Skillfinder

socialize the workfloor through playful information searching

2010

Design Opportunity

Improve social cohesion in a open working space through playful interactions.

What can we do to make the working space more lively, playful and interactive? How will this benefit our general well-being in social context? Our teams task was to come up with a concept that enriches the playfulness in a student working environment.

16 weeks
TU Eindhoven
Michiel Kersteman, Tim Scheffer, Neil van Es and Berbelijn Lustenhouwer

Process

Inspiration, Exploration and Ideation

One of the biggest problems to be encountered in an open working space is the search for information and experts. This would form the base to build a playful interaction around.

Direction: Make playful information sharing more simple by not sharing the information itself, but by letting the right people find each other.

final concept

a working solution

Skillfinder is a dowsing tool to enhance social cohesion and to reduce the threshold for information sharing. It helps you find experts within the space in a playful manner.

building

making things real

The Skillfinder is a successful working prototype, measuring the distance to a person’s table through XBee radios. I used the Xbee's RSSI (Radio Signal Strength Indicator) to determine the distance from the target.

During usestests with an early stage prototype participants were able to find the target. The feedback interval, however, could have been shorter to let the Skillfinder act more directly to your movements.