Photochromism

10-12-2009
Photochromism

Photochromism is the reversible transformation of a chemical species between two forms by the absorption of electromagnetic radiation, where the two forms have different absorption spectra. Trivially, this can be described as a reversible change of color upon exposure to light. The phenomenon was discovered in the late 1880s, including work by Markwald, who studied the reversible change of color of 2,3,4,4-tetrachloronaphthalen-1(4H)-one in the solid state. He labeled this phenomenon "phototropy", and this name was used until the 1950s when Yehuda Hirshberg, of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel proposed the term "photochromism". Photochromism can take place in both organic and inorganic compounds, and also has its place in biological systems.

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Photochromism does not have a rigorous definition, but is usually used to describe compounds that undergo a reversible photochemical reactionabsorption band in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum changes dramatically in strength or wavelength. In many cases, an absorbance band is present in only one form. The degree of change required for a photochemical reaction to be dubbed "photochromic" is that which appears dramatic by eye, but in essence there is no dividing line between photochromic reactions and other photochemistry. Therefore, while the trans-cis isomerization of azobenzene is considered a photochromic reaction, the analogous reaction of stilbenepericyclic reactions, cis-trans isomerizations, intramolecular hydrogen transfer, intramolecular group transfers, dissociation processes and electron transfers (oxidation-reduction). where an is not. Since photochromism is just a special case of a photochemical reaction, almost any photochemical reaction type may be used to produce photochromism with appropriate molecular design. Some of the most common processes involved in photochromism are pericyclic reactions, cis-trans isomerizations, intramolecular hydrogen transfer, intramolecular group transfers, dissociation processes and electron transfers (oxidation-reduction).

Another somewhat arbitrary requirement of photochromism is that it requires the two states of the molecule to be thermally stable under ambient conditions for a reasonable time. All the same, nitrospiropyranthermochromic compounds. The timescale of thermal back-isomerization is important for applications, and may be molecularly engineered. Photochromic compounds considered to be "thermally stable" include some diarylethenes, which do not back isomerize even after heating at 80 C for 3 months. Since photochromic chromophores are dyes, and operate according to well-known reactions, their molecular engineering to fine-tune their properties can be achieved relatively easily using known design models, quantum mechanics calculations, and experimentation. In particular, the tuning of absorbance bands to particular parts of the spectrum and the engineering of thermal stability have received much attention. Since photochromic chromophores are dyes, and operate according to well-known reactions, their molecular engineering to fine-tune their properties can be achieved relatively easily using known design models, quantum mechanics calculations, and experimentation. In particular, the tuning of absorbance bands to particular parts of the spectrum and the engineering of thermal stability have received much attention. Sometimes, and particularly in the dye industry, the term "irreversible photochromic" is used to describe materials that undergo a permanent color change upon exposure to ultraviolet or visible light radiation. Because by definition photochromics are reversible, there is technically no such thing as an "irreversible photochromic"—this is loose usage, and these compounds are better referred to as "photochangable" or "photoreactive" dyes.

Apart from the qualities already mentioned, several other properties of photochromics are important for their use. These include

• Quantum yield of the photochemical reaction. This determined the efficiency of the photochromic change with respect to the amount of light absorbed. The quantum yield of isomerization can be strongly dependent on conditions (see below).
• Fatigue resistance. In photochromic materials, fatigue refers to the loss of reversibility by processes such as photodegradation, photobleaching, photooxidation, and other side reactions. All photochromics suffer fatigue to some extent, and its rate is strongly dependent on the activating light and the conditions of the sample.
• Photostationary state. Photochromic materials have two states, and their interconversion can be controlled using different wavelengths of light. Excitation with any given wavelength of light will result in a mixture of the two states at a particular ratio, called the "photostationary state". In a perfect system, there would exist wavelengths that can be used to provide 1:0 and 0:1 ratios of the isomers, but in real systems this is not possible, since the active absorbance bands always overlap to some extent.
• Polarity and solubiliy. In order to incorporate photochromics in working systems, they suffer the same issues as other dyes. They are often charged in one or more state, leading to very high polarity and possible large changes in polarity. They also often contain large conjugated systems that limit their solubility.

Photochromic complexes

A photochromic complex is a kind of chemical compound that has photoresponsive parts on its ligand. These complexes have a specific structure: photoswitchable organic compounds are attached to metal complexes. For the photocontrollable parts, thermally and photochemically stable chromophores (azobenzene, dairylethene, spiropyran, etc.) are usually used. And for the metal complexes, a wide variety of compounds that have various functions (redox response, luminescence, magnetism, etc.) are applied.

The photochromic parts and metal parts are so close that they can affect each other's molecular orbitals. The physical properties of these compounds shown by parts of them (i.e., chromophores or metals) thus can be controlled by switching their other sites by external stimuli. For example, photoisomerization behaviors of some complexes can be switched by oxidation and reduction of their metal parts. Some other compounds can be changed in their luminescence behavior, magnetic interaction of metal sites, or stability of metal-to-ligand coordination by photoisomerization of their photochromic parts.

