IDD110

1. Patterns for Pins
THE KEY TO REMEMBERING VARIOUS CODES AND PERSONAL
SEQUENCES
Michael Stellwagen
Interactive Digital Design 110
April/May 2015

2. Wow Can Design Help People Remember
Personal Number Arrays Such as Pins?
 Listening to my friends and roommates discuss the problems caused at supermarkets
and ATMs alike when forgetting their credit card pin number inspired me to take a
designer’s approach to establish a reasonable and effective solution.
 I came to reason that committing something to one’s memory was a mixture of
repetition and relative association. I asked them what it was they did to make pulling
up their number as easy as possible as well as what they thought of the current
situation on the use of a pin
*Mindmap(s) compiled using freeware app ‘FreeMind’

3. Prototyping and Tangible Thoughts
 I attempted to generate ideas in a rapid fashion with some good
ole’ printer paper and a thin sharpie

4. Prototyping and Tangible Thoughts
Continued
“Beep… Beep-
Beep, Beep”
Press a pattern
Simple sequence followed by
actual pin number?

5. Ditch the Arabic Numerals and
Think More Impulsively
 Continuing on my creative path with rapidly spawning
ideas, I began to step back and really just think about
exactly what the problem was. This proved to be incredibly
helpful. In order to solve that frustrating and embarrassing
fight against your own brain in order to complete
fundamentally simple tasks like bringing food back to your
home or withdrawing cash from an ATM, you needed to
solve a riddle as quick as possible. My research showed me
that the human brain has an immensely impressive ability
to recognize simple patterns and relay them back at
impressive accuracy. Touchscreen devices have already
picked up on this ability and implemented it as a way to
unlock the device in place of entering multi-digit answer.
This implementation is what needs to be transferred over
into the more tactile world in stores and businesses.

6. Right Brain versus the Left Brain
 In general, the left and right hemispheres of our brain process information in
different ways. While we have a natural tendency towards one way of
thinking, the two sides of our brain work together in our everyday lives. The
right side of the brain focuses on the visual and processes information in an
intuitive and simultaneous way, looking first at the whole picture then the
details. The focus of the left brain is verbal, processing information in an
analytical and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting them
together to get the whole. Left brain thinking is verbal and analytical. Right
brain is non-verbal and intuitive, using pictures rather than words
 I believe that in order to increase checkout speeds, never forget your
personal sequence when you need it and make the world a more intuition
based experience, we need to switch the entering in of codes from the left
brain approach over to the right brain approach

7. A Solution Easier Than
You May Think
 When I am DJing at a live performance, I use
very visual based software. When scrolling
through a given playlist, I can immediately
recognize a song I want to load up simply by
glancing at the cover art that pops up on the
side. I don’t need to check the artist, album
name or song name, I know exactly if it’s what I
need just by seeing the unique pattern and
layout of the album art accompanying the
track. This is what I want to do for ‘solving the
riddle’ during what are supposed to be quick
and easy transactions. Each key is given a
unique overlay not at all similar to any other
keys in sight. These patterns are an immediate
visual stimulus that will halve speeds of regular
entry and most important of all, never let you
forget what you need to input.
*Illustration
made using
Photoshop

8. A Second Simpler Solution?
 Another idea that came to me on my continued ‘left brain vs. right
brain’ train of thought is instead of patterns, have each key be a
certain color. The numbers themselves could be completely
overlaid by a color or the raised rectangles could have their outer
edges lined with a color stripe. The idea came to me when
observing a roommate’s colorful laptop keyboard skin. Although
the multi-colored skin served a solely aesthetic purpose, I saw a
greater potential. Interestingly, each key doesn't have to be a
different color, as our pattern loving brains also prefer similarity and
consistency. For instance, your banking code could be “orange-
orange-blue-yellow” or “green-purple-green-red-orange-blue”
with each key being in a different position. Numbers by themselves
are a tad too linear and analytical as a pattern in a setting where
quick recollection is of the upmost importance.

9. In Conclusion…
 My approach to the issue of
this endeavor of recalling minor
bits of information seemed to
be influenced most heavily by creativity once I really
stepped back, sketched some pretty basic visual concepts
and thought about which could be most likely to get
implemented in reality. Be it stripes of colors or key-by-key
pattern recognition, this is a solution that can be used from
the stores to businesses at large. Accessing personal data
can now be more intuitive than ever and transactions we
once struggled with can now be a thing of the past.

10. Thank You For Your Time
 Have a Nice Summer