Brief: To design a conversation between a human user and a machine.
Group: Tonicha, Pat, Sanjana, Tanvi
How is a conversation different from communication? This was one of the first questions which we tried unravelling. We explored the interesting conversations we have in a day. We chose to note down a list of conversations which interest us, individually. I was more intrigued by a more unconventional type of conversation. For example, the conversations with an imaginary friend, or conversations with god. This led us to think about the conversations you have with yourself. The conversation which happens with your mind. As this was a very abstract concept, and most of the conversations with oneself happens in one’s head, we found it particularly hard to relate these with the research methods assigned to us. These research methods were- AEIOU and storyboarding.
AEIOU
The first step was AEIOU. We decided to list down the environment where people have a conversation with themselves. This immediately made us think of spaces and situations like temples, bathrooms, imaginary friends, schizophrenic people, etc. We started realising that this was very abstract and we decided to start narrowing it down. We finally decided on focusing on reflective surfaces and observing how people have a conversation with themselves in that particular environment. Sometimes they use gestures, sometimes facial expressions do the job. We decided to do our AEIOU with reflective surfaces. These included not only mirrors, but also, water, puddles, windows, etc. We marked down the places which have these. For example, bedrooms, window shopping, washrooms, pub toilets, etc. We decided to each do the AEIOU in one place. So I went to a clothing store to observe how people behave when they look at themselves in the mirror.
These were some of my observations -
Children make funny faces at themselves in the mirror. How does age reflect the way you look at yourself?
The female trial room had many more mirrors than the mens. Is this a bias stemming from the belief that looking at yourself is a feminine thing? Also this made us question, why there were no gender neutral trial rooms? How do people, who do not conform to the binary gender, perceive themselves in such a biased experience?
Self validation is important for everyone. The way you see yourself and the way someone else sees you can be completely different.
Self reflection can also be a conflict within yourself. The way you want to be and the way you want to be perceived as, are sometimes distinct.
Our chart did not contain photos as it would have been very incorrect to take ones’ photo without their consent.
We marked out some design opportunities from these observations and came up with some ideas. We also struggled for a bit due to the fact that we did not have a ‘problem’ to solve. This was only an exploration of the conversation . This was a bit hard to understand at first.
Speed Dating
The next step was storyboarding. We marked out 5 rough ideas, and drew them out.
The ideas were
1. Based on how much time people look in the mirror while getting ready, we decided making a fun interactive mirror. This mirror could block out certain parts of the reflection and make it opaque.
2. The second was designing a conversation between two people about self reflection without the help of a mirror. It could be an installation in a public bathroom, where one would expect to see a mirror. As there is no reflective surface, one ends up talking to the person opposite them for validation.
3. As a way to not take one so seriously, we thought of creating a public installation which can change your reflection humorously. This stemmed from the idea of the way children perceive themselves.
4. A mirror which focuses on your day and converses with you about how your day has been, and encourages you to learn new words. At the end of the day, gives you a poem with the words you have said.
While generating all these ideas, we did not take into consideration how easily this could have been weaponised. We speed dated these ideas with people. They commented and gave us feedback about the idea of poetry as well as the public installation of not having a mirror at all. After analysing the speed dating, we realised that a mirror is not required for self reflection. We decided to make an installation with people’s voice.
We interviewed people with questions that would force them to think about themselves. We asked questions like, who are you? What defines you? These questions made them reflect on themselves as a person. We attached speakers to each corner of the room which played the recordings of the answer to each of these questions. We had a mirror at the end of the room. So after listening to the stories of the people, when you cross the room, you would be forced to think about who you actually are. This is making yourself have a conversation with yourself.
(Fass, 2019)
We divided our work. Tonicha made the speakers, Pat and I did the interviews and the sound. Unfortunately our fourth group member, Sanjana was sick for a week and could not participate, even though she did contribute a lot through her ideas.
Feedback and takeaways
The feedback designed this type was in form of a conversation. So the group was not directly giving us feedback, but instead talking between themselves. The conversations were incentivised by the prompt, ‘Are humans machines?’
Other feedback included questions arising about why we chose those specific interview questions. Another suggestion was exploring with more mirrors in the room and how that would create a different impact.
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