Fred Wordie Data Experience - January 2016
Pigeon
Brief
01
Initial Research
02
Fred’s Wall of Hurt
04
Initial Development
06
Analogue Test 1
08
Analogue Test 2
10
Further Development
12
Final Outcome
14
My Thoughts
18
The brief for this project is to create design proposals that utilise data in order to create a meaningful user experience. We want you to look specially at data that can be generated about individuals as part of their daily lives. You will be designing a overall system which also needs to include the physical touch-point which collects the raw data and the physical touch-point incorporates and communicates the data back. 1
Initial Research Discovering & gathering data on online and offline interactions During the research phase of this project, our group decided to gather information on different forms of social interactions. We were particularly interested in the differences between online and offline communication. For a couple of days, we each gathered quantitative data from each of our day to day conversations. During this time we realised that we used a lot of different channels of communication. We also gathered qualitative data that showed us that we applied different etiquette to each form of communication, be it Facebook or a telephone call. From here we decided to interview many people to
discover the unspoken rules of these different forms of offline and online communication. For example, letters turned out to be one of the most scripted forms of communication. Users all said they loved receiving letters and knowing a person had taken the time to write it. However, they also said that when they wrote letters, they used a very strict format. In contrast, a lot of users said that they used Facebook messenger in a forthright and much less premeditated manner. To continue my research I decided to blend some of these forms of communication. By re-contextualising them, would users respond to them differently?
2
Facebook Messenger
Skype / Facetime
“If you ‘seen’ it, reply to it” “Don’t talk about dealing drugs” “Conversational” “Short & Sweet” “Don’t send thumbs ups”
“Actively listen to them” “Don’t move off that window on your computer” “Find a quiet space” “No Awkward Silence” “Immediately log off”
Handwritten Letters
Face to Face
“Plan it” “Be polite & use the formal language” “Write clearly” “Sign appropriately” “Address the letter”
“Don’t check phone” “Ask how they are” “Listen more then talk” “Don’t be short” “Show interest”
Telephone
Text Messages
“Don’t use speaker phone” “Don’t create awkward pauses” “No eating or mumbling” “Caller leads the conversation” “Don’t speak to other people you are with”
“Full stops mean frustration” “Check your auto correct” “Conversational” “If you should call, just call” “Right amount of ha’s ”
3
Fred’s Wall of Hurt Additional research into negligence while communicating online While investigating different forms of communication, I noticed how users don’t feel a high level of commitment or responsibility for messages they don’t reply to online. They also didn’t feel jilted when a friend didn’t reply to their message. From here I decided to look into my own messages and see if anything interesting could be learnt by looking at the messages I had sent on Facebook that people had read and not replied to. I put up all 82 messages from last year on a wall and invited people to speculate upon why I had not received a reply.
I realised that a lot of the messages I had sent didn’t warrant a reply; It was easy to understand from looking at all of them that most didn’t demand answer, and thus were easy for people to forget about. In hindsight I might have achieved more interesting insights from this experiment had I removed all Facebook branding from it, thus removing people’s pre-conceived bias and getting more impartial feedback. From here I decided to look at ways to let users have a more interesting, meaningful and engaging way to use Facebook messenger.
4
5
Initial Development Exploring both analogue and digital ways of engaging users more thoughtfully in their online communication. The research gathered lead me to develop a few concepts both analogue and digital. The first concept (seen below) was a website that used Facebook’s API to show you all messages you sent, that your friends didn’t bother to read. The reasoning behind it was that if you could visualise all the times your friends ignored you, you in turn feel more guilty for ignoring your friends messages. As fun as this was to make, I still wanted to attack this brief with an analogue solution. Hence I started to
look into ways of getting people more engaged with their online communication. One concept I particularly liked was the idea of taking a user’s Facebook messages off the screen and giving them material form. From my research I had learnt that users felt more engagement when their communication was not on a screen. I choose to keep using Facebook messages as my data because my research showed me that this was a very honest and lucid form of communication.
