Pearl

Individual Project
Client: Digital World Research Centre, University of Surrey in Guildford, UK

Digital photography has enabled people to take enormous amount of photographs. However most people are reluctant to carefully select their photos, resulting in an unorganized collection. This has a negative effect on long-term retrieval of photos. A promising approach is positive selection, which is the identification of favourite pictures to increase their visibility and availability.

Living Media implements positive selection of photographs based on user actions. Photographs that are used often will stay alive, forgotten photographs will slowly fade to black. Using/looking at a faded photo will revive the photo just like it revives your memory.

Living Media can be used on a computer, but my user research showed that users need easy access to their collection. That’s why I designed Pearl, an object that projects a collage of precious photos on your wall. This collage refreshes everyday with (living) favourite photos, but also favourite photos that have not been looked at for a while and are therefore faded. A faded photo will revive again when you touch it, just like the memory.

The photos in the collage are an invitation to browse through the photos of the portrayed event. This can be done by placing Pearl on a table and view the photographs on a large projection. This large projection is very suitable for sharing with other people, unlike computer screens.

An interactive prototype has been made that has been used for user testing. The prototype consists of a pico projector, a mirror and a web cam integrated in a physical model. Reactivision cards were used to interact with the projected collage. The software is written in Processing.

The participants used the prototype with their own photo collection. The prototype was placed for four days in three different homes to evaluate the concept.