First, here's a video! I had a lot of fun today engaging with the visitors since we were encouraged to talk to people instead of just observe today. Here's one kid from when I was on the floor in the morning (surprising, I actually had a lot of really good extended interactions like this one amid the noon-time craziness). ...Hope you don't mind the random small talk. :P
Mostly, I was struck by how different the interactions with my exhibit were today vs. the last time we were on the floor. Compared to most people in our class, I thought I had made pretty minimal changes--mainly in the shape of & signage on the periscopes--, so I was initially unenthusiastic about the exhibition today, not expecting anything too new. I was really surprised. People spent much more time looking through the periscopes, walking around, interacting with the people they were with, and observing their surroundings, rather than just shooting hoops like last time.
The biggest difference today was the clearly visible yellow and green "Grow" and "Shrink" signs on the periscopes themselves. Even people who walked by my exhibit but didn't stop often read the signs aloud to themselves ("hmm grow and shrink... interesting..."). I think this preemptive measure imposed expectations on visitors, and pushed them to deeper engagement: everyone wants to get the most out of an exhibit, so people tried harder to feel the full "grow" experience and the full "shrink" experience. ...There's definitely still many user-interface issues in need of ironing out, but it was really cool for me to see what a big difference some small vinyl stickers could make.
Just a few short thoughts because I have a final tomorrow... It's been a really amazing experience taking this class - it's so neat seeing how a simple idea or observation can be crafted to allow users to feel a sense of wonder and a desire to explore. Thank you so much to John, Sebastian, and all my classmates/ fellow exhibit-designers! :)
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