Rahema Zaheer UX/UI Portfolio 2024

UX/UI DESIGN A user-centered approach

RAHEMA ZAHEER

ABOUT ME RAHEMA ZAHEER

PROJECT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY USER EXPERIENCE HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN RESEARCH

Hi, I am a Creative Manager, Interdisciplinary designer, UX researcher and a holistic strategist. I am currently based in Berlin and am interested in innovation and problem solving through an empathetic understanding of human needs and behaviors.

CONTENTS

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SYNCHRONICITY

AIR BUDDY

NEWSROOM DESSAU

Audio-visual interaction design controller (mobile app) addressing the challenge of making live-streamed music events less passive.

Product and mobile app design addressing the Smog crisis in Pakistan.

Organization design geared towards community integration.

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LMS

SoSpree

Saudi Electricity Company’s Learning Management System

AI Facilitated fashion app

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SYNCHRONICITY Agency and Engagement during live-streamed music events.

DESIGN RESEARCH INTERNET ETHNOGRAPHY AUDIO-VISUAL CONTROLLER PRODUCT DESIGN USER TESTTING PROTOTYPING

My thesis is an exploratory study on the possibilities of interaction during live-streamed music events. It looks at the concept of agency during live-streams and the possibility of allowing spectators to become active co-creators of a stream as opposed to passive consumers.

A mixed method study was conducted ranging from an online Survey to semi-structured Interviews with spectators and musicians to understand their experiences of live-streamed music events. Then to answer specific questions like how we can enhance the live-stream experience for spectators, experiments on Discord were conducted using Explorative Netnography to study audience behaviour. Furthermore, Shadowing was conducted with subjects for CTM Cyberia (virtual festival) to look for opportunities of interaction in the immersive space. The research used the framework of interactive spectatorship mechanisms found in game live-streaming and explored how such mechanisms or new ones could be incorporated in music live-streamed events. Based on insight, audio-visual interactions were explored. The tests conducted in my research aimed to validate the concept. Tests showed that the idea was considered to be exciting by the users and then further testing was done to determine the kind of interactions that should go in an audio-visual controller.

Masters Thesis Project Hochschule Anhalt 2021

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BACKGROUND

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON LIVE-MUSIC

By MARCH 2020, we were fully in the grasp of the novel corona virus.

It changed the way we learn, exercise, watch, and consumed culture.

Virtually every industry you can think of got affected. The music industry in particular suffered badly.

CANCELLED “live performances within the music industry was the biggest casualty as concerts, tours, festivals and parties were rapidly cancelled” (Vandenberg et al., 2021)

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RESEARCH TOPIC

MUSICIANS AND AUDIENCES ADAPTED Musicians started reaching audiences directly through their homes using platforms like Twitch, Youtube live, Facebook live and instagram live.

THE TOPIC I saw this as an oppurtunity to investigate the possibilities of interaction design within the live-streamed spaces for music.

Need to explore oppurtunities to innovate

LIVE-STREAMED MUSIC EVENTS

INTERACTIVITY

PRILIMINARY RESEARCH “Searches for live streaming platforms (during COVID-19) increased by 3-5 times”

“Watch time for live content was up 250%”

“According to a survey 42% respondents wanted more live music concerts delivered via live-streams”

Google trends (2020), Livestreaming

Brian Albert (2020), How the streaming boom has landed us back in the living room, Think with google

Trend Report (2020), Virtual events and interactions, www.globalwebindex.com

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ACADEMIC RESEARCH “During the current pandemic a study investigated livestreamed rave parties. While highly popular these were often accompanied with frustration of not experiencing the “real thing”. Simply being able to chat with the participants online was not enough to create an engaging or authentic experience.”

Vandenberg et al. (2021), The 'lonely raver': music livestreams during COVID-19 as a hotline to collective consciousness?, European Societies

“Studies showed that participants wanted a more active role in spectatorship and acquire a more meaningful role within the event.”

Jacucci et al., (2005), Supporting the Shared Experience of Spectators through Mobile Group Media, first presented in Conference: Proceedings of the 2005

“The concept of agency refers to the “subjective feeling of control” – which in essence can be taken as giving the audience member the ability to influence the livestream space” “In their research,they broke down what an individual may desire from a livestream experience and Agency was one of the three principal tenants that were important to users” Onderdijk et al., (2021), Livestream Experiments: The Role of COVID-19, Agency, Presence, and Social Context in Facilitating Social Connectedness, Frontiers in Psychology

GAME-LIVESTREAM EVENTS AND THE CONCEPT OF PARTICIPATORY SPECTATORSHOP Platforms like Twitch had already been pushing the boundaries of spectatorship by allowing audiences to become contributing members of the stream by using different engagement mechanisms.

There seemed to be an absence of such mechanics for live-streamed music events.

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RESEARCH METHODS RQ-1: What are the audience experiences of and motivations behind attending live-streamed music events during COVID-19?

RQ-2: How has the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions affected musicians and performers?

RQ-3: How can the livestreamed music experience be enhanced in a) in an immersive 3D space and b) a typical 2D livestream space

Audience and performer experiences

SURVEY

SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

Need to explore oppurtunities to innovate

LIVE-STREAMED MUSIC EVENTS

Immersive 3D space Vs 2D space

INTERACTIVITY

A) SHADOWING B) EXPLORATIVE NETNOGRAPHY

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SURVEY RQ1: What are the audience experiences of and motivations behind attending live-streamed music events during COVID-19?

WHAT THE PARTICIPANTS LONGED FOR IN THE ABSENCE OF REAL LIFE MUSIC EVENTS

CONNECTIVITY "I enjoy the interactivity and how open people can be at a music event" "Camaraderie" "The collective energy of being in a space with a crowd" "Seeing the artists and their performance in the flesh" "the energy while feeling connected with all the people"

VIEWS ABOUT EMERGENCE OF LIVE-STREAM MUSIC EVENTS DURING COVID-19

POSITIVE THEMES

SOUND “Loudness" "good quality sound system" "proper speakers" "The sound system" "Dancing in a crowd, meeting new people, sharing energy, the speakers, the lights"

ACCESSIBLE "i like the accessibility" "Its great! allows us to enjoy live shows in a much more accessible format" A REAL-LIFE SURROGATE "It's good, at least there is something to experience.."

"It's an excellent alternative and should become the new normal, I think there's a lot of potential for cool things“

WHO? 11 participants All were attendees of online music festival “Oscillations” in April 2020 Age: 18-44 Gender: Any Locations: USA, Pakistan, Germany, Canada Professions: Programming 4, Creative 5, Other 2 Common Interests: Music

MAIN PAINPOINTS IDENTIFIED INTERACTIVITY

SPATIAL FACTORS

• Passivity of the experience • Lack of diverse interactions • lack of engage ment

• Lack of environ mental context e.g loud sound, lights and other people • Lack of shared energy • Limited social connectivity

MOTIVATIONS FOR ATTENDING LIVE-STREAMED MUSIC EVENTS

MISSED REAL LIFE MUSIC EVENTS "I attended because I missed live music and the whole experience" "i was missing professional musicians playing and i could just receive and dance and enjoy” SHARING AN EVENT WITH FRIENDS "followed the links that friends posted that they all were interested in" "What made it really fun was lots of us were together"

SHARED EXPERIENCE “"Dancing, connecting, sharing an experience." "sharing an evening with friends"

SPACE "Venue" "Lights" "ability to interact with the space"

DANCING "Loosing myself to the moment, dancing" "Dancing in a crowd"

NEGATIVE THEMES ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PERFORMERS "it's nice to see musicians still doing their thing" SPACE "I like the idea of concerts in VR or twitch, or even with the new light field videos that let you move around a performance, because you could find a corner or be in a space or manipulate a space."

