Design and Research Exploration Report

Elevator awkwardness
how to change what is inside?

ID4250 BY STUDENT NUMBER TUTORS DATE

PROJECT EXPLORING INTERACTIONS FRANCIEN FREIJSER 4008367 STELLA BOESS AND ANNA POHLMEYER 06-12-2012

Content

Design and Research Goals ................................................................................................................................. 3 Design goal Interaction vision Research goal Research questions Design and Research Activities ............................................................................................................................ 4 List of most important research results Idea forms Concept choice Scenario Interventions Time measurements Results ................................................................................................................................................................. 7 List of most important research results Idea forms Concept choice Scenario Interventions Time measurements Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 What is next? .................................................................................................................................................... 13 Appendix A ........................................................................................................................................................ 14

Design and Research Goals

Design goal I want apartment residents to experience joy when being in an elevator. Interaction vision Freely & Playful Research goal Find out if the concept evokes the intended behavior and emotions and/or which adaptations should be made to reach that intended behavior. Research questions 1. Will the concept ideas make people experience joy, freedom or playfulness? 2. Does the concept work in the short amount of time available? 3. Does the target group understand how to use the concept? 4. Is the target group able to use the concept?

Design and Research Activities

List of most important research results In the previous cycle some results were found to the research questions. To make those results more linkable to design ideas a short list of the main findings was set up. In the following chapter this list is presented. Idea forms In order to link the design ideas (sketches in workbook) to the main research findings a form was created. This form contains different fields (see figure 1). It contains an area for a title or name to the specific idea. This is mainly because it is not preferable to number them. They are more memorable with a name. Another box shows the links to the main research findings in order to make sure that it has links and is thus valuable. There is also space for a sketch which clarifies the idea and the working of it. Eventually there is also space left for comments. It was first planned to use these forms to cluster ideas. However, the clustering was done in a different way. The amount of idea forms and different research findings were to0 confusing still. Therefore the main research findings were put together to find out what they had all in common. Basically the list of most important results was on the information level and through this clustering the knowledge level could be reached. The result of this can be found in the following chapter about results under list of most important results.

Figure 1. Division of the idea form used Concept choice After the generation of ideas a concept needed to be chosen. No specific method was chosen to do this. It was basically about generating till the ultimate idea came up which fitted the research findings most, suitable for the short amount of time available in the elevator and could be a real product. In the chapter of results it is explained which concept is chosen and why. Scenario In order to visualize the difference between the current situation in the elevator and the situation of tomorrow a scenario was made. For this scenario simple figures were used without colors. The main things that the scenario needs to communicate are the interactions and emotions/feelings. Colors would only distract from this. To support the visualizations a short text is added. This text is written from the perspective of the main character. It describes her thoughts in order to create a more appealing effect and to be able to explain her emotions and feelings since they cannot be recognized that easily from the pictures. Interventions When a concept idea was chosen to develop further the prototyping workshop was done. Only a pilot intervention was done with students. For this intervention 2 prototypes were made. One was a picture frame with paint on the glass so you cannot see what is behind (see figure 2). A map of France was put behind. A hob 4

scraper was provided additionally to scratch the paint off. The second prototype was an application on the iPhone to support the digital part of the concept (see figure 3). The two participants were told the following story: You as participants in this test must try to imagine you are living in the same flat. In this flat live about hundred people. One participant is already in the elevator when the second comes in. That is all I am going to say for now. Do you understand? A third person (buddy) was helping to observe. I expected that they would not notice the prototype so therefore an additional explanation was given after the first try out. Explanation: This (point at picture frame and hob scraper) is part of the prototype. Now you know we are going to repeat the test The third task was with the application on the iPhone. They were asked to try it and play with it. Eventually some questions were asked. What did you think of it? Did you understand it? What experience did you have? How would you describe a change in experience compared to the current situation? What did you think of the application? How much screen would you like in the elevator in combination with this concept? Would you prefer videos instead of a photo? Would it help to put scratch me on top of the paint?

Figure 2. Prototype picture frame with hob scraper and elevator set up

Figure 3. Screenshots of the application 5

Time measurements To be able to measure whether the concept is working in the short time available in the elevator this time should be determined. Therefore a small test was done to find out what the average time inside the elevator is.

Results
List of most important research results 1. People do not want to interact directly with others in the elevator. 2. Current emotions/experiences are: forced, irritated, limited, awkwardness, passive, uncomfortable, unsafe and hostile. Future emotions/experiences would be: independent, friendly, safe, relaxing, surprising, automatic, trusted, joy, freedom, active, harmony and happiness. 3. There is nothing to do in the elevator. 4. Light is very important in the elevator. 5. People do not know where to look when in the elevator. 6. There is no pleasant atmosphere in the elevator. 7. People want more moving space in the elevator. Those findings are linked to each other to find a certain pattern (see figure 4).

