Intention
To make a piece of wearable technology that fits the narrative of a carnival in the future.
Ideation
The project first began with researching the significance and cultural impact of the world’s many carnivals. My group members and I began by using the internet and the AI program Chat GPT to answer a variance of questions regarding the impact and significance of these celebrations. After learning about the nuances of the Mardi Gras color scheme and the reason for Brazil’s Carnival, we decided to zero in on a Brazilian Carnival of the future. The decision of choosing Carnival is because our group wanted to emphasize the performative aspect of the future and Carnival is one of the biggest celebrations of performance. We then began by making a google document to throw in loose ideas and concept images. One of the first ideas that our group thought about was making an Ohio-themed carnival with corn-themed elements. Another idea that our group came up with was the character design of the Daft Punk band members. The futuristic robot designs of the members made me think about how the concept of them could fit with a performative future body modification, after processing through a few more loose ideas involving VR, LED Suits, and a walking DJ set. With the concept of the Carnival, we began to brainstorm what element we could make a part of this future. In the traditional Carnival, there is a massive emphasis on color and animals. The animal that most encapsulated Carnival was their birds. So we settled on a feather motif to highlight the movement of the dancer and show off the colors of the festival. We thought to implement the color in a semi-dystopian future where most colors are inaccessible due to their pigments being extinct or extremely expensive. So in this future Carnival turns to colorful lights and reflective materials that would simulate the same pigments that were used in our times. We chose to incorporate white feathers so that they would reflect any light shined while the muted tone would add an emphasis to the semi-dystopian future, where color is no longer something that people can wear.
Our group thought about what body parts we would design around, and we all agreed on making a headpiece and a sort of limb attachment. we thought about making one for the leg however, after some group disagreements we settled on the arm for the limb attachment. We decided on the concept of a helmet and arm attachment that would both highlight and emphasize the futuristic aspect of performance. The production of the project began with making the modified arm, I started by basing the design of the arm on another futuristic suit. The design that I was inspired by was the praetorian armor from Star Wars. 
I drew inspiration from this design because I noticed that the layered structure of the arm attachments mirrored both a futuristic aspect and the many frills of a flamenco dancer’s dress.
This distinction would allow for some great subtle elements to shine through allowing for a tie-in with the Spanish roots of the Carnival tradition. I thought that this distinction would allow for some great subtle elements to shine through the design without being overly complex.
The design of the helmet began with inspiration from the design of the Daft Punk robots. The idea was so the visor could obscure the face and also be a light reflective element.
The helmet design quickly went to the production phase so we could begin iterating on the design if there were any conflicts
Production/Iteration
After coming to a solid idea for the arm attachment, I began to think through the process of making the piece itself. I was thinking of possible materials that would allow for enough structure and flexibility while fitting the constraints of the project. I began the prototyping process by cutting out 7 differing rectangles from cardstock that would then be layered on top of one another like armor plates. 
Then I loosely attached each piece with a string and tape, I made this first iteration hastily so I could take the proper measurements to ensure a proper fit while also making sure that the design doesn’t conflict with itself. In this first iteration, I noticed that having a single piece of string made it difficult to position each plate in its intended spot. To fix this issue I came up with 3 solutions: 1. to make the point of attachment at each plate on the edges to allow for more stability 2. construct a sleeve to secure the whole arm to the piece without restricting movement 3. attaching a handle for the hand to be secured to the whole piece.
I made the attachments at each plate with a rubber band to ensure contact and flexibility with each plate. For the sleeve, one of my group members sewed a jean leg to fit my arm measurements which I would then attach to the whole arm with elastic bands. And the handle was a simple string attachment.
After assuring that this revamped iteration had no design conflicts I began to work on the final version. The cardstock was a functional material however its flexibility made it so the whole work lost some of its structure. So I switched the design to cardboard for added support and structure. I then followed up by creating a simple Adobe template of the arm plates to be laser cut. On top of the new cardboard design, I made a simple feather design that would be a part of the extinct pigment narrative that our future was based on. Once each piece of the arm was functional it was time for assembly. The process involved strapping the jean sleeve to the armor plates with the elastic band and then following with gluing each paper feather to the plates. The end result was a fully articulating arm with a comfortable fabric for easy attachment and removal of the piece.
The construction of the helmet began with taking measurements of the head. We took those measurements by wrapping a thin piece of cardstock around my head and fitting two thinner strips in a cross on top for the crown measurements. Once we had a simple prototype for the helmet we had an idea to make the helmet into a plague doctor style so that it would emphasize the bird motif of the augment. 
However, due to time constraints, it was clear that the more experimental of a plague doctor mask would prove to be too complex. So our group scrapped the original design and found a simple cardboard template video for an Iron Man mask. Following this guide with its step made the construction process much more manageable. Our group would make a prototype following the guide, after testing proved successful we moved on to making the final product.
The guide we were using had a simple template with pieces, which we converted into Adobe Illustrator to laser cut. We cut out the pieces needed for assembly and incorporated some elastic bands and paper screen attachment. After assembly of the helmet we spray painted the whole piece a solid color of beige so that it would match with the rest of the components then fitted the feathers, elastic band, and paper screen. The end result was an adjustable and comfortable headpiece that allowed the user to see fully while retaining some anonymity with the paper screen.
Conclusion
This was a project that had a very abstract yet limiting scope. I found the constraints of being limited to just 1 supportive non-planar material quite difficult. However, these challenges were solved by the process of just brute forcing and iterating. Within the first two weeks of the project we were all overwhelmed with what to do for the project, so the randomizing dice exercise allowed us to ideate without the stress of finalizing anything. I believe this exercise is what got us out of the hurdle of just thinking and actually making concepts and prototypes.
Another aspect that proved challenging was the conflict of ideas in our group, it would mainly involve the methods we were using to construct the projects. Most of the group idea conflicts felt like growing pains as we learned to understand each other as design partners. This project taught me a lot of things, most of them being technical skills involving crafting. However, a big part of what I learned was how to function in a group. Mainly creating concise ideas without straying too far from what’s realistic and within the bounds of the project. By spending time working with my group, I began to notice the strengths of each of my partners. For better or for worse I found myself delegating certain parts of the project. I believe this allowed us to focus on individual parts rather than the entirety of the project however, I also think that this stifled creative output from my group members since we were all so focused on finishing the project by the deadline.
Overall this project was a very big learning experience since I had to learn how to work within a dynamic of differing skills and traits while maintaining momentum to make things. At first, there was a lot of indecision however through some clever exercises involving the whole class we were able to zero in on the feasibility of each idea and iterate.