LACK OF ENGAGEMENT / CONNECTION "not as engaging as in person ones" "if multiple people watched it together like you would a sporting event it'd feel more engaging" "If my friends could attend together like a sporting event it would feel more connected" A PASSIVE EXPERIENCE “I don't know if it'll be able to create an

atmosphere or a shared space that's the the same. They tend to become pajama parties, lying around watching music happen."

NEED FOR BETTER INTERACTIONS " I wish you could talk to more people, not like a live chat that's scrolling by at lightning speed, or interact with them.

Have different spaces for conversation" "I wish there were more ways to interact"

SUPPORT FOR PERFORMING ARTIST "mostly because I like the artist. For example last year Lifafa had a ticketed live stream performance" "it was more dj friends putting on a set on twitch and discord. Which made it really fun because lots of us were together.

"He's my friend and i like his music" "i attended it because my friend was doing it and i wanted to support him, plus it was fun" "I really like her music and it was nice to be able to see her perform. It was kind of

more intimate in a way" "Because some of my friends were playing at the show, COVID had just started and it felt good to attend something together even if virtually" "to check out some artists I like performing" "to check out some musicians from the local electronic scene in Pakistan/NY” “To discover new music and check out the community"

NEW FORMATS OF MUSIC PROVIDED BY DIGITAL SPACE "collaborative radio sessions where participants sent songs to the queue and socialized” “For collaborative space"

PARTICIPANT'S FEEDBACK ON THEIR EXPERIENCE OF ATTENDING LIVE-STREAMED MUSIC EVENTS

ESCAPE / BOREDOM "It was a good way to escape the lockdown and experience a social event" "I was feeling pretty isolated otherwise so it was a good outlet to connect" "I had been sitting home for 1 straight month and this felt like a night out" "it's better than doing nothing on a Saturday night"

INTERACTION/ SOCIAL CONNECTION "It was nice seeing him interact with his audience and the audience interact with him" "being able to interact more freely with the audience members in a shared online space" "It was nice seeing friends and artists working again. I think it'd be exciting to see more."

EASY ACCESS / COMFORT "I like having the flexibility and ease of being able to attend a live show through the comfort of my own home" "I just attended to have music playing in the background was not looking for more"

LACK OF EXCITEMENT "i needed to put more effort into creating a atmospheric setting (lighting, headphones) for myself - the kind of feeling "high' thru the excitement of people was missing, so trying to find the high elsewhere"

JOYFUL MOMENTS FROM THE LIVE-STREAMED EVENT

INTERACTIONS "Seeing responses in the chat" "The artist answering questions was nice, not something you see at a concert" "When Jonnathan (the musician) started taking shots on audience demand during the performance" "Experience was intimate, to see her up-close, talking to us, seeing other people's response on the chat..it was nice" "Interaction and sense of community"

"Best part was definitely shared moments with fellow audience members where we all reacted similarly to a great track and visuals" "People interacting with each other on the chat, saying hello and making jokes. The fact that i could attend an event with friends from all over the world."

DANCING "Definitely when everyone started dancing (on thier discord cameras). I didn't have space to do that but I put on a visualizer app/shader toy and played with that to the music, which was fun. Felt like swinging around" "Seeing other people dance and react to the music at the same time!" "other characters present in the frame too, who were performing/dancing"

VISUALS "The scenery visuals ... I really enjoy cercles" "I find it extremely boring to look at somebody playing music through one static camera. In Lifafa's stream, they used multiple cameras”

FRUSTRATING MOMENTS FROM THE LIVE STREAMED EVENT

PASSIVITY OF THE EXPERIENCE "After a while felt like the audience disengaged" "I had to answer some emails during the performance so it totally took the focus away"

LACK OF DIVERSE INTERACTIONS "Maybe if there were more ways to do individual things" "Single-screen live-streams with no interactivity becomes boring" "It got strenuous after looking at a flat screen as the sets continued."

"I wish there were more ways to interact as the live-stream only supported chat feature and some emojis" "I think a chat room might work well but also it's not as immediate an experience."

LACK OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT "Nothing will beat real live experiences and the party vibes."

"Biggest shortcoming was not being able to change the environment or move around much as you would at a live show." "i was still in the same room like i have been for months" "obviously a real environment with the loud music and lights was missing" "I didn't have the exact good space to dance or the best equipment to fully enjoy the music"

THEMATIC ANALYSIS 8

SEMISTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS RQ-2: What are the impressions of musicians and performers about live-streamed music events.

WHO?

Alien Panda Jury

Dynoman

DJ Paypal

Musician/ Producer / DJ / festival founder Age: 34 Karachi, Pakistan

DJ / Producer / active twitch performer Age: 27 New York, USA

DJ / Producer (did not participate in live-streamed events as a performer) Age: 29 Berlin, Germany

PAIN-POINTS

MOTIVATIONS

STRENGTHS OF THE LIVE-STREAM FORMAT

POTENTIAL OPPURTUNITIES

“Technical issues” “the latency and equipment needed to pull this off including a technical team that knows what they’re doing” “Another issue is performance fees because these events are not usually ticketed or supported by brands; it's basically based on a labor of love for music“ “Unreleased stuff , we can get away with playing it in a real-life party if there is no recording but if it is being recorded than we have to limit the track choices”” ”People not moving , not fully immersed in the music, people are not connecting” “Club is exclusive” “Blasting speakers no noise complaints in a club” “Sometimes I find that the audio input device I use will shut off automatically during a stream causing the audio to momentarily cut out”

“ Most people are doing it to stay relevant and active because of the lack of gigs over the past year” “at least there's something to look forward to every other weekend after staring at walls and sitting around working from home with barely any social contact” ”If People I know were performing with me as a scene, if there was a Select audience, if I got to interact with audience, I would do it for a community of people, people showcasing a scene then I’d like to be a part of it..”

I was interested in the connectivity aspect and the prospect of performing in a new format was exciting. The ability to see the audience engaged and connecting with them”

“Interaction between the performer and audience is also a lot more interesting. For example now a performer can respond to 10-20 audience members with simple emojis or reactions. In a live setting this would be overwhelming. It would feel like an invasion of space. So, I guess it makes the audience seem more close to the performer and make that connection” “Artists who’re are putting out a lot of content can benefit from it monetarily, it’s good to create an audience and keep them engaged..when you release music you can keep your fans in a direct loop and hype them to buy new music and show support in terms and donations and buying music” ”it was quite fun interacting with the audience which seemed more personal than maybe even a live show.

“It also allows me to reach an audience anywhere in the world”

“live-stream twitch type environment, I would assume that more interesting types of interactions would be nice..would keep audience engaged. These could range from talk, text, gifs or any other way that may make it more fun.”

“Allows for unique event ideas, connectivity in distant times, a new avenue of expression for artists, a new income stream and allows for a new type of experience to viewers.”

