outro

Outro is my BA Product Design graduation project, created in response to a self-defined brief that reflected my interest in bridging digital and physical design through tangible interfaces. With this project, I set out not only to design a visually striking and innovative headset but also to deliver a fresh, out-of-the-box sonic experience that transformed everyday moments into interactive soundscapes.

Inspired by the idea of capturing life’s moments in "sonic photographs," Outro transforms changes in the environment and wearer’s biometric data into a generative soundscape, creating a personalised soundtrack that reflects the ‘here and now. The project was completed in less than four months, from brief to a fully functional prototype, showcasing my ‘can do’ attitude and passion for creating novel, meaningful experiences at the intersection of design and technology.

The inspiration for Outro emerged after watching Spike Jonze’s film Her. In “Her” the plot revolves around a romantic relationship between a lonely postcard writer Theodore and his AI operating system Samantha. In one of the scenes Theodore is at the beach with Samantha and she starts capturing that moment in a sonic photograph, composed and played by her simultaneously.

In Outro, the idea of capturing the moment is translated into reading the changes in the surroundings and one’s body. I created a prototype to test a very minimal form of such capturing, this was realised through: (1) mapping spatial parameters with distance sensor (reading distance between a user and objects around them) and (2) tracking wearer’s pulse to coordinate the sound with the rhythm of their body.

The sound for ‘Outro’ was designed in collaboration with sound artist Dmitry (Vtol) Morozov. Outro uses Arduino (sensors) in combination with Pure Data (generative sound). The data from a distance sensors (HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor) is used to select and play multiple sound samples from a library of 80 abstract sounds and place them together into an ambient generative soundscape. Pulse sensor data affects rhythm of the composition. Any changes in the environment or the body parameters would cause a change of the music pattern. Bluetooth connection allows to send data to the computer nearby, translate it into a soundscape and send back to the headset.

The headset design embodies the concept of “listening to the world outside.” The shape was inspired by the sound-locating devices used to detect aircrafts during the WWI and WWII. The shape symbolises an invitation to bring the external world into focus through sound.

To test Outro, I created two initial prototypes. The first prototype focused on communicating the intended aesthetics and appearance, while the second prototype tested the technical functionality. This was necessary because the hobbyist DIY sensors, based on Arduino Nano, were too bulky to fit inside the original design — a common challenge in early-stage electronics prototyping. The second prototype closely mimicked the intended design, though it was bulkier due to these constraints.