Installation Video

03 June 2015

Today was the day that I was tasked with editing all of the footage we obtained earlier in the week.
After watching all the clips, I then set about finding the best parts from each video and compiling them into one video which we would present.

I used Sony Vegas Pro 13 to create our Mood Board Installation showcase video. It was definitely the most suitable option for me, as I did not require any over the top special effects and instead just basic video editing tools. It allowed me to crop, rotate, resize, and reposition the clips when needed. Which was perfect. The editing timeline, in Vegas, looked like this upon completion of the video.

As you can see in the image above, there is a combination of audio tracks and video tracks. Each track was utilized to its full extent in order to maximize any effects in the video.

When looking for background music, I wanted to pick something that I found uplifting, upbeat and just overall positive. This would best match the video as the people who took part in the social experiment all seemed to be enjoying themselves, and you can see many of them smiling or laughing in the actual video. The song used in the video is known as "You Know You Like It (DJ Snake Remix)" by AlunaGeorge. And is free to use in YouTube videos, though might appear on my video.

The full video can be viewed here:

Post-it Note Results

June 1, 2015

We have finally finished setting up our installation! The Mood Board was an overall success. We had so many people interact with the board whether it be through writing on a post-it and putting it up, or taking photos of it.

There was a final total of 32 post-it notes on the board. 10 were moods that were bad, 8 were moods that were "meh", and 14 were moods that were good. A lot of the bad moods were to do with exams and the frustration/stress/anxiety that people are experiencing during the weeks leading up to the mid-year exams. This is understandable because we're only about 2 weeks away from the exams starting.

I like how there are some post-it notes that have drawings on them too. It provides that little extra description of how they're currently feeling.

Here are the responses we had on the Mood Board installation:

Bad moods:

Meh moods:

Good moods:

Originally posted by Jairaldine Cruz

Unleash the Mood Board

01 June 2015

This is it. The day that we pull out the Mood Board for the public to share their smiles and frowns, and we really hope that the public would take the time to encourage others. I created this sign on Adobe Illustrator to attract attention by using bright, vibrant colours.

This is the shopping list for the day:

1. Post-It stick notes
2. Printing A3 Poster Sign
3. Lollies
4. T-Shirts

We met up outside the design studio at Advanced Engineering Building at 1330hrs and set up the Mood Board (whiteboard). Then brought the Mood Board out to UQ Main Refectory where we filmed and interacted with the public.

Surprisingly, it went really well! Within a short span of 20 minutes, the Mood Board received many Post-Its from the public. Although we were there to invite people to participate, many were already looking at it, wanting to participate. We rewarded every participant with lollies, you should have seen how happy they were to receive. 

After about 20 minutes of great success, a representative of UQ Union came down to tell us that we had to book the area if we wanted to set a booth up. Although nobody was using the area, the Union still wanted us out. 

We were satisfied with the result for the day and proceeded back to the Advanced Engineering Building for a quick debrief.  

Workshop Summary

29th May 2015

We had the second part of the workshop session where we firstly introduced to the participants our project and what we want to achieve from this workshop. After introduction, we did a warm up-activity, we asked some general information about our participants so we can get to know them better. Then we handed out some pens and Post-It notes. We gave the participants a few minutes to think of the best way to attract people in the public area and let them write down their thoughts on the post notes. We collected and grouped all the ideas that participants wrote on a big paper and place them in different sections. We asked them which were their top 3 ideas and why. Almost all the participants thought about bright colors, sounds and something that out of the contact would attract people easily in the public area. Those ideas are almost the same ideas that we discussed in our group workshop. The results illustrates that we have a general idea of how to interact with people in the public space. However, the problem is the application of these ideas into our installation and where is the best place to put the installation.
The workshop was a great experience, and I feel that it is a great way to find out what our target audience expects.

After that, we asked them to give us the wildest ideas that they can think of. We received some really interesting ideas such as dancing, singing in an office building, loud music with bright colors in the great court, people running around in bright colored clothes, a DJ in a library and fire breathing clown. The common idea is that there has to be a significant contrast from the environment.

In the end, we got some feedback from the participants we did workshop with, most of them thought that we are well presented and organized. However, there are still some areas in which we can improve in. One of it was that we should ask more directed questions such as “can you give me some examples of what you mean?" or "can you give us a solution of how to solve this issue?" instead of vague questions in order to get more detailed answers from participants. The most important feedback from conducting the workshop is that we have to focus more on how the workshop related to the final project. At last, participants thought that our group was not energetic enough during the workshop, that's probably due to other assignments was due on the same day that we did the workshop, so majority of our teammates were not at their best condition.

Planning The Workshop

22 May 2015

Workshop 1:

In the first workshop, we discussed in the group with other teammates. At first, we did a bodystorm section about what kind of things could attract people’s attention in public area. We wrote all the ideas on the post notes, then we put it on the big paper and group them together.  After the body storm section, we selected the best attraction technique of all the ideas, then we came up with some ideas how to use it.

Project 2 Phase 1

15 May 2015

The Phase 1 deliverables were due today. They were our 5 sites examined, 18 of our concepts for this design installation, and the 3 concept maps prioritizing which concepts do what best. The document turned out longer than I would have expected.

We explored all different and unique sites to keep our minds open. The sites looked at varied from busy train or bus stations, to the festive South Bank Parklands, to inside university buildings, and to dog parks.

We were able to come up with quite a few interesting ideas. Some of these were a bus shelter air-conditioning system that requires multiple people to activate, cookies made to be shared, or my favorite our Pee-H values. The last one may scare you off but don't worry this is to help people, it tests to see if people can notice urine in a chlorinated pool and warns them of the dangers of uric acid. If you can't tell then just don't go in public pools anymore.

I may have boasted unique sites, however the concept maps have revealed that many of the concepts. All concepts are similar in how specific the audience targeted is, the cost of parts, how time consuming, and interactive they are.

We have yet to decide upon our final installation concept but we are all tired and will enjoy this weekend of rest.

Site Survey - Toowong Train Station

14 May 2015

For this project we needed to do a site survey where we take photos and note down characteristics of possible locations we can film and install our installation. I was really excited to take some pictures of people in the hussle and bustle of a busy public transport hub such as Brisbane Central train station and Toowong train station.

Unfortunately my whole fortnight has been really busy with assignments and work, so I wasn't able to go out to the city throughout the fortnight. The only time I could go out to take photos was on a Sunday. And on top of that, the Sunday I went happened to be Mother's Day.

Oh the disappointment I felt when I realised that no one would be taking public transport on a Sunday, let alone on Mother's Day. I walked along the empty roads and took photos of the empty public transport hubs.

Next time I will make sure to go during a busy time to get the full experience of what that location is like. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

Photo credit: Jairaldine Cruz