“Blending IRL and live streams is a prospect that could be in motion once COVID restrictions begin easing” Getting advertisers involved to support the streams, so that artists and promoters can get paid” “maybe to be part of an innovative community and share ideas” “More virtual spaces, more ways to interact with everyone vibing with each other between the listeners and performers” “if there's anything I miss in live streams its the ability to feed off the energy of an actual crowd, this is a gap that needs a solid bridge” “I guess if I was live-streaming I’d want to focus on the interactivity, allowing fans to participate in the stream that would be pretty cool

STRENGTHS OF THE LIVE-STREAM FORMAT • Global audience • More intimate experience • Interesting digital interaction mechanics

POTENTIAL OPPURTUNITIES

SUMMARY PAIN-POINTS

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Audience not fully immersed • Lack of audience feedback • Limited interactivity • Technical issues • No performance fees • Copyright issues

MOTIVATIONS • A real-life surrogate • To stay relevant • Stay connected with the community of fans • Hype fans to support by purchasing music and donating

• Potential to become an innovative community • Potential for new and unique ways of allowing audiences to interact with the stream

HIGHLIGHTS9

FESTIVAL SHADOWING RQ-3: How can the livestreamed music experience be enhanced in a 3D space.

NEGATIVE

POSITIVE Umar 32 Musician / Programmer, USA Interested in music, arts, technology Logged out after 18:12 minutes

Haris 26 Illustrator, Pakistan interested in music, art, cinema

"Oh Damn" (seemed positively surprised upon entering the environment) "Feel like i'm on drugs" "Trippy" "I like how the music is trippy, eerie, procedurally generated" "Dance area is pretty cool" "Garden is cool, there's a bunch of plants, people..a social space..i can hear them talking..it's cool"

"A little disorienting" "Can I interact with people?" (participant confused as to how to interact with people) "Control scene is totally off" (found it difficult to navigate using the controls) I can't really focus on the music" "Dance area is pretty cool but I don't know how long I would like to stay here"

"it's like a game..i like the explorative part" "the art is cool" "Oh nice..okay i like the digital gallery..art monuments"

"are there some settings through which i can make it less glitchy" "it's lagging too much" "am i supposed to do something or is it just exploration?" " i'm too sober for this" “Can I get out of the concert room?”

"The art is cool" "They seem to have done a lot of work on it but I don't know if I would use this for music" "I like the spatial sound"

"Not fun because too spooky, jarring" "Feels like a weird cyber-prison" "My system is not fast enough" “it's so tacky,,like "Oh look im digital" "Good for freakazoids”

Logged out after 12:43 minutes

SET-UP Participants were invited to google hangouts and asked to enter CTM Cyberia virtual festival space. They were then asked to share their screen so I could observe their movements and record any verbal feedback, negative or positive, as they moved through the space.

WHO?

Logged out after 13:08 minutes

PARTICIPANT IMPRESSIONS

FINDINGS • Subjects seemed to enjoy the initial shock of the environment and the art.

Participants were recruited through social media by sharing the CTM festival post and inviting participants who seemed excited by the idea to attend the festival.

Umar 32 Musician / Programmer, USA Interested in music, arts, technology

Nirmal 28 Writer Germany interested in music, poetry, dancing

Haris 26 Illustrator, Pakistan interested in music, art, cinema

Nirmal 28 Writer Germany interested in music, poetry, dancing

• Having said that.sustained eagerness to explore was severely lacking as it was communicated that the test would be 30 minute long but all three participants logged out before the 30-minute mark.

• Despite the fact that the space allowed interaction with other participants, none of the 3 participants were able to navigate the controls that would allow them to experience it.

• Music seemed to have become a secondary element during the experience of the festival.

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EXPLORATIVE NETNOGRAPHY RQ-3: How can the livestreamed music experience be enhanced in a typical 2D livestream space

ABOUT THE METHOD

HOW

The methodological processes to study the participants were adapted from netnography or online ethnography which is a method to study digital cultures. Data collection was borrowed from this approach and data was collected in the form of:

Organized a digital music event on Discord. Users could communicate with voice , video , text messaging, graphical media )gifs, emojis and memes) and would listen to curated playlists and enjoy music as part of a community.

1. Field Notes 2. Chat logs 3. Screenshots/videos

WHO • 15 participants from the Oscillations music festival • Event was marketed on Gruv Coast Radio, a new media, art and music collaborative to include more “COVID-19 Experience Seekers”

FORESHADOWED PROBLEM Know more about what excited the participants during the digital music event using text and video interaction tools.

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EXPLORATIVE NETNOGRAPHY DISCORD EXPERIMENT 1 ENVIRONMENT AND SET-UP

TEXT ROOM: text, gifs, memes, emoji based interactions

ATTENDEES

TEXT ROOM EXPECTED BEHAVIORS:

UNEXPECTED BEHAVIORS:

• Participants greeted each other via text, emojis and gifs • Participants commented on the music playing often asking what track was playing • If a participant knew another participant who was actively interacting in the chat, they would engage via chat too • Participants made jokes and displayed an overall sense of community and comradery

• Some participants who were comfortable with the discord environment used commands such as "!nowplaying" to find out the track name • Once other participants got comfortable with the native discord commands they used commands such as "!queue" to see the playlist • Once the playlists were played, the users started playing their own songs using the command "!play [link]" to queue their own songs that they wanted everyone to listen to. This continued from 1 am to 6 am. 5 hours worth of the event was conducted by the audience themselves. However some participants did seem to complain about the music being played and the inconsistency of the energy being delivered.

• Since 10 out of 22 participants were musicians they started sharing their SoundCloud links and talked about collaborating with each other.

DANCE ROOM: Video / screensharing based interactions

DANCEROOM EXPECTED BEHAVIORS:

UNEXPECTED BEHAVIORS:

• Some participants joined with their cameras off throughout the event • Often participants would join the event, stay for a bit and then leave to join again • When participants seemed to not enjoy the music they would tend to turn the cameras off or leave and join again and would turn the cameras on when they seemed to be enjoying the music • Participants who knew each other showed a greater tendency to keep cameras on, presumably to allow their friends to view them.

• A larger than expected number of participants kept their cameras on through out the event • Around 2 am the most amount of physical energy could be seen as at this time the most number of participants were attending the event (15) out of which 12 had their cameras on and most of them were either dancing with just their heads or were out of their chairs and dancing together

FIELD NOTES ANALYSIS

FINDINGS

Test to be repeated: Whereas the experiment provided a space for participants to come together and enjoy music, due to it not being a live event lead to crowd curated music which would not function well in a live-streamed music event. It was clear that the experiment had to be repeated with a live performer.

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EXPLORATIVE NETNOGRAPHY DISCORD EXPERIMENT 2 // ADDED AUDIO-VISUAL ELEMENT ENVIRONMENT AND SET-UP

TEXT ROOM: Same as Experiment 1

ATTENDEES

DANCE ROOM: Video / screensharing based interactions with a live DJ

Updates: A part of live-streamed music events that had gone unexplored in the first experiment was: a) the live-music and b) the audio-visual nature of these events. Live-streamers often use green-screens to set-up their live-streams and many put a great emphasis on the visuals being projected on to these greenscreens. I wanted to introduce a visual element to the experience and planned to share some visuals during the event.

SHARING LIVE-VISUALS AND IMPACT ON ENGAGEMENT Around 20 minutes into the stream live-visuals were shared in the channel by sharing my screen and something unpredictale happened. Three more participants started sharing thier screens with animated videos and graphical content.

This created excitment in the text channel and in the video channel participants moved thier heads closer to their screens presumably to look closely at the visuals being shared.