Classes of Photochromic materials

Photochromic molecules can belong to various classes: triarylmethanes, stilbenes, azastilbenes, nitrones, fulgides, spiropyrans, naphthopyrans, spiro-oxazines, quinones and others.

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Classes of Photochromic materials

Spiropyrans and Spirooxazines

Spiro-mero photochromism.

One of the oldest, and perhaps the most studied, families of photochromes are the spiropyrans. Very closely related to these are the spirooxazines. For example, the spiro form of an oxazine is a colorless leuco dye; the conjugated system of the oxazine and another aromatic part of the molecule is separated by a sp³-hybridized "spiro" carbon. After irradiation with UV light, the bond between the spiro-carbon and the oxazine breaks, the ring opens, the spiro carbon achieves sp² hybridization and becomes planar, the aromatic group rotates, aligns its π-orbitals with the rest of the molecule, and a conjugated system forms with ability to absorb photons of visible light, and therefore appear colorful. When the UV source is removed, the molecules gradually relax to their ground state, the carbon-oxygen bond reforms, the spiro-carbon becomes sp³ hybridized again, and the molecule returns to its colorless state.

This class of photochromes in particular are thermodynamically unstable in one form and revert to the stable form in the dark unless cooled to low temperatures. Their lifetime can also be affected by exposure to UV light. Like most organic dyes they are susceptible to degradation by oxygen and free radicals. Incorporation of the dyes into a polymer matrix, adding a stabilizer, or providing a barrier to oxygen and chemicals by other means prolongs their lifetime.

Diarylethenes

Dithienylethene photochemistry.

The "diarylethenes" were first introduced by Irie and have since gained widespread interest, largely on account of their high thermodynamic stability. They operate by means of a 6-pi electrocyclic reaction, the thermal analog of which is impossible due to steric hindrance. Pure photochromic dyes usually have the appearance of a crystalline powder, and in order to achieve the color change, they usually have to be dissolved in a solvent or dispersed in a suitable matrix. However, some diarylethenes have so little shape change upon isomerization that they can be converted while remaining in crystalline form.

Azobenzenes

Azobenzene photoisomerization.

The photochromic trans-cis isomerization of azobenzenes has been used extensively in molecular switches, often taking advantage of its shape change upon isomerization to produce a supramolecular result. In particular, azobenzenes incorporated into crown ethers give switchable receptors and azobenzenes in monolayers can provide light-controlled changes in surface properties.

Photochromic quinones

Some quinones, and phenoxynaphthacene quinone in particular, have photochromicity resulting from the ability of the phenyl group to migrate from one oxygen atome to another. Quinones with good thermal stability have been prepared, and they also have the additional feature of redox activity, leading to the construction of many-state molecular switches that operate by a mixture of photonic and electronic stimuli.

Inorganic photochromics

Many inorganic substances also exhibit photochromic properties, often with much better resistance to fatigue than organic photochromics. In particular, silver chloride is extensively used in the manufacture of photochromic lenses. Other silver and zinc halides are also photochromic.

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Applications

Sunglasses

One of the most famous reversible photochromic applications is color changing lenses for sunglasses, as found in eye-glasses. The largest limitation in using PC technology is that the materials cannot be made stable enough to withstand thousands of hours of outdoor exposure so long-term outdoor applications are not appropriate at this time.

The switching speed of photochromic dyes is highly sensitive to the rigidity of the environment around the dye. As result, they switch most rapidly in solution and slowest in the rigid environment like a polymer lens. Recently it has been reported that attaching flexible, low TG Some spirooxazines with siloxane polymers attached switch at near solution-like speeds even though they are in a rigid lens matrix. polymers (for example siloxanes or poly(butyl acrylate)) to the dyes allows them to switch much more rapidly in a rigid lens.

Supramolecular chemistry

Photochromic units have been employed extensively in supramolecular chemistry. Their ability to give a light-controlled reversible shape change means that they can be used to make or break molecular recognition motifs, or to cause a consequent shape change in their surroundings. Thus, photochromic units have been demonstrated as components of molecular switches. The coupling of photochromic units to enzymes or enzyme cofactors even provides the ability to reversibly turn enzymes "on" and "off", by altering their shape or orientation in such a way that their functions are either "working" or "broken".

Data storage

The possibility of using photochromic compounds for data storage was first suggested in 1956 by Yehuda Hirshberg.Since that time, there have been many investigations by various academic and commercial groups, particularly in the area of 3D optical data storage which promises discs that can hold a terabyte of data. Initially, issues with thermal back-reactions and destructive reading dogged these studies, but more recently more-stable systems have been developed.

Novelty items

Reversible photochromics are also found in applications such as toys, cosmetics, clothing and industrial applications. If necessary, they can be made to change between desired colors by combination with a permanent pigment.

