Interaction Design

With our goal of creating empathy by raising awareness of social isolation for internationals we felt that simulating a similar experience for locals was the right direction to go in. So how could we create such an experience? Presenting in a foreign language We thought of building an experience prototype inside of our presentation. Keeping our intentions secret from our entire class, we hoped to achieve the maximum effect. Instead of presenting in English, we surprised our class with a presentation in South Korean. Dominik, Randy and I all learnt a phrase in South Korea for our introduction but then left it to Ju to take over and present in her native language. The Experience Prototype only lasted for one minute, but instantly had its effects on our audience. The feedback we received were mixed. Some did not at all enjoy the forceful effect our experience prototype had - they had not willingly decided to expose themselves to this foreign language and therefore felt frustrated...

Using Cultural Probes With our defined goal of creating empathy towards internationals by raising awareness of loneliness in a foreign surrounding, we returned to the public to investigate what loneliness, or to be more exact, social isolation, means to others. For this we decided to use a light version of Cultural Probes , a research method that we had just recently looked into during the methods module. We distributed cards throughout the ZHdK with a question on the front side, asking various people to answer by drawing or writing of their experiences and opinions. For the Cultural Probe we wanted to ask an open question that allowed our target people to answer as freely as possible, hoping that this will lead to a more diverse collection of results. Through the Cultural Probes we gather over 30 different impressions in a short amount of time. These results varied and gave a good insight to the understanding of social isolation. After evaluating all cards, we selected a h...

The future of design development lies in participation with the users . Designers shall no longer consider the user as a passive participant whose sole purpose it to be studied at. No longer shall a researcher serve as a translator between designers and users. This structure, originally known as classical design , only leads to a major loss of insights and information instead of achieving the best design results with all participants in mind. Today there's a move towards a participatory design process where users, researchers and designers alike are all on the same level which allows them to create the concept together as one. One of these participatory methods is called Co-Design. Co-Design: Participatory Design & Co-Creation Co-Design is made up from Participatory Design, Co-Creation and Open Design Process . While using this method, all participants are on equal grounds and are actively working on solving the problem as a unified team. This allows the creation ...

Bodystorming is an attempt to solve the occurring problem in a place where the phenomena (or parts of them) is directly observable . All participants are required to observe the scenario while actively acting out the  activities   that  are related to the phenomena. While acting out, imagine having objects that may cause complications or consider people with disabilities - what impact do these complications have on the observed phenomena?

A research method to gather information that is used for when the target group is unknown or unfamiliar . Cultural probes allows the establishment of a connection between designers and their target group. It is a more playful method, making it more fun for the involved groups. Target groups are asked to explore their environment by themselves and document their experiences. For the documentation visual recordings are often used as they allow the designers to understand and relate to the environment more easily. These tools may include diaries, maps, cameras, postcards, etc. Traditional questioning methods can also be included, however, these questions should be open and allow the targeted person to elaborate as much as possible. It is important to note that Cultural Probes are adaptable - each approach depends on the target group , wherefore for each target group a different approach is needed. This research method supports the usage of physical objects which can help target gro...

After evaluating and summarising our findings, our next step was to define a concrete goal. Based on our research we noticed that networks are erratic which leads to a short life span. We weren't interested in creating an "one-off" event or project that would be forgotten after a while. We preferred the notion of creating an experience, an impression that would help bringing internationals and locals together. Focusing on locals While researching on communication solutions for internationals and locals, we realised that there were a lot of repetitive or unsuccessful projects that were only focusing on the international students. These examples mainly invited internationals into being proactive and adaptable - only then would an integration into a society be possible. But what about the locals? Can they be moved into becoming motivated into meeting internationals? Dominik, Randy and I all became aware of Ju's situation only once she told us about her stor...