First user-testing with 3 of my peers.

Part 2 of my user testing! This time with a proper set up.

Sensor visibility/invisibility.

One user noted how the interaction is not intuitive. The hole on the box demands too much attention that it becomes the focus more than the object, yet if it cannot be seen, people get confused on how to interact with the object.

Gesture/Movement.

Hand movements are sometimes too fast to be able to notice the amplitude change in the audio. One user hovered their hand in the same area for a long period of time because she didn’t notice the amplitude changes based on the distance of her hand.

Positive feedback

Comments generally states interest in the idea of creating plastic creatures, which will be the next step of the project. The use of sound as a means to communicate about plastic pollution was met with positive responses as well, with most stating it is a unique way of comunicating a saturated topic.

Criticisms and questions

Since this is just a low-fidelity prototype and is still quite far from how the actual artefact would look like, it was met with a lot of questions or uncertainties that generally falls in this gap. Critiques were multifaceted, with some commenting on the sound quality (too small or sounding similar), one commented how the form of the prototype could be more informative of its purpose for deterence (she suggested to make them shaped like well-known poisonous specimens such as mushrooms), while another suggested exploring deeper into the materiality of the prototype in order to have a stronger connection to the topic of plastic pollution.

Currently, the low-fidelity prototype performs its intended function but is still lacking in its form. Therefore I will deepen my material studies on plastic and its texure, form and sound. I will be exploring 2 approaches for the construction of the artefact; first by fusing plastic as shown previously in the document, or by creating customized plastic inflatables using vinyl sheets. For the technnology, I will be exploring various output methods alongside audio. For example, through the use of light, smell, and movement as possible outputs of the artifact.