BRIEF
Create an an engaging and interactive experience with digital, spatial and playful components. Our identified problem area was the pre-concert experience, discovered to be a period of endurance and boredom, as opposed to excitement and anticipation.
DURATION
13 Weeks (Feb - Jun)
TEAM
Myself + 2 Team Members
METHODS + TOOLS
problem
THE PRE-CONCERT EXPERIENCE
Phones, games or talking with friends are often merely coping mechanisms - they don't spark anticipation or are memorable.
Spaces outside venues often lack recreation or activities to hype up crowds.
Crowded waiting spaces exacerbates social awkwardness and fears of rejection.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Contextual Observations
In-situ at a concert venue
Contextual Inquires
With 7 concert-goers
Space Mapping
Of a concert venue
Interviews
With 6 participants
Survey
42 responses
SURVEY RESULTS
ANALYSIS + SYNTHESIS
Here's how we analysed our data:
350 fragments from all methods to generate…
60 codes that were…
affinity diagramed, forming 12 themes!
Grouping our generated themes based on interconnectedness and relevance generated five key insights:
1
Concert-goers will endure discomfort during the pre-concert experience and need assistance maintaining anticipation and excitement.
2
Discomfort arises from the physical spaces outside concert venues as they are inadequately designed for relaxation or recreation.
3
Enabling concert-goers to create keepsakes strengthens their personal bond with the artist by sharing and preserving live concert memories.
4
Inhibiting fears of rejection and vulnerability, and promoting social aspects of the concert experience can lead to meaningful connections.
5
Shared empathy (emotional reciprocity) should be extended toward all aspects of the concert experience.
Extrapolating our insights to accomodate for various needs + archetypes in our design solution.
She's an "Enthusiast" who thrives on connections with music and other enthusiast fans.
REFINED PROBLEM
ideate
GENERATING IDEAS
After brainstorming, we landed on three top concepts:
CONCEPT SUMMARY
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
1
Forcing users to download an extra app can be a hindrance. Particularly when they won't use it as often!
2
It lacks a strong user incentive, as initiating conversations with strangers can be daunting.
3
Floor tiles aren't as compelling as we thought - how else could we integrate elements from the environment?
It combines digital, spatial and playful elements to create a fun and social experience. Together, concert-goers co-create a soundscape that connects artist with fan through music.
Here's how our iterated concept addressed the identified both issues and our generated insights:
Requirement of downloadable app to participate.
Use of keepsake wristbands to participate. Simplifies steps!
Insight 3
Social aspects lack a strong user incentive.
Encouragement of collaboration to create a soundscape.
Insight 4 + 5
Better integration of elements from the environment.
Use of digital screens and interact-able barricades present at venues.
Insight 2
All of these revisions also helped to address Insight 1, as strengthening connections between fans and the artist through music helps to maintain anticipation and excitement.
OUR PROCESS
LOW-FIDELITY TO MID-FIDELITY (PHYSICAL)
Our main focus at this stage was developing each component of Barricade DJ with consideration of how they would work in tandem with each other.
The poles are interact-able with touch, generating a sound from an instrumental layer of a song. During play, each player is assigned their own pole/layer.
Created using PVC pipes wrapped with coloured cellophane.
Sketches of the keepsake light band with buttons, inspired by the ones from the Taylor Swift and Coldplay concerts. These are used to interact with the digital screens.
Created using slap-on wristbands and cardboard. We opted for a 2 button design for simplicity and to increase the chance of an outcome where majority rules in song voting.
Onboarding UI with visuals
Learnability and retention during play sessions
Progress bar
Affords more time for players to discuss votes
Circuitry and Makey Makey hardware + software enabled us to produce snippets of sound assigned to each pole.
USER TESTING
THINK-ALOUD
Verbalise participant's thought process, expectations and uncertainties. Completed in groups of 2-5 partcipants.
SUS SURVEY
Quantifiable measure of ease of use and satisfaction.
POST-TEST INTERVIEW
Learn about user's difficulties and understanding of Barricade DJ's use-context.
HIGH-FIDELITY
Although a working high-fidelity prototype was not a part of the project roadmap, here are some iterations we planned to make:
1
-> Provides a sense of progression and entertainment, subsequently building anticipation for the next turn to play.
-> Breaks in inactive zones give time for concert-goers to socialise.
2
-> Precedent research of exisiting rhythm games helped us to design a UI system with visual cues that acts as a timing guide as users play. Each icon represents an instrument that when glowing and pulsating, indicates when to touch the pole.
3
-> Rather than having exclusive sessions in each play zone, we would make all the digital interfaces across the venue display the same UI flow, at the same time. This would also help to prevent sound issues between play zones, as it would now be synced.
-> To seamlessly integrated into the environment, we proposed that outdoor digital billboards, kiosks and and mobile LED signs (like ones we observed at ACCOR Stadium) can display the UI.
BRANDING + DESIGN SYSTEM
We iterated on our previous UI design and opted for a retro aesthetic. We believed this was more suited to the vibrant coloured poles, and the key aspect of Barricade DJ's experience - music.
USE CONTEXT STORYBOARD
DEMO VIDEO
If Barricade DJ was a fully working product in the real world!
LIMITATIONS + LESSONS
REFERENCES
Thank you for taking the time to read through this case study!