For my Positive Design Studio course, I worked within a team to execute the research and design initiatives for This or That — an installation that makes the mundane bus stop waiting experience a little more fun.
My teammates’ background ranged from environmental design to engineering. Our diverse team offered both a creative and systematic perspective to the project task, which was facilitated by routine team meetings and communication to align our thoughts and ideas.
The course began in-person, however, transitioned to virtual instruction at the onset of Covid-19. This shift not only challenged the team to explore effective virtual methods of collaboration, but it shaped our final design.
We were asked to design a bus stop intervention that answers the following question: How can we unlock and augment joy for people at bus stops on Cornell’s campus through positive emotion regulation?
Busing in Ithaca via the TCAT is seen as a practical experience — users want to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. However, this is difficult amongst the complications of bus delays, crappy weather, and crowding just to name a few. Busing does not just leave users bored, but causes frequent frustration.
The team wanted to shape the busing experience for the better with the addition of a design installation at bus stops. The task was elevated once Covid-19 circumstances became apparent. We needed to address the wave of sanitary concerns as well as social distancing practices.
Our Goal
To increase and prolong the positive experience of bus riding.
Our Mission
To design a bus stop intervention that regulates the positive emotions of the Cornell community via engagement to maximize time spent waiting at the bus stops across campus.
Before ideating, we collected background research by analyzing the TCAT Annual Report. We found that the majority of riders were college students (followed by college faculty), which helped us narrow down our target user group to Cornell students.
With this demographic in mind, we distributed a survey to Cornell students. We collected responses from 17 users, which helped us better understand the user experience. Our questions focused on understanding why users bus and what they like/dislike about the experience.
Survey Results:
• Users take the bus for purposes of efficiency and convenience
• When waiting for the bus, users liked to keep themselves busy (i.e. scrolling through a device, listening to music, or people watching)
• The majority of users indicated that they were bored when waiting for the bus
• Users had a lot more negative things to say about the TCAT system than positives
The personas were developed based on our research takeaways:
(1) Users like to stay stimulated,
(2) Users enjoy socializing and being with friends, and
(3) Users dislike wasting time.
Team Turning Point
Based on our survey results and persona analysis, we realized that there are a lot of problems with the TCAT system that are out of our control.
But, there was a lot we could do to make the busing experience more enjoyable and purposeful. Our team wanted to provide users with the opportunity for a positive experience to make users forget about the negative ones. Specifically, we aimed to capitalize on the things people appreciated about busing.
Concept and Programming
At this point in the process, courses were completely virtual. We had never participated in group work virtually before, let alone for a hands-on, interactive studio. However, the team adjusted by hosting frequent Zoom video calls and utilizing tools like Miro to facilitate brainstorming.
After multiple brainstorming sessions, we bundled our ideations and we noticed a common theme of user engagement and community connectivity.
We decided to move forward with an interactive polling system as we felt this best met our goal. Polling gives users an outlet to share opinions and understand those of others, provides the opportunity to actively contribute to the community, and prompts reflections and conversations.
We created a set of question criteria to inform our question categories. These categories were made with our target user in mind. We had to consider what college students were interested in and what would stay relevant over time. The categories had to facilitate a variety of questions that would keep the user engaged.
We programmed the organization of quad-specific questions every day, shown below on the left, which would tend to the users’ need for question variety. We also considered featuring campus-wide questions that would be relevant to every student, shown below on the right, to promote a sense of Cornell community.
The Design
To gain a better understanding of what our target user would want out of our design, we distributed another survey amongst 17 students. We introduced our design concept at a high-level and then asked questions related to tactile experiences, elements of stimulation, and physical interactions with the design.
Our survey indicated that users wanted to eliminate touch surfaces due to Covid-19 and that they would be most stimulated by lights, color, and audio.
Based on the survey results, each member of the team brought their own design iterations to the table. We discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each, combining the most effective elements.
Some of the key design decisions we had to make included installation placement and necessary user actions for voting. This is where the relevance of Covid-19 came into play.
The team refined our key design features to the following:
• Input: foot-controlled push button
• Output: light, color, and audio (animation)
• Placement: integrated with bus shelter to avoid creating more barriers
• Materials: LED screen, button mechanism
The Final Rendered Prototype
Since we were not able to physically make the prototype due to the transition to online instruction, the team had to convey the physical form in another way. We decided that a realistic render paired with an animation simulating the digital experience would give users an informed understanding of our design.
Based on our finalized design ideas, I designed and Photoshopped an LED screen render with a poll question. I also created screen frames to make a GIF animation demonstrating the intended dynamic visual stimulation.
We wanted to implement a sense of excitement, anticipation, and curiosity for the user. To achieve this, we incorporated light, color, sound, and movement to give the user delight in viewing the results.
In order to prolong the experience and create anticipation for upcoming polls, we decided to create a complementary Instagram account.
Why Instagram? Students are already engaging with this platform and we want to ensure convenience and relevance, while creating a digital community, bringing the physical experience of voting full circle.
Check out our demo video below, created in Premiere.
To assess the success of our design in addressing our initial goal, we conducted a design evaluation with 8 Cornell students. This process included a Likert Scale questionnaire and semi-structured user interviews. Because there was no physical prototype, we provided multiple forms of visual materials to best inform the user of the intended user interaction. The questionnaire asked users to evaluate design, layout, and ease of use.
The Results
Our results indicated that use of our installation was context-dependent. Users said that they would be more likely to interact with This or That if they were already with friends, completely alone, and/or bored. Regardless, users were excited about the installation’s ability to connect the Cornell community.
Here is a more detailed look into our design process.
Due to the unexpected onset of Covid-19, our team was challenged to quickly pivot our design process. Despite the initial frustration, we found a groove and were able to collaborate in new ways that ended up being effective.
Given the opportunity, our team would love to evaluate our design with a 3D prototype and to implement the installation on campus. We feel that This or That would integrate a positive experience into the otherwise mundane busing experience.