The Nature Disconnect – Initial Concept and Ideas

NATURE LOG CONCEPT

I had various initial concepts in mind for this project, the earliest of which features on my Digital Interaction Concept board. The idea was to have an app which would act as a sort of digital nature log for the user. The app would feature a camera setting which would allow users to scan a plant or animal in order to gain access to information about them and to enter them into their log.

This concept fitted the brief well but I wasn’t happy with the idea as a whole. I never really felt excited about it or enjoyed working on it which is what prompted me discard it when I started on the main part of the project in the final 4 weeks.

MENTAL CAMERA FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED CONCEPT

My second concept was based on helping the visually Impaired reconnect with nature through an interactive installation. I was very interested by this concept and I feel this was what got me so exited about it in the first place. I began looking into how a mental image is created and what would be the best way to create this experience for the visually impaired.

The idea was to create a room which would generate a mental image of an environment, only using the senses; sound, touch and smell. I came across an article on creating mental images and it mentioned building up the senses like building blocks is the best way to create an effective image. This simulation would create an experience of nature for the visually impaired and the non- visually impaired alike.

FINAL CONCEPT DESICION

However, after discussions with my tutor I decided this concept wasn’t going to work. I came to the conclusion that the visually impaired can still experience these types of things without the help of an installation and can most likely get a better experience by just going outside. After I licked the wounds of my crushing but seemingly obvious defeat, I started looking again at a more digital concept, and made the final decision that I was going to work on an app.

I still wanted to incorporate some of my research into the blind/ sensory photography into the concept. During my research I came across an interview with an expert on sensory photography, he mentioned that a lot of blind photographers hold their camera to either their head or chest in order to keep track of what direction their camera is pointing. It was this idea that inspired the basis for my chosen concept.

INITIAL CONCEPT BOARDS

21st April 201921st April 2019

The Nature Disconnect – Inspiration and Research

My original app concept was inspired by the idea behind ‘Pokémon Go. I thought the whole concept of exploring in order to gather information would work really effectively in a nature app, so I used the idea of the map displaying the locations of Pokémon and translated that into real live plants and animals.

BLIND PHOTOGRAPHY

I first became inspired by the idea of blind and sensory photography after watching a TED talk on the subject earlier in the year by Hani Al Moulia.

When researching visually impaired photographers, I came across the work of Bruce Hall. I was particularly interested in some of his photography in his book ‘Immersed’, which explores the experience of Autism. I also liked his photographs from his ‘Sight Unseen’ exhibit, which explored the idea of blind photography and light. Looking at his photography is what especially inspired me to try purse a concept that would mimic the same experience of blind photography.

INSTALLATION INSPIRATION

When researching for my installation concept I discovered an artist named Olafur Eliasson, he created an exhibition in 2018 called ‘Reality Projector’. This exhibition took advantage of lights and architecture to create a dynamic shadow play.

Another installation which I took inspiration from is ‘LINES’ by Anders Lind. ‘LINES’ is an interactive sound installation that encourages the audience to participate and create their own polyrhythmic patterns or polyphonic sequencing. This piece is what initially inspired the creation and experience for the blind concept, as I wanted to find a way of mentally visualising nature as Anders had done for visualising sound.

Part of my research was looking into building mental images. I came across an article online which spoke about the best way to a build mental image. The idea is to build up the senses one at a time like building blocks, this gives the mind time to create the image gradually, which leads to a better overall mental depiction.

UI INSPIRATION

In terms of inspiration when it came to app/digital concepts I found I was looking at apps like ‘Periscope’. I liked the idea of sharing live footage with a user’s followers and that the concept would fit perfectly into my app concept and would be the most effective at reconnecting users with nature.

I also took inspiration from apps like ‘Instagram’ and ‘Snapchat’ when it came to creating the concept UI for my app. I paid close attention to how these apps were laid out and tried to figure out how best to build my UI around the same principles.

I also researched into the old coding aesthetic as I felt that I could use the style effectively in my UI. For this I looked at a lot of 90s style examples of coding on computers. Similar to that which you would have seen in the likes of the ‘Matrix’ films.

