Apple Troubleshooting Assistant Redesign

This summer I worked for Apple. I was an interaction designer on the user experience team for online support. My project was to redesign the online troubleshooting assistant module. The current modules were developed for a single issue and are now used for many. My design has expanded functionality and is both modular and scalable; easily adapted to any issue in any language. Soon all Apple troubleshooting assistants in will be converted to this design.

Check it out!

Thesis Project: Snackbot Sound

I am designing and evaluating a palatte of sounds and gestures for the Snackbot, a snack delivering robot created by Carnegie Mellon robotics, design, and human computer interaction. Snackbot is a research platform for long-term human-robot interaction. I am attempting to use non-speech sounds to create a desirable product character and experience that users will enjoy interacting with in the long term. This poster explains the problem and my process.

Markit

Microsoft and Motorola challenged our team of four to design a mobile device application that helps people learn in context. We began by defining the problem and audience. Next we conducted exploratory research involving interviews, observation, and benchmarking. We then conducted generative research involving a participatory design session, participant journaling, personas, and scenarios. We designed a paper prototype, and tested it with users in a usability lab. Finally, we refined the concept and visual design, along with crafting a video sketch illustrating the use of the product, and a final presentation.

The end result is a product called Markit, which is designed to help people make informed purchases while grocery shopping. I contributed to the research, ideation, architecture, evaluation, and presentation. I was responsible for personas, scenarios, product name, and the script and audio for the video sketch.

Flirtastic *2008 ADAA Finalist!*

I worked in a team of five to design a social networking website, utilizing video messaging to connect people and promote flirting.

I was responsible for interviews, evaluative research, and the product name. Paul and I created the video sketch, for which I wrote the script, storyboard, found the actors, recorded and edited the videos, and composed an original piece of music.

I contributed to the design, architecture, functionality, graphic design, and presentation. I got my hands wet in every aspect of this project, it was fun and I'm proud of what we accomplished. Download our final presentation to get a sense our process. Check out our Adobe Flex based interactive prototype.

I am very interested in perception and psychoacoustics. These pieces explore the connection between sound and vision.

Dear Spaceship

My class was asked to create an audio track to accompany this video clip. I was thinking about some of the principles we had covered, like the use of offscreen (also known as non-diegetic) sound to give immersive realism to the audio. Using offscreen sound allows you to shape the world around the action. I used it here to continue action, like when the plane crashes, and to show that help is on the way, using the air-raid siren.

I enjoy creating sounds for things that don’t really exists. No-one knows what spaceships and lasers really sound like, so I came up with novel sounds that still fit within the expectations set by other alien movies.

Finally, using silence or music with no sound effects can help to emphasize moments in film. I think of it as switching to the emotional soundtrack of the characters. The song at the end is by Imogen Heap, and I must give SNL credit for inspiring me to use her song based on their sketch “dear sister” a parody of the OC.

Kung Fu Synchresis

When sound and image events occur in close temporal proximity, our minds automatically connect the events, even if it defies logic. This phenomena is often refered to as synchresis, a term created by film ciritc and composer Michel Chion.

My class was given a strange audio track to which we were to add dynamic image. I spent hours listening to the track on loop as I surfed youtube looking for something that exposed the phenomena.

Events only occasionally line up, but our minds fill in the rest to make the whole thing work. The audio was unedited, and the video was only manipulated in one spot near the end.

Sound For Static Image

My class was asked to create sound for nine different static images. I used a combination of convention, association, and intuition to design these sounds.

Some sounds are samples from music and TV, like the knee joint and the transformers sounds. Others are from my personal sound library which I then manipulated, like the glass, explosion, bubbles, and heart beat. The rest I composed using Reason 3.0, like the drum, chord, and ants.

Interactive Giant Steps

With help, I wrote my first computer program, using the Processing language. I created a unique visualization of music theory, mapping color to chord tone function, rather than the more traditional mapping of color to pitch. Further, I mapped time as a series of concentric ellipses radiating from the center out. To add clarity and interest, I made the visualization interactive, allowing the user to select individual chords and click to hear them. This pdf descirbes my process and what I learned in greater detail.

• Composite Reel 4:01

This is a mix of eight tracks, in thirty second excerpt form.

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• FingaBreakin 5:15

This tune is my favorite. Finga’ Breakin’ is a funky tune written with Reason.  It involves samples I manipulated and features my upright playing, recorded direct via Pro Tools. In a live setting, I play my part with a DJ scratching, while another person manipulates the Reason tracks.

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• Shadow Space :51

This ambient work was created entirely with Reason. It can repeat infinitely and could be used as a background for television, film, a web site, or even as a ring tone.

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• The Traveler 4:06

Written in an Arabic mode, this eastern flavored piece was created using Reason, Recycle, and Pro Tools. I used Reason to write everything except the bass. I recorded myself playing upright using microphones into Pro Tools. I then used Recycle to make samples of myself into an instrument in Reason. The guitar solo in the second section will be live, loosely based on that melody and continuing on, most likely flowing into another song.

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• November 3:10

This piece was written entirely using Reason. Eventually, sampled live strings will replace the synthesizer.  I wrote the vocoder melody with a human voice in mind. This composition was a percussive experiment; I wrote the drum parts by arranging samples from several drum kits together. The piece will continue on with improvisation and a return to the vocoder melody.

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• O Christmas Tree 2:45

This is from a studio album, Rob Dorn’s Wonderland, I was hired to play on last year. It is a well recorded example of my upright playing with a quartet.

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• Solar 2:27

This is a live Minidisk recording from a private party gig I did last year with the incomparable Jeff Parker (Tortoise) on guitar. I try and record as many of my gigs as I can; it is a valuable learning tool.

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• Armenaki 4:03

I have been a member of The Greek Tycoons for four years. This is from our live album, Greek Tycoons Live, recorded at a Greek festival in San Antonio, TX in 2005. I'm playing electric bass on this track, OPA!

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All recordings are copyright C-Note Music (ASCAP)

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Do You Look Like Me?

My entire life, one out of every dozen people I meet has told me they know someone who looks just like me. I started making a gallery. If you know someone, or you yourself look like me, email me and I'll add you to the gallery.