Media Design Program | Art Center College of Design

Instance of Significance

People Knowing

Group Members: Adam Fischbach, Chiao Wei Ho, Link Huang

The topic of the final project for this class was "Threshold". It started with picking up a place of threshold, using the findings as the basic design elements. The final design proposal could be anything. The place our group chose was the San Diego Race Track.

Racing is an extremely exciting sport. Before the green light, racersˇ tension usually gradually built up because of the waiting. All the energy is released when gas is pumped at the releasing moment. This threshold is what we called "the instance of significance". During the research, we found out some characteristics of this place. First, from the interviews, we knew that stimulation was what people look for at the racetrack; this part was not hard to guess. However, from the video recorded during the race, we found out they also felt happy and joyful. The second, this emotional pattern was very similar to roller coaster. The third, the most interesting physical finding in the racetrack was not the cars, but the Christmas light. By the time we put these elements down on paper, we were ready to do some experiments.

Due to the time constraints, we decided to quickly experiment with what we had. We asked two of our classmates to have a simple competition. In the competition, we used the animated Christmas light and sound to stimulate a similar type of environment. We were mainly wanted to observe if we could reduplicate the same kind of tension. The result was a failure because there were too many variables and with people watching, it turned into a funny game play. Nevertheless, we noticed the whole setting was not as intense as it was in the race. That gave us some ideas about raising the intention level for next experiment.

The second and third experiments were based on the result of the first one. We listed down things that have the similar tension and decided on two subjects, roller coaster and balloons. We set the projector on the top of the box and project the film down on the ground to create a falling illusion. It wasn't as successful as we thought because first, we couldn't find a clear footage nor to create one in such a short time. Second, the space was very isolated, so the participant didn't feel like connected with the free falling footage which should happen in a more open space. From this experiment, we decided to take the advantage of the small space and abandoned the visual element, so the participants could focus on one sense: sound. The experiment was conducted in a completely dark environment. After the beeping sound, participant started to hear air pumping into balloons until they exploded. The photos we took at the moment of explosion and the interviews later showed the participants were nervous but joyful during the experiment. It was very close to our previous research in the racetrack and the assumptions about the roller coaster effect.

After the tests, even though we were satisfied with the outcome, we decided to make a turn for the final design proposal. We noticed various degrees of similar tension actually occur very often in our everyday life. For example, shopping experience. So, we wanted to use a different kind of method to communicate our idea, and transform our findings into a product were definitely not something we wanted. Therefore, we all agreed at the end that performance art would be a perfectly pure form to deliver the message. By performing this experience, we hope to plant the idea into viewersˇ mind, so they would notice the next time when they encounter a similar situation.

At the end, the most precious learning from this exercise was the design process. We started from one thing and ended up with something that was completely different. The series of experiment prototypes definitely played an important role in this case. Every result came out of the test was the stepping-stone for the next experiment. Without them, we wouldn't be able to make the project move forward. I personally would like to practice more with this design process, maybe turn it into a specific kind of creative method for people in other fields.