FEEL THE FLOW

AN INTERACTION PROJECT BY ANNA PALMR

Cycle II - Iteration
project feel the flow
Cycle 2 in the course Exploring Interactions focuses on iterating the ideas generated in the first cycle. In this project 11 iterations have been made which has lead to new better ideas, suitable for the users and the created interactions. The research made in the first cycle showed that the users waiting at traffic lights are calm while they wait but feel a bit useless because they can not influence the wait in any useful way. Therefore the project focuses on distracting the users so they forget about waiting. During cycle II I also attended the Emotion-workshop and the Electronic-workshop, which was very much fun but nothing, I could use right now in my iterations,, hopefully I can use it later on in cycle III. The design goal for the project is to Increase flow when bicycling in Delft. The interaction vision is changed from the first cycle from Create the feeling of movement to Curious distraction. This due to the ideas and the wanted interaction and also to the feedback from iterations.

sketches of ideas
New ideas have been developed in the second cycle through a creative session and also by idea generation with different groups of people. This was mostly to find which direction the project should go and what was found exciting. Below are some examples of the ideas created.

11 iterations has been made on the ideas from the fist cycle. The Ideas were further developed from cycle one. They are all separately described below.

Iterations

THE QUIZ
TEST NUMBER 1
Test 1 The quiz The quiz deals with the problem that bikers are bored when they wait for the green light. To solve this boredom quiz questions will be announced onto the red light. When it turns green again the answer will be shown on the green light. This solution has many benefits since it is easy to adapt, there could be different paths with traffic lights showing different subjects, or the questions could only be shown once so that users will have to go trough that light every day. The bikers will be entertained while they wait and then forget about waiting and feel that they are in a flow. Instead of changing the light in the traffic light this test was made with signs painted with red and green circles.

WHAT HAPPENED? The group felt that the quiz was fun! The questions were a bit long and also a bit hard to read.They also felt that the answer should be shown before it turned green or a bit further away from the biker so that they didnt have to stop to read the answer. This was just stopping the flow, which is the opposite of what I wanted to achieve. CONCLUSIONS The questions for the real users were developed with better signs and also with a shorter answer.

Iteration number 1 THE QUIZ WITH REAL USERS

THE QUIZ WITH REAL USERS

ITERATION NUMBER 1

The quiz was further developed with different signs and new questions. Two different camera persons were placed in different positions and the question holding-person were placed a bit in front of the users so that they would have time to read the answer before leaving the waiting spot. The question holding-person was also placed so that he could se the green light. During the red light the question with the red border is shown and when the light turns green the sign is turned around showing the answer with a green border (to indicate the different colours of the traffic light).

WHAT HAPPENED? The response from the quiz test was very good. People were happy, laughing and smiling or did the like sign (thumbs up) when passing by. A lot of people started to interact with each other after having read the sign, which was an interaction I didnt expect. It was really hard to stop the users afterwards and ask them what they felt and thought about the quiz. I was able to talk to one woman and she said that she felt happy by the sign. CONCLUSIONS The observations showed that the test was easy to understand and the users interacted with the signs in a good way. The thoughts now was about how much it affected that we were standing there as in person? What was it that they liked about the quiz? How can this be further developed and tested?

iteration number 2 Question shows when someone presses the button This test has the same kind of question order as the first one, question in red light and answers in green. The thing that differs this time is that the question will not show until one person presses the button.

Question shows when someone presses the button

ITERATION NUMBER 2

WHAT HAPPENED? The people arriving pressed the button every time and the question popped up. The reactions were the same as the other quiz tests, positive and also with interactions between us and the users plus a lot of smiles and laughter.. CONCLUSIONS It is hard to test this test just once thought it is a test that might need to be tested over time. Though I believe the users presses the button because of the red light and not because they now that a question will show. These thoughts lead to the tests over time made by with my roommates.

WOULD THEY WAVE BACK?

