herin haramoto

Connecting Skies

Intro to Programming

1 Week | May 2020 | Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design x NYU ITP

Role: Ideation, Programming, Graphic design

Tool and skill: P5.js, JavaScript, html, CSS

Team: Alejandro Segura, Elliott Wortham

Project detail: Design and program a way to connect your world with others through multiplayer experience.

Advisor: Annelie Berner, Matthew Visco, Josh Horowitz

Design Opportunity

In the months during the COVID-19 pandemic, our worlds were divided. People were made to live in their own bubbles, with little interaction with others. This project explored new ways to connect people’s worlds together.
How might we create an experience that helps people connect their world with others?

Create your own constellations and stargaze together.

Online Multiplayer Interactive Experience

Connecting Skies is an interactive experience where people can look into the sky, create their own constellations, and then stargaze at theirs and other people’s constellations. The online experience is intended to leave people with a sense of belonging by leaving their own constellations in the sky as a repository and sharing a virtual stargazing experience with others. The online platform is created with minimal interactions to simulate how people might typically stargaze with a group in-person.

1 - Draw constellations in the sky (Click each dots and connect them)

2 - Name them (type a name, link with each constellations, and store those data.)

3 - Stargaze together (Click the circle and all the constellation data stored by each player will appear in the sky.)

Creation Process of Multiplayer Experience

Pseudo Code

Ideation sketch

Programming one by one. Drawing lines and connecting the dots by clicking

Testing result of the initial prototype

Find a connection with each other without the need for verbal communication.

An important part of our design process was having people to communicate on a deep emotional level. In the process of iteration, we stripped away the direct interactions, such as conversations that can happen between people. Instead, we kept the interaction to a minimum - just by creating a constellation, naming it, and stargazing it together. We believe that acknowledging others not only creates a deeper connection between people, but also expands your world. When you click a button and see a myriad of constellations that you never thought you'd see, it reminds you that there are people, that there is something in the universe, and that sense of discovery makes you realize that you are part of a larger world.