Thermochromism

10-12-2009
Thermochromism

Thermochromism is the ability of substance to change color due to a change in temperature. A mood ring is an excellent example of this, but it has many other uses. Thermochromism is one of several types of chorism.

The two basic approaches are based on liquid crystals and leuco dyes. Liquid crystals are used in precision applications, as their responses can be engineered to accurate temperatures, but their color range is limited by their principle of operation. Leuco dyes allow wider range of colors to be used, but their response temperatures are more difficult to set with accuracy.

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Thermochromatic liquid crystals (TLCs)

Some liquid crystals are capable of displaying different colors at different temperatures. This change is dependent on selective reflection of certain wavelengths by the crystallic structure of the material, as it changes between the low-temperature crystallic phase, through anisotropic chiral or twisted nematic phase, to the high-temperature isotropic liquid phase. Only the nematic mesophase has thermochromic properties; this restricts the effective temperature range of the material.

The twisted nematic phase has the molecules oriented in layers with regularly changing orientation, which gives them periodic spacing. The light passing the crystal undergoes Bragg diffraction on these layers, and the wavelength with the greatest constructive interference is reflected back, which is perceived as a spectral color. A change in the crystal temperature can result in a change of spacing between the layers and therefore in the reflected wavelength. The color of the thermochromic liquid crystal can therefore continuously range from non-reflective (black) through the spectral colors to black again, depending on the temperature. Typically, the high temperature state will reflect blue-violet, while the low-temperature state will reflect red-orange. Since blue is a shorter wavelength than red, this indicates that the distance of layer spacing is reduced by heating through the liquid-crystal state.

Some such materials are cholesteryl nonanoate or cyanobiphenyls.

Liquid crystals used in dyes and inks often come microencapsulated, in the form of suspension.

Liquid crystals are used in applications where the color change has to be accurately defined. They find applications in thermometers for room, refrigerator, aquarium, and medical use, and in indicators of level of propane in tanks.

Liquid crystals are difficult to work with and require specialized printing equipment. The material itself is also typically more expensive than alternative technologies. High temperatures, ultraviolet radiation, some chemicals and/or solvents have a negative impact on their lifespan.

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Leuco dyes

Example of a Hypercolor t-shirt. A hairdryer was used to change the blue to turquoise.

Another example of a Hypercolor t-shirt.

Thermochromic dyes are based on mixtures of leuco dyes with suitable other chemicals, displaying a color change (usually between the colorless leuco form and the colored form) in dependence on temperature. The dyes are rarely applied on materials directly; they are usually in the form of microcapsules with the mixture sealed inside. An illustrative example is the Hypercolor fashion, where microcapsules with crystal violet lactone, weak acid, and a dissociable salt dissolved in dodecanol are applied to the fabric; when the solvent is solid, the dye exists in its lactone leuco form, while when the solvent melts, the salt dissociates, the pH inside the microcapsule lowers, the dye becomes protonated, its lactone ring opens, and its absorption spectrum shifts drastically, therefore it becomes deeply violet. In this case the apparent thermochromism is in fact halochromism.

The dyes most commonly used are spirolactones, fluorans, spiropyrans, and fulgides. The weak acids include bisphenol A, parabens, 1,2,3-triazole derivates, and 4-hydroxycoumarin and act as proton donors, changing the dye molecule between its leuco form and its protonated colored form; stronger acids would make the change irreversible.

Leuco dyes have less accurate temperature response than liquid crystals, and are used in applications where accuracy is not required. They are suitable for general indicators of approximate temperature ("too cool", "too hot", "about OK"), or for various novelty items. They are usually used in combination with some other pigment, producing a color change between the color of the base pigment and the color of the pigment combined with the color of the non-leuco form of the leuco dye. Organic leuco dyes are available for temperature ranges between about -5 °C and 60 °C, in wide range of colors. The color change usually happens in a 3 °C interval.

Leuco dyes are used in applications where temperature response accuracy is not critical: eg. novelties, bath toys, flying discs, and approximate temperature indicators for microwave-heated foods. Microencapsulation allows their use in wide range of materials and products. The size of the microcapsules typically ranges between 3-5 µm (over 10 times larger than regular pigment particles), which requires some adjustments to printing and manufacturing processes.

An interesting application of leuco dyes is in the Duracell battery state indicators. A layer of a leuco dye is applied on a resistive strip to indicate its heating, thus gauging the amount of current the battery is able to supply. The strip is triangular-shaped, changing its resistance along its length, therefore heating up a proportionally long segment with the amount of current flowing through it. The length of the segment above the threshold temperature for the leuco dye then becomes colored.

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation, solvents and high temperatures reduce the lifespan of leuco dyes. Temperatures above about 200-230 °C typically cause irreversible damage to leuco dyes; a time-limited exposure of some types to about 250 °C is allowed during manufacturing.

