Playfully teach about patterns of collective behaviour through an interactive design

Master thesis (2022)

Authors

T.F. Tan Industrial Design Engineering

Contributors

A.J.C. van der Helm Design Conceptualization and Communication - IDE (supervisor 1)
J.J.R. van Assen Human Information Communication Design - IDE (supervisor 2)
Faculty
Industrial Design Engineering
Copyright: © 2022 Tessa Tan
Interactive design Collective behaviour Museum installation
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Published Date

24-02-2022

Language

English

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Faculty

Industrial Design Engineering

Abstract

Collective behaviour can be seen everywhere. It is the phenomenon where many individuals form a group together and act as a whole. These groups are mesmerising to watch, but we can also learn from them. The way these groups behave depend on how the individuals react to their local surroundings. Obtaining knowledge about this concept brings knowledge in different areas like animal groups, human behaviour and complex design systems.
The goal of the project was to make a wide audience aware of collective behaviour, by teaching them in a playful interactive way, through a museum installation. The target group are museum visitors of age 8 and older. The question was what the user experience would look like and how the design would take shape.

The project started with understanding what collective behaviour is, to find out which elements are most important to convey in the design. Designing for a museum context and different technologies that can be used in the installation are explored. This phase concluded with requirements to implement in the museum installation.
In the following phase, the user interaction and the way visitors will manipulate the installation are ideated, and the goal for the user is determined. This phase included brainstorming, ideation by sketching and eventually lead to the design of the installation embodiment.
In the last phase of the project, the final design was determined and detailed: Control the Collective. By interacting with the designed installation, users can manipulate the size of three zones, in which the agents behave in a certain way. These are the zone of repulsion, the zone of orientation and the zone of attraction. Museum visitors can change the size of these zones by sliding disks along a line on the floor and with the use of corresponding buttons. These disks and buttons are placed on top of a circular platform, which users can stand on top of. The size of these zones and the influence on the composition of an individual within the group are visualised on this platform. Simultaneously, on a wall curved around the platform, the accompanying visualisation of the moving group is displayed.
The museum installation was evaluated and validated in Naturalis on user experience and the level of understanding of users. Lastly, recommendations are provided for future research and implementation of the design.