Music Frame

Paul lives alone and has for many years. He wakes everyday around eight and reads the paper with his morning coffee. When he comes downstairs, he glances over at the picture frame on his table. Sometimes, a small green light lets him know that one of his many friends or family members has sent him a song they thought he’d like. Today, the light is on and he goes over to check it out. When he touches the frame, the images changes to a picture of his sister Sally and he hears her voice say “I heard this Paul Simon song today and it reminded me of that concert we went to in central park. Hope you like it”. After her message ends, he hears “Graceland” play and reminisces while reading the paper. On occasion, he’ll send songs to his friends as well, which makes him feel connected to the people he cares about.

Connecting with friends and family

* Do you and your friends share music?

Paul wakes up and looks over at his picture frame. Today a small green light is on, and he goes over to check it out. When he touches the frame, the images changes to a picture of his sister Sally and he hears her voice say, “I heard this Paul Simon song today and it reminded me of that concert we went to in central park. Hope you like it.” Sometimes, Paul will send songs to his friends as well, which makes him feel connected to the people he cares about.

Music Mark

Having been a teenager during the sixties and seventies, Rachel developed a fondness for rock music. She likes some of the music that has been released more recently, but the majority of her favorites are songs from her youth. When she decides to listen, she flips through the small paper-bound music catalog and considers her options. There are pages devoted to specific bands as well as music categorized by genre. When she’s ready to play what she’s picked, she places the special bookmark on that particular page and closes the book. The music begins and she can enjoy one of the albums she cherishes. On a given day, her music book might be found in he living room, kitchen or even bedside table.

Selecting a playlist from a large collection of music

* Is it hard to keep track of all your music?

Rachel picks up a small paper-bound music catalog and looks through it. Each page is devoted to a specific band and is categorized by genre. When she is ready to play what she’s picked, she places the bookmarks in place and closes the book and puts the book face up on a table. She is then able to enjoy the music that she has chosen.

Does your music collection right now take up too much space in your house?

Do you wish that you had all your music in one place?

Coaster Chords

Every Thursday with few exceptions, Frank invites some of his friends over to play cards, have a few cocktails and just catch up on the latest news. Instead of a plain set of coasters, he gives each of his friends a different coaster that has a music genre written on it. Whenever someone turns their coaster over, that type of music starts playing. Of course, this often leads to debate over what to listen to, but Frank enjoys joking around with friends and talking about music. When his friends leave and the coasters are returned to their stand, the music is shut off.

Group input/discussion to music selection

* Do you and your friends ever talk about the music that’s playing?

When Frank has people over, he likes to pass out his set of musical coasters for his company. He gives each of his friends a different coaster with a different type of music genre written on it. Peter and Susan both flip theirs over and music starts to play out of both. They start to joke around and talk about which music is better and should remain flipped. Finally, they decide upon Susan’s 50’s music and Peter turns his back over so that only Susan’s music is heard. When Peter’s friends leave, they put the coasters are returned to their stand, the music is shut off.

Do you and your friends like to play games when they come over?

How do you entertain your friends when they come over?

What do you do when your friends come over?

Musical Florist + Music Pillow

Janet and her family live in a town home and she handles all the cleaning and organizing around her house. Above all else, she like to avoid clutter in the communal areas of the house. Clutter comes in all forms, from junk mail to cell phone chargers and she feels she is constantly at war with it. When her sister gave her a new music player that disguised as an attractive bouquet of flowers, she was thrilled. Now, whenever she wants to hear to music, she just moves one or a couple of the flowers to the other side of the vase and the type of music she is in the mood for starts playing. Quite the opposite effect of a stack of miscellaneous CD’s, Janet appreciates the clean, simple aesthetic of the vase.