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EXPLORATIVE NETNOGRAPHY DISCORD EXPERIMENT 2 // KEY INCIDENT AN AUDIO-VISUAL SPACE WITH AUDIENCE AS CO-CREATORS 1

3 2

The screenshot on the left shows two other participants sharing visual content (1&2) by screenshare in addition to my screen (3).

The live-stream transformed into an audio-visual space with the audience becoming part of the performance.

The chat screenshots on the right shows text based feedback to the visuals.

KEY INCIDENT The most interesting behavior was from a non-creative participant, Salik, a programmer, who was watching the stream on his ipad. He shared his ipad screen in the channel where he was creating visuals by swishing his fingers onto the ipad screen using the visual app "Fluid". He seemed to be aligning the swishing finger movement to the music creating psychedelic fluid movements that flowed around the screen.

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COMPARISON INTERACTIONS IN 2D SPACE VS 3D SPACE DISCORD EXPERIMENTS

CTM CYBERIA FESTIVAL SHADOWING

The focus of interactions was music

The focus of interaction was exploring the space

2D space seemed to provide a more hands-on and immediate approach to connecting and interacting with audience members as well as the performer.

Whereas immersive space elicited initial excitement due to the newness of the experience, connectedness with other members of the audience during shadowing was observed to be non-existent.

Would be a more feasible and viable fit in the live-stream environment.

Would require a lot more time and resources to investigate areas of opportunity . Would be challenging to conceive, test and ideate during the time I had to deliver the thesis.

CONCLUSION 01.

Scientific literature: Importance of agency during live-streams in creating engagement

02.

Survey and Interview Results: need for newer interactions and to create a less passive experience

03.

Discord Experiment 2 insight: a need for crowd contributed visual expression during music live-stream

DECISION: Create a hypothesis exploring visual participation in the live-streamed music space 15

DESIGN PROJECT HYPOTHESIS

DESIGN PROBLEM

PROPOSED SOLUTION

Allowing the participants to visually manipulate the stream will create more engagement during the live-streamed event.

How might we allow the participants to effect the outcome of the stream through a visual control mechanism that creates increased engagement during a live-stream

Create a controller that allows audiences to manipulate visuals on the green screen behind the performers during a live-streamed music event.

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DESIGN RESEARCH EXISTING SOFTWARES/APPS Resolume Arena: Professional VJ software

Mobile Applications

CONCEPT SKETCH Live-stream

Green-screen graphics

Controller/ mobile app Display Media Effects

Audience would be allowed to manipulate the visuals on the green-screen of the performer through a controller app on their phone.

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DESIGN RESEARCH PERSONAS EXPERIENCE SEEKERS PROFILE

Zehra, 30, Mixed media ar�st, Ghent

Tristan, 24, App developer, Berlin

Characteris�cs: • Loves connecting with people through music and cinema • interested in mixing tradi�onal and new media and adop�ng new technology in theater • Enjoys listening to podcasts about art and culture

Characteris�cs: • Into experimental Visual art and new media • Loves techno, deep house, bass and drum and hiphop music • Loves geeking out on innovative technology • Prefers to spend free time playing video games

• Attended live-streamed music events during COVID-19 but wished the format was less passive.

• Attended live-streamed music events during COVID-19 but felt the potential of the digital space was not being utilized.

Nadia, 34, Poli�cal scien�st, Moscow

Marvin, 32, Musician/producer, France

Characteris�cs: • Has a deep love for impressionist art • Loves attending festivals and concerts • Likes going to innova�ve art exhibits • Finds it fulfilling to be involved in the local art scene • Wanted to be an artist but ended up in political science instead • Uses creative phone apps to manipulate images on her phone to share on Instagram • Risk taker, likes attention

Characteris�cs: • Works on crea�ng AI generated music project • Loves performing • Collaborates with visual ar�sts to create immersive experiences • Loves trying experimental methods of creating sounds

• A culturally engaged group • Highly active, diverse, social and ambi tious, engaging with arts on a regular basis • Make up a significant part of urban arts audiences • They are mostly in search of new things to do and have disposable income to spend on a variety of leisure activities like sports/arts memberships, visits to cafes, bars and restaurants • Typically digitally savvy, they will share experiences through social media on their smartphones • Arts and Culture: Less likely to be resis tant to changes in format (e.g. stream ing).

• Motivations re. arts engagement often social, so likely to have missed this element of arts.

• Digital and Streaming: Already highly digitally engaged and look for variety in cultural consumption. Likely to have spent a lot of time on social media during lockdown, inc. WhatsApp groups, and using ‘second screens’ during digital consumption of culture.

• Risk: Open to new approaches / innovation; like taking cultural risks.

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USER TESTING PHASE 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Purpose: Examine if participants who were actively seeking live-streamed music events would be interested in manipulating the live-stream during the course of a live-streamed event.

Goals: • Test product concept with target audience • Reveal friction points and confusing experiences • Identify issues and create recommendations Set-up: To study this I designed a quick test using a live-performance software called resolume and invited participants to take the test in person.

Concept Validation: 3 users were invited to take the test.Overall, all 3 participants: • understood the basic premise of the tool and the concept behind it • showed excitement, engagement and intrigue towards the tool Common issues: • The complexity of the interface • Inability to accurately manipulate the visuals how they wanted (compromised agency) • A lack of reactivity between the visuals and the music Insights about effects and media clip types: The test provided some great insights into the nature of the specific effects and media clips that excited the participants and the various situations in which certain effects were more relevant.

TEST SET-UP Software: Professional DJ software “Resolume” was used Physical set-up and hardware: • Laptop and a mouse.

• There was a second, bigger screen placed in front of the user to be able to watch what they’re doing on a bigger screen • There was one person asked to sit in the room as a spectator.

Context: Participant’s favorite performer was cropped out so that they could be juxtaposed on top of the visual layers to simulate a live-stream event Interaction Components: a) camera input b) stock generative c) media clips: pre-loaded with media clips that the user could trigger and manipulate using effects d) Effects: A selection of effects were already applied to the media clips which the participant could then turn on and off.

Interaction components Effects Panel Output

Software

Display

Set-up

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USER TESTING PHASE 1 Instructions were provided for the following:

Measuring the Outcome:

a) Concept

In addition to observation, post-test questions were prepared to measure the level of: Agency: the degree to which a user is able to cause significant change in the digital environment

b) Interface: Brief explanation about the media clips and effects and how to manipulate them was given. c) Tasks to complete • Try out different media clips • Try all the effects by turning them on and off • Mix and match the effects to create dynamic content using effect opacity or blending modes

Entrainment: Borrowing from scientific experiments conducted, I used musically co-ordinated head movements as a signifier of engagement. Head movements or entrainment was measured by visually observing the users. The total time during which entrainment could be observed was noted.

USER PROFILES Based on the personas created, 3 users were chosen to participate in the test.

Johan

Mudassir

Rehmat

31 years old Software Engineer Interests: Gaming, partying, drinking, heavy social media user

30 years old Musician, content creator Interests: Music, attending concerts

23 years old Graphic design student Interests: Art, music, dancing

• Test duration: 30 minutes • Participant took around 6 minutes to get aquainted with the controls

• Test duration: 30 minutes • Participant took around 9 minutes to get aquainted with the controls

• Test duration: 30 minutes • Participant took around 7 minutes to get aquainted with the controls

20

USER TESTING PHASE 1 USER 1 FINDINGS

User

Understanding of concept

Experience Valida�on issues [High]

Key Observa�ons

Comments on media clips and effects

User 1: Johan

Understanding of concept: Good, Displayed excitement at the prospect of manipula�ng the stream Experience Valida�on: High Main Issues: Complicated interface

“You can do something you cant do in a club here” “It takes you back in the club mindset” “The difficult part is the interface”

The user seemed the “I can modify the effects here..?”

