Instruction Sets for Strangers

Group Name: Times Squared (X²)

Instruction Sets for Strangers is a project about understanding how strangers interact with a product when they are not given any cues of how to communicate.

This was a group project I did with Sweksha Sinha and Ziyuan Wang (Ryan). The objective was to create an installation outside our academic building and leave it for passers-by to interact. We were not supposed to give any reference of how to use it and had to observe their interaction from a distance.

After the in-class brainstorming on several keywords, we finalized that we wanted to work on the contrast between a crowded and an uncrowded environment. So, we chose Times Square as the location for our installation. We wanted to find answers for why people go to Times Square.

Our final installation had two different illustrations showing the view of Times Square:

• Uncrowded Times Square: Times Square at 5 pm
• Crowded Times Square: Times Square at night

The display had two possible interactions:

1. We had postcards of those illustrations for people to take away
2. We had stickers that they could put up on either side of the pictures to vote their preference

 

We found that the people preferred taking the postcard that was on the uncrowded side (with no person drawn). We see that as a preference for simplicity. Since the interaction was open-ended, it may be difficult to attribute it to the liking of people with an uncrowded Times Square.

On the other hand, people liked to fill up the blank faces on the crowded Times Square with the stickers that were kept there. So, the crowded side had more “votes.” But, that may not necessarily be due to the preference of the region but may be a trend of pasting on the faces followed by the crowd.

What we found interesting from this observation was that people interact with an open installation differently than what we would otherwise plan. This directly correlates with how we create products in the real world thinking that our customers would accept it, but they may not adopt it, or use it differently.

 

The first iteration – 43^rd and 7^th Times Square:

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The second iteration – 42^nd Street Subway Station:

 

Design Statement

Through this project, we wish to understand the vibe people associate with Times Square. We plan to achieve that by collecting their preferences of visiting crowded versus uncrowded Times Square.

 

Brainstorming

 

Affordance and qualities of Times Square:

1. Specific
   1. Flashy signboards
   2. Attractive advertisements
   3. Always turned on advertisements
   4. Dense crowd: rush
   5. Enclosed space architecture
   6. Collective crowd influence
2. General
   1. Walking space
   2. Crossing roads
   3. High rise buildings
   4. Fast moving crowd
   5. Activities: plays/ dances

 

Field Research

To observe the uncrowded version of Times Square, we went to see it at 5 am.

http://bit.ly/Times_Square_Timelapse

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Ideation Phase

Before we finalized the above plan, we had developed three concepts for the project:

1. User ranking system of a crowded an uncrowded Times Square
   1. Two boards depicting Times Square when it is crowded and when it isn’t
   2. Users choose the scene they like by pasting a sticker on the board
2. Photo booth and selfie station
   1. Two props of Times Square versions which people can use to take a picture
      1. First: a Vibrant version of Times Square
      2. Second: a Calm version of Times Square
   2. Postcard pickup
      1. Two types of postcards left for people to pick up
         1. First: Crowded Times Square illustration
         2. Second: Uncrowded Times Square illustration

After class discussions, we combined the first and third idea.

 

Illustrations

Illustrations of Times Square were designed by Ryan

Working on the selected idea

Affordances and Signifiers of the space and interaction:

• Visual
• Location and Spot
• Structure and Model

 

Assessment Criteria

As there were two types of interactions we had visualized for our installation, we had divided the assessment in two ways:

1. The side of the board with more number of stickers will show the preferred area
2. The type of postcard that is picked up more will predict what people prefer

 

Observations

As per the project requirement, since our installation did not have any textual cues of what to do, we received a mixed response on our setup. Although we thought that the affordances were very straightforward, people responded to them differently. For instance, instead of seeing the sticker pasting as a voting mechanism, people pasted the stickers on the blank faces on the crowded image. This became a trend and hence led to a different interaction, which we had not thought of.

 

Results and Conclusion

In our first iteration at Times Square, we had over 70 interactions including postcard pickups and sticker sticking. Seeing it on a completely binary way, there were more postcard pickups for the uncrowded Times Square (29 uncrowded vs. 19 crowded), but more stickers on the crowded side of Times Square (11 crowded vs. 3 uncrowded). Overall, uncrowded version had a preference.

However, it cannot be said in such straight terms because there were several factors in a project like this. For instance, the preference of a postcard may have been picked up for different reasons regarding its appeal and may have nothing to do with the choice of one version of Times Square over the other. The people may not have even guessed that the installation was drawing that connection because there was no text to guide the users what to do.

Our continued iteration was done on the 42^nd Street Subway station, where we did not experience any interaction. We think that was primarily because of the timing (about 1:30 am) and the crowd strength. Subway had a meager concentration of people at the time. So, although we were spread apart and trying to hide, people may have understood that we had placed it there and hence may not have interacted with it.

 

Final Presentation

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