Karoline K A-Z Project AND11334006
+ the brief + initial word research + experimentation: word fusion + research: contemporary urban interaction + idea generation and management + secondary research - interaction challengers + concept analysis + research analysis and design objective + prototyping - experimentation + aesthetic considerations + final outcome stats and project future + thanks This pdf is interactive. Click on the subjects to jump to relevant page
The brief, briefly Choose 4 words from a long list of words. Explore the words - merge them or pick one to inspire a new concept. Write your own brief. Consider who you are as a designer, the content and context and who you are designing for. Research or invent a new audience and apply an appropriate mode of engagement to get your message across. Think, research, analyse, question, produce, test, document, finalize, share.
content and brief
Emotion
The word originates from the Middle French word motion, which means “a (social) moving, stirring, agitation”. On its own, emotion means “the expression of feeling”. It’s interesting that it has the word ‘motion’ in it, because feelings almost always involve some act. A reaction, an expression. Inexpressed feelings get expressed some way or another.
When a word is formed from the sound that an associated thing makes, that is an example of onomatopoeia. In Greek it simply means ‘word-making’ but in English it refers to a more specific process of word-making, whereby one attempts to capture the sound of something. Sometimes these words are culture specific - Have you ever asked a foreigner how a dog barks in their language? In Danish they say ‘vov vov’, in Greek they ‘gav gav’ and Japanese dogs tend to ‘wan wan’.
initial word research
Onomatopoeia
Interaction
In recent years, the word interaction has increasingly been associated with something digital. ‘Interactive Media’ ‘Interactive Web’, installations using new tech etc, where in fact - anything that requires the audience to respond, act or engage can be seen as interactive. A book is interactive as it requires the reader to flip the pages. Interaction comes from the Latin inter meaning between, and agere which means to do or to act - an action in between. Human interaction remains the center of - well everything. You can’t not interact. Even the act of choosing not to interact with someone is responsive and therefore interactive.
Collage
A collage can be any collection of diverse things. Artistically it refers to a paste-up made by sticking together pieces of paper or photographs to form an artistic image. It’s an interesting creative technique.
Onomatopoeia + Interaction + Collage Following the initial research into the 4 words I explored how I might amalgamate them. This example shows what might happen when the shape of a word responds to the way it’s pronounced. So it depicts the sound of the word instead of its meaning.
Onomatopoeia + Interaction + Emotion
I was drawn to the word interaction - the human kind of interaction. Mapping out the different types and styles of interaction led to some interesting links and questions. + Is contemporary interaction increasingly planned? + Does interaction between strangers differ in urban and rural settings? + How can design instigate genuine interaction? + How does online interaction influence face-to-face interaction + Is all interaction intentional?
Taking things a bit further, the word now looks the way it’s said. So the physical act of saying a word is transformed into the word itself. It suits those words that are hard to say, not due to pronunciation, but because certain things, truths or emotions are difficult to voice. This typographic experiment could very well suit a campaign aimed at taboo subjects or unexpressed feelings.
interaction experimentation: word fusion
Because of an abundance of events, activities, things to do etc, many say it’s hard to be bored in a big city. But what many don’t realise is that it’s made us somewhat non-committal as we’re always weighing our options. In small cities there’s only the fun you create yourself/with your mates. That’s maybe why you’re more likely to find quite established groups of friends there. In big cities like London, it’s become increasingly difficult to make people commit or even just call and say ‘hey whats up’ and end up physically seeing that person. Don’t even think about visiting someone unannounced.
research: contemporary urban interaction
Already in 1988 - Phillip Lopate wrote in Texas Monthly:
“Contemporary urban life, He said this before Facebook, smartphones and even smses. Nowadays, communication is easy and methods plenty. In a way it makes interaction easier to plan - we know if someone is running 5 mins late. But it’s also somehow made it okay to cancel a meet-up a few hours before it was meant to happen. When did that become OK? Has this instant communication made us flaky? Has it made us uncomfortable with the thought of the unexpected?
with its tight schedules and crowded appointment books, has helped to shape modern friendship into something requiring a good deal of intentionality and pursuit
”
Small book of small commitments. For flaky friends
A Guide to educating yourself - Infographic
Information video on feelings or how to interact
Emotions boardgame
A Friend A Day Project Sketch and interesting stories about a new person every day
Playing with feelings
Lessons in Friendships from experts (kids)
Spit It Out Words that are hard to let out - visualized.
Hard truths from soft kids
Objects as metaphors
Compare same words spit out by different people
Idea management
Map of Feelings
idea generation and management
Feelings Flowchart
App or Web version
Words that look the way they sound
Whilst conducting and analysing research, ideas tend to form. In order not to get carried away, I put them on paper - and get them out of my system so my mind stays open. It’s very easy to get stuck on one’s initial idea. Some of these thumbnails remain ideas, others can be developed at a later stage.
