Cuboid is a home bookshelf tower constructed with three to five shallow cubes, there are touch screen on each cube, all the screen can interact with each other. It functions as a digital library that stores users' virtual books, music, movies and sculptures. Users can display their collections, browse the library, open up book pages, play music and connect with others' libraries. Besides the screen, there are actual space to store physical books, and other objects. Cuboid is merging the needs of displaying users' digital and physical library.

 

 

Concept model

 

Prototype model

 

Interfaces interaction / UI architecture / UI design

 

 

Working Prototype Interface close-up

Library for book

Library for music

Library for photos

Aquarium mode

 

 

We set up Cuboid's prototype in a potential user's home for a weekend. Here is an interview video we shoot on site.

 

Instructor: Wendy Ju and Scott L. Minneman
Team member: Nazanin Oveisi and Cesar Rivera

 

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We are living in the digital era, objects are no longer desired for its physicality but for their portability and durability. Our libraries are the objects experiencing the most change in the last years, such as photo and music libraries. But what about our book libraries? In recent years we have seen a number of devices that seek to get readers to abandon physical formats and embrace the digital. The convenience of a digital book is undeniable, but there is still a need for a printed tangible experience with books. That is why some of us are reluctant about making the transition into a full digital book library. Have you imagined a future where printed books are no longer part of your domestic library, no more bookshelves? no more books?

These were some of the questions we were facing while prototyping the domestic library of the future. Not all of us are willing to accept that books will make a full transition into the digital realm and some years from now not be available in our households in the physical format. The argument we kept facing is that no matter what technology is arounds us, the book in its physical form that is, would still be around in years to come. Whether as a collector's item or a precious object its physicality seems necessary for us to have a fulfilling experience with it.

The Cuboid, a prototype we developed and researched, is a perfect hybrid that brings the best of both of those worlds together. Our ideation relied on the concept of providing users with the ability to interact with the digital and physical format of what books have become. Our prototype focuses on the concept of bringing all your libraries into a single place in your household. A set of cubes, to say the least, that will provide digital as well as physical space for your libraries to coexist.

Our prototype consists of a five-cube tower, held together in some upper and lower faces of the cubes by Lazy Susan to help you turn the cubes around. The center cubes are wrapped in tracing paper which works as a canvas to display the interface that is projected in the back from a computer. On the upper cube there is an iPad that displays the interactive section of our interface, giving users the ability to drag and drop books and items in their libraries into the lower section. The purpose of this is to simulate how an user would customize their library and add books to their visual library (center cubes) to share with family and friends.

At the moment our prototype is capturing basic interactions of how we envision this object to behave. In its full capacity, we are thinking the Cuboid to be built out of digital touchscreen in the side and back faces of the cubes, except for one of its faces, where there would be a shallow space where users will be able to place their favorite library objects as they would do with an actual bookshelf. The touchscreen will allow users to enrich their interactions with the system, being able to drag and drop items (books, for instance) from one cube to the other, therefore allowing for maximum customization of their digital bookshelf library. Technology was a constraint for producing our prototype since touchscreen in that large of a size and shape are not widely available. On the other hand, we did successfully communicate our idea and were able to observe users interacting with the prototype, which helped us by getting very useful feedback.