ITERATION NUMBER 3

Iteration number 3 WOULD THEY WAVE BACK? This iteration is not a quiz as the other iterations, it is more a call to the users to do something, in this case wave to the car also waiting for the light.

WHAT HAPPENED? Some people stopped and ignored the sign, as shown to the left on this page. The man on the top of this page stopped, and ignored the waving but showed that he liked it in some way (thumbs up and smile). The page before and after this one show that some people really tried to wave and both of them god response from the cars which is a new interaction in my project. CONCLUSIONS It seems like its is easier for people in groups to do this exercise, probably the barrier of being strange is lower for people in groups because they have each other. Due to this I would like to keep on working on people that bicycle alone, because the groups seem happy and curious by them selves.

Iteration number 4 QUIZ WITH POSITIVE FEEDBACK This quiz has many questions per red light, it has two alternatives per question and the users can guess A or B. If they guess right a positive post-it will be places on the traffic light pole.Then they can guess the next question. The feedback post-its will stay so the next person gets curious and motivated to try to guess. No negative feedback will show because it will show to everyone around and probably people would not participate in the quiz then. In the longer run this should be automatic and the feedback could be that the traffic light pole lights up or gives feedback on something else.

QUIZ WITH POSITIVE FEEDBACK

ITERATION NUMBER 4

WHAT HAPPENED? Some people did not like it, and asked why the questions were in English. Some others liked it and smiled and found it interesting. The users did not say or notice the feedback so much. CONCLUSIONS It is hard to say if the feedback system worked, the users might have felt uncomfortable just because we stood there and could see if they answered right or wrong.

QUIZ OVER TIME I

ITERATION NUMBER 5
Iteration number QUIZ OVER TIME 1? This quiz was made in my home on the inside of the front door. The users in this case were my roommates, and the test was to see if they stayed curious about the quiz over time.

WHAT HAPPENED? I got some surprising interactions as guesses on new post its and after 2 weeks talked to them about the quiz.They said they stayed curious and that they looked every day for a new question.They found the questions a bit hard to guess sometimes, but that was not really the test for me. CONCLUSIONS The thoughts about if the curiosity will disappear over time is false. They felt that they kept on being curious about the new answer or questions.This is interesting for the project though users might not get bored with the interaction after a while if it is new questions every day.

QUIZ OVER TIME II

ITERATION NUMBER 6
Iteration number 5 QUIZ OVER TIME II? I invented another way of testing different interactions over time with writing Problems and Solutions on a blank paper and put it on the back of the toilet door. There people have a few minutes as with the traffic light and can interact with each other by adding problems or solutions.

WHAT HAPPENED? My roommates and our guests found this very fun. They added a lot of questions or problems and also a lot of solutions. The users found it fun and nice and they were always curious about if something new was written. CONCLUSIONS The test worked very well and the curiosity stayed, you could see that if the paper got filled the process slowed down and if a new paper was up it had better impact. Maybe people at traffic light could write something together or interact in another way?

ADDING QUESTIONS IN TEXT

ITERATION NUMBER 7

Iteration number 7 ADDING QUESTIONS IN TEXT? This test was made in a crowded studio (to have some extra users included in the test). A computer was connected to the screen in the room and Roderick and Sophie could text me messages and I would put them on the big screen. I also added some extra texts in between to confuse them. Roderick and Sophie was placed in different parts of the room mixed with all the other people that was working in the studio. The reason for this test was to try if the users in a traffic light would like to add questions by them self and if so, in what form?

WHAT HAPPENED? Both started to text me a lot and felt curious about when their text will show. They felt it was a bit confusing that it started to become a conversation but did not always match with question and answer. CONCLUSIONS This test showed that it was fun for the users to affect the questions but It can be hard to connect the questions and answers. The user has a certain uncertainty on when and if their question/text will show.