Good: Dsipalyed “I found it really cool, Interface: excitement at it transported back to “the difficult most engaged during User was interested in more than just turning the effects on and off Test Dura�on: 30 the prospect of the good old days part is the the test compared to minutes manipula�ng the when you could go to interface..it’s user 2 and 3. Showed “They do mix..nice” verbal and physical stream a club and enjoy complicated Upon realizing that the effects mixed with each other Took around 6 yourself” right.. it should signs of engagement and was the most minutes to gain be simpler” “This one is for the bass” successful in using the User was trying to make the “displace” effect react with the bass but an “it’s not just receiving understanding of but your giving Compromised provided tool to create was unable to do so the tools. something too” Agency: effects.

“I had a clear “WOAH” “You can do vision of what I User showed li�le head Excitement at the “iterate” effect something you cant wanted to do movements in the do in a club here” but I couldn’t beginning of the test “I really like this one” (laughing) find the tools” but head movements Posi�ve response to mirror effect increased as he gained “When you try to mix more control of the it with the music it’s “How do I go Par�cipant had opened the se�ngs for each effect in an a�empt to super cool. That’s back to the tools. make the effect react more accurately to the music. Par�cipant started what I was trying to effects?” crea�ng shorter loops on the effect to make it sync with the beat. do from the The user also provided the most useful beginning” “I’ve put too many effects interac�on behavior “I tested different layers and effects and I said maybe this effect could be cool for the drop” par�cipant was referring to the “Iterate” effect now” compared to user 2 and 3 in terms of media clips and effects “When it’s chill, it’s nice you can use a bit of trancy kind of visual but when the beat drops it can be a bit more raw u�lized.

Entrainment

Agency: Where as the partcipant could be observed reacting excitedly about being able to effec�he outcome o�he stream, the inability to do as intended brought down the agency experienced. The pos�es�eedback revealed that this was due to the complexity o�he tes�nterface.

Entrainment: Entrainment could be observed 13 minutes into the test, presumably because the user took 7 minutes to get aquainted with the controls. Entrainment lasted for a total of 2 minutes 38 seconds intermitently during the test.

“Very nice” Posi�ve reac�on to the 3D cube effect, he was adjus�ng the speed of the cube to match the bpm “Oh I can just make it rotate in one direc�on..very nice” Par�cipant showed posi�ve reac�on to being able to control the direc�on in which the cube was rota�ng” Camera input failed to elicit excitement

21

USER TESTING PHASE 1 USER 2 FINDINGS

Understanding of concept: Good, interested in the poten�al of the concept Experience Valida�on: High Main Issues: Complicated interface

“Once I knew how to change the effects it was really fun” “It’s not a passive experience anymore, it makes it more active” “It’s a bit complicated right now”

User

Understanding of concept

Experience Valida�on [High]

issues

Key Observa�ons

Comments on media clips and effects

User 2: Mudassir Good: Seemed to “once I knew how to change the Interface: The par�cipant appeared to be most be interested in effects like with the rhythm is It’s a bit complicated Par�cipant seemed a lot less interested in layering opacity, and the Test Dura�on: the poten�al of became really fun, almost like a right now. Like the vocal compared to user 1. Most contrast between different visuals they’re 20 minutes the concept interface could be of the deduc�ons had to be made using. video game in a way, for using observa�ons example, when the beat went simpler maybe?

Took around 9 Par�cipant used the colour slider to change faster I was just trying to change minutes to gain the hue of the background elements and it in �me which was a lot of fun “Yeah it took me a Par�cipant showed li�le an while to figure out entrainment un�l around 15 seems to finally enjoy the tools rhythmically” understanding of the effects “ minutes into the test a�er which he seemed to feel more in the tools.

“I was trying to switch between the orange “For me ryhtym was the main “Maybe I wouldn’t control of the tools displaying and the pink layer to the beat cause that’s thing to make the connec�on what made it interes�ng for me” greater agency and presence. with the visuals and also playing want to do it with the textures of the sound, con�nuously during what the sound is like and then a livestream but it is Head movements were moderate there were por�ons where I could change trying to copy that in the visuals” music I like I could in comparison to user 1 and 3. do it for 5 minutes the color according to how I wanted that “it’s not so passive anymore..it and stop and watch User seemed to enjoy minimal was good but mostly I was just browsing the makes it more ac�ve and that’s someone else doing changes to the visuals done effects and playing around..did not have a it” specific idea in mind what made it fun” precisely rather than dras�c changes. Worked predominantly “even if it is a musician I like and with color and toggling between Camera input failed to elicit excitement it’s a life-stream I usually get two media clips on the beat. bored in 10 minutes, 15 minutes because of them are also just done with one camera so there’s no movement and you just listen Agency: to it and you’re doing something Entrainment else on another window..so this There was excitement a�he prospect of manipulating the is much more engaged and you outcome o�he stream, however as with user 1, the complexity can also see what you’re doing o�he interface was the biggest challenge in realizing the and if other people can also see potential agency that could be experienced. it makes it into a performance”

Entrainment: Entrainment could be observed around 16 minutes into the test, and lasted only for under 1 minute.

22

USER TESTING PHASE 1 USER 3 FINDINGS

User

Understanding of concept

User 3: Rehmat Good

Understanding of concept: Good, understood the concept well

Experience Valida�on: Low Main Issues: Complicated interface

“It took me some time to figure it out

Test Dura�on 15 minutes Took around 7 minutes to understand the tools

Experience Valida�on: issues [Low]

Key Observa�ons

Comments on media clips and effects

“Okay, I like the quality Interface: of the visuals a lot, it’s “It’s taking me a bit to figure it Par�cipant seemed the most Par�cipant begins crea�ng visual really makes it the transi�ons between the black and white out, it’s a li�le complicated” frustrated during the test important thing for me” compared the User 1 and 2. It graphics toggling between two media clips the synchronicity between the seemed like there needed to Experience valida�on par�cipant’s clicking intervals and be a lot of clicking involved to Par�cipant seemed most interested in was low with this user, the music did not always line up achieve syncing of the effects crea�ng visuals by changing composi�ons whereas user 1 and 2 using different effects presumably because of the to the high bpm and the seemed to show effects were interac�ng with mouse did not seem an agile engagement a�er they each other masking the reac�vity enough tool to make it Media clip and effect preferences could got acquainted with the of any one effect not be determined as user seemed happen . tool, user 3 s�ll seemed confused by what each effect was unsa�sfied With this par�cipant the music Par�cipant repeatedly intended to do being played had a high bpm and men�oned the need for as she tried to click on the effects “being used to the tools” to be Camera input failed to elicit excitement with the beat she would o�en able to create desired results miss syncing the clicking ac�on with the music. The seemed to Head movements were almost create some frustra�on. non-existent presumably due to confusion caused by the I mean I like the concept a lot but effects not syncing to the I was trying very hard to get in to music it ..but if the interface was Entrainment simpler it would be easier..like..i The test lasted only 15 would have a lot more fun minutes showing low levels of engagement and excitement during the test

Agency: User showed liittle agency during the test Entrainment: There was very litte entrainment observed

23

USER TESTING PHASE 1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Main Issues

Observation

Solution

1. Complicated interface

Asked a lot of questions:“So basically this is a console like a deck, and I’m only allowed to use this row?”

