In-Lecture Exercise A

In the first lecture, I learned that visual communication design exists everywhere, be it symbols, logos, posters, or books. Visuals are very important in communicating and letting the audience decipher the message. Adding on to that, I believe that communication design can exist beyond visuals and can be conveyed in the form of sound.

Music has always been an important part of my life as it helps me to focus on the activity I am doing and better help me express myself in order to enhance my creativity. It not only prevents me from getting distracted by my surroundings but also allows me to be more in-tuned with my thoughts. I like to listen to different genres of music based on my mood or the type of work I am doing. Hence, I would like to come up with an idea that incorporates music and emotions which will help to enhance my creativity.

I would propose a machine that can play music from my playlist depending on my emotions. It will be shaped like a headphone for ease of wearing and convenience. The machine would be able to detect what type of emotions I am feeling, such as happiness, sadness, or anger, and choose the appropriate songs to play to enhance my creativity, make me feel better and focus better.

Emotion recognition will be done via emotion sensors to recognize users’ emotions by collecting their physiological data such as heart rate and body temperature. The software used for the headphones would have a machine learning model that is already well-trained for emotion recognition. From there, the model would be able to classify the user into various emotions based on their physiological data. Based on the user’s emotions, the headphones will suggest songs that will be put into the song queue according to the user’s liked songs and other songs that are available on the user's music application. Users can then tap or double tap the side of the headphones, which are made up of force sensors, to pause, play or skip the song.

I designed the machine to be a wireless headphone because it is easy for users to wear and convenient due to its mobility. Not only that, it is more comfortable to wear for long periods of time as opposed to earbuds. This is taken into consideration as doing creative work may sometimes take a long period of time. The emotion sensors are small and are attached directly to the headphone. This is so that it is not too heavy to wear and the physiological data taken from the user can be directly used to suggest songs, rather than using another device to link both information. Force sensors are used so that less pressure will be applied to the ears when users tap the sensors, as opposed to pressing a button. Hence, with all these features combined, by automatically playing music that suits my emotions, I strongly believe that my creativity will definitely be enhanced!