Service Design 2013 Jim Chen
CULTURE
INTERF
A C
E
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Rick - the founder of Hackney Stream and our coordinator at the community. Rick had been working with us through out the project with all of his support. His passion in creating a place for the senior citizens of Hackney to be included in the digital world has been a true inspiration for this project. Another thank you goes to the Royal college of Art and Helen Hamlyn Center, especially to Chris and Cristina, who were always there for us providing their supports and advice. We’d also like to thank you to all the tutors who had kindly helped us developing the project and shared their thoughts and ideas. Lastly and the most importantly, a tremendous thank you goes to every senior citizen at Hackney Stream. Without all of you generously sharing your stories with us and being the true source of our inspiration, this project would not have been possible. Thank you!
CULTURE
INTERF
A C
E
INTRODUCTION The emergence of personal digital devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers, has made digital interfaces a increasingly important part of our everyday activities. With millions of applications available for these smart devices, chances are that whatever you do, from recreation to productivity, from personal to social activities, there is an app for it. However, while some people believe that the emergence of smart devices and mobile applications has made digital interface more personalized than ever, some also argue that the user experience has actually become more homogenous, as most digital interfaces share similar design and logic. For instance, Facebook - the world’s most popular social media is effectively identical to every user besides the language setting. The design of most digital interfaces simply fails to take cultural differences, aspirations and attitudes into account.
This project sets to explore an opportunity for design intervention and provocation in response to the question: “How might digital interface address different cultural activities, aspirations and attitudes?� The design team was given the opportunity to work with a senior group at a local computer center in Hackney, London. The concepts of cultural and interface were explored in the broadest sense. The goal of the project is to design a holistic solution that combines digital interfaces, physical interfaces and social interfaces based on the specific cultural characteristics of the community.
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CONTENT I. DISCOVER
III. DEVELOP
The People
5
Creative Goals
26
The Place
6
Ideation
28
Hackney Stream
7-8
Three Coversations
30
Reearch Workshop
9
Cubical Speaker
32
User Insights
10-14
Prototype
34
II. DEFINE
VI. DELIVER
Research Framework
17
The Product
38
Co-creation Workshop
18
Intuitive Design
40
User Insights
20
Customizable Playlist
42
Problem Statement
22
Uder Journey
44
Service Feature
46-48
Blueprint
50
User Feedback
52
I. DISCOVER
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The discover phase is a research-driven phase. The primary goal of this phase is to establish an in-depth understanding of the context and to identify potential directions for development. The specific focuses of the research during this phase include: 1.To identify the issues regarding the users and digital technology. 2. To identify the social and cultural activities that matter the most to the users. This phase The research tools and activities that were applied during this phase include: field research, research workshop, and in-situ observation/interview.
THE PEOPLE Before we introduce the community, we would like to firstly introduce Rick - the founder of Hackney Stream and our coordinator at the community.
Above: Rick teaching
For almost a decade, Rick has been running the local computer centre and supporting Hackney’s senior citizens. Through his work at the computer centre and his engagement with Age UK Hackney, Rick devotes most of his efforts promoting technological inclusion, which aims to introduce technology to older people and social inclusion.
The community consists of a group of senior citizens from age 55 to 75, who come to the computer centre to learn and use computers on a regular basis. This particular age group is referred as the “citizens of pre-digital era� - people who were born before computer was invented and are not yet adapted to digital technologies. Another distinctive characteristic about the community is the highly diversified demographic. The majority of the community are
are immigrants from Carribean and West African countries with a small group of native English citizens. The community has a strong interests in different food and music cultures due to its unique cultural mix. The rich and diversified cultural heritage encourages the members to share their knowledges and creates a highly vibrant social dynamic.
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THE PLACE The computer centre is an Agewell facility owned by Age UK Hackney. The facility is a typical classroomlike environment. As shown in the pictures, the design of the space is clearly driven by functionalities rather than by the intention of creating a senior-friendly environment. The seating arrangement is tight, especially when the centre is at its full capacity. Although there are plenty of rooms for improvements regarding the usability and accessibility of the space, the more immediate concern about the place actually comes from the operation point of view. First of all, the facility is under a pressure of limited capacity. The current space is able to facilitate a learning session for a maximum of 12 students at once and there are 6 sessions a week. However, according to Rick, there are still about 30 people who wish to join the sessions on the waiting list.