It’s Sunday morning and Janine just sat down to read the paper in the living room. As she begins reading, it occurs to her that some classical music would be a nice background while she reads. She reaches over for the small square pillow sitting next to her. At first glance, this pillow’s simple aesthetic design doesn’t give any clue to its functionality, but when she flips it over, her music begins playing. Now she can squeeze each of the corners to select another genre of music. After an hour or so, she’s ready to go for a walk so she places the music pillow back against the couch as she would any other, and the tunes turn off.

Aesthetic Integration

* Do you find that current music players don’t fit in with your decor?

Janet is concerned with clutter around her house and tries to integrate everything into a consistent motif. She has a special kind of music player disguised as a bouquet of flowers. When she wants to play music she rearranges the flowers in her special double sided vase. She picks two flowers from the “collection” side of the vase and places them in the “playing” side. The music starts playing a mix between the two selections she’s made.

Janet is concerned with clutter around her house and tries to integrate everything into a consistent motif. She has a special kind of music player disguised as a bouquet of flowers. When she wants to play music she rearranges the flowers in her double sided vase. She picks two flowers from the “collection” side of the vase and places them in the “playing” side. The music starts playing a mix between the two selections she’s made.

As Harriet sits down on the couch to read the paper she reaches over to the pillow sitting next to her. Simply flipping it over starts classical music playing throughout the room. She squeezes one of the corners to change it to jazz. When she’s done reading she flips the pillow back over to stop the music.

* Do you find that current music players don’t fit in with your decor?
* Is it important to you that your music player looks like a music player?

Beverage Beat

Whenever Gladice wakes up in the morning, the first thing she does is walk to the kitchen to drink her morning cup of coffee. As she pours the freshly brewed java in her mug, the music fades up to an ambient level. While drinking the coffee she is able to enjoy the ambient upbeat music. When she finishes her drink or leaves it somewhere long enough for the coffee to cool, the music fades away. Later on in the day, she feels like drinking a nice, cold glass of lemonade. While she pours the lemonade into her glass, soft rock starts to fade in. And once again, she is able to enjoy a certain type of music for each type of cup while she is drinking her beverage.

Music tied to activity

* Do you want certain types of music to play when you do certain types of activities?

Every morning as Gladice pours her morning cup of coffee her favorite pop songs from the 60s start playing. The music continues as long as she’s enjoying her coffee, and fades away when she finishes or the coffee cools to room temperature. When she drinks lemonade out of tall glass later in the afternoon big band music plays automatically.

(lead question)

* Do you like to listen to certain types of music while doing particular things?
(other questions)
* Do you associate certain types of music to particular times of the day?
* Do you usually listen to music during meals?

Welcome Home

James arrives at home after an exhausting day at work and uses his key to open the door. He lives alone and the house is mostly dark and very quiet. After coming inside and flipping on the lights, he places his foot on the number 3 on his music mat which causes mellow jazz to fill the room. As he walks to the kitchen for a glass of water, he feels comforted by the background music playing throughout his house. When he leaves the house, he’s able to enjoy his music until he’s actually walking out the door, at which point another quick tap on the mat turns the system off.

Music as soon as you come home

* Do you like to start music playing as soon as you come home?

James walks inside his house and places his foot on the number three on his music mat. Mellow Jazz fills the room and the house feels more inviting.

Do like continuous music playing throughout your house?

Do you ever enter your house while carrying something with both hands?

Musical Memories

With four children and six grandchildren, Suzie has no shortage of subject matter for lifelong appreciation for photography. She especially likes photographs that capture family moments and remind her of all her loved ones. On each of the pages of her photo albums, she has chosen a song that she associates with that memory. As she flips through the pages by herself or with guests, she occasionally presses the play button to hear the song that she has chosen.

Associate music with a memory

* Do you associate certain music with particular pictures and memories?

Suzie loves looking at pictures. She compiles all her family photos into an album and then picks a song for each page. When she flips through it with guests, she can push play to hear the particular music from each page of pictures.

Other Questions:

Do you like listening to music while you entertain guests?