The Tittylator: Lo-fi Prototype
This week, I started exploring materials, forms and scales of the Tittylator. The main question I was asking while thinking of how to go about starting this prototype was around scale. I want my object to function both as a hand-held device and an indoor sculpture.
Scope:
What’s the size?
How does it feel?
I listed out different things about the Tittylator I needed to test out
Knowing that I definitely needed feathers and something soft and spiky, I went out to look for materials I could play with, as well as digging through ITP’s junk shelf. I got some foam, sponge, feathers, spiky stress balls, and clay to start moulding my prototype.
These three layers would make up the main components of the Tittylator, including a feathery end, a handle, and a soft spiky end
I started layering things to visualize what my object could potentially look like and how big it was going to be. I also wanted to test out some dynamic parts of the object, like how the feather would move back and forth as the user is holding it.
My first dynamic prototype of the feather end
For the handle, I used sponge to emulate some sort of soft handle that is squeezable. I tested the handle’s thickness with multiple female friends to make sure it feels comfortable in their hands. I created the feather end with a movable mechanism to get a feel of what the end product could be like. Feedback from friends (and potential users) at ITP at the time was that the object felt too big to be used casually. The feathers and their fanning motion worked well for most testers.
With that comment, I tried making the overall object more compact. I went with only the base of the feathers to shorten the height, and moulded the spiky end with clay to visualize the entire object’s scale.
Through this process, I learned that the form of this object is very important, as well as size. I need to be able to make the object compact enough for users to pick up comfortably, while still providing enough handle room for comfort. My tester said that it currently looks like it was meant to be used on one side, and not a two-sided device.
This prototype also made me more sure that I want to use silicone as my material, as the prototype that was made of sponge and clay turned out to be too heavy.