User Test

Today we finally put most of the installation together. We still need to glue together the D with the maze and the last E with the gears. But the installation already looks very good.

(preparation for the user test)

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The test went well. We tested the letters, we have so far, with some fellow students and teachers.

The feedback we received was positive. Of course, the installation is not finished yet, but we were glad that even though the design is not finished yet, the installation is well appreciated.

Everyone who played with the installation said that they can wait to see the final result.

The only comment that was not positive, was that the idea of the letter H being a photo collage is boring. This is the only letter that has no interaction on it, and the fact that the other 7 letters have interaction (either digital or physical), makes the H, indeed, to stand out from the other letters in a not that positive way. There were two comments/questions: 'But why is this letter, the one with no interaction?'

Well... there are a few reasons for that. At the beginning of the project, when we were still fine-tuning the concept, we were advised from most of the teacher to reduce the interaction of the letters and make maximum 4 interactive letters, instead of 8.

We decided to listen to the advice of the teachers and we decreased the complexity of the installation. The H was planned to have a rotation mechanism, that would allow people to rotate the letter and look at the pictures on all of its sides. Not long after we came up with this idea, we decided that it would be nearly impossible to finish the installation on time, and we decided to make the letter as a simple collage.

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The comments from the teachers were very positive, which made me feel more confident in the success of the installation. I am worried because we were about to have a go/no go moment, and it is important that the installation has positive reviews, not only for the grade but also for our self-confidence. We've been working on the installation for 2 months now, and it would have been very unpleasant if the people did not like it in the end.

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FEEDBACK

As I already mentioned the feedback that we received was mostly positive, which made us very happy.

The students who tested the installation did not say anything else, that - 'Great work, keep going, I can't wait to see the final result..'

The feedback from some of the teachers was the same as the feedback from the students. But there ware teachers who advised us to make some things as a precaution. For example, Kacper told us to make more roses for the N, in case the ones on the letter got destroyed.

Douwe said that we need to work on the design more, in order to make the installation more 'welcoming'. He said that there's nothing that would make him look at the installation at this point. In his opinion, the size does not matter and it is not attractive.

Luckily we have things that can serve as an attraction mode. The Evening E blinks when someone passes by it, and the first E shines even if there's no music played on the speaker. The microphone detects the noise from the street, and the letter will blink in the rhythm of the noise in the surrounding area.

We wanted to test the installation with Yvens, but we could not find him at school, so I guess we will wait until the demo on Monday, to see what he thinks about the progress we've made on the installation.

Remco was very happy with the thing we have made so far.

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Now we will keep working on the design and improving the interaction and hopefully we will get a GO from Boris and Yvens on Monday after the Demo.