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Materials

Inks

Thermochromic inks or dyes are temperature sensitive compounds, developed in the 1970s, that temporarily change color with exposure to heat. They come in two forms, liquid crystals and leuco dyes. Liquid crystals are used in mood rings. Leuco dyes are easier to work with and allow for a greater range of applications. These applications include: flat thermometers, battery testers, clothing, and the indicator on bottles of maple syrup that change color when the syrup is warm. The most well-known line of clothing utilizing thermochromics was Hypercolor. The thermometers are often used on the exterior of aquariums, or to obtain a body temperature via the forehead. Coors light uses thermochromic ink on its cans now, changing from white to blue to indicate the can is cold.

Paints

Thermochromic paint is a relatively recent development in the area of color-changing pigments. It involves the use of liquid crystal or leuco dye technology. After absorbing a certain amount of light or heat, the crystallic or molecular structure of the pigment reversibly changes in such a way that it absorbs and emits light at a different wavelength than at lower temperatures. Thermochromic paints are seen quite often as a coating on coffee mugs, whereby once hot coffee is poured into the mugs, the thermochromic paint absorbs the heat and becomes colored or transparant, therefore changing the appearance of the mug.

Papers

Thermochromic papers are used for thermal printers. One example is the paper impregnated with the solid mixture of a fluoran dye with octadecylphosphonic acid. This mixture is stable in solid phase; however, when the octadecylphosphonic acid is melted, the dye undergoes chemical reaction in the liquid phase, and assumes the protonated colored form. This state is then conserved when the matrix solidifies again, if the cooling process is fast enough. As the leuco form is more stable in lower temperatures and solid phase, the records on thermochromic papers slowly fade out over years; this may lead to interesting effects in combination with accounting records, receipts from a thermal printer, and a tax audit.

Others

Another good example of this is the color indicators on batteries. The indicator turns green if the battery still possesses a charge. This works by passing the charge of the battery through a small resistor on the battery, and causes the pigment to absorb heat. Once the paint has absorbed enough heat from the current of the battery, it changes from black to green (usually), thus indicating that the battery still has a fair amount of charge left in it. Another approach is using a resistor in the shape of a thin triangular layer, under a thermochromic pigment. The variable width of the resistor causes it to be heated unevenly, with the position of transition threshold temperature varying depending on the current the battery is providing.

A simple-to-make thermochromic compound is zinc oxide, which is white at room temperature but when heated changes to yellow due to various types of crystal lattice defects. On cooling the zinc oxide reverts to white. Also lead(II) oxide has a similar color change on heating. These solids are technically semiconductors, and the color change is linked to their electronic properties.

Cuprous mercury iodide (Cu₂HgI₄) undergoes a phase transition at 55 °C, reversibly changing from a bright red solid material at low temperature to a dark brown solid at high temperature. Other such material is mercury(II) iodide, a crystalline material which at 126 °C undergoes reversible phase transition from red alpha phase to pale yellow beta phase. Yet another example is nickel sulfate, green at room temperature but becoming yellow at 155 °C. Ag₂HgI₄ is yellow at low temperatures and orange above 47-51 °C.

Vanadium dioxide has been investigated for use as a "spectrally-selective" window coating to block infrared transmission and reduce the loss of building interior heat through windows. This material behaves like a semiconductor at lower temperatures, allowing more transmission, and like a conductor at higher temperatures, providing much greater reflectivity. The phase change between transparent semiconductive and reflective conductive phase occurs at 68 °C; doping the material with 1.9% of tungsten lowers the transition temperature to 29 °C.

Some minerals are thermochromic as well; for example some chromium-rich pyropes, normally reddish-purplish, become green when heated to about 80 °C.

CuteCircuit

10-12-2009
About:

CuteCircuit is a fashion company based in London that designs interactive clothing. CuteCircuit products are innovative intelligent clothing that integrate new functionalities into fashion through the use of smart textiles and micro electronics. CuteCircuit is the first company to merge wearable and telecommunication technology to create emotionally rich experiences for users in the fashion, sport and communication industries.

One of Cute Circuit’s products, the Hug Shirt, was honored as one of the Best Inventions of The Year by Time Magazine. This same product was also awarded the First Prize at Ciberart Festival in Bilbao, Spain. CuteCircuit work is frequently featured in books on design, art and innovation, publications include: World Changing, Fashioning the Future, Smart Materials in Design, Fashion and Architecture, Sex Design, and Designing for Interaction. Many of CuteCircuit products have also been published on magazines and newspapers worldwide, such as TIME Magazine, ELLE, Design Matters, Stuff, WIRED, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, the Financial Times, and CNN. CuteCircuit was featured in the special issue on the American Avant Garde by Surface Magazine. The recent book Fashionable Technology, prominently features all of CuteCircuit’s work to date.

Interviews with founders Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz have been featured on Discovery Channel International, National Geographic Television, BBC World Technology, BBC Live at Five, BBC Go-Digital, National Japanese Television. They speak worldwide on the subjects of innovation and the future of fashion and design in events such as Gravity Free Design and Innovation Conference, Smart Textiles Conference in Washington DC (USA) and Rome, Italy, Aventex and Techtextil in Frankfurt and top universities and research institutes worldwide.

