UX Recess Week – Looking into the Final Project

Idea 1

In line with my final project for my Visual Communication 2 module, I began to research about user experience in art museums and galleries. This is something quite close to heart as I have grown up loving museum and gallery trips, but have always felt that many people did not get it as I did. My project deals with bridging the “knowledge gap” of the viewer and artist, without the use of the traditional write ups. 

For the project, I did surveys that tested the general art knowledge and ability to respond amongst my friends and their friends, mainly aged 18-25. The following part is excerpts from what I have written for the research part of my VC project.

Point 1 – There was a general and expected trend that people who thought about the works more did talk about them more often. (I had them rate how much they thought about the works and how much they talked about them.) In these instance, they were common enough, not much to be thought about until I notice a 3-5 point gap in between mind and mouth. While it is one’s own personal choice to speak out and share their ideas, doing so would be beneficial as any art conversation is always rewarding and promotes art in one way or another. In other instances, there were people who spoke more than they thought, of which I consider those who took more time verbalizing their thoughts, be it to describe more or struggling to find words. There were 6 such participants.

Point 2  For the final part of the survey, I had surveyees write down anything about 2 artworks I showed them, and took note of the time from when they see the image to when they stop writing. The aim was to see how and how much they would respond. We have several “profile types” based on the answers given and the amount of time taken by each participant. 

The most common type would be those who tried and would give “feeling words”. These are the ones who make up most the participants, and they make up most of the people who answered “Hard to understand” in response to write ups. They are also the ones who give feedback about write ups needing to be more concise and are asking for more simpler terms. Its nothing to do with “smartness”, to me, they just do not know art jargon.

In contrast to this, we have people who can churn out words that point out theme and even specific terms to identify era or influence (eg surrealism, performance art) and they are the ones who might be a bit more into the art scene and know more of the art terms used in museums and in the art industry.

Conclusion – My response to these findings is that we need to bridge the accessibility of art to everyone, those who speak in art terms and those who do not. The direction I am taking to solve the issue to engage everyone in sharing and learning together, through provide platforms where everyone can contribute and learn from.

Ideas for a screen-based experience
This is sort of an interactive projection of reviews on the different art exhibitions going on. Personally, one of the main feelings I get from large scale galleries or museum all the time is that their size and space may get me a little disorientated. I have a map and brochure but I will most definitely get lost, or be a little too overwhelmed with where to start. The idea here is that, people who have gone to perhaps Exhibit A will get a sense of what it is, what they like or don’t like, and they can submit it on a touch screen located at the exit of each section, and their short review will be projected onto the outside facing walls of the room/floor/partition that contains that exhibit. This will enable other visitors to see the review on the wall, and if they like, all they have to do is find a way to reach that wall. The aim is to share and give a direction/aim to the experience of museum going.

Idea 2

The idea of online dating nowadays is so common, boundaries have been reset and the idea of strangers are not what they used to be. But it seems that the idea of Singaporeans being in kind and friendly just isn’t becoming a thing. Inspired by the idea of “The Hole in Space” as well as the “Call a Swede” programme, I would like to recreate the experience of sharing and striking up conversation using the help of technology. However, we do this the old fashion way.

The set up can be done in an large screen around and about town. When people walk pass to linger and look at an ad or maybe a video playing prompts will appear and follow them, randomly connecting them to another person and asking them a question, pushing them to talk to another stranger in real life.

Idea 3