Feedback & Reflections

There is always a dilemma of balancing the enchantment of simplicity/single function and the actual cost of implementing an technology. The frequency of usage is important to consider. While it is ambient, it is not realistic to install this device to everyone’s locker just for a yearly use. Instead, a weekly use seems more appropriate. We have already come up with a list of scenario but in order to confirm that, we next step will have to be installing couple of printers and ask people to use it in their daily life for several weeks as a way of user testing.

They way it prints currently is that the message doesn't show the name of the sender unless they type in their name manually at the end of the message. We don’t want to define or have restriction about while it should be anonymous but keeping in mind that not all people might use it with good intention when it’s anonymous.

What’s the afterlife of the printer or the receipt? We imagine that the printer doesn’t switch user when the person relocate, but follow the person to their next assign space.

We think this project would fit the best in a professional studio setting of a small scale. Less than 15 people because of less cost and more specific functionality. It doesn’t have to stay in the locker and can be implemented in other spaces within a personal space, for example, a drawer, a mailbox.

Next Step

In the future, we hope studio mates can send each other printed wish messages conveniently, and create a more friendly atmosphere. SURPRISE will also connect with other IoT devices in the studio to build a new interaction format in the studio. Silver lining is one of the potential products that can be connected with SURPRISE. We will develop other categories, such as festivals and congratulations, integrating with their special icons on the message in the later development. In this way, we hope the physical texture of the printed paper to convey care and love in a more sincere way in our current digital world.