BODY STORMING SESSION

A group project by Jessie and I

Audio we played to simulate a narrative:

Feedback:

What did you learn from the process?

During the body storming session, we realised:

  1.  Timing and directions are of the essence when it comes to interaction. 

We realised that the interactive experience we need to provide the audience with has to be in correct timing proportions in relation to their reactions. This would provide a more immersive and extensive experience that would provide a better visual and audio association. Basically, it would make more sense if the audio ties in timely with their actions during the experience.

2. It’s all in the details! 

What we found was that the smallest details such as placement of lights that are introduced to our visuals and associative sounds that are universally recognised makes a huge difference in the user experience. It would allow the user to either connect or disconnect with the piece.

3. Connection with users

The user and an observer did mention that our piece did not make them feel things the way we intended to. There was barely any emotional impact. The reason being that they did not feel any emotional connection with the people in the photo since they do not know them.

Therefore, perhaps the suggestions that they introduced could help in improving this experience to allow for a better connection that would resonate with the mass audience.

  • Have the audio of kids playing and laughing in the background throughout as ambience sound
  • Add a visual effect of blood for everyone else but the grandfather (the last person standing)
  • Instead of the image of the grandfather, use a mirror to communicate that the if last person standing was you, how would you feel?
  • Establishing the context of the piece. [Is the participant the sole survivor or is the participant the people who passed on or are they just a third person?
  • Include the audio of the people who died to amplify the feeling of lost, capturing the essence of the person to create a narrative [eg. the recording of kids] –user will form a connection with the kid that would impact them more as they sympathise as they went along
  • Include recording of the grandfather (last man standing) of how he’s lost them or him crying.
  • Include the recording of the kids talking to the grandfather, having the user make the association that they are viewing it from the grandfather’s standpoint and that they’re not replying
  • Include recording of the kids talking to the grandfather but not have him reply [perhaps he doesn’t hear them?]
What surprised you while going through the process?
  • The fact that we did not consider the emotional connection the audience would not have since the photo was with people they were unfamiliar with
  • The unwillingness of some participants to repeat the steps to experience the piece
  • The critical importance of creating ambience to aid our user experience
  • The crucial importance on minute details
How can your apply what you have discovered to the designing of your installation?

We would definitely take into consideration all that we gathered through the following steps:

  • Be sure to add carefully curated ambience sound to allow users to connect with the piece and be emotionally invested
  • Be mindful of the narrative of the piece and consider the point of view of the participant
  • Creating an experience that involve the senses of a typical user that creates association and therefore allow for them to paint a visual in their head of our narrative or an interpretation of our narrative [eg. Have the kids call to the grandfather (user), add sense of smell through baby powder and axe oil]
  • Be critical in our decisions to create an immersive experience that would tug on heartstrings of our users. It has to be a somewhat universally accepted association that the user make to the piece to allow for an emotional connection to be established.