added weight of drivers and passengers between 1960 and 2002. Nearly 39 million gallons of fuel are burned for each pound gained by the average American.

Data was collected from statistics provided by the United States Census Bureau, the Center for Disease Control and a study conducted by Entrepreneur Magazine. 



The data in this study was collected in 2009.


PROCESS

84 canisters were assembled by-hand with 84 corresponding cars––to roughly form the shape of the continental United States––and statistics and filled with a combination of putty, green slime and black food coloring.


FINAL

The final production consisted of 1/4" and 1/2" acrylic sheets, lasercut and represented via car color––with a dark red paint coloring to show the most obese and white to represent the most lean states––to visually demonstrate the obesity rankings of each individual state of the Continental United States.



Photos, courtesy of Jisu Choi

The charette kicks off the fall term of each academic year, as a chance for old and new students in the Grad Media Design program at Art Center College of Design to come together and work in small groups on a project, whose short timeline is indicative of the fast pace of the program.

This year's charette took place at two forms of communication infrastructure in Southern California: the Port of Los Angeles and One Wilshire.

As a group, we created a series of questions and a manifesto of sorts to further examine the city of Los Angeles:

If LA's infrastructure is controlled by the ambiguous facades of governmental regulation and capitalism then the imbalanced co-dependant relationship between physical and digital "things" and their systems is amplified.

With this performance we are attempting to highlight and provoke, a conversation of the implementation of this imbalance into other contexts, in this case, restaurants and food. It is, literally, dinner and a show.

What is the co-dependence of the digital and physical structures and how they rely on each other?

What are the implications of these power models transposed to other daily activities?

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In a live performance, we were seeking to illustrate this facade of Los Angeles––specifically, at One Wilshire. Despite the air of importance, as it is hailed as the underground communication world of the western seaboard, One Wilshire is only a show of power, and nothing more.

Produced in collaboration with Salvador Orara, Tanner Teale, Maria del Lamadrid and Gene Lee, we chose a starkly contrasted palette and a restaurant-style setting in the not-so-distant future to illustrate the illusion of corporate power at One Wilshire through the narrative.



THE SCRIPT

We created a script to call into question the corporations and products which we could envision playing a role in the facade we are presented with as consumers.

SETTING: Interior of a restaurant in the evening

Diner 1: Hey, Maria. They got the new R20000 in. I had the copy of the Google rib-eye last Friday with my boyfriend here, it was amazing!
Diner 2: I can't wait to taste my first copy. I've only tried the R19000 and it didn't have the ink flavoring I was craving.

(Server enters)

Server: Welcome to CAPITAL, my name is Tanner and I will be your server.
Server: (He looks at the tablet) I see you are at X rank. Would you like to upgrade t1o the Y rank for an additional cost and expanded menu?

(diners pause and look at each other)

Diner 1: Yes, that sounds great!
Server: Wonderful, let me get some forms… (reaching for forms)
Server: Please sign these Rank Upgrade forms
Diner 1 & 2: (sign the forms, server collects forms and give back to server and flip the menu)
Server: (While flipping menus) I'll give you some time to look at your extended menu which is located on the back.
Diner 1: (As she flips the menu) I've never had access to the Y menu before.
Diner 2: Oh, they have the grass-fed, organic, air-cooled, anti-alias AT&T lamb.
Diner 1: Is it air-cooled AND air-conditioned?
Server: Have you made your selections?
Diner 1: I'll have the Google rib-eye. But can I have the BP green beans on the side instead of the USPS potatoes?
Server: Sure, you'll need to fill out a Side Substitute application.
Server: (Gets paper from rack) Initial here and here and sign here.

(Diner 1 completes the form and Server takes it away)

Diner 2: I'll have the AT&T lamb. And we'd like 2 glasses of the 2025 Epson Chardonnay.
Server: Great. Please scan your wine permits and I'll input your order into the queue. Your dinner should be printed shortly.
Diner 1 and 2: (scan the permits and take them away) Thank you.

(Server takes menu, inputs the order in the tablet and walks away. Technician comes to serve food and drink from printer. Diners eat quickly and make silent small talk. Complement food.)

Diner 1 or 2: That was really good.

(Server signals tech, tech enters to take the plates then server comes in. Server enters.)

Server: Would you like dessert? Our chocolate souffle is delicious.
Diner 1: How much paperwork for vanilla ice cream?
Server: It will be one New Request form for vanilla ice cream and the chocolate souffle is a bit more complicated.
Diner 2: We'll skip dessert, but thank you. May we get a copy of our invoice?
Server: Of course, one moment please.

(Server turns and looks for invoice. Some chatting between diners.)

