Capstone: Focusing on Focus Groups
Introduction
From my experience thus far in college, I have noticed that outside feedback when designing something is fundamental to the process. In this case, my capstone class was tasked to form focus groups in order to review the effectiveness of our design choices. Considering that I am the only student in my capstone class at Maryville University that is attempting to create an exhibit, the process in which I questioned my focus group had to be adjusted a bit. This is because of the fact that many of my design choices would be best tested in some sort of physical interaction that simply isn't possible at this phase. For those that do not know about my project or the posts that have preceded this one, here is the link. Essentially, my project is a science museum exhibit that focuses on the beauty that lies behind fungi and the myriad of extraordinary feats that they are capable of. In order to help illustrate this beauty, the exhibit has taken the form of a sea of colorful particles that represent the transfer of energy that these organisms are so skilled at performing.
Users
In my small focus group, I questioned three individuals with various backgrounds/outlooks that I felt would be most helpful given the focus of my project. The first of the three individuals was an adult male (age 56) with children. I chose him because not only would his outlook be valuable, but he would be able to give insight on whether or not he would bring his children to such an exhibit. The second person was a female college student (age 20). I interviewed them because college students rarely have disposable income, so I thought that if I could find out what things would make an exhibit worth coming to while on a strict budget, then I would be able to improve the overall design. The last of the three interviewees was a male in middle school (age 13). They were chosen because I felt it was the final age range that would be relevant to design for, even though the exhibit is technically geared toward high schoolers and up, I figured the more people that the exhibit intrigues, the better.
My Findings
Coming into the interview, there was a list of questions that was made in order to guide the information that I gathered from the experience. Thanks to these questions, there were various things that I learned that I can take advantage of moving forward.
There were certain assumptions that I made when designing that proved to be both beneficial, and some that hinder the experience for the interviewees. The first of my assumptions that I was grateful to have paid off was the stylization of the exhibit. Everyone that I questioned thought that the exhibit was very pretty. This was very helpful information because, despite the common view of mushrooms and fungi being somewhat disturbing, they were able to look past any preconceptions due to the abstraction of the exhibit.
However, there were other assumptions that I thought would work, but the interviewees had thoughts to the contrary. The most enlightening of these points was one that I got from the college student. She suggested that, while she enjoyed the stylization, some sort of context would probably have been helpful in order to understand it, had I not been there to explain it. Therefore, I have already begun designing various experiences both inside and outside of the exhibit that will bridge the gap between real life and the abstraction of the exhibit.
The next thing I learned was something that I had essentially deduced myself but wound up having confirmed through this focus group. There simply are not enough things to do within the exhibit at this time. This is due to the fact that the exhibit is not finished being conceptualized, in conjunction with the fact that things are running a bit behind schedule. This is something I am constantly working against, but will surely overcome.
One other notable thing that I learned was actually on a positive note. When asked what their favorite part of the exhibit would be, two of the three answered that they would be most interested in a portion of the exhibit that has yet to be designed yet that I wound up explaining to them instead. The portion of the exhibit in question is the first thing a guest would experience when entering the exhibit. It would be a dark room, filled with floor-to-ceiling looping animations consisting of moving particles that would illustrate the life cycle of a mushroom in an abstracted fashion. Finding that this was a popular component of the exhibit was enlightening because prior to the focus group, I was considering removing it from the experience because it simply seemed like it would be too time-consuming of a task. Considering that there is a deadline for this whole thing, I thought that I would have to find some sort of alternative solution that would work as a compromise in order to make the deadline. However, seeing the shared interest between the interviewees, and understanding that this portion of the exhibit would act as a sort of cornerstone for the whole project, it looks like I have no choice but to “surpass my limits” for lack of a better term.
- They thought that it sounded interesting when I asked their thoughts on the concept
- asked for more context on stylization
- wanted more things to do in the exhibit
- was worried about it being too dark
- noted that their favorite part was the idea of the immersive entryway