CuteCircuit products have been exhibited at WIRED NextFest for two consecutive years in New York City and Los Angeles, and at ‘Tomorrow’s Textiles’ at the Science Museum in London, SIGGRAPH, Design and Emotion Conference, International Symposium of Wearable Computing, ‘How Smart are We?’ at RIBA, Nordic Exceptional Trendshop in Denmark and CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas. CuteCircuit’s latest creation, the Galaxy Dress, the largest wearable display in the world, is currently on show at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as part of the FastForward exhibition and has been acquired for the museum’s permanent collection as well.

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The GalaxyDress

The GalaxyDress designed by CuteCircuit which is on display in the FastForward gallery at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX9FOGFxN9A

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Accessory Nerve

Accessory Nerve is a Bluetooth mono-sleeve accessory for mobile phones that changes pattern (creating pleats on the fabric) when a user receives phone calls.

The system

The wearer recognizes the sender from the pattern the pleats create when receiving an incoming call. If the user is in a meeting or busy can simply flatten the pleats back into the original position, automatically the caller will receive a text message saying “I’ll call you back later”. The Accessory Nerve allows users to exchange information and greetings in a subtle and intimate way.

Research

Wear your thoughts on your sleeve. A-Nerve started as a collaboration between Ryan Genz of CuteCircuit and Interaction Designer Line Ulrika Christiansen, and continues to be developed at CuteCircuit. Accessory Nerve allows users to communicate with friends through a novel textile visual language, combining smart textiles and telecommunication technology.

Process

Research, Concept, Prototype, User Testing

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The Hug Shirt

The Hug Shirt™ is a shirt that makes people send hugs over distance! Embedded in the shirt there are sensors that feel the strength of the touch, the skin warmth and the heartbeat rate of the sender and actuators that recreate the sensation of touch, warmth and emotion of the hug to the shirt of the distant loved one.

The Hug Shirt™ has been nominated as one of the best Inventions of 2006 by Time Magazine!

Here is a sneak preview of the new Hug Shirt™ that was presented at Wired NextFest in New York last month. Stay tuned on this page for a complete update and new images later this week!

How does it work?

The Hug Shirt™ is a Bluetooth accessory for Java enabled mobile phones. Hug Shirt™s don’t have any assigned phone number, all the data goes from the sensors Bluetooth to your mobile phone and your mobile phone delivers the hug data to your friend’s phone and it is seamlessly transmitted Bluetooth to his or her shirt!
Sending hugs is as easy as sending an SMS and you will be able to send hugs while you are on the move, in the same way and to the same places you are able to make phone calls (Rome to Tokyo, New York to Paris).

The system is very simple: a Hug Shirt™ (Bluetooth with sensors and actuators), a Bluetooth java enabled mobile phone with the HugMe™ java software running (it understands what the sensors are communicating), and on the other side another phone and another shirt. If you do not have a Hug Shirt™ but know that your friend has one you can still send them a hug creating it with the HugMe™ software and it will be delivered to your friend’s Hug Shirt™!

The Hug Shirt™ can be washed. The smart technology pads (containing sensors and actuators), placed under each red area that you see in the picture, can be removed for washing and placed back in afterwards. The Hug pads are plug and play, so that you don’t need to be an expert to place them and make it work! The Hug Shirt™s are available in many colors, so that you can move the smart pads from shirt to shirt and remain fashionable.

When touching the red areas on your Hug Shirt™ your mobile phone receives the sensors data via Bluetooth (hug pressure, skin temperature, heartbeat rate, time you are hugging for, etc) and then delivers it to the other person.

The hugs shirt is Bluetooth and works with mobile phones on any bandwidth (900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz and so on). Runs on rechargeable batteries. The Hug Shirt™ is built using RoHS components, it means that the Hug Shirt™ is lead-free and non-toxic.

Here below is an image of the Hug Shirt™, presented at SIGGraph in 2005. Images of the new Hug Shirt™ presented at Wired NextFest 2006 and as featured on Time Magazine will be available here soon!

Why the Hug Shirt™?

The Hug Shirt™ is not meant to replace human contact, but to make you happy if you are away for business or other reasons and you miss your friends and loved ones! It also has some very interesting applications in the medical field with the elderly and children. And is fun to use and very soft!

Interfaces and systems must be intuitive, natural, and compatible with our emotional status. Combining emotion and technology should be part of every design process. An increasing mobility of humans throughout the globe, due to business or study reasons, has brought family members to spend most of their time apart from each other. Humans need physical contact with each other. Technology should allow for a pleasant Human-Human Interaction.

