Transmedia Experience | Macro UX | Week 5 - Slavi Kalofeorv

Brief

Design a transmedia experience that rallies people on urgent social cause where the voices of underrepresented groups are expressed

Timeframe

5 weeks | 02.02 – 09.03.2023

Teammates

5 people | Cyrus (Xiyuan) Han, Mansi Chottani, Mila Tawil and Sushil Suresh

Development

Final developments

We should have also calculated the amount of available time realistically, taking into account our blocked time for meetings and workshops.

In retrospect, I realize that I should have taken a more proactive role in timekeeping for the whole project. Staying on track is essential because miscalculation of time can lead to significant strains on our resources or negatively impact the final outcome. While it’s important to be ambitious more important is to ensure that the project is executed effectively in professional world.

When I realized that the team was running low on tasks to work on, I utilized my expertise in managing human resources to address the situation. While I recognize that I can be demanding of both myself and others to make the most of our time together, I am mindful not to overdo it. Additionally, I provided motivation to certain team members to help them stay motivated as we approached the end of the project.

Physical props

Detail of our prop book. Photo credit: Mansi Chottani

Mansi adding the details to the book prop. Photo credit: Mila Tawil

Making the details of teacups. Photo credit: Mila Tawil

Content for the To-Do app

Sushil and Mansi recording the voice messages in the To-Do app.

Voice message 1

Voice message 2

Voice message 3

The icon set for the To-Do app, art direction: myself.

The icon set for the To-Do app, black and white, art direction: myself.

The desk

Last iteration of our desk is around the topic of neurodiversity in the workplace with the theme of invisible struggles. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh

Movable desk

Extending Arduino connection cables on the electrical bench.

Wiring the desk and working on the design of business cards. Photo credit: Mansi Chottani

Our table wired with physical computing electronics.

Testing and troubleshooting sensors’ input.

Campaign website development

Initial design for the campaign website. Credit: Self

Component design for a section of the website. Credit: Self

Testing

We had planned to test our prototype outside with real people but our plans were ruined by the rain, as we did not want to risk damaging the expensive technology. Furthermore, we were not allowed to take some of the props outside LCC as they were not ours, leading us to question whether we actually needed that much technology in our piece and if we could achieve our goals with less.

Setting up our interactive table on the corridor of LCC. Photo credit: Mila Tawil

Testing the table in the canteen of LCC. Photo credit: Mila Tawil

Capturing footage for our promotional video in an exhibition space at LCC.

We decided to test the prototype in the open spaces at LCC, but we didn’t receive any attention despite activating the trigger. However, observing how the desk worked in its intended environment provided us with valuable insights. For example, we realized that the trigger that makes a sound to grab people’s attention should continue until someone interacts with the desk, rather than requiring us to reset it every time.

I would give it mainly to two things:

first, the fact that the installations are seen more as static and a thing to be observed than interacted
second, during that time at LCC, there were many other exhibitions happening so our desk could not stand out as intended
Third, we were testing with students, not our target audience who were in a completely different headspace and were rushing for classes

This made me reflect on the importance of place scouting and knowing our target audience.

Final Outcome

Video

Desk

Interactions with our office desk installation about neurodiversity in the workplace. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh.

Interactions with the book prop on our office desk installation. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh.

Detail of the book prop in the context of our interactive office desk installation. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh.

Interactions with our office desk installation – stamping the report. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh.

Detail of our interactive office desk installation about neurodiversity in the workplace. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh.

Detail: campaign business cards. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh.

Interactions with the calendar prop on our office desk installation. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh.

Tea cups prop close up. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh.

Detail of teacup about neurodiversity in the workplace. Photo credit: Sushil Suaresh.

Website

Visit the campaign website

Reflection

In the amount of time, we had we pulled great turnover answering criteria of the brief quite successfully.

Stories we were communicating over each channel and transitioning between them could have benefited from more frequent testing with people, making the whole campaign more cohesive and finished.

We had the artefacts, the stories and the idea, but to me, our project lacked the exponential scalability which could come from some promotional strategy and more social media materials.

Feedback

“Concept – very strong, design – not there yet“
Dr. John Fass – Senior Lecturer at MA User Experience Design course at London College of Communication, UAL

We struck the perfect balance by avoiding the pitfalls of pity or patronizing language towards neurodivergent individuals while keeping the topic of neurodiversity open and positive in tone.

Read the full case study for the project!