A series of visual and physical prototypes of varying fidelity were create to explore the concept of counterfunctionality: negating, reversing, or inverting expected functional features to create new ones. These prototypes were shared with participants to obtain feedback on different directions.

Capsule Camera
As one example, the capsule camera explored a concept of a camera with no viewfinder and a counter that counts up, not down. The owner must decide if and when they want to break the camera apart to retrieve the images.

Counterfunctional Camera Proposals
Alongside semi-functional prototypes, participants were shown illustrated proposals for additional counterfunctional cameras.

Inhibitive Enclosures Studies
Digital devices that inhibit access was a set of concepts materially explored further in finer resolution through form experiments.

Ultra-Low Resolution
A second direction explored in finer detail centered on the concept of an ultra-low resolution display.

Related Publication

James Pierce and Eric Paulos. 2014. Counterfunctional things: exploring possibilities in designing digital limitations. In Proceedings of the 2014 conference on Designing interactive systems (DIS '14). ACM Press.
[ACM]