4th February 2019

Rory Doyle – Photography Interview

Reflection

In this module we were asked to plan and carry out a contextual interview with one of our peers based around photography. The purpose of this was to experience a design research method which we can use in the future to gather data on clients and to improve our design. Due to this module I have gained valuable skills in video editing. However, throughout this process I found that it was harder than I had first anticipated. I often ran into trouble when it came to meeting my idea of how the interview would turn out. In reflection I realise that the problems I faced were down to human error not mechanical. For example, I felt that the questions that I had written for my interview didn’t quite trigger as thought-provoking answers as I would have hoped. Many of my questions led to merely one word or in fact very dull answers. To prevent this in the future I would test my interview questions on my peers before I use them in an interview. I would also try not to assume what the answers would be. I would sometimes find myself interrupting when my interviewee was thinking of an answer and I feel this may have affected their answers. However, I still managed to receive some good answers from my interviewee which enabled me to draw various insights into what he was saying.

Insights

The first insight I gathered was that the interviewee seemed to lack the self-confidence to post images of himself on social media. He admitted that he did use social media, but spent the majority of his time consuming content rather than creating his own. This is a common theme seen amongst my peers and seems to be becoming even more prevalent as social media’s influence continues to grow.

The Interviewee also commented that he spent too much time on social media. He admitted that this effected his relationships with those closest to him. Even though social media is such a good tool for connecting to others, the interviewee admitted that he never really experiences any meaningful or engaged conversations on social media, instead just sticking to informal chats.

He also made the statement that he would never take photos if his smartphone lacked a decent camera. I felt this in particular shows the influence our phones have on people our age and how convenient having a camera in our pocket at all times has become. People don’t take photos as a way of capturing memories, they do it just because they can. If it takes more effort to take photos, they wouldn’t taking any.

Another insight I made was that the interviewee’s use of photography and social seemed to have changed as he aged. As he has gotten older his use of social media has become more and more introverted, and his use of photography has become rarer and rarer. As the interviewee has matured his use of the platforms has matured as well and he now limits his postings as well as his photo taking. This can again be related to the idea of diminishing self confidence in a digital age.

My participant also seems to cherish photos of his loved ones and those close to him and feels these photos have more sentimental value to him than other photos he has taken, or is present in. This shows how photos can still hold real value to individuals even though photography has become easy and commonplace.

Personal Insight

As an avid social media user, I can relate to a lot of what my interview subject was saying. Personally, I prefer to consume content made by others on social media rather than post my own. When it comes to photography, I use it quite differently to that of my interviewee. While I never really use it socially, it is one of my hobbies. I enjoy taking photos of things I find interesting or odd, but I rarely upload these to social media. I do believe that even if my smartphone lacked a camera, I would still try to use photography regularly, perhaps even more so.

Much like my interviewee I feel that my use of social media as a platform has changed and matured as I’ve aged. When I was younger, I used to post quite frequently and now that I’m a bit older I rarely ever post to social media. This is also down to a lack in confidence. As social media becomes more prevalent it is easier to be faced with criticism online. This factor can affect the use of the platform for many people my age.

Why we use Contextual Interview?

The contextual Interview is an important part of contextual design. A contextual interview is an interview conducted within the context of use. Be it an environment that is related to the interview subject or comfortable for the interviewee, or questions that are specifically relevant to the participant. It is important for the interviewer to form a rapport with the interviewee in order to completely understand them and get as much information as they can. It’s likely that the interviewer will be able to extract better information if they gel with the participant personally.

Using information gathered from contextual interview allows the interviewer to better understand the data and draw insights from it in order to make better design decisions. Contextual interviews involve interviewing a participant when they are at their most comfortable. This may reveal more information and understanding that participants might not be aware of. This form of design research collects far more highly detailed information rather than the higher quantities of information gathered by other methods.

This method is also far more flexible than others and can be carried out in a variety of environments. Questions can also be adapted and changed as the conversation grows to allow for more personal and interesting dialogue.

While Contextual Interview is a very effective research technique it can be very time consuming and resource intensive for the interviewer. However, it is still a superior method of identifying the needs of a demographic. Traditionally contextual interviews are conducted on multiple participants to allow for the comparison of insights. In our case we were only conducting the interview on one participant so what we were doing wasn’t a true example of a contextual interview.

In reflection, I felt my interview was carried out in a contextual manner. The interview itself was carried out in a comfortable environment familiar to the participant – the University. Since I have been friends with the participant for a number of years it was easy to converse and make them feel comfortable. If I was to go back and change something it would be my failure to adapt some of my questions. I sometimes didn’t encourage the participant to expand on a topic once they had answered. As I have known him for years I felt as if I already knew this information. I neglected to think about how those watching the interview don’t share the same relationship with the participant as I do. I felt I missed out on valuable additional information which would have enabled me to develop more of an insight.