Chromoskyn
With rapid industrialization and growth of big cities, human’s disconnection from nature and the rise of climate-related issues have increased. This design concept explores the augmentation of individuals with organic material to re-establish this forgotten sense of our connection with nature to experience the world in distress. This project works in the area of sensing earth, sensual computing, and speculative design.
Advisors
Sustainable development goals
Tags
Processing
Projection Map
API
CIID
challenge
Design an interface that highlights the emerging connections to the ecological & biological reality.
We were given 4 topics to work with:
We were given 4 topics to work with:
- Sensing Earth - Design at the planetary scale
- Inter-species Perception - Design Communication with lifeforms
- Invisible Materiality - Design Olfaction & the Micro-biome
- Sensual Computer - Design Soft Interfaces
outcome
Chromoskyn is a living organic tattoo that represents the greenhouse gas level in the city. The color and shape of Chromoskyn changes in response to the level of carbon dioxide & other greenhouse gases in the vicinity. It helps us visualize in real-time the air quality of our environment and our impact on the same. This in turn, helps us develop our connection and empathy for our environment.
The Chromoskyn tattoo lives in a symbiotic relationship with the user, it is made of carbon-phylic seeds and water-based glue. It feeds on the body chemistry, skin composition, body fluids, and temperature imparting a unique characteristic for each individual. This Chromoskyn tattoo can be placed anywhere in the body like any other tattoo. Since it’s a living tattoo, it will keep growing and morphing. The user has the option to remove a part of it or entirely and plant it on a tree to continue its growth.
The Chromoskyn tattoo lives in a symbiotic relationship with the user, it is made of carbon-phylic seeds and water-based glue. It feeds on the body chemistry, skin composition, body fluids, and temperature imparting a unique characteristic for each individual. This Chromoskyn tattoo can be placed anywhere in the body like any other tattoo. Since it’s a living tattoo, it will keep growing and morphing. The user has the option to remove a part of it or entirely and plant it on a tree to continue its growth.
We were inspired by Cyborg artists expanding their sensing capabilities for a better living and symbiotic relationships in nature. When we think about climate change, global warming, international and global distant connections & the many species that inhabit the world, we lack creative and poetic ways of engaging.
The goal was to inspire, prototype and imagine interactions and embodiments of technology that we actually want to live in and to work together to create the next few years of design. We will use our tools of hardware and software prototyping, video prototyping, sketching, photography, micro interactions to give shape to our ideas.
The goal was to inspire, prototype and imagine interactions and embodiments of technology that we actually want to live in and to work together to create the next few years of design. We will use our tools of hardware and software prototyping, video prototyping, sketching, photography, micro interactions to give shape to our ideas.
Bodystorming
Our main theme is the concept of disbalance caused by humans in the natural environment. We explored disbalance to individual in many formats such as physical disbalance by joining legs, cognitive load by giving puzzles to solves while walking criss-cross, aural disbalance by clapping impromptu to someone’s ear, and space discomfort by enacting a CO2 molecule.
Based on our learnings, we came up with the Chromoskyn concept:Living organic tattoos that represent air quality in your city
Non-invasive application of the tattoo
Atmospheric factors which influence the growth from the seeds
Prototyping
We proceeded by exploring low-fi prototypes of producing disbalance through affecting the equilibrium of the inner ear by giving audio feedback to the ear. Our mid-fi prototype included using P5.JS and WeatherAPI to explore real-time projection on the body using Kinect to explore the sensation of feeling pollution on the body.
mid-fi prototype to get an idea of how it feels when pollution is reflected on my body.
Makeup stickers used to prototype chromoskyn tattoo
A window into the life of an cyberartist ;)
Learnings from prototype
- Committing to something completely out of the public eye, will make one seem crazy, no matter how logical the reasoning may be.
- After exploring and sitting with those concepts, the term ‘crazy’ will be replaced by terms like, ‘accepted’ or ‘admirable’.
- Living with the intervention is important to understand subtle effects in behaviour and lifestyle