Studiomate is a peer-to-peer “help” system for studio [creative] communities. As a speculative system—Studiomate posits to foster physical and virtual connections for those seeking specific skill and idea based assistance, support, training or critique. Studiomate envisions a dynamic system for connecting users who need help learning a new skill using physical proximity as a key conceptual driver. The Studiomate database allows users to search, sort and filter “helpers” that are nearby (perhaps even in the same space) who can possibly assist them with a specific problem, skill, task or idea. In this way Studiomate also allows users to find informal teachers or mentors that are within the same city, neighborhood or even the same space. Studiomate uses filters, ratings and proximity to match teachers and learners. A prototype iOS App was developed and tested across two communities (MassArt and Wentworth Institute of Technology).

This video abstract was developed as one of seven thesis projects in pursuit if my graduate (MFA) studies at the Dynamic Media Institute (DMI) at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt). A more detailed case study of this project is included in my graduate thesis anthology The Education of a Communication Designer (2017).

Credits—

Jan Kubasiewicz, Professor, Thesis Project Advisor
Stephanie Kane, Professor, Designing Interactive Experiences
Martha Rettig, Professor, Mobile Application Design
Pascal Rettig, Professor, Mobile Application Design
Dominic Laudate, Developer
Robert Hamill, Designer

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