Server: (drops off copy of invoice) I've emailed you a copy as well. Thanks for dining with us. Have a great night.
Diner 1: (flipping through the invoice) Looks good to me.
Diner 2: Are you ready?

(Diners leave. More diners come in to take their place.)

Server: (looking at audience): Hi, welcome to CAPITAL.

(End)

After having created a project on a macro scale, we had the opportunity to shift to a micro scale and focus on one aspect of the project that we wanted to take further in infra LA (cont.)

In light of the final space shuttle mission, which ended on July 21, 2011, we would like to highlight the world that we inhabit and the worlds which surround us.

The topic of our eBook concept is SPACE.

The main themes for our project are community-building and exploration. This eBook is designed to be an informative, intuitive, adaptive resource for amateur astronomers, incorporating a sharing and networking platform.

Therefore, the tone of the project is both didactic and experiential–and informative, engaging voice, which also encourages meaningful interaction through the collaboration and communication with others.

We intend for our eBook to be portable, informative, innovative and to display content intelligently so that it is easily digested and shared by individuals and groups. The social aspect will be key, building on the amateur astronomer's culture of gathering around a telescope and sharing knowledge.

Current projects which discuss astronomy, such as Stellaria or Star Walk, are generally two-dimensional and lack an interface conducive to the collective study of galaxies, planets and constellations and the sharing of these explorations. With our unique digital interface, new discoveries can easily be logged, updates can be made instantaneously and everyday stargazers can compare notes with expert astronomers. In addition, there is a disconnect between the older and younger generations of budding astronomers--a gap that we hope to bridge with this device.

The main feature which we will be focusing on within the topic of SPACE is exploring the night sky, as a starting point for learning all the facets space has to offer.


PROCESS

Based on our interviews, research and initial concepts, we decided to focus on the community aspect of exploring the night sky. Gazing through a telescope has traditionally been a more intimate activity, because the singular eyepiece allows only one individual at a time. However, the incorporation of three-dimensional projection technology would allow more participants to interact with the device, as well as engage with others. This device acts as a stepping stone for those new to astronomy and provides resources, education and connections to experts in the field.

The development of our interface arose from astronomers' complaints regarding overly-complex, ugly interfaces, as well as struggles to engage a younger generation. The affordances of touch-based interaction were emphasized in our app, enabling the user to customize their own journey into space.


ORIGINAL INTERFACE SKETCH



FINAL



We would like to thank the Los Angeles Astronomical Society for their assistance during the research phase of this project and Phil van Allen for his assistance with the Flash/iOS prototyping.

Produced in collaboration with John Ryan, Jojo Chong and Katie Miyake.

For more information, please visit our project website, Sky Guide: Exploring the Night Sky.

"This is not a knob" was a project conducted for the Productive Interaction class for Grad Media Design at Art Center College of Design. This project attempts to create an interactive experience, through the masking of the knob and through screen- and object-based interaction.

I wanted to create a game that, through the user's actions, would illustrate the mysticism of the corporations and the garments they produce and exploitation of workers in the textile garment industry in third world countries. Therefore, "G.A.R.M.E.N.T.," or "Game Asking Retail Manufacturers for Ethics in Textiles" came alive. After introducing the element of time to create a game-like atmosphere, users would quickly gloss over the statistics that are revealed through the making of the clothing in an attempt to win the game.


During Week X of this term, I was given the opportunity to further this project. With the help of Jayne Vidheecharoen and Andrew Nagata and their scripting expertise, time and effort, I was able to make the game a reality. I would also like to thank Dustin York, Chiao Ho and Link Huang for their assistance.

We were seeking to harness the technology which we use utilize in our everyday practice i.e. cell phones and web cameras to create an immersive experience for the user.


We were initially given a kit of parts in which to conduct our investigations––a kit which included a bicycle light, faux spy cameras and assorted clamps and parts.

In our earlier experiments, we focused first on attraction through the use of a blinking bicycle light and a remote-controlled privacy mirror, which we switched on or off, based on the placement of the hand on the structure we created. We then added hand and foot symbols, so that the user was able to orient themselves in a way where they were able to view the video.

In our first iteration, we showed a video of awkward family photos, in order to see whether the video could sustain the viewer's interest.

After a series of rapid-fire iterations, we had greater success when showing participants a live webcam feed.



FINAL

For the final revision, we created an identity, e-nord, as a third-party operator which recruits potential drones and drone commanders.

Based on our conclusions from the first set of experiments, we learned that individuals enjoyed the voyeuristic aspect of the web cam experiments, either becoming the drone or the drone commander.


Additionally, we added the concept of time into the equation, by pitting individuals against each other in a series of small tasks which the drone had to complete.


This project was conducted in collaboration with Andrew Nagata and WIlliam Frohn.