The brief
For this project, we were instructed to create a sign inside the DJCAD building that will encourage people to interact with it.
To begin with, me and my team explored the signage that was already present within the DJCAD building. We found consistent and informative signs with a red and white colour scheme – making them very easy to notice and clear to understand.
After researching the current signage, we then set out to explore different ways we could create an interaction with the public. Our first ‘test’ was to place a sign at an elevator saying ‘This lift is NOT broken’. The aim of this test was to see if people would avoid the elevator as they believe that it is not working properly.
After an hour or so of careful observation, we found that many people were actually choosing not to use the lift as they assumed the lift was not in use – even though the sign clearly states that it is. I felt that this test taught me that a controversial statement or sign could potentially create an interesting response/reaction.
Our second test was to create a sign that had little reasoning or purpose – but to instead make the public stop and think about what the sign is telling them to do. We decided to make a sign that politely says ‘help yourself’ pointing towards a bin. The idea was to see if anyone would stop and consider checking to see if there was anything inside.
The results that came back from this test were not so promising, as not one person stopped or looked inside the bin. This was not a surprise to me and my team – we did not expect many people to want to search inside a literal bin.
For our final test, we tried to find a way to create a sign that is positioned or placed in an unusual way. After brainstorming a few ideas, we decided to print off a QR code – linked to the DJCAD website – and attach it to a group member and see if anyone would either use the code or speak to the person wearing it.
The responses were very diverse, with some people sparking a conversation over the code, and others feeling completely awkward – resulting in them walking past him.
Now that we had seen through various forms of research, we sat down to decide which route we were going to continue down. We all agreed that the ‘living sign’ concept (someone wearing the sign) sparked the most reactions and was also the most original, so we began to develop the idea further.
To add purpose to the QR code being on a person, we opted to add a vocal aspect to the idea – allowing our group member to speak to the public under certain circumstances.
We also knew that we needed a place for the QR code to lead the user too, so we decided to create a instagram page with random facts about ‘everything DJCAD’.
Next, the team were allocated different roles for the progression of the project. The different jobs needed to be done were:
- The design of a sign encouraging people to press the button
- The creation of a physical button that looks presentable
- A collection of interesting facts about the DJCAD building
For the sign, we wanted something that stood out against the typical DJCAD signs, so we chose a blue scheme to contrast against the red ones. We also decided that it would be best to leave the sign as simple and easy to understand as possible – reducing the chance of people not wanting to read it.
After the sign was created, we created a fun and simple button that when pressed, would activate my group member to speak to the user.
In hindsight, our thoughts behind this project was to increase the amount of different interactions the public would have within this ‘sign’. From reading the sign, pressing the button, speaking to the person and then scanning the QR, I feel like this one idea generates a memorable and informative response/interaction.