Expressive Wearable Assignment : Wavve

Concept

Concert goers, sports fans, rave addicts, this one is for you and the heap of confusion that comes with finding the people you are meeting up with in crowded public spaces.

Wavve is a glove-like wearable that acts as a quick finder for lost friends in big crowds. Easily customizable in fabric and “personal find colour” Wavve is an easy accessory for any fit or style, making your night out as efficient as possible while keeping your look simple yet detailed.

Inspired by multiple incidents of miscommunication with friends at concerts and festivals trying to find one another through a crowd of small faces in packed arenas and overcrowded venues, This wearable is activated through the motion of the hand or “wave” (where it takes it name with an extra v for spice 🙂 ) lighting up the glove, sending a clear signal to the person trying to find you vice-versa.

This Wavve prototype lights up orange (my choice colour) when signalling as it is a striking colour for anyone in a crowd and also compliments the colour of the fabric chosen for prototype.

Objective

Helping people efficiently find each other in big crowds with light and motion while not drawing to much attention or concern from others around (hence the lack of sound or flashing ) was the goal for this wearable as it has always been an issue for me in the past, often wasting the first 20 minutes of a show or event trying to locate meet-up friends who are being quite vague with their location description (bad texters are strangely common these days) 

While a cellphone light could be used in a similar way, it is also a common signal at music festivals and concerts whereas a customized wearable that lights up a specific colour would make the crowd experience much easier

Additionally, I decided to make this prototype out of yarn (crochet style) and felt fabric as I find it keeps your hand warm and still looks cute and can accessorize easily with any look. It also diffuses the light well through the natural openings made by the crochet pattern.

Process

Brainstorming and trying to understand the project (after much confusion I finally got an idea and starting working) + Circuit Diagram

Creating program in MakeCode (still = sparkle animation) (wave/shake = bright Orange LEDs)

Starting on test fabric and drawing out circuit with magnet placements and CPX using conductive thread and conductive fabric to connect the circuit. (Tested the circuit with alligator clips like a million times to make sure it ACTUALLY worked)

Recreating the circuit on the final fabric, sewing and glueing all pieces together also creating the outer yarn layer with crochet (and lots of patience)

Using crochet to encase felt glove with outer layer and finally have a finished product!!!

Please refer to the Google Slides here for a more detailed overview of the entire process (lots and lots of pictures :)) https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1L8YzGzP3NvKKcYQb0jpp0Hh0GtjgxGQMgfvho2-3PP0/edit?usp=sharing

Parts List

• Yarn
• Clutch Magnets
• Conductive Fabric
• Conductive thread
• Hot glue 
• Fabric glue
• Regular thread
• CPX
• Micro USB to USB Cord
• Rechargeable Battery Pack
• Felt

Final Product Images

Well turns out shitty iPhone cameras don’t like when you wave so these pictures sadly don’t show the full wearable in action 🙁 I TRIED

Reflections & Next Steps

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the finished product considering the amount of time and effort put in (especially the crochet) and I think if simulated in real-life situations, it would be an efficient way to find someone in a big crowd. It fits nicely on the wrist area and is quite cosy! I learned a lot about planning out circuits and the difficulty of execution especially when its making a piece of wearable clothing. I would definitely add LEDs around the entire glove just to make it brighter and would explore more features with the MakeCode program given that this one is pretty basic. Maybe somehow incorporating a second glove into the circuit to match this one would be an interesting experiment and would make a better selling product. I wish I could’ve experimented with different materials and maybe found something that diffuses light better than the yarn outer layer (although it makes for an aesthetic arm warmer) As a prototype I think the idea is good and could be developed further with more research and  testing in both the fabrication and programming. This wearables assignment made me reflect and plan out a lot which will certainly be helpful in future wearable projects and made me want to further explore motion in wearables. At the end of the day it’s a cute glove and manages to accomplish its objective while remaining subtle and detailed.

Resources

Prior, O. (2022). MakeCode Introduction [Online Lecture]. Retrieved from https://ocadu.techsmithrelay.com/connector/view/index?id=YHkB&isLtiSession=true&ltiUserId=0e0670105d1c2db73436feb02e0b28f357ee9a1f 

Prior, O.  (2022). Digital Switches & Buttons Overview [Online Lecture]. Retrieved from https://ocadu.techsmithrelay.com/connector/view/index?id=opY6&isLtiSession=true&ltiUserId=0e0670105d1c2db73436feb02e0b28f357ee9a1f 

Prior, O. (2022). Basic Circuits & Circuit Demonstration [Online Lecture]. Retrieved from https://ocadu.techsmithrelay.com/connector/view/index?id=EKtW&isLtiSession=true&ltiUserId=0e0670105d1c2db73436feb02e0b28f357ee9a1f