Crafting electronics for research products

The concept of Research Product is a new methodological research approach that implements design research beyond prototyping to inquire into genuine everyday experiences in the domestic context with technological artifacts; experiences that evolve over time. In the context of research through design, a research products holds four interrelated qualities: inquiry-driven, independent, fit, and finish. In recent years, this has gained interest in the HCI community, however, research to investigate how to effectively operationalize this concept as a design practice has been limited. This thesis provides two descriptive case study projects, Tilting Bowl and Slow Game, to illustrate the design of electronics from the perspective of a research product. The contribution of this work will be three-fold: first, to offer an analytical descriptive account of the process of developing and implementing the electronics within two design artifacts that embrace the design concept of research product; second, to interpret and present those insights and challenges in each project; and third, to provide design guidelines based on our insights that can be operationalize by the research community.