After defining the concept, we prepared a reactable table with fiducials in order to test the concept with kids (ages 4, 7, 9 and 10).

 

Even though the connection between sounds and numbers was not intuitive, we still used that logic to map sounds and numbers. We tried using rythmic melodies instead of single piano notes and the game turned out a lot more engaging.

 

They were pretty good at recognizing the patterns in the pieces and play following the basic domino rules.

The game consists of 28 tokens with numbers that go from one to seven. The partition line gives room to the light that illuminates each piece.

 

To play, the user shakes the piece to play the sound, and rolls the dice to change instrument. The shape of the pieces offers different play options.

 

To charge them, they should be in a box that works as a charging dock.

Since the prototype wouldn’t play the actual sounds that we designed we did a small movie to illustrate the scenario.

 

Here we show how the sounds are added when the pieces are placed on the surface one after the other, and how the dice changes the instrument that is played.

 

with Miguel Peres, Vivian Lo, Maria Zenkevich and Hanako Arámbula

2 weeks project

Umeå Institute of Design, Sweden 2011