Figure 4. Links between research findings Idea forms One example is given in figure 5. This example shows the chosen concept direction. The other idea forms can be found in appendix A. The box with comments was not used after all. The idea was to give these forms to the target group and let them comment on the ideas. The scenario would be given with it to get them more into the feeling of the situation in the elevator. Eventually it was decided to skip this. It would take a lot of time and effort for the participants to fill in and they probably cannot imagine the ideas in the proposed context that well as I (designer) can. It was decided to get the target group involved again when prototypes were made.

Figure 5. Example idea form of the chosen concept. Concept Choice A touch screen as big as one of the walls in the elevator. On the screen a picture is displayed with a layer on top which has certain opacity. The picture behind the layer is not visible but it is possible to recognize that there is something behind it. Through swiping over the screen the upper layer will disappear and the picture will become visible. A sketch of the concept is shown above in figure 5. Why this concept is chosen: It does not make people interact directly but it could let them interact It gives people to opportunity to do something It gives people an area to look at The see through evokes a feeling of freedom Freedom is also evoked because one can make anything they want The swiping is a playful interaction Playfulness is also evoked because one can do little games on it like hangman or tic tac toe It fits the short amount of time available in the elevator Scenario On the following two pages the scenario of the current situation and the situation of tomorrow in the elevator is shown correspondingly.

10

Interventions General o It is nice that others can finish your started work. o Maybe a difference can be made in the kind of movements made and the results on the screen. o You can draw all kinds of figures, also offensive ones. o They could imagine the feeling of freedom when the screen is cleaned. Picture frame prototype o They did not notice the prototype at first or knew how to use it. o It would help if some scratches are already made to make them understand it. o The scratcher should be more notable. o They recognized there was something behind the paint and were curious about it. o The scratching took too much effort and therefore they gave up quite soon. o They did interact with each other about what could be behind the paint. o The thing (could be al kind of things) behind the paint should be more fitting to the interest of the target group and their situation. o The falling paint was encouraging. Digital application prototype iPhone o The swiping was too easy this way although it could be just fine when a larger screen is used. o A little bit of effort to reach a goal is desired. o They liked the idea of playing a video behind it. Time measurements It is specifically chosen to measure the time moving just one floor and moving four floors. In the Netherlands a building with more than 4 floors needs to have an elevator (Bouwbesluit 2012 artikel 4.24 Aanwezigheid toegankelijkheidssector, p. 284). The time from floor to floor is also measured in order to make calculations with the expected time in the elevator. Time from ground floor to first Time from ground floor to fourth floor floor Elevator 1 7 seconds 15 seconds Elevator 2 11 seconds 36 seconds Elevator 3 5 seconds 12 seconds Average 8 seconds 21 seconds

11

Conclusions
The overall conclusion of this cycle is that chosen concept needs further development. The overall idea is sufficient but it does not fit the target group enough yet. Also further research needs to be done with the concept in the real context with the real target group. 1. Will the concept ideas make people experience joy, freedom or playfulness? The concept ideas were appointed as an experience of freedom. The level of playfulness could be extended to put more of a game element in it. The scratching itself is not playful enough. The experience of joy is not recognized as such but in the first interventions done there was not specifically asked for it. In further research a method should be defined how to approach these questions. Maybe a form which shows different levels in which the emotion is experienced can be used. This probably makes it easier for the participants to evaluate on emotions. 2. Does the concept work in the short amount of time available? The time measurements were taken after the interventions were performed. Therefore this was not directly taken into account. The time in the elevator is really short. In average it takes only 21 seconds to go from the ground floor to the fourth floor. In theory the concept is adapted to this short amount of available time. Swiping takes only a few seconds and the result is immediately there. 3. Does the target group understand how to use the concept? The picture frame concept used in the intervention workshop was not immediately noticed and understand. In a follow up design a hint should be given to the working of the product. For example some scratches already made, scratch me written on it or the additional tools in front. 4. Is the target group able to use the concept? In the picture frame concept it took a lot of effort to get the paint off. The target group is quite widely spread from children to elderly, as well as handicapped people and sportive ones. The digital screen is as big as one of the walls in the elevator. This will mean that both big and small people can make use of it. Also, in the real product the effort to clean the screen will not be as much as in the prototype.

12

What is next?
Follow up prototypes After the concept was tested in the intervention workshop four new directions are defined. New prototypes will be made of these directions to test with the real target group in the real context. Displacement of the initial picture of the Oostpoort with a video in loop. Displacement of the initial picture of the Oostpoort with a Waldo poster. Giggling sound effects added to the movements of swiping. Enlarging the effort needed to clean the screen in the digital version. In the next tests the time should be taken into account. The plan is to make those prototypes digital and compatible for an iPad in order to make it possible to test in the real context.

13

Appendix A

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22