Adults, especially elderly people living far away from their families, deprived of tactile contact for a long period of time will tell you just how depressing it feels. A hug, a handshake, a pat on the back, and a kiss are all very important and bring us close to others. People need to be touched at least 70 times a day! Start noticing how many times you shake hands or hug a friend, and you will see that it really makes you feel good, and if you didn’t get enough hugs give us a call and come visit!

Users designed it too!

We involved users in participatory design sessions from the early stage of the design process. This technique allows for faster refining of concepts and prototypes and gives the possibility to bring desirable products to market in a shorter time and with better results.

We also developed a taxonomy of hugs! Hugs come from people that take care of us: mothers, sisters, fathers, grandparents, friends. A hug makes us perceive the tangible presence of the other person, the closeness contributes a sensation of warmth and relaxed harmony. During the hug positive natural chemicals get released within our body, our blood pressure regularizes, and stress soothes. Rhythmic hugs to let a child fall asleep produce soft vibrations that resonate and calm.

Additional bodystorming (people hugging for a long time :) sessions were done at every stage of the design process. Users tried various kinds of textiles and materials such as sponges, balloons and the likes, wearing them on their body, inside their clothes or outside existing ones. During the hugging sessions we mapped the position of people hands on the others body. Major intensity points were identified on upper arms, on the upper back part of the torso, around the waistline, neck, shoulders, and hips. In these strategic spots, now the red areas, we placed our soft technological pads containing the hugging output actuators.

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Kinetic Dress

KineticDress is a Victorian inspired evening gown reactive to the wearer’s activities and mood.

The system

The KineticDress is sewn of an elastic textile embedded with sensors that follows closely the body of the wearer. The sensors are able to capture the wearer’s movements and interaction with others and display this data through the electroluminescent embroidery that covers the external skirt section of the dress. Depending on the amount and speed of the wearer’s movement the electroluminescent embroidery changes pattern, displaying the wearer’s mood to the audience and creating a magic halo around her.The algorithmic program that controls the KineticDress is designed to follow the pace of the wearer: a still pose, when sitting alone shows a black dress, when the wearer starts moving and interacting with others the dress slowly lights up with a blue-circles pattern that moving creates a magic halo around the wearer.

Research

The KineticDress is part of the TransforMe collection developed for the NEMO Science Museum event How Smart Are You Dressed Tomorrow? held in Amsterdam on November 6th 2004. The Transfor-Me collection was developed to demonstrate how the combination of interaction design and smart textiles can change the field of fashion design adding meaning and playfulness to commonly used garments such as skirts and dresses. Additionally transformable and interactive garments changing their appearance through the day or during any activity of the wearer stimulates personal interaction and communication.

Process

Research, Concept, Prototype, user testing

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Skirteleon

Skirteleon (skirt chameleon): this skirt changes color and pattern according to the wearer’s activities and mood.

The system

The Skirteleon is manufactured with a context aware laminated textile that changes color on-demand, upon user interaction or alternatively during the course of a predefined time period. The Skirteleon primary color state is blue, but upon user interaction could present diverse colors and patterns. When a user interacts with the Skirteleon, through touch or preprogramming, the fabric color changes from blue to animal characters or geometric patterns both red on a white background. The garment is designed to allow a user to transform her style during the course of a day out, allowing for easily adapting to different contexts and situations, such as work meetings, a walk in the city, a night out, enhancing the style of the wearer.

Research

Skirteleon is part of the TransforMe collection developed for the NEMO Science Museum event How Smart Are You Dressed Tomorrow? held in Amsterdam on November 6th 2004. The Transfor-Me collection was developed to demonstrate how the combination of interaction design and smart textiles can change the field of fashion design adding meaning and playfulness to commonly used garments such as skirts and dresses. Additionally transformable and interactive garments changing their appearance through the day or during any activity of the wearer stimulates personal interaction and communication.

Process

The Skirteleon is a playful solution designed for busy and active women that need to rush between meetings and be efficient during the day, but also like to look stylish and fresh if an early dinner appointment does not allow to go home and change.

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Mystique

Mystique (the shape shifter): this dress changes shape and length during the course of an evening. While in the beginning the dress is pale gray, knee length and has a soft padded surface, at the end of the night it becomes long and smooth, revealing a new color.

The system

The Mystique dress reaches 5 main positions during the elongation process. In the morning is knee length, then the top half starts unfolding very slowly until the whole dress reaches the ground, that happens in 4 steps. The color change happens because the dress is a fabric cylinder folded inside-out. When is short and folded shows the grey side and when unfolds reveals the red side of the fabric. The fabric is embroidered with mother of pearl, metallic sequins and small magnets. When the dress is folded the magnets hold the metallic sequins, and when the timer reaches the specific hour these magnets release the sequin they were holding and the fabric unfolds.

Research

Mystique is part of the TransforMe collection developed for the NEMO Science Museum event How Smart Are You Dressed Tomorrow? held in Amsterdam on November 6th 2004. The Transfor-Me collection was developed to demonstrate how the combination of interaction design and smart textiles can change the field of fashion design adding meaning and playfulness to commonly used garments such as skirts and dresses. Additionally transformable and interactive garments changing their appearance through the day or during any activity of the wearer stimulates personal interaction and communication.

