WEEK 12 GROUP BLOG 4 – sliu5064&ydon0821&qilu7601

Test Fair Duration: 2016.10.21  10:30 – 17:00

Test Fair Location: Patio outside The Hearth & The Hearth

We chose the patio outside Wilkinson to do the test fair because our target users are people who usually go to urban parks in their free time. There are benches and tables in the patio so we can As we mentioned before, our prototype has two part.

One part is a LED matrix that can show the messages that receive from Bluetooth. If users have any kinds of Bluetooth Spp application in their smart phones, they will be able to input words into the LED matrix. We made this LED matrix with four 8*8 dot LED matrix and upload a little jellyfish animation. We put

Another part is LED strips with ultrasonic sensors that will track users’ way. If the user goes closer, LED strip will get brighter. On the contrary, the LED will be fading when the user is going away.

 

 

We totally interviewed 12 people for the user experience.

Interview Recording Transcriptions

• Freda, 21.

“I would love talk to the people sit next to me on the bench. Maybe we could talk about weather? And the light strip would catch my eye with no doubt, and the blue tooth device is totally cool. I would sent a massage to her or him next to me. I will type let us have a coffee together! Maybe he will join me. I think it is a great idea! Yes, it is an effective to start a conversation.”

Suggestion: “Maybe I could draw some picture on it? It would be more fun.”

• SHUZHAN, 23.

“Yes, I will have a conversation with him or her, if they look cute. I like the topic about their backgrounds. But it is difficult to start talking. The blue tooth is good, it actually avoid the embarrassment. Cause you do not have to talk to people directly. If he does not want to reply, he could just ignore me, and I would not feel bad about it.”

Suggestion: “I think you can change a little bit about the layout of those devise. And it could be easier if I do not have to type myself, you design some words for me instead.”

• Janet, 24.

“If the man seems nice, I will have a chat with him. The first sentence may be the weather. Maybe the blue tooth equipment could help me to avoid some embarrassment, but not too much. I think it could improve interactions mostly between teenagers and young people. This kind of machine would attract them. But maybe the elders would think it is tricky to use something like smart phones.”

Suggestion: “I think this device could be placed all the table, and the table can pass massages, it will be cool.”

• Emma, 23.

“I do not think it is difficult to start a conversation with strangers, because I think, for example, if several people sitting on one bench, and everyone sent a words or sentence, you do not know which one from who, that would be interesting and easier to start a conversation. ”

Suggestion: “I think maybe you could improve the equipment that not just two people can talk to each other, but get more people to participant in it and name them individually.”

• Max, 19.

“I would talk to the strangers if he or she have nothing to do, the topic maybe is the weather. About the blue tooth device, if there is some instruction about it, I will know how to use it. And maybe I will sent how are you to that people to start my conversation. Sometimes I will feel embarrassed to talk to others, if I can type something to send massage to that person, it will make it easier to start with.”

• Muzi, 23.

“For me, I am not really want to have a chat with others, I am shy, and I do not want to talk to people. But if the people is really good looking, I will try to talk to him or her. Maybe I could talk the big event like parade or something lately to him. Of course this Bluetooth device would facilitate interactions between strangers, because people do not really talk, if there is a device which is funny and playful, I think it will raise people’s interests to talk.”

Suggestion: “People might be interest with this installation at first time, maybe next time they will lost interests.”

• Mark

“The led on the bench, I could write a massage on it, but others on the bench, they would think of the massage come for me? Or anyone else? I could attractive by the lights definitely, but sitting down because of it? I am not sure I will end up and sit down here. If there is a pretty girl sit next to me, I would probably feel more embarrassed to write down some than actually just ask her.”

Suggestion: “Sometimes you have to make the connection more strong. Maybe make the massage more targeted. Like maybe you could only see the massage if you sit here.”

• Kate, 26.

“If I really want to communicate with someone, I will pick hot topic like news or weather or just start with how are you? It is kind of difficult to start with because I do not know what they like or what they want to talk about. And it would make me feel more embarrassed if that guy does not reply me. It is more like show my intension to others that I am willing to talk to you.”

Suggestion: “I think the interface could be better, I do not quite understand what these data means. And no feedback when I press it, I want some feedback when I press it.”

• Lisa, 24.

“The Bluetooth equipment, it is a nice way to communicate with others, and it looks pretty easy to use, it has a lot of options you could choose, might be a little confusing.”

Suggestion: “I like the lights, but it is hard to see it if I sit down on the bench.”

• Joanna, 23.

“I think pets would be a great topic to pick up. Sometimes I do not know whether the topic is boring or not. I just want to talk to people who they share the common interests with me. I think this equipment could help improve interaction in some extend. Because maybe people do not want to talk, they rather type these words. The important thing id how to choose topic, it seems like hard to find a perfect topic to start with. ”

Suggestion: “I like games and I would like to play it on the screen, if someone want to join me, we can play it together in the park.”

• Rhys.

“You might feel uncomfortable to use your voice, so here is your chance to communicate (the Bluetooth device). If we both interactive with something, I might going to talk about that. When I use this device, if I write something on it, I do not know if it would work when someone see it.”

Suggestion: “How to draw peoples’ attention about it?”

• Claudia

“It is interesting, I mean, people like to send massages instead of talking on the phones nowadays. So it is going to work in the public. Friends would write jokes to each other on it, and strangers could chat with others on it. But maybe you should aware about some bad jokes or inappropriate words might appear on it.”

 

Advantages

-Be effective/easy to start a conversation.

-Avoid embarrassment.

-Attract teenagers and young people.

-Raise people’s interests to communicate.

 

Issues

-Add feature on drawing pictures.

-Elders difficultly use mobile phone.

-Increase the participants & Name each participants on the screen.

-Would like play games on the  screen and More participants play

it together.

 

Challenges

-Hard to keep long-term interests on this device.

-Light strip can attract people, but cannot let me

sit down.

-The encouragement of communication through this device is not stronger .

-Hard to make sure whether others can see the message I sent.

-Avoid bad jokes or    unappreciated words

showing on the screen.