Use key manipulation features and remove extra features. These key features can be mapped onto a real controller

User seemed confused by some extra options: “what about the controls here..what do they do?”

“I had a clear vision of what I wanted to do but I couldn’t find the tools

MAIN ISSUES 1. Difficult interface 2. Users wanted reactivity 3. Too many effects were confusing

2. Lack of Reactivity

“I’m trying to make it react to the bass” Participant had opened the settings for each effect in an attempt to make the effect react more accurately to the music.

Participant started creating shorter loops on the effect to make it sync with the beat.

Create pre-sets with reactive clips

3. Need for a “drop” preset

“I was trying to find the right effect to play at the drop”

Create a pre-set that is bombastic, upon clicking can create an appropriate response to a “drop” in a track

4. Layering of clips and effects needs to be more complimentary to each other

“Now I’ve used too many effects” “How do I go back to the original?”

Create smart pairings of clips and effects that can be stacked on top of each other to create dynamic effect

5. Co-ordinated clicking movements were difficult to achieve at high at BPM

the synchronicity between the participant’s clicking intervals and the music did not always line up

Need to automate syncing of effects to beats

6. lack of clarity in the implications of each effect

presumably because of the effects were interacting with each other masking the reactivity of any one effect

Effects have to be clearly named and functionality has to be limited in a way that it reflects the name

7. Confusion due to plurality of effect manipulation parameters

“It’s not doing anything anymore”

Limit the effect manipulation to 2-3 parameters per effect

24

DESIGN PHASE 1 A QUICK MOCK-UP

INTERFACE a) Limited to 6 media clips and 6 effects b) Effect presets were created for each effect based on media clip categores c) User was limited to 2 effects per media clip to create a clearer visual feedback 25

DESIGN PHASE 1 MEDIA CLIP CATEGORIES SCENARIOS

DROP

BUILD-UP

BOMBASTIC

MELLOW

MOVEMENT SLOW/FAST

High energy Should cover the screen Should have variety of movement

Slightly subdued energy Screen get’s busy gradually Gradually increasing movement

Energetic Graphical/ generative elements work better variation in animation

Calm Not too busy Slow and steady movement Immersive animations

REACTIVITY LESS/HIGH

High

High

High

Low

ELEMENTS LESS/MORE

Increase in number abruptly

Can be a range (less to more)

Many

Could vary

EFFECT PRESET CATEGORIES “PRESS THIS ON THE DROP”

MOVE TO THE BEAT

“MAKE IT CALM”

MAKE IT LOOK COOL

EFFECT PRESET FOR DROP EFFECTS

PROPERTIES

Iterate Trails Wave Warp 3D cube

Automated to react to sound Opacity animated Iterate mode Slowed down, resolution zero

26

USER TESTING PHASE 2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Due to shortage of time, Test was repeated with the one participant who displayed the least amount of agency and entrainment during testing phase 1 Updated test set-up a) The interface was restricted to buttons and knobs on a MIDI controller

Updated Goals: a) Observe the ease with which user could manipulate the visuals with using buttons and knobs b) Observe user clip and effect matching patterns c) Observe changes in engagement (head movements) compared to Test 1 d) Conduct a post test interview about improving the experience e) Identify issues and create recommendations Identified issues: • Participant felt self-conscious • Need for more than one participant be part of the experience • A space to get acquainted with the controls was needed Validation: The results showed a a) visible improvement in the ability to manipulate the stream due to simplified controls b) this in turn lead to increased synchronized head movements demonstrating more engagement and agency compared to test 1.

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USER TESTING PHASE 2 FINDINGS User User : Rehmat

Experience Valida�on: Very High Main Issues: Expected performance anxiety

“I did feel self-concious” “There’s a learning curve”

issues

Key Observations

Performance Anxiety: ”I can also imagine almost the nerves that would come with it”

Participant appeared at ease with controls, managed to mix visuals using the opacity knob Test Duration: 30 minutes intuitively. There was a marked improvement “Like if you were to be a co-creator of sorts with the dj or with the performer, um, in comfort while navigating the bu�ons on the Took under 1 minute to yea you’d have some stage kind of interaction and you ’d have the same kind of “Um it was, I did feel a li�le self-conscious in MIDI controller gain an understanding of exhilaration you’d have from being on stage” the beginning - because you’re learning the tools. something new - there’s a learning curve” Participant used the MIDI controller to create “you’re providing really really cool graphics for people to mess with” layered and complex visuals, seemed a lot more into the experience, a lot less confusion “but overall the experience was a lot more immersive than I thought it would be. could be seem compared to test 1.

Because, even I think watching somebody do it, you don’t get the same level of engagement” Participant actively engaged with the interface and appeared immersed.

“I think it’s a really untapped part of participating in a digital event because - I think people take it for granted - not take it for granted but I think there ’s a lot of Participant seemed to slowly get in the flow, complacency that - oh ok if I’m a�ending a digital event, it’s all going to be started to show synchronized head passive, it’s all going to be boring and I’m not going to get to interact in any movements with the music fairly early on into meaningful way. But I think this actually can generate a lot of enjoyment but also the test and the energy seemed to grow a lot of like, it’s the word… I guess it is exhilaration” during the course of the test.

“This was a completely different experience compared to the last test..i was so confused.. the difference is day and night” “it’s visual DJing”

Experience Validation [Very High] “This was a completely different experience compared to the last test..i was so confused..the difference is day and night”

“A lot of um, hype, you get more involved than you would be otherwise” “because it engages more senses, so you’re more involved “ “it definitely made me more present and it actually grounded me more in the music because I was waiting for audio cues to come to me”

Comments on media clips and effects Participant carefully manipulated clip labeled “bombastic”, slowly turning the opacity up and successfully mixing it with the “head” media clip under it. Participant showed a lot more focus on manipulating the effect

Participant seemed for the most part comfortable with media clip and effect pairings but mentioned that some parings ended up looking odd.

Participant wasn’t vocally expressing much but seemed completely immersed in the experience and started showing energetic synchronized head movements with the music. Seemed to be very comfortable with the controls

.

“a lot of room for improv which is super nice” If” I’m imagining it the right way, I think there’s a lot of space for this to become a social phenomena, and I can see this picking up really quickly” “it makes music events more accessible in a way for people who have mobility issues or sensory issues or cost issues. It’s a way for them to experience it without being there and there’s this added incentive to use it because your work is actually still shown on the screen, it’s not isolated. So it doesn’t feel solitary in that way because it’s all about eyeballs “it’s visual Djing”

Participant displayed a streaked of manipulating visuals for 12:39 minutes without any interruption and need for moderation. Frequent synchronized head movements could be seen.

Entrainment Entrainment Agency: User showed seemed confortable in being able to manipulate the stream by the buttons and knobs and seemed satsfied with the degree to which she could impac�he stream as intended.

Entrainment: Partcipant frequently displayed entrainment, specifically during a 12 minute spell in which entrainment was airly continuous ranging from low energy to high energy.

