Week 3: September 27
Exploring methods
Team: Laura Rodriguez, Katherine Herzog, Josh LeFevre, & Newell Khale
Exploring Construction Methods
Following these two sets of trials, we decided to create a more deliberate version of a three-dimensional kit. We wanted to provide a balance of flexibility and constraint in the materials provided. Because we found in the first round of testing that participants had difficulty with the actual construction of their visualization, we discussed multiple methods of construction that would be easy for the user. A few ideas included using magnets as a method of joining pieces, as well as inserting wires into the pieces so that the user could easily bend them into the shapes they wanted. We decided to move forward with a tinker toy construction method.
Because we found in the first round of testing that the participants felt overwhelmed by the number of choices they could use and add their personal meaning too, we decided to restrict the number of elements that would act as representative pieces. We chose to work with shape, size and material/texture. The materials chosen were a set of shapes (cube, rectangular prism, sphere, hemisphere, and cylinder) in two sizes, and in four materials (wood, concrete, plastic, felt). The shapes have holes in them that fit two different types of connectors (wood and silicone) allowing participants to connect the objects together in a variety of ways.
Based on this concept we created several prototype materials to validate our thinking before investing the time and energy in creating them in the desired materials.
Based on our own experimentation with the prototype materials, we decided to move forward with this approach. We will be prototyping in the correct materials this week so we can test out the materials we have identified and see how people relate and give meaning to the different materials and forms we have provided.
Exploring the Verbal Presentation
As we began work constructing this kit we also worked to finalize the other details of how participants would interact with this kit, specifically how we would invite people to participate, what instructions they would receive, what the setting would be like for people creating a sculpture with the kit, and if and how we would communicate with them after they finish. We drafted a version of a script for each stage of the process, emphasizing transparency and the opportunity for anonymity. We also decided based on our initial trials to offer participants a word bank from which they could select one emotion to visualize. The reason for this approach was two fold. First, we wanted to give some sort of prompt to avoid the intimidation that can come with being faced with a blank sheet of paper. Second, we learned that asking someone to create an object for a specific emotion could be forcing them to engage with something that makes them uncomfortable. Providing options in the form of a word bank and the ability to write in something else alleviated that pressure.
The words we initially chose were based on Robert Plutchik’s theory that there are eight basic emotions: Fear, Anger, Sadness, Joy, Disgust, Surprise, Trust, and Anticipation. We also wanted to include Anxiety and Depression, per our initial trials.
Before using any of these scripts or the word bank in broader testing, we decided to meet again with Viviana Ferrer-Medina to hear her feedback and adjust accordingly.