In order to accommodate the additional students, both the space and the human resource would need to be doubled. However, under the effects of economic downturn, the centre is also under a great pressure of fund raising and budget cut. The situation has forced Rick to approach new sources for additional funding. If these attempts failed, the centre will soon be in danger of closing in the near future.
Above: Age UK
Below: Inside the computer centre
Above: Students during a learning session
HACKNEY STREAM With almost a decade of experience in running the computer center, Rick had recognised that the “predigital era citizens” are digitally marginalised because they do not take naturally to mice and keyboards. He also realised that the easiest way for these citizens to engage with technologies is by talking and listening. He then began to record and stream their conversations online and created Hackney Stream. As a new service initiative based on the computer centre, the goal of Hackney Stream is the same - to promote technological inclusion through social inclusion. Unlike conventional radio, which emphasises the learning experience, the emphasis of Hackney Stream is to create social activities and encourage the citizens to actively participate and contribute to the conversations.
Hackney is well known for its rich and unique music culture due to its diversified demographic. The immigrants in Hackney are in particular important contributors to Hackney’s music culture. For instance, Reggae, which was brought to Hackney by Jamaican immigrants in the late 60s, is generally considered as one of symbolic music of Hackney. To the people of Hackney, especially the immigrants, music is a symbol of their identity, as well as a connection to their cultural root. As the majority of the group are immigrants from Caribbean and West African countries, the senior citizens at the computer centre also share a special relationship with music. Inspired by the citizens’ memories and stories associated with music, Rick began to incorporate music from their time into Hackney Stream and to encourage conversations led by music and story-telling.
“An Internet Radio Led by Citizens of Pre-digital Era”
“Focus on Music & Storytelling”
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Above: Hackney Stream’s website. Streaming is currently based on external servers such as :SoundCloud and Mixcloud.
Above: Hackney Stream’s SoundCloud Profile. 12 streams, 3 followers.
RESEARCH WORKSHOP The purpose of the first research workshop was to immerse ourselves in one of the Spotify sessions and to observe the people in details. Like Hackney Stream, the Spotify session is something that was recently added to the learning program. In fact, it was added because of Hackney Stream as a way to get people intrigued by internet radio. The goals of the research workshop were basically to get insights on three major questions: 1. How older people deal with technology? 2. How do they interact with each other? and 3. Does music really work for them?
A total of 16 people joined the Spotify session and the designed conducted 5 in-situ interviews. All interviews were documented in videos and recorded in audio. The entire session lasted for more than 3 hours.
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USER INSIGHTS Social activity comes first, technology comes next Just before the session began, we met Clement, who was then invited by Rick to join the session. “No, thanks. I’m just here for a cup of tea.” He responded. It was only a brief exchange of words but the team was amazed by the fact that the people in the community are using the facility in such a casual and social way. During our interviews, most people also expressed the same opinion when we asked why they came the centre at the first place. The opportunity to meet new people and to get involved in the social activities is clearly the main motivation that encourages people to come at the first place. We also noticed that most people learn about the centre through their friends.
Another interesting discovery during our interviews is that social activity seems to mean more to men than to women. For instance, when we asked Josh, a former preacher from West India, his reason of coming to the centre, he responded “I enjoy coming here to meet people. I feel they need me.” He told us that he wish to encourage people and bring them faith by sharing his music and knowledge. It is his wish to contribute to the community that motivates him to learn technology.
Clement, 57 having his tea and chatting with one of the team members.
USER INSIGHTS Evidence of engagement keeps people going Before the session started, we noticed that some of the older people were “practicing” how to use computers using a program called “LearnMyWay.” The program is a learning aid, which literally guides the users through the fundamentals of using a computer and the internet step by step. Once they complete the program, they get awarded with a certificate as an encouragement.
To our amazement, most people work fairly hard to get to get the certificate, although the program is generally considered being dry and boring. However, the certificate, as an evidence of achievement, is an encouragement as well as a motivator to many of the people. Even more importantly, it creates a rule to the game and encourages people to earn the certificate in order to “join the club.”