28

USER TESTING PHASE 2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS Main Issues

Observation

Solution

1. Participant felt a little self conscious at first

“I can also imagine almost the nerves that would come with it”

App can provide a “Jam space” where participants can jam to the music and their jams can be displayed as thumbnails in a “Jam Stage”. This way they will to not feel self conscious

2. How can more than one participant be a part of the visual experience

“especially because then you get to see people’s experimentations, and that always broadens the venture, right? “

Jam space can allow all participants who have signed up to “jam” to the music. They can be put on a “go live on greenscreen que” if they chose to perform

3. A space to get acquainted with the tool is needed

“Exactly, it could be a separate channel within the performance” “I did feel a little self-conscious in the beginning because you’re learning something new - there’s a learning curve”

Again, a jam-space could allow users to get acquainted with the tool prior to going live on the green-screen.

Go-live Space

Jam Space

Gallery Space

• One main performer at a time can use this • Visuals are projected on the green screen

• Participants can jam to the music and their jams can be displayed as thumbnails in a “Jam gallery”. This way they will to not feel self conscious as the visuals will not be projected on to the green screen right away • This space also provides a way for the users to get acquainted with the tools prior to going on the green screen • Jamming on their own will still generate the same “entrainment” with the music but it can be experienced in more comfortable space

• Participant jams can be displayed here.

• Participants can also view other jams and interact with them.

• Can have a ranking system, arrangement of jams (top to bottom) can be also used as a leaderboard.

SOLUTION: DIVIDE THE FUNCTIONALITY

29

DESIGN PHASE 2 INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Log-in screen

Log in

Sign-up

Forgot Password

Jam Gallery

Jam Thumbnails

Live Display

Start Jam

Join live performance queue

Upgrade for more FX & media clips

Jam Display

Media clip row 1

Media clip row 2

Media Clip 2

Media Clip 3

Media Clip 4

Media Clip 5

Media Clip 6

Upvote Jam

Join: yes

Join: no

Abort

Timer (time untill going live)

upgrade

Position on performance queue

Media Clip 1

Effect Scale

Media clip opacity

Effect Opacity

Effects Panel

Effect1

Effect 2

Effect 3..

Turn effect on/off

Tap (to the beat) 1,2,3

Resync

Sync on/off

Randomize Effect

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WIREFRAMES

Log-in

Jam Gallery

Upvote Jam

Upvote Success

Swipe up

Jam Space: Select clip prompt

Effect select & sync prompt

“Sync successfull” message

Scroll up

Join live performance

Join live performance confirmation

# on performance queue

Jam space with timer

31

SCREENS LOG-IN AND GALLERY SPACE

Log-in

Jam Gallery

Upvote Jam

Upvote complete

Jam Space: Choose media prompt

“Combine effects” prompt

“Mix media clips” prompt

Two clips mixed display

JAM SPACE

32

GOING LIVE

Join live-performance queue prompt

Live-performance queue timer

Jam space with timer

“go live” notification

“Now live”

UPGRADE

Upgrade option

Media packs screen

Effect packs screen

Saving and social media sharing screen

33

STYLE GUIDE LOGO SIGN

+ Sync

Soundwaves

Description: Synchronicity is an audio-visual controller that allows you to virtually generate live audio-reactive visuals on the green-screen behind the performer.

UI TYPE

LOGO TYPE

SYNCHRONICITY

Ss

TREBUCHET MS REGULAR

CONNECT . PERFORM . CO-CREATE

Cc

SEGOE UI REGULAR

Segoe UI Black

40 px

Segoe UI Bold

32 px

Segoe UI Semibold

24 px

Segeo UI Regular

20 px

Segeo UI Semilight

16 px

SEGEO UI LIGHT

16 px

34

STYLE GUIDE

Color Pallete Effects parameter bar

#48C0B9

Inactive

#5F6266

Assets

Active

Effects button Randomize effect

#48C0B9 Inactive

#282A2C

Active

Locked

Inactive

Active

Sync buttons Time signifiers Inactive

Active Minutes until going live

#060707

Performance queue

Upgrade LIVE: Minutes untill session ends

Timer

35

MEDIA GALLERY The media clips are lined up as such that on their own the clips on the top possess a mellower nature (moderate movement) and the ones on the bottom a more frenetic nature. The character of the clip is indicated by descriptive titles to help user get a basic idea of what the clip might be. However each media clip can be made to suit the audio by pressing “tap, tap, tap and resync” to make each effect trigger on and off to the beat. The speed of the clip would be automatically bpm synced.

Bombastic

Build-up/mellow

MEDIA PACK: TECHNO

36

EFFECTS GALLERY 5 default effects added to the functionality were the ones that a) created a clear visual feedback b) could be stacked on top of eachother in a complimentary way c) Could be used for the different use cases (drop, build-up, mellow, with the use of effect parameters i.e automation of turning effect on/off to the beat, opacity, scale and randomize)

BEAMS

MIRROR QUAD

DELAY RGB

VIDEO WALL

GOO

37

IT ARCHITECTURE

38

USER EXPERIENCE VIDEO CLICK TO VIEW

INTEGRATION INTO REAL-LIFE PERFORMANCE ECOSYSTEM If we conclude that the ability to manipulate the outcome of an event creates new dimensions of engagement, it would be interesting to study what these dimensions look like in a real-life setting.

As suggested by Dynoman (one of the musicians interviewed) a hybrid between digital live-streams and real-life music events are a big possibility as venues start opening up again post COVID-19. Audiences could be a much more meaningful part of real-life music acts that they cannot access if allowed to co-create these events for a real audience.

Shifting the audience role from consumers to active co-creators of an event is an interesting avenue for further research not only in live music but also other live performance acts like theater or dance for example.

39

AIR BUDDY

DESIGN RESEARCH PERSONA MAPPING PRODUCT DESIGN UI BRANDING

Product and app design to address the Smog crisis in Pakistan.

We studied the smog crisis in Pakistan and applied the human centered design approach to generate insights which then served as the basis for conceiving and prototyping “Air Buddy”, an anti-smog plant pot that cleans the air indoor and through smart lights on the pot signifies smog levels outdoors so people can make more informed decisions when planning to go out. .

Master’s Studio Project Hochschule Anhalt Project Member: Farooq Gul 2020

40

PRILIMINARY RESEARCH According to a report by Lancet approximately 22 percent of deaths in Pakistan each year are attributed to air pollution.

Researchers say the government has downplayed the severity of the problem for years, produced unreliable data and sought to pass blame to neighboring India.

STAKEHOLDERS

INDIVIDUALS

INDUSTRY

ORGANISATION

Citizens Environmentalists Children Parents Labourers Animals

Agriculture Brick kilns Energy Development Trade Transportation Schools

NGOS Government Human rights activists

RESEARCH METHODS 1: Create an estimated user type

CHARETTE

2: Collect first-hand data from effected individuals

SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

3: Indepth exploration of selected person

PERSONA MAPPING

Potential victims Potential aggressors

41

RESEARCH METHODS 1 - CHARETTE

2 - SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

Objective: Create an estimated type of user and extract potential painpoint themes.

Objective: Collect firsthand data from effected individuals.

Identified Themes: • Fear for life • Health concerns for close ones • Unawareness • Uncertainty

EXPERT

Rafay Alam Age: 47 Profession: Environment lawyer and activist

Haider Anthony Age: 30 Profession: Business owner in Old Lahore (particularly affected area of Lahore)

“How to get this past the current government on to the next elected government”

“Change in individual behavior is needed”

“It’s going to get much worse so investments are required”

“Population can not rely on government for change”

“I couldn't breath and everyone who came to buy was coughing in my face”

“People are roaming around in ignorance, they have no idea what’s happening ”

“Looking at the grey all the time is efecting my mental health”

“my office is far from my home and driving in such bad visibility is dangerous”

“It was terrible, it looked like it does in a movie, we couldn’t see anything” Maliha Akram Age: 42 Profession: Housewife, mother of 3 young kids

Hassan Ghaznavi Age: 27 Profession: Advertising creative, father of 5 year old

“he has coughs and experiences chest congestion more now i have noticed”

“My husband would go to pray in the mosque and i would strictly ask him to wear a mask. You know he already has weak lungs, it could be

“many flights are cancelled or delayed and there are often big traffic jams because of the smog”

“It’s heartbreaking for me to see my child suffer like this, especially since I was away. I just wish i could give her a clean environment to live in..”

