VIBE

exhibition display piece

DLX Design Lab, The University of Tokyo, 1 week project

About VIBE

DLX Design Lab’s VIBE is a wearable technology piece within the オーバーレイ (Overlay) project. Using a vibrating vest and a “lollipop” that changes color according to your mood, VIBE is a wearable vibration technology that can help induce certain emotions.

See more about the DLX Design Lab here!

Challenge

Create a display piece that showcases the chemical technology used in the VIBE lollipop.

How it Works

The VIBE lollipop uses color changing chemical technology in order to show you your mood. Research has shown that the level of nitrates in your saliva can be an indication of emotions, so this technology uses this fact to change color depending on nitrate concentrations. This way, the user gets a visual representation of their current mood, helping them to better choose a vibration level on the VIBE vest.

Ideation and Prototyping

There were several limitations in this display that made it challenging to design. The color changing technology was shown in paper tester strips and could not be exposed to direct sunlight. Similarly, the nitrates, one high concentration, one low, could not be exposed to sunlight. Finally, the rest of the display had already been made, so the style of this display had to match what was already made.

I made three prototypes to test out different angles that I could display the technology with.

prototype 1: vertical display, chemical drops when button is pressed

prototype 2: 45 degree angle display, chemical is dropped using droppers

prototype 3: horizontal display, chemical is dropped using droppers

Creation

After making my three prototypes, I decided that the horizontal display, with a modified layout, would be best. The vertical display took up too much space, and the 45 degree display was not very aesthetically pleasing. I designed a simple rolling mechanism to hold the paper test strips, and laser cut everything out of semi-translucent acrylic and wood that was painted white to match the rest of the display pieces.

pull and roll mechanism to “reset” the test squares

see the spinning dowel holding the test strips on the underside of the display

Results

The final piece allows people to see the chemical technology and interact with the display, dropping the nitrate in to see the squares change color depending on the nitrate concentrations.