Prototyping for Joy, Round Two!
For Joy Dept.’s last prototype, we set up puzzles in public places to observe how people approach and interact with something novel. As a reminder, we spread puzzle pieces out on a table with a sign next to it inviting people to “join in” to find out whether or not people would be curious enough to interact.
We’re currently working on building an experiential seating environment in a public space, so for our second prototype, we wanted to test whether people would sit on something without an invitation. We decorated a public bench at CU Boulder to see if people would sit down on something that appeared public but had also been altered. We then added a step, and tested out the same decorated bench with a sign that said, “Have a seat.”
Supplies used: three rolls of streamers, six helium balloons (three star-shaped, three standard in a variety of bright colors), one roll of packing tape, one build-a-banner kit, and one public bench.
Location: CU Boulder Campus
No one sat down.
Key Takeaways:
Again, weather matters — we tested on a sunny day when temperatures reached the mid-40s, but there was snow covering the ground and the air was a bit chilly. Could be that weather was a partial deterrent, but we’d need to test again on a gorgeous, warm day to know for sure.
We need to scout locations.
We picked our area intentionally but our bench at random. No one sat on our bench, but there were other benches nearby that also remained empty — and a few that were occupied several times over. If we do this again, I think it would be wise to pick a bench we know to be highly trafficked. For now, it’s hard to say if our decorations prevented people or if people just don’t typically sit in that spot.
Lots of people stopped to look at the bench, and a few stopped to take pictures of it! One woman who stopped to take photos said she was attracted by the bright colors.
Balloons could have been a deterrent — that same woman said that she wasn’t looking for a place to sit, but if she had been, she would have been afraid the balloons would keep bumping her in the head (dang weather, see above).
In this instance, the invitation made no difference.
We’ve got lots of new questions; stay tuned for the next round!
