DSDN 112: Project One

Prototype Presentation

For this studio we had to bring in our prototypes for our first project. I developed my first model more into an actual interactive maze, based on the feedback from the previous time. I made it out of cardboard still, creating a 30cmx20cm size maze. The walls this time were a little shorter compared to my last, this way people could interact better with it regardless of their finger lenghts. I incorporated sandpaper into it again, using 3 different types that were all coloured black. The way my maze worked was that you weren't allowed to look at it, you had to use you finger and feel your way to the end. The only way to do that is to stay on the smoothest sandpaper, if you felt a different texture then you'd know you're going the wrong way. 

These were some of the feedback & suggestions that I have received:

-- Make the maze walls even shorter than they were, only since the flat part of your finger has more feeling in it than the tip of it. This way people won't be confused on the material textures.

-- Also another problem with the maze walls is that they were cut up in a way that each corner had extra bits sticking out of it. This gave way to a very confusing maze, as each time you touched it you were left wondering if it was the edge or it was the end.

-- Trying to switch to a different material altogether. People suggested that the sand paper that I had used was too recognisable. In a way I did agree with this because when people were testing it they got through the maze too fast, I needed to make it more of a challenge. I will continue to investigate further materials like wool and silk etc.

-- Related to the sand paper, someone said that it confused them every time the ran their fingers over it because of the way I had cut it. The same material was next to each other, but there was a gap between them where I had cut and stuck it down. This gave the user the idea that it was a completely different material. A good way to solve this was to get a big piece of sandpaper, and stencil out the whole maze so I didn't have to cut any of it.  

-- One great idea that someone suggested was to confuse people into doing loops around the maze. Opening up a part of the maze so people would start going into circles would give my maze a frustration factor, which is also what my tutor suggested. 

-- Another idea that someone mentioned, was instead of having so many walls, have and use grids instead. This simply means that it's an open maze but the only way to get to the end was to follow the right material, by moving from square to square or grid to grid.

-- One main thing that was also brought up was an indicator to where the start and where the finish was. People were confused when they were doing my maze, simply because they didn't know where and when they reached the finish. So people suggested that I added an award or something similar to indicate you when you reached the end. I was thinking something to do with sound, that or I could be mean and add a mini zapper to zap your finger.

-- The last thing that I asked my classmates, were if I should 'black-out' my maze, or just simply use a blindfold. People chose the blindfold instead, since it was more of a efficient way of taking out the 'SEE' sense.