CYCLE ONE - MOBILE CITY

EXPLORING INTERACTIONS
MOBILE CITY - Jelle van der Vegt 1537083

CONTENT
1. FORMULATE DESIGN GOAL 2. RESEARCH 3. FORMULATE INTERACTION VISION 4. EXPERIMENT 5. WHAT NEXT ? page 3 page 3 page 3 page 4 page 4

APPENDIX 1: exploration plan APPENDIX II : research APPENDIX III: collage APPENDIX IV: street sudoku APPENDIX V: overview scheme (current user / context / design goal / interaction vision)

1. FORMULATE DESIGN GOAL

At the beginning of the project i decided to focus on shoppers in the shopping area of rotterdam. I teamed up with Jennifer Wong and we both agreed to the following Design goal. Design goal: We want shoppers to feel more bonded with eachother.

2. RESEARCH
We decided to do research in the shopping area of Rotterdam. We devided the research in different areas: Rotterdam shopping area, De koopgoot, Saturday market and Night Shopping. Different approaches were used for gaining interesting findings, namely by observation, shadowing and interviewing people. We stated the following research questions beforehand: - When are routines broken? - Difference between group and individual shoppers? - Do people in a group talk? - How do people enter shops? - At what pace do people walk? - Do shoppers have specifc places to go? - Do shoppers engage other shoppers? - Can we destinguish different target groups? - Where is the focus on? An eleborate version of the research questions can be found in appendix I Interesting outcome of this research: - People like to be in their own bubble. - People like to watch other people. - People can have an introvert or an extrovert posture. - Most of the focus goes to the store fronts. - Kids are more receptive to the public space. (only kids react on the lights near Media Markt and the fountain at de koopgoot. - The public space gives the opportunity for people to be passivene or active. (sitting on a bench or standing in the middle of a plaza) - People react to other people only when there is something to gain. (people giving away free stuff) - In stores however, people like to attend eachoter of certain discounts. Notes taken during the research can be found in appendix II

3. FORMULATE INTERACTION VISION

Around this time I decided to change my design goal and me and Jennifer decided to proceed with different design goals and Interaction visions. 1st draft - design goal / interaction vision I want people to feel like they are part of a bigger whole

By intruiging them and letting them rediscover their unity A collage can be found in appendix III I changed this interaction vision and design goal because they were to literal according to prof. Stella Boess 2nd draft - design goal / interaction vision I want shoppers to feel united playfull, gracefull http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH-groCeKbE&feature=related

4. EXPERIMENT
We went to Rotterdam to test everybodys interventions. The goal of this experiment to gain new insights regarding the interaction vision. My experiment involved a very big sudoku on the street that invited Rotterdams shoppers to solve it. The puzzle was drawn with chalk, and I dropped chalk for the shoppers to use. My intention was to stimulate people to try and look for solutions for the puzzle. If people would see people trying to solve the puzzle, i hoped others would get intruiged by it and offer help. This way it would be a collaborate experience. Photographs of the experiment can be found in appendix IV In practice there was a very clear reaction by the shoppers (surprise) but they didnt felt like putting the effort in actually solving it. In a way the experiment failed, but I also learned some valuable things: general: - The intervention has to have a low barrier and may not ask too much of a commitment / effort for the user. - Its important to define the context even more by focussing on a specific time and location. specifically regarding the test setting: - The sudoku was too big. It was hard to get a good overview of the whole thing. - It would work better if the puzzle would be on an angle. People will see it better and the puzzle will stand out better. - A sudoku takes too long to solve and therefore isnt a suitable game to play on the street. Because of these findings, i slightly changed my Interaction vision 3th draft - design goal / interaction vision I want shoppers to feel united playfull, unconstrained An elaborate version of an overview of my current context, users and design goal / interaction vision can be found in appendix V

5. WHAT NEXT ?
After reflecting with my mentor and group, Stella suggested to focus on what fascinates me. Here are some examples of situations that i feel are representing the interaction vision i am looking for:

Situation 1 Watching a football game in a bar. There is not necessarily an active interaction between the people. Its more about enjoying an external event together.

