← Ideation and Prototyping / Week 02 / Assignment
One thing.
Fifty explorations.
New ways to see.
This assignment is an exercise in creative perception, interpretation, material exploration, and representation. It asks you to spend enough time with one thing that you begin to see it differently.
I chose my headphones because they are one of my favorite objects that I use every day. They are connected to many parts of my daily life, including music, work, travel, and communication.
A practice in noticing
I used creative coding to represent Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). The particles represent the noise surrounding the headphones, and when the ANC button is turned on, the noise gradually disappears.
Open interactive artwork
This was my first time using pipe cleaners to create an object. I recreated the basic shape of my headphones while exploring a new and flexible material.
After making the pipe-cleaner headphones, I tried wearing them. They felt surprisingly soft and lightweight, which reminded me of the comfort of my real headphones.
I drew my headphones on paper by observing their basic form and details.
I drew the chaotic and noisy world that I imagine exists outside my headphones.
I combined my drawings and placed a light behind them to make the paper translucent. The two layers represent the contrast between the noisy outside world and the space inside my headphones.
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My girlfriend found this kitchen tool and sent me a photo of it. Its shape reminded me of a sound wave, so I edited it in Photoshop and transformed it into a visual representation of sound.
I used only my laptop trackpad to draw the headphones, changing the way I normally control a drawing tool.
I inverted the colors of a headphone photo. The negative effect makes a familiar object look unfamiliar and changes the way I notice its shape and details.
A practice in noticing
I created a 3D model of my headphones. Since I rarely work with 3D modeling, I used this project as a chance to explore a new tool and way of seeing the object.
I recreated my headphones using recycled cardboard, translating a smooth electronic product into a rough and simple material.
I noticed that my headphones come with a carefully designed case that protects and stores them. I tried putting my cardboard version inside the real case, and surprisingly, it fit very well.
I simplified the headphones into two main ear cups connected by wires. I used tape and wire to focus on this basic structure.
I put a hat on my desk lamp and placed the handmade headphones on it. The lamp became a substitute for my head and body.
When I work, two things I often do are listen to music and drink tea. I combined these two parts of my daily routine by creating headphones from tea leaves.
After creating headphones from tea leaves, I used the same tea to make a drink. This returned the material from an artwork back to its original everyday function.
Headphones are an everyday object for me, just like utensils. I used other familiar daily objects to reconstruct their shape.
I ran out of ideas while drawing, so I cut apart one of my drawings and transformed it into a new physical version of the headphones.
Instead of showing the headphones themselves, I focused only on the shadow they create. The object is still recognizable through its absence.
A practice in noticing
I arranged colored pencils of different lengths to create the shape of a sound wave, representing the audio produced through headphones.
I listen to music in many different languages, so I used translations of the word “headphones” to create a sound-wave-like composition.
I placed random objects inside a transparent box to represent the thoughts and sounds contained inside my head when I am wearing headphones.
Headphones remind me of the tools I use when creating music, so I arranged some of my music-making equipment together as another interpretation of them.
Headphones are strongly connected to my love of music. I used music-related objects and merchandise to represent the artists, albums, and experiences I associate with listening.
I used Guitar Pro, a music notation program, to arrange musical notes into the word “HEADPHONES.”
I then played the notation from the previous piece to hear what the word “HEADPHONES” sounds like when translated into musical notes.
I used objects from my trash can to recreate a pair of headphones. This piece imagines a future in which resources are limited, but people still want headphones, music, and private listening, so they have to rebuild them from waste.
I tried wearing the garbage version to see how this imagined future object might function on the body. Even when the material changes, the gesture of wearing headphones stays the same.
Wearing headphones usually means I am listening to Spotify. I collected my weekly listening time and music data and translated my listening habits into a visual form.
A practice in noticing
I collected 100 albums that I often listen to while wearing my headphones. Together, they represent the music that exists inside the object for me.
