Côme and I started brainstorming separately, and presented our first ideas to each other
a little later. On the left you see two moodboards based on a small brainstorm session I did in the first week of the term. (user group: kids, collection: Ninja Tune)

The list of first ideas:

- music app for kids
- introducing kids to old ways of listening to music > vid with better and better audio
- coloring in music covers
- app for making music for kids?

While looking for more inspiration, Côme send me some images and links to enlighten me about his ideas (images on the right).

A little bit later in the process we created this moodboard together as a first step to come up with a collaborative visual identity. We were still very unsure of our concept, so we kept it very simple.

Within week 3 and 4 , a lot of sketching was done by Côme. He had a few concepts burning in his mind and made this first row of sketches to show me

When we got together again for a class from Belle, we brainstormed some more to finally make some ideas concrete.
This session resulted in the last row of sketches, were we both agreed on wanting to go further with the last idea.

For creating a prototype for the first presentation, we needed to start selecting suitable music. I spend quite some time searching through Ninja Tune for nice music and covers. I was looking for the perfect combination of music and cover, both suitable for our user and concept.

>link to the playlist<

We printed all the covers we found, and cut them into pieces. Côme designed three buttons to go with it, and that was our first prototype!

After our first user test in class, we realized that irregular/organic shapes would fit better with our idea. That's when I started sketching new shapes for the album cover pieces that are going to be on the music board.

We did even more brainstorming and found that having the music board be rectangular was not necessary. After some more sketching, we came up with a round board. It would be more dynamic and more random way of placing the pieces onto it.

These are the first shapes we lasercut and combined with the music cover images on sticker paper.

After another user test (user test 2) we were still unsure about what shapes to use. We figured another user test (user test 3) with different questions about the shapes would help us figure out what would be best to do for the shape designs.

We decided to change up the shape designs after having several feedback on the abstract shapes being confusing. What do you need to do with abstract shapes that don't fit into each other?

Together with Jeremy we worked on programming and coding for the board to work together with the Ninja Tune sounds. He showed us how to handle the software so we could continue with it ourselves. (MaxMSP + Arduino board)

Ardiuno code

MaxMSP programming

name brainstorming

programming notes

The first board prototype was made! We made it with foam board and connected the wires with magnets and Ardiuno board attached to it.

The second prototype was made from wood and screws. The wooden shapes have magnets (engraved inside) with the colored stickers covering them.
We selected the colors while designing our first ideas for the 'branding' of Polysono.

The first ideas for the typography and colors

The brainstorm for the name of our concept resulted in the name 'Polysono'. It's a combination of the word Polygonal (a word for multilayered), and sono which is a word for sound.

Starting with the branding of Polysono, we both tried different things to show each other. Our vision was quite different regarding the design.

There were some struggles making decisions throughout the designing process. Us both having different opinions and styles made that a little harder. But at the end of the day we managed to find a middle ground for the branding concept and an additional booklet.

Testing, testing and testing!

On the right here you see the first tryouts for the cover design of the booklet, and some colour variations. We received feedback that our design might be to 'mature', which I agreed with. So we tried to find another colour for the black background we were using.

Here's some cover designs for the 'sample booklet' that we wanted to make to showcase the samples provided with the Polysono board.

The sample booklet would be a nice way to show the parents and even the children what music they are playing with. It's a great connection to Ninja Tune and a nice way to learn more about the music and artist.

After some teacher feedback, we decided to make a separate folder with instructions of how to use the Polysono board. During our late brainstorming we figured it would be even better to have an application along with this to give the user an opportunity to upload and switch up samples on the board.

In the 'start guide', using the Polysono board together with the app is explained. The app is a solution for the fact that the samples on the board were not changeable. The app provides an opportunity to make your own sample selection and download them onto the board.

watch a preview video here >>>>