In te r v e n ti o n s
Benjamin Laing GSA PD YR1
CONTENTS
4. 6. 8. Interpriting the breif Defining, understanding, Visualising.
Discovery Exploration of Potential oppertunities.
Understanding issues Living and studying in the moment of oppertunity.
Converging Taking all the information gathered to define the perfect soloution
Context Contextualsing, Evaluating, Photographing.
Final Soloution Clinical desition making.
18. 20. 22.
10. 14. 16. Ideation Creating, Implimenting, testing.
Testing Evaluating, understanding and re-testing.
Modeling Visualising, Crafting, Implementing.
Reflecting Hindsight at its most valuble.
24. 26.
Developing Ammeding, redesigning, reappyling.
CONTENTS Benjamin Laing GI Page 3
4.
Interpritation of the breif
DEFINING. UNDERSTANDING. VISUALISING. “Guerrilla” A member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces. “Intervention” The action or process of intervening.
Through life we are constantly subject to the repercussions of someone else’s bad design solutions. Task: In this brief I have been given the opportunity to watch, observe and critique the aspect of social shopping in our everyday lives. My role as a designer is to observe moments of friction between people in this context and understand how I can make a simple change in order to divert some of these issues. Through primary and secondary research I will underline these core design opportunities and evaluate the scope to eradicate the issues they present. “in order to design a great response, you’ll need to start by identifying a great question” I need to investigate the issues surrounding shopping. For this task I will want to develop great empathy for people and act although I have no preconceived notion on how to shop, or what a shop even is. What are peoples motivations? Intentions? Secondary motives? My job is to focus specifically on the user experience. I will create products that respond to these issues.
Looking further into the breif I wanted to outline the key elements in order to define my research. Why? Why are people Influenced by certain Shops? Why do people like shopping? Why do people need to shop? Why do people find it pleasant to shop? Why would people not like shopping? What? What are people looking for? What do they look for in a brand? What attracts them? What makes them go to shopping centres? What makes people awkward when shopping? What is a hinderance to them? What do they not like throughout the experience? When? When do people mostly shop? When do they know when they like a product? When do people not like to shop Where? Where do people choose to shop? Where do the most social problems occur? Where do people like shopping How? How do people shop? How do they interact with the products? How does it make them feel? How could we make shops better? How would this impact peoples experience?
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Discovering shoppping Shopping over the years has developed itself into a exciting experaince. Today it is considered a “day out� for most, especially to those who live Outside the city walls. Initial research suggested that people do not nessesarly need to buy anything during this experiance for the trip to be considered a good day out. I wanted to identify why this was, including looking into the semantics of shopping and what really appealed to people that took part. By doing so i could easily uncover the issues that surrounded the subject and design it to be more superior.
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I wanted to act as if I had never been shopping before.
Ă‘
Although i had no preconcieved conatations on what the experaince was all about.w
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Understanding the Issues Although there were may issues to explore one which seemed to reveal itself most prominent was child behaviour. Living in this moment of opportunity allowed me to discover that there was a real chance here to fix an issue that can completely run a family’s day. If I wanted to make the day a more successful experience for those affected then as a designer I really needed to identify the true cause of the issue. Through observation it became clear that the issue was boredom. I spoke previously about shopping being a “experience� we embark on. Children simply cannot relate to this, the things that intrigue us as individuals about shops do not appeal to them. We drag them through chain store after chain store to the point where they become uninterested. This is when the design opportunity reveals itself.
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Ideation: The Formation of Concepts. Page 10 Benjamin Laing GI
It became clear that in order to solve this issue I would have to engage the child in a task that distracted or involved them with the shopping process. Creating mood boards for the user (children yrs 5-12) I was able to define the things that they find interesting so that I could impliment these semantics into my design. I wanted to immerse children in a new experience that would involve shopping using the idea of gameification, tresurehunts, scavenger hunts and exploration. The interventions primary function was to of course involve the children with the shopping experience but I also wanted to educate them at the same time. If this issue was to be a reoccurring one my solution had to make them want to go back long after the day had finished.
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Milk Eggs Beef
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Making critical Choices. The solution to the issue was one that involved an intervention to the weekly task of supermarket shopping. Known as one of the most frustrating experiences, the supermarket can be a week in week out struggle for families with children of a young age. The concept is to create the sense of an adventure and exploration throughout the supermarket. The interventions goal is to engage, occupy and educate through a process that the whole family can take part in. In the next stage I began testing the idea to see not only if it would work but also to determine exactly how this concept would take a tangible 3D form.
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FACT FILE: Name: Lucy Laing Age: 6 Occupation: school Likes: Ice-cream Testing was a quintessential part of my design process. When used well it allowed me to really understand my design in context. I wanted to test the idea that I already put down on paper as realistically as possible to get an accurate indication of how far I was from the finished solution. My sister Lucy was the perfect age for these tests and proved to be very effective in helping me push this concept further.
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^
TEST #1
TEST #2
Test 1 was used to evaluate how well a child of that age could identify respond to the scavenger hunt game I was developing. I gave Lucy a very basic list of all the items I needed her to collect (5 in total) and Judged her response to the given task. Surprisingly Lucy was very good at doing it however I did become apparent that Lucy was unable to identify objects that was above her shoulder hight and took much more ease to object that were located on lower areas.
For test 2 I ran the same possess as before only this time the list was 10 items long. I developed this test however ensuring all the items were at lower areas. This test highlighted the issue of length and it soon became apparent that Lucy was bored after 7 items, there was no catch, nothing exciting or rewarding for her and I needed to work on this more and make the process so it was a lot more appealing to the user.
