Idea
Inspired by our initial idea and a long conversation with Aaron and among ourselves, we came up with a new concept.
Our idea is to create a 2-person interactive generative art experience in which two people fill in a yes-no questionnaire about themselves, and then use an etch-a-sketch – like set up (two potentiometers) to generate a visualization of how alike they are and how much they have in common.
Arduino
Our Arduino will have two potentiometers per user as mentioned above to simulate the etch-a-sketch setup. One knob would control drawing on the x-axis, and the other would control drawing on the y-axis.
Additionally, we will have three buttons. Two buttons for the yes-no questionnaire, and one to “save” the artwork so that the users can keep it afterward.
Processing
We’re thinking of mapping sections of the processing screen to correspond to different categories (e.g. hobbies, age…etc.), and then as the users make their way on the screen, they leave traces that reflect the data they gave us in the beginning. When two traces meet at a point that symbolizes something in common a more complex shape “blooms” there.
At this point, it feels a bit difficult to visualize what it will exactly look like as it will require a lot of experimentation and trial and error!
Experience
For now, we’re thinking of having it all on one processing screen. So the users alternate filling in the questionnaire, and then continue to generate the art. However, if we find that we satisfied all the other elements we’re thinking of, we might try to make it across two devices