Brief
Design a way for residents to imagine Southwark in 2030.
Team-mates
Jumleena Bhagawati, Devin Wang, Weiting Chi, ChiaLin Ma (Jolin)
Date
17/02/23 - 23/02/23 (Week 2)
Welcome to week 2 of Macro UX.
Recap: Previously we mainly focus on research. We gathered our inspirations went on the streets of Elephant and Castle to gather insights on what kind of events people would be drawn to. We conducted secondary research as well.
Based on our inspiration board and insights from our research for this week we decided to come up with a concept and perform a few user test to gather even more insights on how people interacted with our design.
- Conversation at Tate, Southwark 2030 -
The group working on Southwark 2030 went for the Tate conversation where we joined the people to discuss how to help the community thrive in 7 years. We discussed on many topics which included: transportation, homelessness, community housing etc.
Takeaways:
The crowd lacked younger participants ranging from approximately 20-35 year old.
People rarely interacted with the playdough and paper to visualize what they imagined.
The discussion was engaging however as people were sitting in groups a few participants were more expressive than others.
- Development-
Based on our inspiration we secided to develop a design concept which will require the use of flexible modelling tools such as playdough, paint etc.
Body storming:
To begin with we started with bodystorming with the different materials at hand and envisioned being a part of our workshop on imagining Southwark in 2030.Bodystorming is a way of subjecting a researcher's own body to physically experience a situation in order to ideate. A combination of role-play and simulation, bodystorming takes place in a physical environment, instilling a feeling of empathy for the users.
However, the playdough was limiting in translating our imagination into an accurate representation. Even though it did not have to be accurate, it was quite frustrating to explain what it exactly meant when it came to the discussion part. Thus we started experimenting with other different materials such as : having an object/person in front of you and having io reimagine it/them in 7 years by drawing over them through a clear frame.
This method was more fun and creative compared to the playdough. However once the frame was removed from the focus of the object, the illustration was harder to explain. After much deliberation we deided to combine images and the frames to allow people to have a better refernece on what changes they want to show.
Concept:
We decided to use a concept called backcasting, which is a planning method that starts with defining a desirable future and then works backwards to identify policies and programs that will connect that specified future to the present. The fundamentals of the method were outlined by John B. Robinson from the University of Waterloo in 1990.
Construction:
We printed out 5 photos,where 4 were photos of different parts of Southwark, and the last was a picture of an empty closet. We wanted people to draw over the pictures reimagining what it would look like in 27 years, i.e 2050.
We framed the pictures with some transpatent plastic casing so that it would be easier to draw over and erase if necessary. Then we invited people to participate in this process so that we can gather some insights to create the final concept.
- Testing and Analysis-
Testing
We asked the participants to reimagine what the area/object in the picture will look like in 2050, 27 years from now, and sketch over the frames. Then we asked them to reimagine the same area/object, in 2030 i.e 7 years from now, and tell us what will be different about it.
Image 1:
Response:
Image 2:
Response:
Image 3:
Response:
Image 4:
Response:
Image 5:
Response:
Analysis
We analyzed the responses and our findings were as follows
Out of the 5 images, the people engaged with the image of the empty closet the most. It was easier to imagine themselves in the future rather than their surroundings.
When given an image of random streets and areas people were mostly confused about how to proceed with it at first. It was not so with the closet image.
With the streets and areas, people imagined 2050 to be more out of a science fiction movie. When asked about 2030, it was hard to come back from that level of a vivid imagination to having to add realistic elements that they think will be achievable in a shorter term. It was not so with the closet image.
The images were a good way to kickstart the process of letting people imagine and visualize their imagination however not everyone was confident about sketching and talking about their sketch.
Conclusion
Backcasting focuses on how desirable futures can be attained and involves working backward from the desirable future to the present to determine the feasibility of the idea or project. However, on this account, some of the participants envisioned 2050 as extremely futuristic thus they were confused about how to backcast from that point.
We needed the participants to imagine the future without approaching sci-fi territory and without us giving them guidelines on how to think. We also needed to design the experience in a way that feels more personal, like changing the prompts to make it more relatable to their lives. Only that way we can get engagement and valuable insights into people's imagination.
- Presentation -
The presentation was a quick gathering of the whole Southwark group where we exchanged ideas and discussed our progress throughout the week. During the presentation we presented our results and gave a report on our analysis. We deliberated our conclusion from the test and decided to implement the finding while designing the main concept by next week.
- Evaluation & Feedback -
The feedback session was more of a discussion on our progress throughout our week.
Feedback was given on how we could create a workshop out of this whole experience.
We were asked to research on how to successfully conduct workshops.
We were asked to also explore other methods than back-casting while designing the final concept.
- What's next -
Developing a concept that encompassed our findings and presenting it in front of the project partners for the mid week review.
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