Pre-Thoughts and Post-Thoughts
PRE-THOUGHTS
Time to see how this idea pans out over the course of 3ish hours. I took some time at home to prep my props for my display, figuring out what I already had that was white, or could be turned white with a bit of paint. You can see the finished display for the playtest below. I decided to not use a facilitator for this first playtest because I wanted to see how people would react to the table that was present in the APMA. Due to this decision to not utilize the facilitator, or “Sticker Coach” as they’ve been affectionately named, I used some of my gifted stickers to write “Sticker Me!” on the canvas As a motivator.
Here are my current questions for the display:
How will people interact with the table?
Will more people interact with the stickers after the initial stickers have been placed?
Will the other white props on the table be stickered throughout the hours, or will they simply be there to add to the feel of the table?
Is the display an adequate representation of FLOW? And is it easy?
Sticker trash… didn’t think of that one beforehand… where will people put their scraps?
POST-THOUGHTS
WE DID IT!
Some things I noticed during the playtest:
Some people wanted to interact, but didn’t seem sure enough to stick the first sticker - was that because I was sitting nearby and they were feeling watched?
General excitement from some people about stickers - they initially walked past, registered what the Canvas said, and went back to stick the stickers. Interestingly enough with this, they were the first people and were looking for validation for the sticker sticking. They looked to me and I gently nodded my yes to them. Once they received that “okay” they had fun sticking on some stickers! They even made a little collage with three of them.
Participants teaching one another how to interact with the display
The first participant to sticker the other props on the table - I asked them if they knew they were allowed to sticker the props. They told me that they assumed they could because everything on the table was white and the props were painted white. They figured there weren’t any repercussions because there was a sign that said “Sticker Me”
I started to see patterns with those who played with the display and those who didn’t:
Single individual - interested in the display, looked at it, moved on
A mixed group of men/ women - some interest in the display
A pair of men - completely ignored
A pair of women - most likely to play with the display
I noticed that a few people took stickers with them when they left the display
There were discussions occasionally of “do you know what this is for?” but would play with the display regardless
The more stickers on the display, the more likely people were to interact with it
WHATS NEXT?
I’m going to take the rest of the week to continue to gather props and formulate the data I’ve gathered during this playtest into what needs to happen for the next one. I’m not sure what will change for the next time, at this moment at least, except I‘m immediately wondering what would happen if there was music going during the display. I also wonder when to add in the facilitator into the mix. How will she affect the flow of the piece? Will she help the understanding of the experience or inhibit people’s natural curiosity?
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