From AlmostPerfect

Contents 1 Magic moments 1.1 Walking through a Sea of Voices 1.2 Physical and Virtual collisions 1.3 Synaesthetic confusion 1.4 Looking at the world with new eyes 1.5 Freedom of movement 1.6 Social Bonding 2 Experience design process 2.1 Context 2.2 Content 2.3 Interaction 2.4 User 3 Design Heuristics 4 Divide and conquer

Magic moments

• Moments which are deemed to be both moving and memorable
• The distinctive characteristic of mediascapes is their relationship to the physical world. The process of walking through a physical space while interacting with digital media can take you into a parallel world.

Walking through a Sea of Voices

• “this one there was no pointing, no button pressing it was all around you”

Physical and Virtual collisions

• “… I felt I was in another world”

Synaesthetic confusion

• “I stood in a cannon which was really loud and scared me”

Looking at the world with new eyes

• “… next time I look out the building I am not going to look out in the same way”

Freedom of movement

• “… there are always arrows, even if you go to IKEA they route you round”

Social Bonding

• “… no-one else was aware that we were hearing the same thing”

Experience design process

• Write a short descriptive brief
• Create a proof of concept prototype quickly
• Test and refine

• Continuously iterate - develop -> test -> refine

• Emulation on the PC is not sufficient, it is really important to try things out in the environment.

Context

• Walk the space – record notes
• Decide the boundaries

Content

• Interview people in situ
• Note themes and story lines

Interaction

• Decide controls
• Use of physical or on screen buttons

User

• Understand who this experience is aimed at

= Context observation guidelines =

• What kind of things happen frequently?

** Animals, plants, weather!

• Who else uses this space?

** Actions, clothes, groups, paths, flow

• What distinctive landmarks or interesting features are there?

** eg. Bridges, statues, benches

• Take photographs, video or notes.

Design Heuristics

• Design mediascapes so that a screen is not necessary
• Describe the field of vision – what you can see and then expand out (Sean Horton Antenna Theater)
• Don’t use relative orientation terms like left and right
• Design appropriate overview maps
• Create a non essential prologue
• Use physical markers to provide orientation information
• Have a training zone – introduction to the mediascape
• Have a wait for a fix sequence
• Make the interaction design consistent
• Create a clear connection between where you are and what you see – simple but effective
• Use simple stops with optional more theatrical pieces
• Interview people in situ
• A background loop can help retain the context
• Hands free walking is popular
• Design for co-incidences
• Design for flows in and out of immersion
• Mimic sounds in the real world to create synaesthetic confusion
• Authenticity is a powerful emotive mechanism
• Use the obvious navigational structures in the environment
• Facilitate private moments in public shared space
• Sashes or an equivalent are good

Divide and conquer

• Design the overall flow
• Break out the different story lines or themes
• Design each one using a common template
• Structure and scripts
• Eg. Characters, Interaction steps, Locations, Images
• Implement them as separate “layers”
• Record scratch versions for testing
• Test and refine until happy with structure and scripts
• Produce the final media assets (replace the scratch files in the mediascape)