Shaped by Motion
CREATING AN ABSTRACT SPORT VISUALISATION
Sports are goal and performance oriented. We often forget about the beauty and poetic perspective of these movements. I want to capture the essence of these motions and accompanying sounds, which are mastered for perfection and reinterpret them through abstract art.
The idea is to generate a visualisation of several sport disciplines by recording specific data with a smartwatch. Data sources are motion sensors such as accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer, which are basic components of most smart devices. Additionally, the sound of the respective sport was recorded with the internal microphone.
RECORDING THE DATA
The selected sports are skateboarding, bouldering and swimming. Each sport was captured by athletes wearing a smartwatch.
PROCESSING THE DATA
The captured data is processed by developing fitting algorithms, which enable an artistic visualisation. This is done with the help of libraries such as three.js and d3.js. The generated visuals are not an obvious simulation of the respective sport, but rather an abstract and creative interpretation. However, each visual representation has a connection to its data source. The use of fitting colors, textures, sound atmospheres and recognisable patterns links the visualisation to each sport.
The visualisation can be explored by navigating around the virtual space, blending in and out the different data sources and switching between the sport disciplines.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Aside from this website, the generated visualisations can be used as a design for print on sports gear or posters.