Paulina, 58, from Nigeria with her “LearMyWay” certificate, which was awarded to her after coming to the centre for more than 3 years.
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USER INSIGHTS Technology is an alien experience The workshop began with helping people to get a new Spotify account and it only took us a short time to recognize that the challenge between was truly significant. “Do you know how to log-in?” “Do you know your email address?” “Left click, not right click.” “Click twice, if you want to play the track.” “What is a track?” Questions after questions were bouncing back and forth through out the entire session. To most older people, all the language and norms of the digital world are simply an alien experience to them. In fact, it was almost excruciating to watch some of them staring at the screen for more than 15 minutes trying to understand the instructions to set up an account.
Other than frustration, people also felt panic when they were told that they made a “mistake”. For instance, most people had issues setting up their accounts with the “correct” username because they often choose something that is short and easy for memory. As a result, a lot of the usernames were taken on Spotify. However, they simply couldn’t comprehend the situation as many of them use the same username for every account and consider it exclusive to them, like their real names. It is like walking on a minefield of anxiety whenever they get on the internet. Josh, 68, from West India, learning how to use Spotify.
USER INSIGHTS The “Notebook Culture� Besides the lack of knowledge about the norms and language of the digital world, another dominant factor that make the experience so difficult is memorizing the log-in information. During the session, we noticed that all the older people keep a notebook or pieces of papers with all their login information such as email address, usernames, passwords, etc.
One of the ladies actually keeps a file holder for each account she has, so it is easier for her to find the correct log-in information. For them, writing down things is the only way to remember the information, so they could when interact with technology.
Abosede, 60, from Nigeria writing down her Spotify username and passwords.
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USER INSIGHTS Music is a trigger, a motivator and an eabler Although most of time during the session people struggled to use Spotify, when the music came out from the speakers, the experience changed dramatically. Suddenly, technology makes sense to them when the function becomes becomes tangible. People were much more engaged with the music playing. When the songs they recognise plays, conversations start simultaneously as they trigger memories.
Overall, it was evident to us that music indeed plays a significant role in terms of enabling social interactions, as well as the engagements with technology.
People dacing during the workshop
II. DEFINE
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The discover phase had helped us to identify the initial challenges and insights around users and technology. It also helped us to validate that music indeed plays an important role in the context of social interactions and engagements with technology. Based on these discoveries, the define phase aims to draw more in-depth insights on the relationships between users and technology, community and culture in order to define the problem statement for development. The tools and activities that were practiced included visual and physical provocations and a co-creation workshop.
RESEARCH FRAMEWORK The research framework is like a “painting canvas�, which outlines the borders and helps us to focus the research. Based on what we learned from the first phase, the research framework covers four fundamental subject areas:
By focusing on these relationships, the research allowed us to identify the missing ingredient for the solution and the opportunities for our proposition.
cultural inclusion
1. Individuals (senior citizens) 2. Community (Hackney Stream) 3. Technology (music streaming interface) 4. Culture (music and story-telling). Unlike the discover phase research, which aimed to gather some raw user-centric insights through observations, the define phase research focused on getting more in-depth and relevant insights responding to a more specific context. Tools like provocation and co-creation workshop were used during the process.
?
The goal of the research was to gather insights on the following relationships: 1. Individual vs. Technology 2. Individual vs. Culture 3. Individual vs. Community
social inclusion
technological inclusion
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CO-CREATION WORKSHOP Your music, memory and story The first research workshop had identified some challenges around people and technology for us. Thus, the co-creation workshop focused on exploring the connections between people, music, memories and stories from both the individual’s and the community’s point of view.
The aim of the workshop is to stimulate conversations by presenting provocations including both visuals, audios and objects. We specifically chose provocations that the older people could easily associate with objects like cassettes, vinyls, and vintage radio.
For the visuals, there were a selections of images that are associated with the culture of Hackney. To make the conversation more relevant to the participants, we also asked them to bring their own music collections and instruments to the workshop for discussion.