Situation 2 Two people are entertaining themselves by spinning a coin on the table. There is not a verbal interaction between them, rather just the meditating effect of an object balanced in motion by its own rotation. There is an appreciation for the physics behind this effect. Another aspect that makes it interesting is the game aspect of it. The goal is to let the coin spin as long as possible aswell as to prevent it from falling from the edge. 5

Situation 3 Two people are throwing stones in a pond. By applying a certain way of throwing the stone, its possible to get the stone to bounce the surface of the water. Next to the appreciation of the physics behind this phenomenon, there is a game aspect to it awell. Its the goal to get as many bounces as possible.

What i will focus on now is analyzing these situations and discovering what qualities from these interactions i have to focus on.

APPENDIX
APPENDIX 1: exploration plan APPENDIX II : research APPENDIX III: collage APPENDIX IV: street sudoku APPENDIX V: overview scheme (current user / context / design goal / interaction vision)

APPENDIX I

Exploration plan
CONTEXTS
KOOP GOOT

Jelle van der Vegt Jennifer Wong

NIGHT SHOPPING
INTERVIEW: - Ask night shop clerks if they see a di erence between day shoppers and night shoppers? - How often do the shoppers go to the Koopavonds? SHADOWING: - Is there a di erence between day and night shoppers? OBSERVATION: - Who goes night shopping? Elderly? Families (with children)? Couples? Youth? - Are there the same number of shops open or less? - What is the atmosphere of the night shopping events?

GENERAL QUESTIONS
- When are routines broken? - Di erence between group and individual shoppers - Do people in a group talk? - How do people enter shops? - At what pace do people walk? - Do shoppers have speci c places to go? - Do shoppers engage other shoppers? - Can we destinguish di erent target groups? - Where is the focus on?

ROTTERDAM SHOPPING AREA

INTERVIEW - Do people like walking here? - How do people respond on streetteams? (advertising teams) - Do people nd the shops spread out to far apart? - Do people ever run into somebody they know at this place? - Do people think there is enough variety in shops? SHADOWING Where do people focus on walking through the shopping area? Do people like to walk through or walk a couple of time through / round the area? OBSERVATION How do people react to the trams crossing through? How do people behave on the plaza areas? How do people behave near streetteams? (advertising teams) What is the overall atmosphere? Who uses the street furniture?

(Assumption: a interactive area for families because children play in the fountain, so it ends up engaging with the public) INTERVIEW: - Do people engage in shopping / socializing in the same way? Do they see something special with the public fountain? - Are people engaging with the water fountain often? - Do people like the Koop Goot? Why? SHADOWING: - Are the families socializing while children play in the fountain? OBSERVATION: - What makes the fountain a good interaction piece with the public? - Is the fountain getting people to interact? - Are there more or less people there?

SATURDAY MARKET
INTERVIEW: - Stall workers: Do the shoppers engage with each other a lot or do they stick to their groups? - Are people going about their weekly shopping routines for produce and basic needs? - Do they visit the Saturday Market regularly? And where are they from? SHADOWING: - What are the common routes? Are they mainly going through weekly shopping routines? OBSERVATION: - How do people move about the market? Do they go to the same types of stalls or do they visit every stall? RESEARCH: - Has the attendance of people at the Saturday markets increased?

APPENDIX II 1/4

initial questions

APPENDIX II 2/4

initial questions

APPENDIX II 3/4

observations

APPENDIX II 4/4

only children have attention for these kind of art pieces in the streets photographs

There was a girl standing in the middle of a busy plaza. This was a really open posture, where she was basically begging for attention. Then there also were people sitting on the sitting bank, just watching people.

APPENDIX III - collage

1. intruiging

2. unity

APPENDIX IV

unity

Experiment - street sudoku

APPENDIX V

USER
shoppers people are in their own bubble
isolated / distant / devided

people have an introvert or extrovert posture people like to watch other people
compare / judge

Rotterdam shopping centre The environment is wide and open The environment stimulates the user to focus on shops by the use of colours The environment gives opportunity to display or retreat yourself

CONTEXT

EFFECT

DESIGN GOAL
what?

I want shoppers to feel united

INTERACTION VISION
how?

Playfull, unconstrained

PRODUCT SYSTEM

DESIGN QUALITY

......