6
7
Analogue Test 1 Taking someone’s Facebook messages and delivering them on paper. To continue developing the idea of moving online interactions into the physical world, I decided to take someone’s Facebook messages and deliver them on paper. For a day I intercepted the Facebook messages of two users. Instructing the users not to go on Facebook for a day and to delete the apps from their phones. The following morning, I delivered their unread messages to them in sealed envelopes. Each message was typed up and time stamped in a hand written font.
Both users felt really touched by the experience, even though they knew the messages were printed and not handwritten. Neither one felt annoyed about not having access to Facebook and found the ritual of opening yesterday’s messages exciting. One user summed up the test nicely saying “Every message meant more, the sad ones were sadder, the funny ones more funny and the boring ones, even duller.” The obvious next step was to use this same concept to deliver all of someone’s facebook notifications.
8
9
Analogue Test 2 Taking someone’s Facebook life and delivering it on paper. In a my second analogue test, I took over another user’s Facebook, but this time live. I hand delivered all of their messages, notifications and event invitations. They were also able to interact with the Facebook in an analogue way. For example circling attending on a invite to RSVP, or writing on the back of a message to send a hand written photographic reply. This user also felt very touched by all of the deliveries, and was compelled to
respond more immediately. One comment she made was that there was a great deal of waste, in the form of notifications she wasn’t interested in and group messages that she wasn’t invested in. Consequently I looked at how I could compile all of this feedback into a product that would engage users with facebook in a more analogue, and therefore meaningful way.
10
11
Further Development Turning the concept of my analogue tests into a physical prototype. After testing the concept of delivering Facebook notifications in an analogue way, I started working on a form for the product. I wanted the interactions to be simple, intuitive and most of all, engaging. I settled on a form that was based on the Facebook logo but also hinted at a mail box. Hence I added a post box and an arm, two features synonymous with mail-
boxes. Then I made a quick sketch model out of paper to check the size. I wanted the product to sit on the user’s desk and act like an answering machine. The user would come home, pull down the arm and the machine would print their day’s Facebook notifications. Users could then mail back their replies and interactions through a post box.
12
13
Final Outcome Refining my product and communicating the idea. The outcome of this project was Pigeon, a device that let users interact with Facebook’s main functions with pen and paper. Pigeon works as a user’s Facebook answering machine. As new Facebook messages or notifications arrive, Pigeon’s arm raises and users then take delivery of their mail. During my research many people spoke of ignoring messages and notifications purely because they weren’t interested in them in the first place. So as well as replying to messages or RSVPing to events, users had the ability to
unsubscribe from notification threads as easily as putting a cross through a printed letter. Users could also receive links as letters by printing these links as QR codes, these could then be scanned by the recipient in their own time. This was a play on the traditions of giving a friend a tape to listen to. A full list of interactions is presented in a booklet next to the model. I also created a video prototype found on the memory stick that shows some of the functions and character of the product.
14
15
16
17
My Thoughts It must be clear from this PPJ that I really struggled to settle on a concept and as a result the final outcome was not fully formed. The first two weeks were incredibly tough and annoying due to our group trying to research a very broad subject and therefore struggling to find a central point of focus. My testing was important to me because it was the main way I stayed engaged with the project, after what felt like a useless two weeks of initial research. In hindsight I should have done more impartial testing and not used students from GSA, who knew the nature of my project. There is no doubt that I should have left more time to develop a good idea into a more refined product. I
feel that if I had spent more time on this development, everything from the form of Pigeon to the notes printed out would be stronger. This all being said, I am really glad with how I finished this project. I knew from the beginning that I would have to make a highly resolved model and video prototype, and therefore left a whole week not only to make a convincing final model but also to plan, shoot and edit an engaging video prototype. In conclusion, even though I am not entirely convinced by my product, I do feel like I learnt a lot from this project both about quick user testing and creating better models. These are things I feel will benefit me next year. 18