One of my biggest challenges in building the prototype for this past Friday was fastening the glasses to the display. It was extremely critical to make sure the glasses were well-attached to the board because I saw that as the best way of minimizing danger potential for my exhibit. I deliberated for a long time as to how to do accomplish this because I wanted the method of fastening to not take away from the "glass-ness" of the glasses--by that I mean I didn't want it to keep them from looking like everyday kitchen objects, so the fasteners had to be non-obtrusive and couldn't obscure big parts of the glasses. I ended up opting for rubber washers upon Dan's suggestion (thanks Dan!) and wood screws, four sets per glass. Worked well! I ran into a conflict when we were setting up at the Exploratorium, however, as one of the glasses actually shattered as I was screwing in the one adjacent to it. Lesson: bring extra glasses.
I would say the other big challenge was making the turntable for the spinning glass. This mechanism ended up being much more complex than I had anticipated--it included a motor which plugged into a mysterious black box (adapter? transformer? I'm electronically clueless) and subsequently into the wall, as well as a wood block which served as casing and support for the motor, plus laser-cut Duron circles which fit onto the spinning tip of the motor and acted as the actual turntable. This was the final design in a series of many which I tried and failed with, primarily because I was trying to glue the small base of the motor to anything and everything to stabilize it when adhesives like hot glue and superglue just aren't that effective on plastic. When the motor wasn't stably attached to a base, it would wobble as it spun, subsequently causing the table to wobble much more. I finally figured out that if I drilled a hole into a block of wood, the upper lip of the motor with a slightly larger diameter would be able to keep the motor suspended, thus also preventing the wires from being crushed beneath it.
Unfortunately, I still didn't find that this turning mechanism made users have an easier time so I don't know if I will include it again in next week's iteration. More on that later.
At the Exploratorium:
Oh goodness. What an experience. I like to think as a PD kid that I know all about user testing, but I realize now that my experience user testing has been sheltered to say the least. I usually have the luxury of testing things with highly intelligent young adults, so I was very unprepared for the storm of rambunctious field trip kids that came in with the first time slot on Friday.
First and foremost, I realized that this prototype is just downright unsafe as is. I need to add some form of protective casing, period. I was terrified watching kids grab the glasses and try to move them around, so even if we're designing for a somewhat older and less energetic audience I know that I'll never feel comfortable with this exhibit on the floor unless I remove the impending danger of broken glass on little fingers.
The first group's interaction with my prototype were very unexpected to me. I realized that since I've been testing this on college students until now, I've come to expect the interactions of someone who ALREADY KNOWS that glasses can "sing." College students will persist until they succeed--kids with a thousand other competing stimuli will get bored almost immediately and move on. This was disappointing to me because I wanted them to have the satisfaction of a successful experience. Kids were much more excited by the pipette to add and remove water, which was hilarious to me because that element was added to the exhibit almost as an afterthought. Some kids spent several minutes moving water around between the glasses and entirely missed the point.
I soon realized that I needed to step in and somehow demonstrate the possibilities, because kids weren't understanding what the exhibit was for (and obviously not reading the label... should have seen that one coming). When I would occasionally make a glass "sing" myself, however, kids would definitely get excited. However, it didn't make the experience any easier for them. I was also disappointed to see that the motorized spinning glass didn't help. First of all, kids were almost always unable to figure out the right amount of pressure to apply without extensive coaching. Second of all, it seemed that none of them made the connection between the spinning glass and the stationary one--even if they did figure out they were supposed to place their finger on the rim of the spinning glass, that somehow didn't translate to rubbing the rims of stationary glasses in a circular motion.
All these developments were very disheartening. Luckily, the second session restored my hope. The difference between energy and dynamic was like night and day. In particular, I noticed that while exhibits that incorporated light and color, like Winnie's were extremely popular during the first rotation, but received less attention than other exhibits during the second. I was finally graced by users who actually read the label, and who often spent significant time trying out the different glasses and getting them to sing. Seeing users finally have successful experiences was a truly awesome feeling and, dare I say, even made the trauma of the morning worthwhile.
Changes:
After much deliberation, I have decided not to include a motorized glass in my next prototype. I think I could improve the functionality of the turntable if I wanted to (stronger motor, etc.) but I wasn't convinced after last week that it was any easier for users to have a successful experience that way than with a stationary glass--if anything, they would be put off because inability to succeed on the "easy version" means probable failure on more "difficult versions." I think it's better for all the glasses to be presented as the same "difficulty" so that users don't get put off if they fail with one or another.
I also know that I need casing for the glasses. I plan on making this out of clear acrylic. It will take the form of a box around the glasses in their current configuration. I will put the glasses on pieces of wood so that their rims all are the same height from the board, and laser cut into the lid of the box the shapes of the rims in their appropriate positions. That way, users can rub the rims but not touch the rest of the glass, preventing danger (also, if the glass does somehow break, it will fall into the box and not onto a user).
I would also like to add graphics that make it more obvious to the user how they're supposed to interact with the exhibit. This means an actual graphic showing a user and the glasses, but also I'd like to include arrows and minimal text on the top of the acrylic casing to indicate that the users should rub the rim with their fingers.
It's already been said, but it was an exhausting and rewarding day. Enjoyed spending it with you guys :)
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