The aesthetic appearance of the Mystique dress is inspired by the fascinating long evening gowns from the 40s and 50s seen in black and white movies. It is really rare to see women wearing long dresses, there is this idea that the occasion must be exceedingly formal to dare wear one. With mystique we wanted to give women the opportunity to transform into a sophisticated lady without feeling “guilty” because the dress is preprogrammed and you cannot stop it!

Process

Research, Concept, Prototype, User Testing

Lecture Novalia

11-11-2009
Novalia


Company

Foundation: Founded in 2004 Novalia has considerable experience in the growing printed electronics industry.

Skills:
They have a wonderful mix of technical, scientific, artistic and design skills within our company, and believe this is the recipe for great new products.

Finance:
Novalia's unique vision of printed electronics, patent pending technology and strong industrial links helped secure venture funding from London based Solon Ventures.

Location:
Cambridge Science Park, UK.

Printed Electronics

Interactive Printed Media:
In their vision of printed electronics any printed
item can be interactive. We call this ‘Interactive
Printed Media’.

Conductive inks:
Conductive inks enable touch sensitive input and light/sound output. Using our artistic skills they seamlessly weave conductive and graphic inks into the printed image.

Conventional printing:
Using their knowledge of conventional printing they show you how to integrate conductive inks with our existing print process. Alternatively, manufacture can be sourced through their partners who specialise in print electronics.

Novalia's Product

Control module:
Novalia's have developed and supply a ‘printed electronics control module’; this self contained unit consists of a power source, integrated circuit (I/O control and interaction flow), and sound transducer.

Integration:
The module is very simple to integrate with the printed item, in fact it’s almost as easy as putting a stamp on an envelope (but for now it’s not quite
as thin).

Senses:
The integration of the module and the conductive inks enables the printed item and the user to communicate through the senses of touch, sight and sound.

Communication:
IPM enables communication between the printed item and the user, the direction the dialogue takes depends on each experience, essentially ‘what you get out depends on what you put in’.

Elena Corchero

12-11-2009
Solar Vintage Fan

One of the centerpieces of Solar Vintage, a collection, which focuses on the delicate integration of solar charged light technology into traditional crafted and near-forgotten fashion accessories.

The Solar Vintage Fan is an elegant hand held accessory by day, and a beautiful ambient light in the evening.

Lecture Moritz Waldemeyer

21-10-2009
Moritz Waldemeyer

Widely recognised as one of the most innovative and exciting designers of his generation Waldemeyer, aged 34, was born in East Germany. He moved to London thirteen years ago where he trained as an engineer at Kings College and completed his Masters degree in 2001. Since then, he has collaborated with many of the world’s top architects and fashion designers including Ron Arad, Zaha Hadid and Hussein Chalayan. His work is a fusion of technology, art, fashion and design.


Airborne

The Video dresses are created by 15000 LEDs embedded beneath the fabric. One dress displays hazy silhouettes of sharks in the sea whilst the other shows a time-lapse sequence of a rose blooming then retracting. The effect is mesmerizing in its ambiguity: the loose white fabric covering the LEDS blurs and distorts the images so that they seem to pulsate in and out of existence.

Twice named “British Designer of the Year”, Hussein Chalayan is one of the most innovative, experimental and conceptual fashion designers of the present. By teaming up with engineering mastermind, Moritz Waldemeyer, he was able to turn even his most outlandish concepts into a reality.

The design brief was to create two video dresses that would show video sequences across the entire surface of the dress. There were just 4 weeks from the go ahead to the show, demanding a very pragmatic approach: no exotic components or materials, just off the shelf components and standard manufacturing techniques.
Given the inherent simplicity of the design, maybe one day in the not too distant future, we’ll all be wearing our favorite videos on our clothes!

The video dresses are now on display at the 10 Corso Como gallery in Milan, along with the mechanical dresses from Paris Fashion Week.

One Hundred and One

Where most designers may take one era as inspiration for a collection, Chalayan subsumes them all. In fact, the metamorphosis of fashion over the last century was the subject of his Spring / Summer collection 2007 consisting of 6 pieces that magically evolve through two decades from 1900 to 2007. Despite the dramatic time span covered in a just a few minutes, the transformation of each piece is incredibly subtle. They twitch, ravel or unravel, zip up or split open with fluid movements, enhancing the sensation that one is watching magic happen. Each piece seems alive, gently unfolding like the petals of a flower: a high necked Victorian gown reconfigures itself of its own accord, the top splitting open and the hemline retreating until, as if by miracle, she is left wearing a crystal embellished flapper dress.

Twice named “British Designer of the Year”, Hussein Chalayan is an internationally regarded fashion designer renowned for his architectural tailoring and progressive use of technology. His spring 2007 collection took his integration of new technology to an entirely new level, made possible by Waldemeyer’s engineering genius.

