Alternative Tourist Experience
We were given a brief to create an alternative tourist experience that shows off hidden parts of Edinburgh. This meant we had to go out to do some primary research and take pictures and notes on ideas we had.
In the picture below is very early ideas we had by doing some secondary research.
After debating some ideas we settled on idea 1. The location of this idea is Water Of Leith and Dean Village, and the general idea is to take a walk along the Water Of Leith to enjoy the scenery which most people do not know about. This is because we personally felt this idea had more possibilities for an alternative tourist experience than the other ideas and it could be developed further.
After selecting the main idea we went back to Dean Village and done some behavioural mapping. This involved us taking a note of how people behaved along the Water of Leith and Dean Village. From the notes we obtained we found that the majority of people there were runners or dog walkers. This firstly shows us that it would be an alternate tourist experience because it is unknown by many as the research shows. The second piece of information we found helped the development of the idea greatly. We found that the people who were taking pictures of the amazing view did not take in the view and instead wanted a picture to prove they visited this location. This is something we want to investigate more further in development.
After viewing the images of our first visit and working on a final idea we came to the conclusion that the tourist experience starts at the Scottish National Museum of Modern Art. Then you make your way onto the Water Of Leith and walk along the path and end at Dean Village. However, along the path we will have markers on the ground indicating the best location to get a picture. This means at the end of the experience you have good photos of the walk as a souvenir. Also the main reason we wanted the walk to start at the gallery is because we felt it would help inspire the tourist and they might take in the scenery more after viewing artwork, also it enhances the overall tourist experience as they have a chance to visit the Scottish National Museum of Modern Art.
When designing the marker for the ground we had a few aspects we wanted to involve in the design. For example linking to the National Gallery, and mainly having a real connection to the Water of Leith and Dean Village.
After revisiting the location we took more photos and decided on locations where placing the marker would be best. The 4 locations we have chosen are.
-Stopping point 1 is once you leave the gallery and make your way to Water of Leith, just after you go down the stairs to The Water of Leith.
-Then you go left and make your way up to Dean Village. On the way there you pass a bench on the side of the river and thats where location 2 is.
-As you continue you walk along a metal walkway that passes a waterfall as seen in location 3.
-Then the final location is at the end of the walk with Well Court on the left and a lovely view of houses to the right. The houses on the right make it seem as though you are not in Edinburgh and possibly somewhere in Europe. Which is a nice change to the normal busy Edinburgh city centre.
As stated before on the behavioural mapping we found people who were taking pictures were only taking them to prove they were there, because of this we felt we should take this on board and make the markers selfie points instead. This does not mean non-selfie pictures can be taken on the experience, however we felt we should embrace the fact people would want to be in the picture they are taking. This would not change any of the locations as they would create an ideal backdrop for a selfie. For example location 1 has the large arch bridge in the background, this could act as a border when taking a selfie at that location.
Currently part of the path is dangerous as it is needing fixed. This means a section of the experience would be closed off and must not be done for your safety. However signs suggest this issue is looking to be resolved as soon as possible. Also you can exit the path where the stop sign is and go onto the road and walk around the hazard, then return to the path.
