Duration

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Fall 2009 - 2 months

Tools & Methods

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Surveys
Interviews
Ethnography
Card sort
Sketching
Prototyping
Experience evaluations

Team

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Anna Eaglin
Matt Edwards
Dan Richert

Deliverables

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Download as PDF:
CHI submission

Pique: An interactive canopy system designed to make walking habitual

Summary:

The project was a submission for the CHI 2010 Student Design Competition. Our task was to design an object, interface, system, or service intended to encourage people to take a walk.

Based on our research findings, the goal of our concept, Pique, was to address the primary obstacles to walking — weather and motivation, and to enrich the walking experience. Pique is a system that protects walkers from the elements, creates familiarity with their local environment, and engages curiosity. It is targeted towards college students on a campus. It consists of canopies, funology, and prompts.

This project used a large variety of user research methods and prototyping methods. Design documentation and team collaboration skills were used.

Process:

Pique was developed over the course of 2 months. The design emerged by taking the following steps to explore our problem space and target user group:

• Surveys:
  Designed online survey and Collected student responses about their transportation habits on campus.
• Ethnographic observation:
  Observed patterns and behaviors of students utilizing the bus system
• Interviews
  Interviewed students about their reasons for choosing modes of inter-campus transportation.
• Secondary research:
  Read and analyzed previous work on topics relating to the problem space including health benefits of walking, psychological theories, funology, and behavior change models.
• Ideation/sketching:
  Designed based upon research insights, sketching, and iterating upon possible technologies to promote walking as a main form of transportation around campus.
• Prototyping:
  Built 2 experience prototypes of canopies using a variety of materials.
• Card sort:
  Recruited participants to sort components of our design into categories to better grasp how users understood the concept
• User testing:
  Evaluating the concept and prototype for Pique in order to gain better understanding of its appeal to users and usability

User Research:


In order to discover why people decided to choose the alternative over walking, we did some primary research. We rode the campus bus to observe where people entered and exited the bus. We also as asked people at random, “Where are you taking the bus?” and “Why are you taking the bus?”.

In order to explore the problem space more deeply, we designed a survey to learn more about student transportation habits on campus. The 49 students who took the online survey were asked about their transportation habits. Those who reported taking the bus were asked to select all the reasons they chose not to walk from a list of six possible options, including “other”. Most notably, 85% cited weather as the main deterrent.
We also did an extensive amount of secondary research. This included the walking resources provided at Indiana University, funology, behavioral change theories, conformity theories, and human desires.
The concept:


The primary component of Pique is the canopy. They are placed on campus along different walking paths, providing temporary relief from the weather by means of shelter, context-aware water misters for the summer, and solar-powered heaters in the winter. But as we found in our ethnography, just protecting people from weather is not in itself motivating enough. With the incorporation of enjoyable themes into each canopy using interactive computer technology, people will be motivated to visit them, as demonstrated by funology. These fun themes will motivate walkers by creating curiosity, one of the basic motivators of human behavior. Inspiring curiosity and rewarding walking is a primary focus of the design.

Canopies are placed on existing walking paths to clearly define more efficient routes. The distance between canopies will vary depending upon the campus. The routes provide walkers with paths that allow them to quickly and efficiently get from place to place. The routes will be integrated into an online component that provides efficient directions from one location to another. Integration into the online class registration system and Indiana University’s main web page will allow students to specifically map their routes in accordance with their class schedules. By making walking a more accessible option and increasing familiarity with campus, students are encouraged to travel by foot.

Prompts, displayed through digital signage, are a way to encourage people to think about walking. As explained in the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change, encouraging people to think about walking is the first step in inspiring a long-term habit in choosing to walk over taking an alternative form of transportation. Prompts convey the approximate time it would take to walk to certain locations. They also provide information and motivation about the benefits of walking to the user, the community, and the environment.


Evaluation:


Students at Indiana University categorized different canopy themes according to different stated criteria. The participants were given approximately 70 index cards with different possible canopy themes listed on them, such as a YouTube canopy and a Night Sky canopy. Participants categorized the cards based on their appeal, using 5 predetermined categories of very appealing, somewhat appealing, neutral, somewhat unappealing and very unappealing.

The word cloud below illustrates which themes were most interesting to our participants.


Two canopies were used as experience prototypes in order to assess engagement levels. The focus of the test was to see if these different types of engagement would affect participation levels. A canopy was stationed over a sidewalk covered in bubble wrap packaging material. A second canopy included paints and a large canvas where walkers could stop and paint something.

Our prototype in action: For more details on the process, outcome, and design itself, please see the paper submitted for the CHI 2010 student design competition.Designed