The readings gave me a very open-ended understanding of this project, but I kind of like that aspect of it. Out of the specific things I found inspiring, I thought that I was interesting how cultural probes applied methods of data collection one would find in the scientific process. However, this analytical technique is applied to expressive data, which in it’s nature is very subjective and hard to quantify with language and mathematics. The result became something quite interesting, a study of the intangible aspects of subcultures that conveyed a perspective through overwhelming detail.
In a narrative sense, I think this project uncovered some very useful tools for building convincing story worlds and play spaces. All of this data, whether fact or fiction, makes a narrative space seem larger and more complex than it really is. This could be used to make constructed systems feel more realistic, or seamless in everyday life.
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, presents a very supported theory for the design of public spaces in cities that follows the logic of the people and how they use them. It made me notice the differences in local parks, the reasons people are there, how limited their interactions with the space are, and what the space actually accomplishes.
I think that these are all very important questions in UX design, and it was interesting to see these considerations applied to tangible locations. It also made me consider how we can design meaningful “communication” between users and space. In this context I still can’t agree on what would or should be meaningful, but it made me think.
Comments