LUMA This project was about engaging an audience and representing a client in an appropriate way. It was difficult to figure out a way to tell a story with minimal interaction, but without simply handing the information to the viewers. Our solution is very interactive and engaging but requires little from our viewer.
march 2013 sahana kumar partner: jiyoung lee
ideation Approaching the LUMA wall was difficult because it was a massive task that needed to be broken down. Jiyoung and I started off by understanding LUMA itself. We went through their site and materials and tried to find keywords that interested us, and that we could delve deeper into for our wall. We really liked the idea of “Envisioning the Future,” at first, and essentially USING LUMA’s methods to solve problems. We wanted the wall to be very representative of LUMA in a kind of indirect way. We also attempted to tackle the question of form. We were inspired by Candy Chang and started off very interactive. We wanted people to add their piece to the wall, and to have it be sort of fed by the LUMA people.
ideation ctd Our first ideas were very tactile. We wanted people to learn about the methods while contributing their own problems that they wanted to solve. We thought that getting people excited about LUMA would be easy if they related it to themselves. We were thinking about cards on pegs, cards in cubbies, white boards, etc.
idea 1
description This represented our first fully formed idea. The summary is: We wanted the content to be LUMA generated. We wanted LUMA to draw a method out of a hat and respond to questions that were tweeted in. Then they would tweet out their solutions to the community. This way they could make a difference in the community.
reflection Then the requirements of the project shifted. We took the following into consideration: LUMA workers were not our audience, workshop attendees are. The wall should work to represent LUMA positively and teach viewers about LUMA with little interaction on thier part. Methods are not usually used in isolation! We considered all of this when moving forward.
idea 2 description We shifted our focus to the three methods and case studies. We wanted to teach workshop attendees about combinations of methods and how to use them in context with a successful case study. We then wanted them to add their piece with a post it, whether it be an opinion or adding their own content to the method.
reflection This idea was very half baked and it caused me a lot of trouble. I knew that the interaction wasn’t adequate, and that the overall idea was not engaging. It did not draw viewers in, nor did it keep them there. The overall experience was very one dimensional. I spent much of this time struggling with how to improve my idea, but was scared to start from scratch.
idea 3 description This was a short lived idea. We wanted to expand our content from three methods into all 36. We tried to tell the story of a case study subtly by highlighting the three methods used.
reflection We struggled with the form the case study would take, and also with interest. It was not an interesting layout, and there was nothing to prompt the viewer to come closer. This idea did not live long either, because I was simply uncomfortable with it. I needed something I felt more confident in, and believed would be successful for viewers.
final In our final we started with a brand new idea, which I feel was successful. We were inspired by flipboard at trainstations and by slot machines. We created a video that would play every few hours. Three methods would be “randomly selected” and the information would be slowly released as the cards flipped down. A case study would also flip down, as would quotes relevant to the case three methods. This teaches the viewer a lot of information about LUMA, and it’s entertaining to watch. We addressed all of the considerations brought up at the first crit, and I feel it is our best version of the project. The video was made in after effects, and all the graphics were created in illustrator.
Below is the early version of this idea.