Exploring aesthetic ideals in digital experiences. Case study; Biophelia. Written by Ine Marie Vassøy, MA Interaction Design student, Umeü University 2011.
Exploring aesthetic ideals in digital experiences. Case study; Biophelia. Written by Ine Marie Vassøy, Interaction Design student, Umeå University.
What makes a digital experience aesthetic? It is difficult to evaluate the aesthetics in digital experiences, because aesthetic is subjective. People perceive good or bad, beautiful or ugly differently. Our perception of aesthetic is individual. My perception of aesthetic is different from yours. It is shaped by personality, culture and experiences. This article explores how interaction designers can evaluate the aesthetics in digital experiences. It explore how to create digital experiences that are generally perceived aesthetic. I started to look at a model by Lundgren, that is developed to teach the aesthetic in design. I used the model as a tool to evaluate the aesthetics in one particular experience that I find beautiful; Björk's app Biophelia, developed to compliment her new album Biophelia. (From now on when talking about Biophelia, I am talking about the app and not the album.) I chose Biophelia to be my case study for evaluating the aesthetic experience because I find the app beautiful. And I would love to know why I find it beautiful. Further on, I question Lundgren’s model. Is it possible that the model is not complete? Are there other aesthetic ideals that should be included in the model, in order to create an aesthetic digital experience? I hope to discover other aesthetic ideals when evaluating Biophelia. Aesthetics in interaction design, fall 2011
Coherency
Playful
Efficiency
Emotion
Critical
Sensing
LUNDGREN’S MODEL As mentioned, I have used Sus Lundgren’s model to evaluate the aesthetics in Biophelia. Sus Lundgren did her PhD thesis in 2010, and as a result of the research she developed a model to teach and discuss the aesthetic in design. The model consists of six aesthetic ideals that she argues for being important to create a good experience of an artifact or experience. The ideals are coherency, sensing, playfulness, emotion, critical design and efficiency. Not all of these ideals need to be taken into consideration at the same time to create a good experience. It is possible to combine two or more aesthetic ideals, ex. coherence and playfulness, and still create a pleasant experience. I will explain what these six ideals are, with the perspective of how to evaluate digital experience by taking them into consideration, and how to apply them as design criteria in the design process. Coherency is crucial to create a meaningful experience. Coherency differentiate it self from the other aesthetic ideals because it can never stand alone as a design criteria, and an experience should also never be without it. There are three dimensions of coherency that should be considered in the evaluation of an experience. First, there is a need for consistency in the concept, in the core idea. Second, there is a need for consistency in the software, for the user to understand how the program behaves and why. Third, there is a need for consistency in the graphic interface design to understand how to interact with the software, to create an intuitive experience. In interaction design the importance of efďŹ ciency seems to vary depending on what the intention of the experience is. When initiating this I am referring to digital games vs. booking flights online. In games
the user want to experience the game as long as possible and forget about time. Still, the user wants to understand how the game is functioning, efficiently, in order to play immediate. When it comes to booking flights, the user just want an efficient process. Find the relevant tickets fast, order and pay. Critical design is aiming for the user to highlight, question and criticize in the act of interaction. We can design to encourage reflection. We can also design the graphic user interface in order to nudge the users to press the buttons we wich. Sensing is aiming towards a rich physical interaction. This aesthetic ideal is getting more and more important for companies to include as a design criteria when developing digital experiences. The reason why is the fast development in technology, which nurture competition between companies to produce the best experience for their costumers. There are three different interpretations of sensing; feeling, experience, and making sense of. Sensing as in a multiscensory experience is interesting to include in digital experiences because the product would differentiate it self, and we have the technology to do it. Emotions is aiming to evoke emotional responses. We can evoke emotional responses in different levels; visceral, behavioral and reflective. The visceral level is autonomic responses, like first impression. The behavioral level is also autonomic responses, but the user judge by experience. The reflective level is when the user interpret the experience and thereafter reason upon it. The reflective level is powerful in terms of costumer loyalty. We want the user to like the experience, reflect upon Exploring aesthetic ideals in digital experiences. Case study; Biophelia.
Screenshot from Biophelia: Crystalline.
it, like the experience even more, and then decide to come back to try it again. The last aesthetic ideal is playfulness. It’s a powerful ideal when it comes to communicating the concept or the product. Make complex simple. Playful communication encourages the user to play and interact with the product. CASE STUDY: BIOPHELIA "Biophilia" for iPad and iPhone will include around ten separate apps, all housed within one "mother" app. Each of the smaller apps will relate to a different track from the album, allowing people to explore and interact with the song's themes or even make a completely new version of them. It will also be an evolving entity that will grow as and when the album's release schedule dictates, with new elements added. Every app includes a game related to the song.” The reason for Biophelia to be the case study in this paper, is because as an interaction designer, everything with aesthetic value fascinates me, and that triggers my curiosity. When evaluating this digital experience with the six aesthetic ideals as parameters, I will keep an open mind, and explore the possibilities to find new aesthetic ideals to compliment Lundgren’s model. I believe that my fascination for Biophelia will be to my advantage, the reason of that is Donal Norman´s philosophy on ideation and creativity. “When you are happy the body spread dopamine to your head, which makes you more open to problem solving and out of the box thinking.” I hope there will be enough dopamine in my body when exploring Biophelia, for my creative thoughts to discover new aesthetic ideals for Lundgren’s model.