Iteration number 8 ADDING QUESTIONS ON VIDEO? This test was made to see how users would feel when adding questions or information to the quiz or the screen that can be placed at the traffic light on video. I said to the test persons that the film will be shown in the studio on the screen to make it more real.

ADDING QUESTIONS ON VIDEO

ITERATION NUMBER 8

WHAT HAPPENED? The test persons did not like to add questions or thoughts to the video. I first tested with just a fast start and just asked them to add something right away. That was really hard for them. Then we had a short break and I asked them again and they could think about it for a moment first. The test persons felt very uncomfortable with adding something to the camera and struggled with coming up with questions or things to add.They turned their heads to the side and leaned backwards and looked in general uncomfortable. They also described it as uncomfortable as feedback afterward. CONCLUSIONS Adding questions or to have people recorded on a screen felt uncomfortable but they also said that if it would have been live or if they could see each themselves it might feel better.

Iteration number 8b No person behind the camera One note from the former test was that it felt uncomfortable because I was standing behind the camera so I did another test with no person behind the camera.

NO PERSON BEHIND THE CAMERA

ITERATION NUMBER 8b
WHAT HAPPENED? Users said that they struggled with coming up with something to say even when there was no person behind the camera. CONCLUSIONS The test person, in this case Sophie did not like this either, it might have been because she does not like to be taped on video. It can also be that they did not have so much time to prepare something interesting to say so they struggled with coming up with something good. Users said that if they would have had time and wanted to add something instead of being forced to add something they would find the screen thing interesting.

Iteration number 9 Screen interaction 1 This test is a combined test from the creative sessions and also the conclusions made in the former iterations. When thinking about the former tests I came to the conclusion about that what people in the other tests often liked was that we were there, they interacted with us and the quiz was just something that made it possible for the interaction to take place. This made me think of which interaction I wanted, this is further discussed later on in the report. The test is build up from the though of connecting different traffic light because they are all in the same situation, both waiting and not doing something useful. The test was made by two computers connected by Skype (with sound on) and on full screen. The first test was between people having a break just sitting, eating or having coffee. The test was between IO coffee corner and TB building.

SCREEN INTERACTION 1
ITERATION NUMBER 9

WHAT HAPPENED? Users interacted with each other and were very curious about where the other person was, what he did and wanted to interact with him. They felt it was a bit strange but also a lot of fun. They liked the idea of being connected with someone else at a traffic light. CONCLUSIONS Very positive feedback with a lot of interactions in forms of movements and talking. It also resulted in a lot of smiles and laughters and the persons in the bigger group started to interact with each other about the person on the screen. The screen at IO might have been a bit to far away from the person because they could not really speak to each other.

Iteration number 10 Screen interaction II The next test was performed connecting the persons handing out student cards at IO with the persons handing out student cards at TB. The Skype connection was the same as the other test and we tested to also switch the sound of for a moment and see what happened then.

SCREEN INTERACTION II
ITERATION NUMBER 10

WHAT HAPPENED? With sound the users found it very fun, they smiled and laughed and interacted with the people on the screen and also with each other about the people on the screen.

WHAT HAPPENED? When it was quiet they did not like it as much, they really wanted the sound so they could interact better with the persons on the screen. The lady in red in the pictures did not notice the screen at all, but the service desk people seemed very curios about what was going on. You can also see in the last picture that interactions from the other place on the screen. CONCLUSIONS The users really liked the test and found it really fun and exciting. They also mentioned when we left something really thoughtful for me. I said, Thank you for your participation, and then one of them answered Thank you for the distraction. That sentence made me think, it is almost exactly what I want my users to think (or not to think, but to feel).

Iteration number 11 Screen interaction III - Sodexo vs. sodexo This test was developed to test people waiting while being in the same situation. In this case testing the queue at Sodexo IO and the queue at Sodexo Aula. The screens were placed close to the cashier facing the queue. Due to Sodexo regulations I was not allowed to film or to take photos (the two presented are taken before I knew), but I did some shorter interviews with users in both locations and also observed reactions.

