For the demonstration of a form of visual design research, I chose to stage a small party and photograph it. Without telling the participants what I was specifically researching, I supplied drinks, martini glasses, napkins, different kinds of crackers, hummus, apples and chocolates on two different platters.
To break the ice and make it feel more like a party, I started by asking Elsa about her winter break. We got onto the subject of snowboarding, then places we've lived, and other things before I talked about what exactly I was doing by throwing the party.
I told everyone that my particular focus of the research was how they were using the martini glasses. Next steps in this line of research would be to examine the photos, zoom in on finger placement on the martini glasses, circle important variations in the way a martini glass is held.
Further research could be conducted by staging more parties with more people, video taping them, and holding them in different environments with more widely varied users.
This method could be used for a wide variety of research topics. I could have been observing interactions between the users and the plates, or preference for food types, or what triggered the flow of conversation topics. Observation is merely one method that could be used for visual design research; employing several different methods is often best for thorough examination.
For the demonstration of a form of visual design research, I chose to stage a small party and photograph it. Without telling the participants what I was specifically researching, I supplied drinks, martini glasses, napkins, different kinds of crackers, hummus, apples and chocolates on two different platters.
To break the ice and make it feel more like a party, I started by asking Elsa about her winter break. We got onto the subject of snowboarding, then places we've lived, and other things before I talked about what exactly I was doing by throwing the party.
I told everyone that my particular focus of the research was how they were using the martini glasses. Next steps in this line of research would be to examine the photos, zoom in on finger placement on the martini glasses, circle important variations in the way a martini glass is held.
Further research could be conducted by staging more parties with more people, video taping them, and holding them in different environments with more widely varied users.
This method could be used for a wide variety of research topics. I could have been observing interactions between the users and the plates, or preference for food types, or what triggered the flow of conversation topics. Observation is merely one method that could be used for visual design research; employing several different methods is often best for thorough examination.
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