Our societies relationship with technology is ever changing. Over the last few years computers have moved from the desktop into our environment, from the personal computer to interconnected communities in society, the virtual world is molding with reality, the ideas of ubiquitous computing have come to pass, and sensing technologies are on the rise. So what’s next? This report takes a brief look back at where we have come from, and looks at opportunities currently being explored and proposes how advertising could evolve into a shared experience of interaction with technology, diffused with this ever changing world. Interactive advertising as we know it today has mainly taken on the form of pop-up banner ads online. Few projects specific to advertising have been carried out away from the World Wide Web leading to a lack of research and user studies on the topic. Advertising is an area that could benefit from the design practices of HCI, CSCW and experience design. This report proposes the idea of an interactive window advertisement which is grounded in the design practices of experience design, by carrying out iterative user studies throughout, in order to develop an aesthetically pleasing interactive space in the public realm.
Today technology in the word around us has taken on a form first mentioned by Mark Weiser around 1995 [[i]]. Weiser proposed the idea of ubiquitous computing, where technology would be weaved into the world around us. His ideas included 'machines that fit the human environment, instead of forcing humans to enter theirs'. This has been almost fully realized in today’s world, and much can be learned from his papers. He defines the difference between information technology such as pagers, cell phones and the World Wide Web as being the way in which they engage our attention. He describes everything we see as taking on centre and periphery attention. He also talks of the concept of calm technology. The challenge with ubiquitous computing is to avoid an over-whelming presence of computers everywhere, and this is where calm technology plays a role. [[ii]] Calm technology engages both the centre and the periphery of our attention, informing without over burdening, an increased sense of located ness, crucial as we move into an era of ubiquitous computing.' An example is what he defines as the first information technology, 'literacy technology'. Where a representation of spoken language is constantly present, ready for use, but not over-whelming. It is in the periphery of our attention waiting to be read, which only comes to the centre of our attention while we are focusing on it. The aim of this project is to develop a calm technology in the field of interactive advertisements, which is always present in the periphery of the society, waiting to be interacted with, but which does not interfere with the environment.
Natural interaction is an alternative design practice proposed by Alessandro Valli [[iii]], which moves away from interaction with machines and GUI interfaces, from the language of the computer to the language of the user [[iv]], and from point-and-click type actions to the natural actions of the user. This project will empower human methods of communication including gestures, movements, and reactions so as to encourage spontaneous interaction. This project will do this in a number of ways
- Examine peoples movement in the space prior to installation
- Examine how people explore and discover the world around them, with specific attention to certain senses
- Carry out iterative prototyping so as to look at how people interact with the technology
The outcome of designing the installation around this natural interaction is to encourage participation with a technology that would have not been encountered prior. This will allow the piece to avoid having a learning curve and allow people to express themselves instantly without thinking about how to operate it. So the user can interact without instruction or learning.
With the rapid pace of change current in technology, it can become overwhelming. This project aims to hide the technology so as to take the focus off allowing the user to act spontaneously without great thought. This aim is interlinked with the previous two, as both are methods in which the focus will be taken away from the user questioning how it works, in order to immerse them into the aesthetics and message.
This project aims to spark curiosity in the user in two ways. Firstly, in order to attract the user to interact with the window, and secondly to question what they are seeing. In this section I will deal with the first and will discuss the second further down in the content section. Humans have always shown great interest in themselves. The social issues research centre has carried out studies into this interest we posses of looking into a mirror.[[v]] They reveal that humans have shown this interest in themselves for many years, and that concern with appearance is not just an aberration of Modern Western culture. They continue to discuss why this is so, however, this project is solely concerned with using this method of reflection in order to create interest, to utilize physical reflection in order to attract the passer by.
The project will aim to utilize aesthetically pleasing graphics in order to encourage interaction. Don Norman, who has contributed greatly to design literature, spoke of the much-discussed function vs. aesthics debate [[vi]]. Don talks about how there may not be a need for a conflict between them, and how the greater importance may depend on the scenario. He mentions how an attractive design is not necessarily the most efficient, but it can however improve interaction in terms of usability due to people being drawn to attractiveness. ‘Beauty and brains, pleasure and usability - they should go hand in hand’. Beauty is important for our lives, however, it is also noted by Norman that the human perceptual and attention systems are also tuned to notice discrepancies and problems, not that which is expected. So therefore aesthetics in this project will take a centre role alongside usability.
Design practice has gone through many changes throughout the last few years. We moved from human factors involving tasks lists and machine performance capacities, through to the field of HCI, with specific attention to usability, ease of use and user friendliness. Following this time Bannon is his paper ‘Human factors to Human actors’[[vii]] proposed the notions which lead to the development of the area of CSCW where design became about the settings in which the users were, as well as their motivations, underlying values and relationships. This new way of thinking about users is one that shall be employed in this project in order to truly design with the user in mind. The users setting, as well as their motivations and relationships with people and objects around them will all be considered by conducting user studies prior to development. With this in mind, the project aims to design experiences not just interactions for the user. Bill Buxton states that ‘we are deluding ourselves if we think that the products that we design are the ‘things’ that we sell, rather than the individual, social and cultural experience that they engender, and the value and impact they have.’[[viii]] This echoes thee views in the much researched emerging discipline of experience design. From a commercial marketing point of view this will involve engagement with the brand and the emotions and memories this creates, highlighting its importance in advertising.
[iv] Donald A.Norman, The Design of Everyday things, DoubleDay, 1990
[vi] Donald A.Norman, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Basic Books, 2004
[viii] Bill Buxton, Sketching User Experiences, Morgan Kaufmann, 2007