USER INSIGHTS Music used to be tangibe and physical The pre-digital era music experience and the digital era music experience are two very different ones. To the citizens of pre-digital era, music was stored in physical mediums like vinyls and cassettes and the experience of listening to music always involve the physicality of music. During the discussion some described that the process of taking the object out, putting it in a machine and playing the music is like a ritual of listening to music. There is something personal about the physicality and tangibility of music. It is an experience that digital music could never capture. Besides the form of medium, the unique cultural background of this particular group also plays a significant part to the importance of the physicality of music. For instance, in Nigeria, every village has a thing called the “Talking Drum,” which “talks” in music (beats) and sends messages from one village to another. In West India, there is a traditional type of music called the “Pound Stone” music, which is made by people playing a “stone” (drum) together during events or festivals. In these particular examples, the objects are the focal point of both the experiences making and listening to music.
Above: Josh, 68 showing people the traditional “Pound Stone “ Muisc from West India during the workshop
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Music is communal and participatory
The experience only lives at the centre
Another important insight from examples like the “Pound Stone” music and the “Talking Drum” is the communal and participatory aspects of the experience. In both examples, the music experience involves the members of the community to participate and share the music together. The participation and sharing are the norms in both music cultures and these norms are still kept by the immigrants in Hackney as they help to keep the immigrant community together.
While everyone at the workshop clearly expressed the importance of music in their lives, they also expressed a great sorrow for not having the same music experience anymore. With the radios and TVs stuffing up with musics of the younger generations, listening to the music from their time has become a luxury.
The participatory aspect also highlights the importance of the physical experience of music. During the workshop, people were always dancing or making beats by tapping on the table whenever there was music. The physicality, whether it is an object or their own bodies, is like a medium that involves the people in the music experience as well as the community.
“It’s been fifteen years since the last time I had people signing in my house”, Beatrice, an older lady from Nigeria said. Although technologies and services like Spotify provide access to almost all kinds of music, once they are outside of the computer centre, they no longer feel secured using these services, including the Hackney Stream radio. Even if they managed to use these services on their own, the social aspect of the experience is still missing. In fact, the computer centre is almost the only place where they could have the same music experience.
“There is no music in Hackney!” - Paula Louie, 58
PROBLEM STATEMENT Like Gus, the tutor from Service Design, puts it, the senior citizens of Hackney are from a “generation robbed of its past”. The music and the memories and the stories that are associated with the music are “robbed” because of barriers of all sorts: cultural changes, aging, technolgy, etc. and our goal is to help our users to cross these barriers. Through the research workshops, we had witnessed how strong music and stories could be in terms of supporting the people to socialize with people and engage with technology. However, these supports do not yet exist outside of the computer centre. Therefore, we added the concept of empowering the older people into the problem statement.
On top of technological inclusion and social inclusion, which are the current goals of Rick’s organization, we added cultural inclusion because we saw that people are encouraged and enabled to be involve technologically and socially when they are cultually included during the research.
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“How might we harness the power of music and story-telling to empower the senior citizens of Hackney to achieve technological, social and cultural inclusion?�
III. DEVELOP
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The develop phase is the stage when insights are turned into design solutions. We started with breaking down the insights into keywords and playing with different combinations of these concepts for ideation. We then observed the patterns between different ideas and established the final proposition.
CREATIVE GOALS We began the develop phase by establishing a set of creative goals, which were derivatives from the 8 users insights from the previous research. The creative goals were used as guidlines and directions during the ideation.
Easily Achievable
(Re-)discovery of music
Make music physical
The “LearnMyWay” certificate example is the inspiration behind this creative goal. The evidence of engagement stands for a sense of acievement and motivates the users to continue their engagement. Our aim is to design a solution that constantly makes the progress and outcome visible to the users while being easy to use.
There is a great joy at the moment of (re-)discorering the music from the past. The music brings the memories back and even more importantly, it also creates an emotional connection between the users and technology as well as the connections between the members of the community. Our aim is create these moments both inside and outside of the computer centre.
The physicality of music is important not only because it is what music used to be like. Examples like the “Pound Stone” music and the “Talking Drum” taught us that the physicality is important because sharing the tangible object is a significant part of the social and communal aspects of the music experience.
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Personal vs Communal
A conversation starter
While the communal aspect is an important part of the music expereince for our users, the personal aspect is equally important. In fact, the connection that people make through music usually starts with personal connections to the music first.
