Methods in Creativity-Centred Design for Ubiquitous Musical Activities

Abstract

In this chapter we describe a set of creativity-centred design methods including strategies for interaction, signal processing, planning, prototyping and creativity assessment. Social, material and procedural requirements were gathered through a ten-subject planning design study. Based on these results, an interaction metaphor—time tagging—was developed to deal with a musical activity in ubiquitous contexts: localised audio mixing. We implemented a series of prototypes—the first generation of mixDroid—for mixing using Android-based mobile devices. An exploratory field study with mixDroid was conducted inside the studio and in the locations where the sound samples were recorded. Activities happening outside the studio resulted in higher creativity scores on two dimensions—explorability and productivity. We discuss the preliminary implications of these findings for future experiments targeting aspects of exploratory creativity in everyday settings.