Field Research I Evaluation
Six communication categories
After watching, studying and evaluating our footages, we noticed that there were six categories of non-verbal communication. Some are done subconsciously, others not:
- Public communication between two or more people → huge reliance on hand gestures; hand signs are used to communicate; eye contact; subconsciously and consciously done; hand gestures often used to emphasise a point or to communicate with tourists and people with hearing problems
- Hidden communication between two or more people → subtle hand signs, huge amount of eye contact; consciously done; observed during a hidden exchange / agreement
- Communication with objects and between non-humans → hand and body hugely involved; consciously done; observed with information screens and dogs
- Communication with self → heavily demonstrated through body language; no direct communication with others or surroundings; subconsciously done; observed while waiting (body language clearly expresses what people are doing or thinking)
- Non-verbal, one-way communication caused by auditive information → facial expressions; subconsciously done; occurs when listening into a communication
- Non-verbal, one-way communication caused by visual information → stiff body language; signs of discomfort / annoyance at times; subconsciously done; observed after provocation (action causes reaction)
It was interesting to observe that just through hand gestures, we could tell at a construction site, who was in charge and at a market place, what exactly the merchant was talking about. At the same time, through body languages we knew what people were doing and thinking. On the other hand, while observing the communication with objects and non-humans, we realised that certain objects instantly invite us to interact with, while others don't - a dog causes instant reactions in people while an information screen standing in the middle of a hall doesn't. Here we asked ourselves the question, what exactly invites us to communicate with others?
Mentoring
After evaluating our footages, our team felt rather lost - we knew we had collected interesting data related to communication, however, we couldn't see any prospects in creating any concepts for our project. This is where Lalya Gaye, our guest lecture, gave us some really helpful tips: she advised us to take a step back and reassess the subject of communication.
What made us want to focus on communication? What projects do we want to do for our studies? Are there any content and knowledge about communication services that have already been researched? What interests us in terms of design?
Through her mentoring I've especially come to one conclusion:
→ Never be afraid of taking a step back. When feeling stuck, reassess the project and examine other steps that can be done instead of the one that has just been undertaken.