Problem
Working with a team of five other graduate design students, create a visionary product based on the theme of "sharing personal media".

Approach
Given such a vague project charter, the group began with lots of ideation. 37 concepts were produced; an affinity sort identified areas with the most interest and potential. Several embodied what we called "shared environmenting": collaborative interaction around use of personal media to alter a space. Inspired by a story about amateur "iPod DJ nights" in a Manhattan bar, we decided to focus on sharing music in public spaces.

User research began with observations at restaurants and bars around Pittsburgh and interviews with friends and family about how they enjoy and share music with others. Over the rest of the semester, three "experience prototyping" sessions brought together a diverse group of participants into a bar-like atmosphere, where they were individually interviewed about music, collectively tested prototypes of the song selection process and the physical means for selection, and engaged in participatory design sessions.

Solution
Amusica is a socially interactive song selection system designed for individuals and groups in bars or nightclubs. It allows patrons to submit a playlist of songs to a communal pool and to vote on others’ selections
throughout the night. Amusica enables the sharing of personal media among friends and strangers in public spaces, creating new social bonds, strengthening existing relationships, and broadening musical horizons. It
accommodates various levels of patron involvement by providing multiple ways of engaging with the system.

There are three main components of the Amusica system: the “Amusiclick” handheld device lets patrons vote individually and transmits patrons’ preferences to the venue’s pool of songs; the tabletop device displays song titles and artists, and voting options; and the Amusica station dispenses Amusiclicks and manages the song pool. Due to time constraints, our team focused on the first two components.

Collaborators
Erin Eisinger, Brian Haven, Kate Muth, Sun Kuei-Chih, and
Kevin Shiue. Advised by Jodi Forlizzi. Sponsored by Microsoft.