Cultural Probes
After reading Gaver Dunne’s article on cultural probes I discovered that cultural probes are a very interactive qualitative research tool that allows the user to feel comfortable in opening/ and sharing pieces of information about their daily lives and routines.
The intention is to learn about your subject but also not be too intrusive so I created a series of questionnaires and activities to learn more about my partner. My partner for this project was Jacey Chen. It was important for me to research Jacey’s “desires” as well as her current situation in order to gauge the kind of things she is drawn to.
The methodologies I implemented in this research project were a color chart, mood chart, questionnaire and camera. I used a large variety of techniques in order to reflect on which techniques were more successful in gathering information than others.
In order for me to dive deeper into her personality, lifestyle and habits during quarantine I firstly asked about her desired color palette for her bedroom (a space where many people spend a lot of time these days) .Color is a valuable communication tool that can be used to signal action, influence mood, and even influence physiological reactions. Your feelings about color are often deeply personal and rooted in your own experience or culture according to psychology. Interestingly Jacey has a very diverse range of colors she is drawn to from pastel tones to darker hues such as the teal and orange. This suggests she embraces harmony and balance in her physical space.
To continue with the theme of mood, I was still very interested in learning more about Jacey’s living space because it often correlates with someones mental space and way of life. In this probe I wanted to see how satisfied Jacey was with her current living situation so that I could move forward with knowledge about whether her housing was a good reflection of her ideal space. I created colored smileys that were approachable and also not too intrusive regarding this question that might be personal to some people.
The next design was a simple questionnaire in which Jacey was required to fill in 4 activities:
This instantly gave me a lot of information on Jacey, as it gave me an insight into her way of life . I already can tell that she enjoys good movies and gaming and is a cat person. She enjoys her sleep and anime and has created a list for herself so she goes through all the shows she likes.
The final thing I asked Jacey to do was use her camera to record objects. This allowed me into her world through a lense that is more real as I get a real visual lead into her environment. The three items she picked were her drawing pad, essential oil and a bobbi brown lipstick. I believe I have a deeper insight into Jacey as a person however I think asking for more images and asking more specific questions could pin down her culture/ personality further.