SCREEN INTERACTION III - sodexo vs. sodexo

ITERATION NUMBER 11

WHAT HAPPENED? The users interacted with the screen. They found it a bit weird in the beginning but there were many happy reactions. A lot of people smiled or laughed and also waved to the other persons. You could see that they started to discuss or wonder where the other queue was, and also feedback from the interviews showed that they felt proud of knowing where the other camera was placed. Some people wanted to be able to talk to the other users and the sound was on during this test but the noise from Sodexo was to loud to be able to talk to each other. Even the other queues started to wonder what was going on in the test queue and wanted to know what it was. CONCLUSIONS Users seem to like the tests and likes the interactions, they might think it is weird but are still curious about the people on the screen and interaction with it and people around.

CONNECTING DISTRACTIONS
ABOUT THE CONCEPT
The screen interaction is more focused on people bicycling alone and got really good feedback from the users. It created interesting interactions between people, and that is the reasons why I want to continue on the idea Connecting Distractions (Screen iteration III). Concept The concept is built around the thoughts of people waiting at traffic lights do not do anything while waiting, they feel calm about it because they can not change their situation.To make them interact with people at other traffic lights would be an interesting interaction to develop further in the next cycle. Different traffic lights will be connected with screens that are connected to each other (at the moment by Skype). Preferably this connection could be between different traffic lights in the same city, or with another cities or with other countries. Interactions The general feeling which I want to create is that they should be happier on their way to and from work. To accomplish that I want to create something surprising that makes them curious on their way home. Often people make other people happy so the aim is to create an interaction between people with a product as a link. Connecting people who normally would not interact will do that just because of the screen product. As described earlier this was a conclusion from the quiz test, that what the users liked was the interaction with us, people. The quiz was only the link that connected us. The Identified Interactions and goal is visualised to the left.
The interaction with people made them happy

Product

Before inventing the screen interactions I found out that product I would like to create would make the users connect with each other with the product as a linking tool.

The screen does this so far, but shall be evaluated further in cycle 111.

Experience As described earlier the users shall experience something new which makes them happy and forget about the wait. Appearance The product will be a screen with connects people waiting at traffic lights. How the screens will look and where they will be placed are not fully investigated yet but will be done during the third Cycle. Aesthetic expression The expression of the screens will probably be discrete, this to make the people in focus for the interaction. Technology The technology needed to develop this product exists today, what is needed is a connection between the screens, webcams and something to hold it with. At the moment I see it as a large Ipad on a pole.This might change in the next cycle. Materials Materials used in this interaction are the two screens, the users will at the moment not be able to touch or interact with the screen on a personal level, this to create the interaction focus just on the people in the screen. The screen would probably have a cover of metal and also something to protect it from weather.

Overall learnings and conclusions

From cycle II
The general conclusions from this cycle are that the users liked the quiz as in the first cycle, it was a bit hard to evaluate what the users liked about it but what I found was that they really liked the interaction with us, the project persons. The quiz became a tool to interact with people and partly therefore the screen solution was developed.The iterations with the screen lead to conclusions about that it is preferable to involve sound connection in the solution due the users often said they wanted to be able to talk to the other persons on the screen. I see this concept as a start of an interaction with people which would not talk to each other if they just met but the screen will change that into a connection between them. This concept can also be developed into a global connection between countries, the screen could also switch connection every 15 second to a different traffic light in a different countries.

Expectations for the next cycle

WHAT DO I WANT TO DEMONSTRATE?
In the next cycle evaluation of the concept continue, new iterations will be done with the concept at real traffic lights. In the next cycle tests will be made between the countries Netherlands and Sweden to see how the interaction works. One interesting thing with specially those countries are that the people look quite the same so it might take a while for them to understand that it is another country. In the next cycle also the screens appearance, where it is placed and materials will be chosen.

BY ANNA PALMR 4237577 anna.palmer@me.com 0046707989222