HuntBeat is a social connection intervention for visitors of the James B. Hunt Library at NC State Unviersity. HuntBeat is meant to encourage use of library music-making labs—which were newly introduced at the time of this project—and to increase exposure of student musicians among the NC State student body. It utilizes an array of wall-mounted visualization screens in several areas of the library, leveraging existing MicroTile technology, along with an interactive wall kiosk and a desktop application to be pre-installed on library computers.
We devised a straightforward branding guide, emphasizing recognizability and pliability for enable a variety of uses.
Users of the library's audio recording labs would be able to upload music tracks directly to the HuntBeat network.
Presence of the signature waveforms would indicate that a user is recording, and would be relayed above the audio labs as well as to nearby visualization walls as a means of connecting the music making process to other library visitors.
Songs uploaded by student creators were stored in the HuntBeat database, and made available to other users of the library. To make the recording and production processes feel integrated with the library facility, HuntBeat tracks were made playable on wall-mounted kiosks near the main entrance of the library. Users could simply plug in their own headphones to a front-facing port, and use the touchscreen interface to navigate music.
The wall kiosk listening interface was designed to be immediately usable, encouraging busy passersby to take some time away to investigate and listen.
Music can also be explored by using the HuntBeat desktop application, pre-installed on library computers, allowing for more expansive browsing and passive listening while working or studying.
Finally, to ensure that as many students as possible would be made aware of HuntBeat, we devised a launch event where visitors could have their photographs taken with friends in a main area of the library, and receive a branded poster featuring the image.
