Assignment 3 - Interact
Working through an abstract lens, students will create a simple interaction in Processing that seeks to inform the user of how can play a role in bringing change to their chosen statistic. The duo can choose to develop either of their statistics for Assignment 3, but cannot choose a completely new statistic. Students can use any input device as interfaces. This may include keyboard, mouse, sound, video, or other custom sensors.
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Assignment 3 will end with a group presentation on the last studio session for the semester. The presentation will showcase the duo's journey and the iterative process they have undertaken to deliver the project, including a live demonstration of their interactive processing sketch.
Final
This is Yasmin and I final design interaction named Don't Let Them Die. Don't Let Them Die is an interactive program that portrays and helps educate the users about our chosen statistic, how 1 in 3 people do not have access to safe drinking water.
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The interaction shows three pipes running underground with water running inside. The third pipe (bottom one) bursts underground and the water gets affected and contaminates, turning the clear blue water into the green mess as shown. It is your job as the user to cover up the hole. If you press one key, the hole slightly closes but still affecting the water that is running. When the user presses multiple, the hole then closes fully, saving the water and making it clean again.
What we are trying to teach with this interaction is that you cannot make a change to the statistic by yourself. It is symbolized with the one key pressed. You affect it only a little but you will not change the water from going bad. It takes the combined efforts of everyone coming together to make a change, by pressing the multiple keys, you show this.
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Ideation
This was the start of our process. Yasmin and I ideated ideas that would help emphasize the chosen statistic, how 1 in 3 people do not have access to safe drinking water.
Keeping in mind that the assignment called for an interaction that showed our targeted users what they can do to help bring change, we wanted to emphasize the idea of doing work.
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In some of our sketches, it made the user pick up dirty water and scoop it out to make it clean. Making users do something instead of watching a computer do it. Most of our sketched interactions were based around this idea, of making the user DO something.
Development
We put together elements we liked in our ideation phase and refined and developed them in this stage. We wanted to tell a new story, one that forces users to understand the effects of water wastage affecting undeveloped countries and working together as a collective to resolve these water issues.
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We wanted to leave a lasting impression on users by making them "lose". Our interactions had to have a must fail aspect, as in users were never going to "win" the interaction, but learn from their loss from the game what we wanted to convey. At the end of their loss, our statistic will grace the users informing them of our statistic and what they can do.
Researching on my statistic, I learned that we can not do anything by ourselves. It takes a large group effort to make a big change in getting water out to those in need.
These must fail situations were for users to understand that they can not resolve this problem by themselves, but as a group. Donating to charities that reach out to undeveloped countries who do not have access to safe drinking water.
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I really liked idea 3 (Block-It). It was an interaction where the user has to cover up the broken holes that broke on the wall before the screen filled up with water. Our statistic would show up when the users fail and they would ponder on what we had just put them through.
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Final Concept
I took idea 3 into further development, looking into different ways of bringing in our statistic more literal. Our final idea came out of this development process. Using three pipes that run underground, like real water pipes that send water out to those who need it. The third pipe will burst and the water running through will contaminate and go bad killing those receiving this bad water. This shows our statistic, 1 in 3 people do not have access to clean safe drinking water, more clearer to the user.
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I sketched other variations of it but in the end, we chose to go with our three underground pipes.
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Photoshop/Illustrator
I took in my final into photoshop ​and played around with how the aesthetic would look.
I also did how the cracked pipe would look like.​
I also brought in color. Using different shades of blue to add depth. I used green to show the dirty water because of the burst pipe.
