Printing of conductive lines Production of the pages The devil is in the detail Testing of electroluminescence film Ducky In The Dark Fuse Box Testing of electrochromic display

History of Origin

Getting started

Getting started

The objectives of the regular class „Printed Electronics“ were to learn about the potential of printed electronics and the available parts presented in the toolbox. Additionally the students were improving their English skills by English lessons and discussion groups.

At the beginning the 17 participating students were introduced to the field of printed electronics by discussing the properties of the different components of the toolbox. Considering this knowledge, they exploited the different parts of the toolbox in groups and discussed new applications or products. At that moment most of them had had a rudimentary knowledge in electronics and almost no knowledge in printed electronics. Hence, it was a very good starting point for creating new ideas without considering the existing limits in printed electronics.

Dreamer Phase

The creative process followed the Disney Creative Strategy and the students acted as dreamer. However the students were not allowed to dream without limits about new products and application containing printed electronics. Their task was to dream about printed electronics elements in books.

For their inspiration, they analyzed the interactive elements of the children books and brainstormed about the possibilities to build in the interaction by using the printed electronic components of the toolbox. The results of this process were summarized in the application to “OE-A Competition for Multifunctional Demonstrators Based on Organic and Printed Electronics”.

The two selected topics were:
  • Detective book
  • Nonfiction book about power generation
Various interaction features were integrated within the "Energy book" and in the "Detective book". The representing layouts are shown below and the special features are:
  • Hyperlinks
  • Buttons or sensors
  • Questionnaires
  • Riddles
  • Reading light
Solar cells and rechargeable batteries are used for the power supply of these features.

Critique Phase

Critique Phase

The OE-A approved the concept and the students entered the second phase of the OE-A competition. According to the Disney Creative Strategy, the critique phase started and the students tested the soundness of their idea’s, checked in on what will or won’t work.

The students analyzed the proposed interactions in varying groups according to the snowball and think-pair-share methodology. A summary of the results is shown below. The parts of that analysis were:
  • title
  • summary
  • necessary components
  • strength
  • weakness
  • further ideas or improvements
The results of that analysis phase were also summarized in the term papers of the students.

At that point the first class ended as well as the critique phase of the Disney Creative Strategy.

Realisation Phase

The second class started with the realisation phase of Disney Creative Strategy. Eight students continued their work from the first class and the other nine joined the class. The students had to put their dreams into the physical world.

On the one hand, a realistic story for the interactive book was required and on the other hand the interactive elements had to be developed on the base of printed electronics by using the different components of the toolbox. At this point, the professional project management started. One part to mention here, it was the risc analysis of the whole project leading to defined milestones and decision points. The students set up back up scenarios for all crucial points within the project management and the technical developments.

Realisation Phase