Week 2: Added Value and Revised Installation Design
- The Letter Team
- May 14, 2019
- 4 min read
After receiving Herman and Margit's feedback, we had decided that we should revise our installation in order to create more added value. We were disappointed and a bit demotivated by the fact that our letter concept did not yet live up to the client's expectations, because it felt as if we were thrown back to the concepting phase of Week 1 again. On the other hand, getting such helpful feedback and also unpleasant criticism in such an early stage of a project is a chance to improve fast. We wanted to use this chance.
First Ideas for Added Value
At first, we were a bit lost regarding the added value. Dzhulia had suggested the other day that we could use sculptures representing the different topics of interest in Enschede. This idea was on the right track, but not met with enough enthusiasm by the whole team. We then thought about providing a QR code that would lead visitors to Enschede's attractions. This QR code could give people information about what is cool about Enschede: Shopping, food, nightlife etc. We all liked it but were not very enthusiastic about it either because somehow, the connection to the letters was missing. The QR codes could work without the letters, but we wanted to keep the letters for sure, since it had been the only concept that the entire team liked. We were a bit stuck.
Alphabet of Enschede
While thinking about how to connect the QR codes with the letters, we came up with the idea to not only assign a meaning to each letter, but also design each letter in the style of its meaning. To make the whole installation and the QR codes more cohesive, we decided that for each attraction, we were going to find a corresponding letter. And this is what we found:
E for events: With events, we mainly mean music festivals and other public events in the city. The design of this E will be the equaliser that reacts to the music played from the speaker in the letter next to it.
N for nature: Enschede has a lot of nice parks that provide the opportunity to relax and enjoy nature. Also, the nature around Enschede is perfect for riding a bicycle. The N will receive a branch wrapped around it (e.g. a fake ivy branch) and also have the speakers that we need to play music.
S for shopping: Enschede's shops make up one of the main reasons why people from the Netherlands and Germany alike visit the city. We want to drape a white, transparent textile around the S, representing the fabrics that clothes are made of, yet transparent enough to let light pass through, since the S is one of the letters on which visitors can design an LED pattern.
C for culture: This will mainly include art (museums) and Enschede's football club, FC Twente. We first thought about giving football a letter of its own, but since we have decided to mainly target tourists with our installation, we think that it will be less relevant for them. The C will be a whiteboard with a frame - visitors will be able to draw on this whiteboard and let their creativity loose, which is also related to art.
H for history: The H is a turning letter - it can rotate around itself and because it is also symmetrical, it will always look like its the right way round. On this letter, we will place a collage of historical photographs from Enschede.
E for evening: This letter represents Enschede's nightlife with its nice bars and beautiful locations for a night out. As a design, we chose a word written in neon (e.g. bar, club) or two glasses or a building - we still have to agree on that - and above it is a starry sky. The stars light up if you come closer to the letter (proximity sensors).
D for drinking: No, we don't want to encourage visitors to get stupid drunk. We just want to emphasise the nice beer that is brewed in this lovely city, aka the brand Grolsch. The D is design with LEDs that symbolise the fill level of the D if it was a glass. Once you "open" the draft, the LEDs fade row by row so that it looks like the drink pours out of the glass.
E for eating: On the E, we will have a gear wheel system that the user can steer with a handle. The gear wheels will be designed as food, e.g. pizzas.
For the LED and music interactions that do not depend on proximity, we will have a screen with a user interface for user input.
Our Conclusion
We are very pleased with what we were able to come up in such a short time! The project has already turned out to put a lot of pressure on the team, and we are happy that we have managed to tackle all challenges so far and improve the concept step-by-step on a daily basis. We all like the new design and the new connection to Enschede - we hope so does our product owner Boris.
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