BIOPHELIA: THE APP When you enter the app the screen is dark, and you are met by a dynamic image of the universe. The universe is slowly moving around. In the universe there are several planets, and each planet represent a song from Björk's album. Some of the planets are lighted with beautiful colors, which encourages me to explore them further. The universe have a three dimensional feel. You can drag to rotate, zoom into the universe, or tap on the planets to get close to them. In the background there is ambient music playing, it puts me in a melancholic mood. The music sounds like wind blowing, it is the voices of choir singing, some instruments playing, and occasionally Bjork singing phrases of music. After a little while you discover that the sound changes in relation to where you are in the universe. Björk is singing phrases of the songs when you are close to the planets. It is beautiful. I am seduced. I want to enter the planets. I want to explore what is there, and create the music my self. BIOPHELIA: CRYSTALLINE Crystalline was Björk's first single released, and also the firs app to be experienced through the Biophelia app. The app consists of a story of the concept, a game and an animation. Crystalline connects spatial relationships in nature and music, and uses them to represent emotional states. Crystalline reflects Björk's spatial experience of verse-chorus Form, and this spatial analogy is used in the app as a tool for learning about song structure. The game challenge the user to collect crystals through the universe by tilting the device towards the crystals. Each crystal represent an electronic instrument or rhythm, so you are in an abstract way creating music while you play. You can hear Björk singing throughout the game expeExploring aesthetic ideals in digital experiences. Case study; Biophelia.
Screenshot from Biophelia: Virus.
Coherency
Playful
Efficiency
Emotion
Critical
Sensing
rience. Another part of the app is the animation. Here you can se the structure of the music and the lyrics. Its a karaoke version where you follow the music on the screen, and you can se how all the instruments are related to each other. The graphics are beautiful, abstract and with bright colors. BIOPHELIA: VIRUS Virus is the second single released from Björk's album. The app also contains a story, a game and an animation. Virus is a love song that revels the dangerous relationship between virus and host. The game display the cells in your body, and you need to destruct the virus before it infuses into your cells. If the virus manage to enter a cell it will reproduce it self, an it will be more difficult to keep the virus away. Eventually your cell will die. The user creates the melody by moving the cells and the virus. The lyrics is created when the cells are attracting, they are hurt and communicate danger. The animation is a karaoke version where you can se the relationships between the different melodies and lyrics. EVALUATING BIOPHELIA WITH THE AESTHETIC IDEALS AS PARAMETERS The coherency is corresponding to all of the three levels; concept, software and the graphic user interface. The core idea of the universe showing how it’s all related and how the planets, atoms, viruses and crystals interact with each other is communicates beautifully. The information architecture emphasize the concept; the “mother” app is the universe, and the planets represent each song. Each planet got its own galaxy, just like each song has its own story. Biophelia is not efficient. The intention of Biophelia is to play, create and listen to music. The slowness
when navigating in the universe is consistent with the ambient music, and I find the experience richer because the technology is behaving slow. The slowness encourage the user to explore the music, the concept, and to reflect. The educational aspect of the app is the reason for me to give the experience an high rate for critical design. Biophelia show the user how different instruments compliment each other, how the music is put together by different parts, just like the universe is put together by millions of different parts. There are several senses activated when interacting with Biophelia. Touch, visuals and sound. Touch is when you navigate in the universe. Visual because of the beautiful graphic. Sound, the ambient music in the background. The app on its own do not get a full score on sensing, but I believe that the app together with the live concert would make a sensorial experience. Biophelia correspond to all levels of emotion ; visceral, behavioral and reflective. First impression you are amazed by the graphic and the music. When exploring the app you get fascinated by the behavior of the software, the slow movement in the universe and ambient music. Suddenly one hour is passed, and all you did was playing the games and listening to music. The music together with the app, emphasizing the concept of the album, makes its smart and beautiful. And it makes you hungry for more. Biophelia has a playful approach when it comes to communicating the complex concept of the universe. I also encourage the user to play and create music. Exploring aesthetic ideals in digital experiences. Case study; Biophelia.
Coherency
Sensing
Efficiency
Critical
Playfulness
Creation
Emotion
MY APPROACH ON AESTHETIC IDEALS IN DIGITAL EXPERIENCES After exploring Biophelia I am left with the “wow” feeling. It is an aesthetic experience to me. And with the high production of dopamine in my body, as a result of exploring the beautiful app and listening to the beautiful music, I am wondering if the aesthetic ideals from Lundberg’s model is explaining my total experience with Biophelia. Are the six ideals enough to evaluate the aesthetics of the experience? And, is coherency, sensing, playfulness, emotion, critical design and efficiency the ultimate design criteria we need to develop great digital experiences for the future? When I was exploring the app, playing the games and composing the music, I felt good. Tthe reason for that good feeling was that I was creating the music. I was creating the music by playing the games, and the music was beautiful. The experience of Biophelia was total to me. It was total because I was creating the experience. The music I created with Crystalline will only be for me to experience. No one can make exact the same music, it will always be a little bit different. So, should creation be the seventh aesthetic ideal in Lundberg’s model? Is creation significant enough to stand on its own, to be an independent aesthetic ideal in the model? I think creation as an independent ideal would enhance the digital experience, because the user want to feel significant and smart when interacting with technology. In my philosophy of aesthetics in digital experiences, creation is the seventh design criteria. It should be a criteria for designing future digital experiences. To engage users to interact, and to let the user create their own significant experience. Creation will enhance the experience of digital interaction. Aesthetics in interaction design, fall 2011