The different effects in the show were achieved through six months of experimenting with servo-driven motors, pulleys and wires that are fed through hollow tubes sewn into the dresses. The real challenge lay in keeping the integrated technology lightweight yet strong enough to manoeuvre different fabrics and materials.

We get a great sense of Chalayan’s playful irony at the end of the show where a sheer white dress winds itself into a hat, leaving the model completely nude.

The mechanical dresses are now on display at the 10 Corso Como gallery in Milan, along with the video dresses from the Milan Design Fair.

U2 Laser Stage Suit

U2’s 360 tour opened with a spectacular show at Barcelona's Camp Nou Stadium, using the Waldemeyer-designed jacket in the encore for a truly memorable grand finale. The jacket offsets the tradition of the spotlight, which alienates the performer from his crowd, as Bono is able to project his own light onto thousands. It provides an interactive and personal element to the show whereby individual members of the audience are literally connected to Bono for an instant through a single laser beam. This creates an electrifying sense of the performer reaching out to his audience audibly, visually and spiritually.

Readings

Furthering his technological trend, Chalayan unveiled the collection entitlled Readings, on screen, eshewing the conventional runway. The dresses themselves are highly structured, creating bold silhouettes from which the laser beams radiate. They are embellished with Swarovski crystals that either deflect the lasers, or take in their light, depending on the angle of the laser. The effect is hauntingly beautiful; where lasers shine directly into Swarovski crystals, they resemble glowing embers, yet where they are deflected the laser beams project into the surrounding space, evoking phantasmagorical new-age sun gods.

Twice named “British Designer of the Year”, Hussein Chalayan is an internationally regarded fashion designer renowned for his architectural tailoring and progressive use of new technology. His spring 2008 collection Readings was inspired by themes of ancient sun worship and the contemporary phenomenon of celebrity, illustrated by pieces that literally emanate light. The extending laser beams represent the relationship between audience and icon. Waldemeyer’s engineering genius made this challenging vision possible.

Hundreds of lasers were integrated into each piece, attached by custom-designed, servo-driven brass hinges. This allows the lasers to move, transforming the dresses from static objects to living, ephemeral forms that constantly change, interacting with the space around them. The result is one of the most dynamic examples of a new fusion, where fashion and design meet, each enhancing the other.

Tent London

26-10-2009
Tent London

Tent London is the ground-breaking show for forward-thinking design across all disciplines, delivering the very best contemporary and vintage design, architecture and interiors and the world of digital.

Tent London an annual event which takes place in the capital's most exciting venue, the Truman Brewery, a former industrial site, as part of the London Design Festival.

"Troy Abbott" YOKO CAGE
Email: troya@mac.com
Web: www.troyabbott.com
Digital Birdcages created via CAD Software and 3-Dimensional Printing are inhabited by actual Video Birds.
All Beauty. No Mess or Mortality.

"Solenne Morigeaud" Surface designer
Email: info@solennemorigeaud.fr
Web: www.solennemorigeaud.fr

Nous Gallery presents the work of "Pablo Miranda" MV_ALG_09
Email: melissa@nousgallery.com
Web: www.nousgallery.com/www.armyofclerks.net
mv_alg_09 (machine vision algorithm 9) is an electronic version of a fun-fair mirror. The graphic pattern on the screen is defined by a written code and the interaction with the visitor.

"Seeper"
Email: hello@seeper.com
Web: www.seeper.com
Seeper unveil two new and exclusive tangible installations, including a multi touch sequencer which allows multiple users to play a series of machine driven, kinetic musical instruments.

"Ruairi Glynn" Performative Ecologies
Email: ruairi@interactivearchitecture.org
Web: www.ruairiglynn.co.uk
Sociable robotic "dancers" who use their illuminated tails to attract the attention of people entering their environment and improvise performances in an attempt to learn how to keep their audiences captivated.

"Nendesign inc."

Face card
Without any languages, this works having communication about their expressions.

12x12 Calender
To gather 12 different graphic designers and create a graphic design calendar for the year 2009.
Somehow many people got excited about this and they produced 150 pieces of 40x70 cm calendar printed in silkscreen. http://www.moytoy.eu/

Manga Typo
The typography made from parts of cartoon that is getting man culture in Japan. A to Z by using Manga typo is one book.

Face Bag
Self-expressions from which face of emotion that consists of ASCII Code (American Standard Code for information Interchange) is printed on five bags of cube type. It is possible to use it by putting it on from the head :)

Email: yoshi@nendesign.net
Web: www.nendesign.net

"Kyeok Kim" Re-transplation of objects
Email: ogioki@hotmail.com
Web: www.kyeokkim.com

"Debby Haepers" creator
Email: debbyhaepers@bodybag.me
Web: www.bodybag.me

"Corita Rose" Textile Furnishings Art
Email: Caro@coritarose.com