To create more social insteractions through music is an essential part of our goal. However, social interactions cannot be created only by listening to the music is. Instead, the music experience should encourage people to contribute their stories about the music and actively participate the conversation.
IDEATION Sharing/Object/Music We explored the possibility of attaching music to meaningful objects that are relevant to personal memories and shareable with others.
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Mosaic/Public Play & Conversations We wanted to create conversations that involve the rest of Hackney, so the expereince is extended outside of the computer centre and susyainable.
THREE CONVERSATIONS After exploring different ideas for creating the music-led conversations, we realized that there are different types of conversation. There are conversations, which are triggered individual-specific music and memories. They are personal conversations with the inner-self. There are also conversationsbetween individual and specific people such as families and friend. These conversations are led by people-specific music and memories Finaly, there are conversations that involve the community. These conversations are led by community-specific music and memories. For instance, the history of Reggea in Hackney are shared by everyone in the community.
conversation with memory (inner-self)
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conversation with families & friends
conversation with the rest of Hackney
THREE PLAYLISTS Our recognition of the three different conversations led us to the idea of three customizable playlists and eventually led us to the concept of a cubical speaker, as each side of the cube can easily represent a tangible playlist.
playlist
A
playlist
B
playlist
C
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PROTOTYPE As soon as we landed on the concept of a cubical speaker, we began making the prototype. We chose wood for the body because we like the warmth and retro feeling of the material. The rounded corner design is for both aethetic and safety reasons. We painted the cube using the strong primary colours so it’s easier to distinguish the different playlists that each side is linked to. We also added a recording button for recording personal messages.
Above: Sanding the wooden block
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Above: Drilling the holes for speaker
Above: Painting the cube
IV. DELIVER
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The deliver phase is when the ides and prototypes are being tested for deployment. We organized another worshop to test people’s reaction to the product and collect feedback. We also took the opportunity to act out the service proposition in order to simulate the interactions between the users.
THE PRODUCT TUMBLE is a wooden speaker that plays both music and stories contributed and co-curated by the members of the community. The coloured surfaces of the cube represent different playlists. They are also where the speakers are located. The music/story slide allows people to wether they wish to hear more music or more stories. There is also a recording button, which allows the user to record messages/stories at the moment they hear a song they like. They can share the recorded message later with the community. The customizable surface is coated with materials that allow “semi-permanent� drawings. This is for enhancing ownership and engagement of the users.
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Record button Press once, red light blinks. When finished with recording, press again and the light stops blinking.
USB connection Customizable surface A “blank canvas� coated with a unique material that allows semi-permanent writing
Story/music slide Slide finger left and right to find the right balance between hearing music and stories
INTUITIVE DESIGN We noticed that when people have the cube in their hands, they natually tumble it in several ways. We adapted these behavior into the design of the control: - On a flat surface, turning the cube clockwise/counter-clockwise adjusts the volume. - Shaking the cube skips songs. - Shaking the cube twice or clicking it on a flat surface “likes� the song and sends the song into the playlist. - These controls are enabled by gravity sensors.
Above: People natually tumble the cube
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controls volume
skips song
likes the song
CUSTOMIZABLE PLAYLISTS The playlist is the core of our design. In fact, the playlist feature led us to the concept of a cubical speaker. Unlike conventional playlist, which is categorized by genre or artists, the TUMBLE playlists are categorized according to the degree of relevance to personal memories, families and friends and the rest of the community/all. As a result, we created three types of playlist: 1. Songs that rekindle personal memories 2. Songs sent by families and friends 3. Songs recommended to Hackney Stream by people of Hackney On the cube, each playlist is represented by one coloured surface. When playing the music, whichever colour is upright, the cube plays the songs from the designated playlist.
