THE CLIENT
Alpine Adventure is a premium retailer for winter sports apparel and accessories. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a beginner, Alpine Adventure has products that withstand the elements. The brand provides the most reliable winter sports gear and accessories available, suitable for both the gentlest slopes and the toughest routes. Through this installation, the client hopes to attract inter-generational families to use their products.
THE INSIGHT
Family members can help encourage each other to try new things and have each others’ backs.
The challenge was in designing an interactive experience in which all members of the family — old and young — could participate and enjoy together. While sports or physical activities may seem intimidating and even unsafe to children or the elderly, we wanted to communicate through our installation that family members can help encourage each other to try new things and that they would have each others’ backs.
Our main insight mentioned above was derived from a video featuring "67-Year-Old Singaporean Auntie" Dolly who rock climbs despite her age and her back problems. Her daughter Julin introduced and taught her to climb. Auntie Dolly used to be afraid of heights but now feels confident and accomplished whenever she reaches the top of a climb.
We also took inspiration from how parents guide their children as they learn how to ski. As their parent is controlling their speed can help steer their direction, they feel comfortable enough to try the sport when they otherwise might feel scared to try at first. This embodies the spirit of our main insight.
THE CONCEPT
Our installation, Two Boards Are Better Than One, welcomes members of the public to get a taste of the sport. The installation combines the elements of touch and the audiovisual experience of being in the snow. Participants are invited to step onto a snowboard, requiring them to keep their balance. The audiovisual outcome would be dependent on their movements.
Through various phases of interaction, we hope to show that learning to snowboard would get easier with the help of a friend or family.
TOOLS USED
Our idea required us to explore with motion tracking functions to prove the feasibility of our concept. We did this by running PoseNet, a model that detects and identifies human bodies through a video detection algorithm.
The accompanying visuals were developed in p5.js through which we could achieve generative visuals that were needed for the concept. To achieve the visuals of snow blowing towards the participant, we used the webGL function for its 3-D effect. For the background, We used an ordinary 2D canvas that made use of opacity to generate fluid and organic shapes.
INITIAL IDEAS
Before snowboards, we looked into featuring ski equipment in the installation which would also require two participants. The following concepts were developed with the same insight in mind — that skiing can be a family activity through cooperation.
- Participants would have to dodge trees in gameplay by tilting their bodies in the same direction. Their movements would be captured using a camera.
- Each participant would control different products and their variables — the ski poles and the skis. They would have to work together to create a pleasant audiovisual experience.
- Inspired by a parent supporting a child while skiing, this concept requires one person to help balance the other using ropes. The ropes would have a pressure sensor that would determine the speed in which the participant moves in the screenplay.