TESTING #1
n
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A
o
TEST #3
TEST #4
Test 3 began on a new day. Having taken information from the previous task I remodelled the existing test but this time creating a system of reward for the user. The idea that for every object collected there would be a reward at each location. The object in this case was something I had observed working in the past.
Test 4 was the introduction of a book, a place for the user to place all the sticker they had collected so that i could also be eduction at the same time. It was enjoyable, friendly and exciting but there were still issues. The user found it difficult to identify where the sticker were in the supermarket. This led to them become bored and uninterested.
Sticker books have been around for years now. The idea and catch of continually collecting and filling the blanks is what makes them so interesting to users of that age.
For the design to work a map would need to be created. to ensure that children could locate the stickers. Aswell as entertainment inbetween each section where the stickers would be located. Dairy
Meats
Carbs
F&V
“Education can be the reward. Children like learning in fun ways� The reward in which the user received had to be something in which they could take away and remember the experience by. I wanted a product that would continually remind them of the fun they had the last time they went shopping, only then could I really solve the issue I was exploring.
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DEVELOPING
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With information taking from my research I set about finalising a personable, fun space for the user to add there own sticker collection to. The graphics are designed to educate the user and to get them to think about which sticker goes where and why. I used the same colours representative to each food group here also to add to the intuitiveness of the whole process. With this simple process the Intervention aims to give children short and realistic goals and in effect keep them occupied throughout the whole shopping experience. I designed the whole process with the intention to solve this problem in relation to the bigger picture. With the solution I have played with the idea of this concept being adopted and bought in to by the supermarkets. These supermarkets would change the stickers and the puzzles every week in a bid to keep the children occupied every week they come back. Its at this point that the children are building up a collection of stickers something which they hold value in. Its this idea seen in many other children toys that keep them coming back for more and continually collecting.
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CONVERGIN
I needed an appealing container for holding the stickers at each area. after several iterations what i developed solved all the issues at hand and made it easy for the user as well as the supermarket for refilling and repositioning.
One of the main points i wanted to cover with the aspect of the intervention was the semantic of adventure and mystery i was trying to create. When the user interacts with the design there is an elementt of surprise on what the container holds. Making the process more exciting and engaging
The containers would be colour coded and specific to the sticker they were holding in each section of the supermarket. This adds to the intuitiveness of the solution overall.
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Once I had my heart set on exactly how I wanted to present the information I looked deep into what semantics I needed to convey for the finished solution. Colour, fun, excitement and adventure. I worked hard to develop the puzzles and interactive map on Illustrator before Creating colourful images and cartoon characters that the children could relate to throughout the experience.
The clipboard is not just for the purpose of practicality. As I have perviously mentioned I wanted to convey the semantic of adventure and the clipboard helped communicate this message. As part of the package given out the the user it adds value to the worksheet. Its serious more professional appliance helps the user feel “grown-up� and contrasting seriousness to the experience.
What came together was a solution that is both Engaging and interactive. Bundled together in one package given out at the start of the supermarket run, the pack includes the chipboard with the activity sheets provided along with colouring in pencils. This fun experience is designed to educate and occupy for the duration of the trip as well as get more interaction between the child and the parent about when food actually comes from.
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inte rv ention s
21. Creating Context.
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Coloured Penci inte rv ention s
Educational and playful activity sheet.
Educational and playful activity sheet.
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ed Pencil Set
Interactive and collectable stickers
Supermarket Map,Folder Pack given to the user.
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1.
2.
3.
4.
inte rv ention s
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1.
Created with the idea of a scavenger hunt the map adds the aspect of adventure to the solution.
2.
It allows the user to engage and be educated on interacting with a simple map and helps to locate the stickers at each department of the supermarket. The map is colourful and bold as well as being as simple as possible its aim is to semantically communicate the feeling of exploration during the time of its use.
The Puzzle activity sheet serves a simple purpose. Its intention is to educate, occupy and entertain its user whilst the parent is shopping and picking up all the things he/she needs. Because there are only 4 sticker stations it means that there is a lot of lead time to each one. This is why the puzzle sheet is so important. Much like stickers children will benefit and encourage themselves to complete the sheet and take it home with them like a souvenir.
The sticker sheet is designed to encourage the user during the experience. It wants to be filled and completed. It’s secondary function again educates its user as well as helping the user co-ordanate which sticker goes where through Q&A’s, colour and shapes. This is all very intuitive and very easy to understand as you can see from some of the previous photos my sister (aged 6) could do this with ease.
The stickers themselves have been designer with a colourful and cartoon aesthetic. The colours each represent a section of the supermarket. The icons themselves relate to the main food groups and to the location of the sticker. This is again a educational motive which is fun and playful at the same time. The pencils are another finishing touch giving the sense of playfulness and exploration to its user.
3.
4.
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REFLECTIONS. Overall I was very happy with the work I produced. In the end I feel worked hard and enojyed the whole prosess as a result. I can safely say that this is the best work I could have possibly produced at the time, which fills me with great satisfaction regardless of the result. With this being said there came a lot of difficult points throughout the prosess where I was stuck for ideas and struggled with creating and rapidly modelling the concepts. The result of which ment that there was a lack of prosess and fleuantcy with my work, this came across especially in my presentation when I was given feedback from the tutors. Dispite this I am confident that the next time the project will be even better after taking feedback on board and moveing forward from the difficulites in this project.
Benjamin Laing Y1 GSA
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inte rv ention s
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I n te r v e n ti o n s
Benjamin Laing GSA PD YR1