Plays playlist: “Hackney Stream�
private
communal
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USER JOURNEY The TUMBLE user journey is designed based on the existing Hackney Stream journey. We appreciate how important Hackney Stream and the computer centre are to the community and we aim to intergrate our proposition - a product and service system, into the existing system and journey.
before
User
The main issue with the current Hackney Stream user journey is that the experience does not extend beyond the computer centre. Thus, one of the main goals of TUMBLE is to create expereinces outside of the centre. Now, with TUMBLE, the senior citizens of Hackney can enjoy music at anytime and anywhere they want.
discover Hackney Stream
come & book
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during
import/ export playlists
after
music & story stream
Listen
Record
Share
HACKNEY WEEKLY TOP 10 The “LIKE” feature is designed to help the users organizing and filtering the music on their cube/ playlist. Since the playlists needs to be synchronized at the computer centre, which means people are coming to the centre on a regular basis, we came up with an idea of creating the “Hackney Weekly Top 10.” Insipired by the “evidence of engagement” insight, the “Top 10” are songs that are generated by the numbers of “Likes” sent to the songs. We recognized that seeing the song the user likes up there can be rewarding and motivational.
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after
during
Rick
user
filter the playlists
“Hackney Weekly Top 10”
import/ export playlists
music/ story stream
“Likes”
HACKNEY WEEKLY VOICE The recording button is another feature of TUMBLE. The idea is that people can record a story, a piece of message or even a song when they hear something that inspires them from the cube. Once the return to the computer centre, they can play their recording, the Hackney Weekly Voice, and start conversations with the others. This increases people’s engagments and improves the social dynamics.
Above: People natually tumble the cube
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after
during
Rick
user
generate more relevant topics
“Hackney Weekly Voice”
import/ export playlists
music/ story stream
“Record”
Hackney Stream
Discover and Engage
Hackney Stream
+
BLUEPRINT
+
Emotional Journey
User Scenario
HACKNEY STREAM
+
1. Discover Hackney Stream with TUMBLE
User Action
Learn from friends or families with TUMBLE
See ads on local newspaper
See ads at churches, gyms, etc.
Learn from Age UK Hackney
2. Book and Come to a Session Come to the computer center
Sign-Up
Book a learning session
Come to the learning session
Line of Interaction
Front-Stage Action
Respond to Inquiries
Take name and Contacts
Consultation and Take Booking
Take Attendance
Line of Visibility
Back-Stage Action
Form Partnerships
Distribute Promotional Materials
Create User Profile
Track Attendance
o the g
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Stay and Grow
3. Get on Spotify/TUMBLE & Receive THE CUBE Learn the basics
Lecture (Learn My Way)
Buy and Set-up the programme
Create a Spotify /TUMBLE account
Create an email account
Guide and Support
Link Spotify to TUMBLE
5. Listen, Record & Share
4. Music/Story TUMBLING
Receive THE CUBE
Listen to Music
Bring THE CUBE to Hackney Stream
Choose songs from the “Weekly Top 10”
Distribute & Demonstrate THE CUBE
Activate THE CUBE
Connect THE TUBE to Computer
Play the “Weekly Top 10”
Export Spotify Playlist to TUMBLE
Synchronize Songs to THE CUBE
Automatically Sign-In Spotify /TUMBLE
Synchronize Data: Likes & Recorded audio
Listen to Music/Stories
Talk and Share Stories
Record music/story
Listen music/story
Share music/story
Collect the “LIKES” data
Upload the data
Upload Recorded Audio
Keep the Conversation Alive
Update THE CUBE (Playlist)
Talk and Share Stories
Be included, socially, digitall, cultually
USER FEEDBACK
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When the prototype was finished, we took them to the community to gather people’s feedback. Before we actually presented the prototype, we first spent our time to test run the new streaming process. We asked people to choose three songs for each playlist. We then played the songs and it stimulated way more stories and conversations than the first Spotify workshop.
When we present the prototype, there were some initial confusions but the physical movement was clearly much easier to understand and remember. People liked the wood, the size and the weight. They danced with the cubes in their hands and made noise with it. People got so excited when they were told that they could draw on the cube and everyone left their own mark on every cube we brought.
THE TEAM Jim Chen (Research & Strategy Director) Service Design David Gibson (Artist-in-Residence) Visual Communication Melissa Kim (Creative Directior) Information Experience Design Sotiris Tsakirakis (Videographer) Visual Communication Savvas Zinonos (Visualpoet) Visual Communication
Service Design Royal College of Art Dana Centre, 4F 165 Queen’s Gate South Kensington London SW7 5HD service-design@rca.ac.uk