Fucking flink ‘Flink’ is the Danish word for ‘nice’, and as the son of an American father and Danish mother, Lars AP thinks he understands what the concept is all about. ‘Year after year Danes are rated as the happiest people in the world, but try standing in the supermarket queue on a Monday afternoon or driving during rush hour traffic. Danes can be some of the least tolerant people around.’ ‘Fucking Flink’ is one man’s campaign to conquer the frigid Danish psyche. A ‘Friendliness Manifesto’ if you like. Wittily written and well designed - this book leaves anyone who reads it inspired to take part in operation flink. As part of promoting the book Lars dressed up as a traffic warden and issued ‘tickets’ to people who were extra nice. When the book came out in 2010 - its readers were few but they were dedicated to spread the word. Now, at the end of 2012 ‘Fucking Flink’s facebook page has 156K likes - that’s a lot for a country of only 5.5 mil people. It serves as a platform for people to share their stories of ‘flinkness’. However, its getting harder to filter genuine stories from ‘like hunters’ and internal jokes between teens. Maybe it’s time for a new platform?
secondary research - interaction challengers
A Wednesday in the beginning of 2008, 19 year old Brett Westcott woke up and felt great. He was an engineering student at Purdue University in Indiana, USA. He found a spot on a busy walkway at the center of campus and started giving compliments to anyone who walked by: ‘Nice shoes!” “I like your glasses” “Cool bike” etc. Brett told his friend Cam about the project; next Wednesday and the following Wednesdays for 18 months the two students handed out free compliments from 12.30 14-30 outside the chemistry building. They are
The Compliment Guys
.
(look them up)
concept analysis
“Please share an incident where someone did something unexpected. How did you react and how did you feel?” - 42 responses
“I was on the tube when a baby said it’s first word and the whole carriage cooed. That was nice.”
“The other day I made eye contact with a total randomer, got highfived and we both carried on walking like it was the most casual thing ever...”
Most people react positively to unexpected positive behaviour and enjoy telling stories of past surprising encounters. Because we react more or less the same way every day to people doing more or less what we expect them to do every day - it’s often the unexpected that makes us able to tell the days apart.
research analysis and project objective
We’ve become so comfortable with the comfortable that we’ve forgotten how fun the uncomfortable can be
Studies show that endorphin levels (happy hormones) rise in a person giving his seat to someone. They also rise in the person receiving the seat - and they ALSO rise in everyone around them witnessing the act of kindness.
Objective:
Design something that surprises people into embracing the silly and unexpected
The first prototype contained an introduction, 3 stories and 8 ideas to unexpected behaviour as well as an invitation to share content online and to pass the book onto a stranger. Based on feedback, I edited the content to make it less text-heavy in order to make sure people were engaged from start to finish without skipping pages. I tested 4 of the ideas myself and not only was the response positive; I also had a really funcomfortable time!
prototyping - experimentation
“It’s almost too precious. I’m not sure if I’d pass it on to a stranger, I’d want to keep it to myself.” “so cute”
The aim of the book is to make people who find it feel lucky as if they’ve found something secret and great. The book must physically feel good, and must have a preciousness to it so as to avoid people treating it like something ephemeral. Typography Letrraset makes the typography look like secret letters and riddles which most people remember from their childhood. It also gives the book a handmade element, or at least its clear that some consideration has gone into the design - albeit it being very playful and free, full of cracks, lines and small mistakes. Material The final paper choice: sugar paper - is recycled, cheap and has an organic feel and nice tint. Its softness makes it hard to tell whether the book is new or others have already read it.
aesthetic considerations
“It looks a bit dirty, but I like it. Maybe that would make me less inclined to keep it and rather pass it on” Print The books were printed with a risograph printer. It allowed a flourescent colour not otherwise possible in normal printing. The ink is slightly smudgy which works with the idea of it being passed from person to person. Imagery As one of my initial (neglected) words was ‘ Collage’ I decided to use cut collages in two colours as imagery. Binding The binding is simple and strong. It needs to be possible to print out the book at home, as the template will be made available online for anyone to use, make and distribute.
“ It feels nice, I want to stroke it. Will it be sturdy enough for the outdoors?”
books
different unexpected locations
people emailed and said they’d found the book and passed it on
likes on ‘Unexpectors’ facebook page
final outcome stats and project future
Future expectations The small ‘Well this in unexpected’ books are the first teasers of a project that has the potential to expand. Right now the content exists in the books and on facebook, but it might develop into a thing on its own. If I nurture the content, post stories / ideas and videos of myself or others trying out different unxpector methods it could build a larger audience over time who will eventually be the ones generating the content. Although it’ll be interesting to follow the natural development of Project Unexpect, I want to avoid ‘like-hunters’ and unrelated wallposts - which means I need to do a bit of curating and possibly move to a different platform eventually. I’m excited about keeping this project alive alongside my studies and seeing what happens.
Thank you
Thanks to everyone who helped me with this project. Feedbackors, guides, survey-slaves, paper folders, skypers and brave new unexpectors.