Micro UX: Glasshouse
Exploring, exploding, exploiting process, criticality and interaction in relation to user experience design.
Brief
Design a way to transform a public place into a feminist space.
Team-mates
Jumleena Bhagawati, Weiting Chi, Jennoir, Yanxu Chen, Kimberly Rodrigues, Xiyuan Han (Cyrus), Harry Solomons
Date
20/04/23 - 27/04/23
Title: Hagley Road Toll Gate Birmingham, 1800 by Charles Rudd Title: Corner of Ann Street and Congreve Street Birmingham, 1873. Alfred Dickens Perry
Welcome to week 2 of Micro UX: Right to the City. In this blog, I have presented our documentation of our analysis of our previous research on spaces, the process of developing our concept using different activities and discussing our ideas in our representation of the utilization of our feminist space.
- Roadmap -
- Research Analysis -
From our previous group activity where we explored places such as high streets, parks, public squares, and alleyways we noted our individual observations in a huge chart in other to analyze it further.
Analyzing the research
- Discussion & Debate -
We took the research analysis from last week and three broad topics emerged: safety/security, access/mobility, and representation. As a group, we were split on whether or not we had performed sufficient analysis on last week’s observations. We reformed the interview questions into a rough, initial sketch for three workshops we could conduct in the coming days
We agreed to meet on Tuesday morning to divide work for the upcoming week and refine our workshop plans, as well as converse with the rest of the group's future plans.
- Activity -
We noted the recurring themes that kept coming up from our previous activity::Safety, accessibility, and/or mobility and representation and started exploring more on the topics through some small activities.
Organizing the activities
Our group of 7 people was divided into 3 smaller groups to pursue further research and experimentation on those topics.
Safety and Security
Directed Story-telling:
Participants were asked to describe a journey from their memory, either to their favorite destination/ their regular journey home from work. They were provided with a map and they were asked to share their experiences, good & bad of their journey.
Public Interview 2: Accessibility
Workshop:
Participants were asked to re-design the public space in the model according to their will.Prompts for discussion included the following:
● Would you take a walk through your city just for leisure, without the need to shop or take public transportation? If so, where would you go and why?
● What is your vision of a public space? How do you think it should function, look and feel?
● What do you love most about your town? Is there a particular aspect, feature, or experience that makes it special for you?
● What is your favorite thing to see in your city and why? It could be a building, landmark, park, street, or anything else that catches your eye.
● How do you imagine the future of your city? What changes or improvements would you like to see happen?
The workshop was hosted in different parts of our college.
The results of the accessibility workshop:
Representation
Public Experiment:
First phase: We went around the elephant and castle park and at first asked people to define feminity in one word. We asked them to write it on a small sticky note and attach it to the board.
Second phase: We removed the word feminity from the board and asked people to pick a sticky note from the pile to describe themselves in one word.
- Workshop Analysis -
Safety Directed storytelling Analysis:
We highlighted the key points that kept recurring in our directed storytelling session.
Access and Mobility analysis:
Representation Analysis:
- Presentation -
In our presentation, we delved into the extensive research conducted on the topic and examined the findings from various angles. We aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject by highlighting the key points and discussing the implications of the results. Through this analysis, we were able to identify trends, correlations, and potential future directions for further investigation. By synthesizing the collective knowledge, our goal was to offer valuable insights and contribute to the ongoing conversation surrounding the study of spaces. The presentation served as a platform for sharing our findings, fostering dialogue, and inspiring further exploration of the subject matter.
- Evaluation & Feedback -
After seeing the analysis the class came up with the following insights to aid us with our concept and design further down the road:
1. It was suggested to identify specific groups of people who our concept would be targeted towards
2. Our analysis needs to be compiled for further research.
3. It was pointed out that we should head in a trial and error direction, come up with a few concepts, build it, and test it with people as fast as we can.
- Reflection -
After analyzing the feedback we realized that we need to further our research on this topic. For the upcoming week, we decided to fully focus on brainstorming on creating a few valuable concepts.
By actively engaging in conversations and sharing knowledge while creating our concept, we knew we could work towards creating a concept that dismantles the patriarchal structures that have historically limited the advancement of women and gender minorities.
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