Section 3: The Faceless Interface: Music and Sound
as Interactive Interface Elements || Assignment 3
link to Resources

A. Required Readings
"Kinetic Instruments, Sound Sculpture, and Industrial Music" (pages 407-423)
"Speech Synthesis, Voice Recognition, and 3-D Sound" (pages 775-785)
both texts come from:
Stephen Wilson, Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology.
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2002.

"Interface: Transparent Design and the Evolution of Internet Radio"
by Carl Steadman
from: Katherine Nelson, ed.
Websights: the Future of Business and Design on the Internet
RC Publications, New York: 2000.

B. Objective
1. Create an interface PROTOTYPE that uses sound and image together in triggering user interaction.

2. You can think of this assignment in numerous ways: musical instruments, sound library, radio, sound editing interface, or sound installtion prototype, etc.

3. Play attention as to how your images and music work together.

4. Your prototype interface can be whatever you like: whimsical -- like a children's game or a post modern collection of discordant unrelated sounds -- your choice.

5. Use any sort of sound fragment: music, sound effects, ambient, dialogue,

6. Again, pay careful attention to your screen composition, design, and navigation -- How do you trigger a sound; how do they interact; and what is the visual experience as you listen?

C. Technical Requirements
1. For a screen based project, create a minimum of 6 hyperlinked web pages of an actual interface. For an installation, create an onscreen prototype which demonstrates the sound and visual interactions within your proposed installation.

2. Delivery must be online, yet you can use any softwares/language. I suggest using Flash or Director embedded in your web page and Peak or Pro-tools for sound editing.
Upload all files to your server space

3. Use a minimum of 10 sound assets in your interface prototype.

4. Create a space in your interface where sounds overlap.

D. Aesthetic Requirements
1. Create an interface that is both technically and visually engaging. Experiment with the following elements: How sound relates to imagery, interaction of sounds, interaction of images, combo of both. Be creative -- experiment.

2. Again, Play with text, color, screen real estate, and navigation metaphors.

3. Look at the links I've set up for some inspiration and ideas.


E. Due Dates
1. Color storyboards/ideas presented either online or printed out for class presentation due April 12, 2004.

2. Final version of assignment 3 due MONDAY, MAY 3, 2004 (LAST DAY OF CLASS).