overview
Role: Product Designer/Sound Designer
Timeline: 8 weeks
Platform: Physical Product
Team: Caleb Rugg
Year: Spring 2019
Challenge: to promote the Aalto University game design department while retaining festival goers within a concessions area at Flow Fest.
Constraints: The product was required to be a screenless game durable enough to be played by 84,000 visitors and completely weatherproof.
research
EMPATHATIC UNDERSTANDING INTERVIEW
FIELD STUDY
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
DEMOGRAPHICS
key interview findings
To gain a better empathetic understanding of our users, I interviewed members of the target demographic to inquire about their past experiences at the festival, reasons for attending, and their hopes for this year. Four main findings emerged.
- Festival goers attend in groups
- People view Flow Fest as an affordable, local escape
- Socializing with friends and music are the main attractors
- Festival goers expect a trendy, inspiring, experience
USER PERSONAS
Since we had previously attended the festival, a contextual inquiry and field study were easily produced. From the demographic information provided by Flow Fest, user personas were created.
One interesting persona was that of a child between the ages of 8 and 14. On Sunday, Flow Fest is open to people of all ages.
process
With the research materials in hand, we began brainstorming our core design principles. These would aid us in fulfilling the goal of creating a captivating experience for festival goers while promoting the Aalto game design department. These were the design principles…
-
Contextually Brief: A brief, yet captivating, moment between larger festival experience.
-
Joint Experience: User interviews confirmed that the majority of festival goers attend with a group rather than alone. The product must promote the idea of joint experience.
-
Challenging Yet Accessible: Challenging enough to generate a sense of accomplishment/satisfaction for adults, yet accessible for children.
- Magical: In addition to being appropriate for a festival context, I believe creating a sense of "magic" prolongs interaction due to users simply questioning how a product aspect if achieved.
After establishing these principles, a workflow was established…
IDEATE
prototype
test
Results
With the research materials in hand, we began brainstorming our core design principles. These would aid us in fulfilling the goal of creating a captivating experience for festival goers while promoting the Aalto game design department. These were the design principles…
-
Contextually Brief: A brief, yet captivating, moment between larger festival experience.
-
Joint Experience: User interviews confirmed that the majority of festival goers attend with a group rather than alone. The product must promote the idea of joint experience.
-
Challenging Yet Accessible: Challenging enough to generate a sense of accomplishment/satisfaction for adults, yet accessible for children.
- Magical: In addition to being appropriate for a festival context, I believe creating a sense of "magic" prolongs interaction due to users simply questioning how a product aspect if achieved.
After establishing these principles, a workflow was established…
REsults
Before describing the results, and how each design principle was achieved, below is a video demonstrating the final version of Global Warning…
process
With the research materials in hand, we began brainstorming our core design principles. These would aid us in fulfilling the goal of creating a captivating experience for festival goers while promoting the Aalto game design department. These were the design principles…
-
Contextually Brief: A brief, yet captivating, moment between larger festival experience.
-
Joint Experience: User interviews confirmed that the majority of festival goers attend with a group rather than alone. The product must promote the idea of joint experience.
-
Challenging Yet Accessible: Challenging enough to generate a sense of accomplishment/satisfaction for adults, yet accessible for children.
- Magical: In addition to being appropriate for a festival context, I believe creating a sense of "magic" prolongs interaction due to users simply questioning how a product aspect if achieved.
After establishing these principles, a workflow was established…
Testimonials
kind words by clients
I am impressed with the professionalism and exectution of the project by this team. Highly efficient, easy to communicate with and definitely know their craft. Thanks for an incredible result.
Mark Riley
client
★★★★★ 5/5
I am impressed with the professionalism and exectution of the project by this team. Highly efficient, easy to communicate with and definitely know their craft. Thanks for an incredible result.
Willie Walters
client
★★★★★ 5/5