I converted the Unicode values of the word “headphones” in different languages into numerical data, then mapped those numbers to sound frequencies. This turns written language into sound through code.
This represents how I see my headphones when I am not wearing my glasses. The reduced image quality turns my own blurry vision into another way of seeing the object.
I collected keywords from the Wikipedia definition of headphones and used them to create the shape of the object. The headphones are built entirely from words that describe what they are and what they do.
My headphones feel soft and comfortable when I wear them, so I used clay to recreate their form. The soft and moldable material helped me emphasize this sense of comfort.
Because my headphones are wireless, I used clay to visualize the invisible signal connecting them to another device.
I transformed the 3D model into a wireframe view. Instead of focusing on the surface, this version reveals the geometric structure that builds the form of the headphones.
When I put my headphones on, it often also means that I do not want to be disturbed. I treated the headphones as a social signal that creates a boundary between me and other people.
When I type the Chinese word “耳機” using Zhuyin but accidentally leave the keyboard in English input mode, it becomes “-3ru.” I used this typing mistake as a playful translation of the word headphones through the keyboard.
Two paper cups connected by a string can transmit sound between two people. I used this simple communication device as an early and physical interpretation of how headphones carry sound.
A practice in noticing
I drew different people on paper and connected them with threads. This represents how headphones are not only used for listening to music, but also for phone calls that connect people across different places.
I asked ChatGPT what headphones mean to it. Instead of representing the object through my own experience, I wanted to see how an AI interprets the same object.
I took a screenshot of my headphones connected through Bluetooth. It represents the invisible wireless connection that makes the headphones work without a physical cable.
I used my route from home to school to show where my headphones are part of my everyday life. They usually accompany me during my commute.
I created an instruction manual based on how I personally use headphones. Instead of only showing technical steps, it also shows how headphones help me focus and enter my own space.
![Three photographs of listening environments, each overlaid with the subtitle [INAUDIBLE].](/img/50ways/46.png)
The outside world is still making sound when I wear headphones, but some of it becomes inaccessible to me. I used the subtitle “[INAUDIBLE]” to represent the sounds that disappear from my attention.
I used google sheet cells as pixels to recreate the headphones. I wanted to see how a tool normally used for data could become a drawing medium.
View Pixel Headphones in Google Sheets
I recorded myself saying the word “headphones” and turned my voice into a spectrogram. Instead of showing the object itself, I wanted to see what the word “headphones” looks like when sound is translated into an image.
I asked my classmate Brian what headphones mean to him and recorded his response. I wanted to include someone else’s perspective and see how the same object can have a different meaning for another person.
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I 3D printed my headphone model, but both ear cups accidentally broke away from the headband when I removed the supports. I actually found the result interesting because it turned one complete object into separate parts.
When I first started this project, I thought the main challenge was simply finding 50 different ways to recreate my headphones. At the beginning, I focused a lot on changing materials and forms, using things like pipe cleaners, cardboard, tea leaves, clay, wires, and even garbage. As I continued, I realized that I did not always need to show the physical shape of the headphones. I could also represent what they mean to me, how I use them, and how they affect my daily life.
This changed the way I approached the project. I started exploring ideas like noise cancellation, private space, music, commuting, Bluetooth connection, language, data, sound, and social interaction. I also tried many tools and platforms that I normally do not use, including Blender, Guitar Pro, p5.js, Google Sheets, spectrograms, AI tools, and 3D printing.
One of the most interesting moments happened at the very end. When I 3D printed the headphones, both ear cups accidentally broke away from the headband while I was removing the support material. At first, it felt like a mistake, but I actually found the result interesting because it revealed the headphones as separate parts instead of one complete object. It reminded me that unexpected results can also become part of the design process.
The biggest thing I learned from this project is that one object can be understood in many different ways depending on the material, tool, context, or perspective. By the end, I no longer saw headphones only as an electronic device. I started to see them as part of my routine, my relationship with music, my personal space, and the way I connect with or separate myself from the world around me.