SteppingTones
User Oriented Collaborative Design - 2013
Experiencing Street Music
THE PROBLEM
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Despite the lack of physical barriers, street musicians (aka buskers) still feel disconnected from their audiences
THE SOLUTION
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My team and I researched, interviewed, and categorized street performers in the Boston area into three personas with their own needs and values
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We identified that many buskers desire interaction with their audience, either for business or social connection, but find it difficult to initiate this while performing
THE CLUES
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The impromptu nature of busking makes it hard to discern the level of engagement that audience members are open to
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Traditional etiquette dictates that one should never interrupt a performance
THE AFTERMATH
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We put together a high-concept design for a product that would prompt passers-by to play along with the busker’s music using projected musical notes
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The projections would create intrigue without forcing participation, opening seamless opportunities for connection at any level of social confidence and musical ability
Tools: Hot Wire Foam Cutter, Wood Shop Equipment, Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, Powerpoint
Techniques: Ethnographic Research, User Co-design, User Observation, Interviews, Personas, People Portraits, Framework Generation, Storyboarding, Sketch Modelling, UX/UI Design