“my five-year-old daughter Zoya had spent two nights in intensive care. The reason was her asthma, which had flared up severely”

42

RESEARCH METHODS 3-

PERSONA MAPPING

PHOTO-ALBUM

Objective: indepth exploration of the selected persona “Maliha Akram” Maliha Akram Age: 42 Profession: Housewife, mother of 3 young kids

WE MET Maliha, a 42 year old housewife and mother of 3 kids. HER MAIN PAIN POINT IS she sees her husband’s health deteriorating and she doesn’t understand why. WE WERE SURPRISED TO DISCOVER that she still doesn’t understand the reasons behind the toxic air. IN A WORLD WHERE information is so easily shared IT WOULD BE GREAT IF WE MANAGE TO create awareness and empower her with knowledge of protecting herself and her family WITH THE HELP OF DESIGN.

43

RESEARCH METHODS PLAYLIST

PERSONA MAPPING MOVIES

BOOKS

44

RESEARCH METHODS Personality Type:

PERSONA MAPPING Script:

Letter

Maliha picked up the freshly arrived package which the tailor had delivered to her house and opened it up in excitement. She quickly got her newly tailored Shalwar Kamiz (traditional Pakistani dress) out and looked at it admiringly. She loved clothes. It was a way to express herself in an otherwise almost confined role as a housewife and mother. She couldn’t wait to try it on and hurried in front of the mirror and changed into her new clothes. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and admired the way her dress was stitched. She was a full bodied woman and this particular cut of shalwar kamiz suited her well. She was happy with her new dress. “ Sana (her sister) will love this dress” she thought. I must take a picture and send it to her. She grabbed her phone from the console which displayed two of her perfumes she’d use interchangeably everyday- Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel and My Burberry Blush by Burberry. She liked the intensity of Mademoiselle and wore it for what she called “Fancy occasions” and the Burberry for every day. There was also some make-up on the console, things that she would wear daily - two lipsticks, a dark and a light shade, by luscious cosmetics, a face-powder by Mac and some kajal from the local shop which she’d put into her eyes which would make her eyes look dark and intense and much larger than they actually were.

Maliha decides to thank the tailor for the wonderful job he’d done and that she might ask him to stick some suits for Sana as well. To her surprise though, when Maliha thanks Salim (the tailor), he sounds rather frazzled. “What happened Salim, are you okay” she asks with genuine concern, she had sensed some anxiousness in Salim’s voice. “Madam, my bike just got hit by the car”, “What?!” she exclaims. Maliha finds out that Salim’s bike got hit by a car on the road while he was driving back home from delivering Maliha’s clothes. Maliha is extremely disturbed by the news. She feels terrible that this poor man’s vehicle got completely smashed and he even suffered some bruises. He had told her that it had happened because the air was so toxic and the visibility was so bad because of the fog.

I am so glad that it was a lovely dinner. It made me happy to see the whole family together after so long. I must admit I have still got it, when it comes to cooking these dinners. Everybody loved the food which is always nice. I wouldn’t want anybody going home with an empty stomach and of course the opinions about bad food that follow horrible dinners. My new cutlery did very well surprise them, the look on my cousin's face when she held the cups was priceless. I am glad I did this in times where people hardly take out time to see one another. Oh and I almost forgot that I need to talk to the house help about those stained dishes.

Oh my god it was such an embarrassment to see those people wiping the stains from all the plates. Such a disaster. I think I should start looking for someone new, this ones just getting lazy.

But nonetheless I was happy to see everyone made the effort to come all this way in this godforsaken smog causing visibility issues.

It’s so silent after the guests have left. I think I love to have people around, it makes me happy to make them happy. But I also feel like I get into this unprovoked competition with family and their children. It makes me feel really unaccomplished as a human being. I think i should try to make a conscious effort to block it out.It just adds unnecessary stress to these gatherings. I guess times have changed and people don’t care much about formalities.

I feel afraid about the smog and smoke in the air. The sky is just so grey and it's always so dark. It would be horrible to live like this.

Just the other day our tailor had a bad accident while riding his bike in this weather with no visibility. It’s so sad the little business he was getting in these corona times, it's horrible for him to be not working , how will he feed his family. We are so lucky to have been decent financially to not worry about the day to day life.

What sort of wrath from god is this smog.

I fear for my children and my family. They travel a lot from work and schools everyday in this breathless air. I hope nobody gets asthma from this. Oh god, Maybe it's not God's wrath but our own doing. I think I should start being more responsible with the environment. I cannot contribute to the deaths of my children and their children. God forgive me I just want to see them happy and healthy. I would love to be able to hold my grandchildren in my arms. Our times were so much simpler and cleaner. We didn't have to worry about these things.

45

BRAINSTORMING 90 ideas to make Maliha feel Secure, Empowered, Aware and Healthy THEME: SERVICES

THEME: PRODUCTS

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BRAINSTORMING 90 ideas to make Maliha feel Secure, Empowered, Aware and Healthy THEME: SYSTEMS

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CREATING SOLUTION ECOSYSTEM Next we chose three solutions and mapped out the ecosystem for each.

SOLUTION 1: AIR VISUALIZATION IN HOUSE HOLD OBJECTS Product Awareness

SOLUTION 2: TRASH COLLECTION SERVICE

Stay in/advise family to stay in

Connectivity

Be mindfull

Stay away from smog affected areas API from an AQI application

Feel the need to protect Change in behaviour PRODUCTION BRANDING

CLose windows and doors

Feel responsible for the environment

PACKAGING

PRODUCT Creating visualzation

User identifies changes in smog levels

Government Funding

SOLUTION 3: MOM’S AGAINST SMOG - AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

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SELECTED SOLUTION - AQI FLOWER POT A flower pot that indicates changes in smog level by change in color on the Pot. The smart pot is directly in sync with AQI measurements online. It signals changes in smog levels The purpose is to make people aware so that they can make active decisions

PROTOTYPING STEP 1: SKETCHES

PROTOTYPING STEP 2: MOCK-UPS

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TESTING THE SOLUTION CONCEPT ONLINE POLL Question:

RECOMMENDATIONS

Would you buy an anti-smog plant with a pot that visually signifies (changes color) according to the smog levels outside (participants were shown video of the plant pot) YES / NO

Result:

1. Create an app to show more information 2. Mark places like child’s school, husband’s office in the app 3. Addition of smog levels throughout the day would be helpful to plan the day better 3. Smog levels predictions for the week should help plan traveling better

Participants n=70 YES n=61

NO n=9

POLL INSIGHTS 1. Intrested participant type: • Participants with asthma and breathing conditions • Housewives and older participants seemed interested • Younger participants who showed interest were those who found the concept to be innovative 2. Participant suggestions: • it should also show smog levels indoors • in addition to the light changing there should be more information about the smog • include sound • something similar for the car would be helpful

3. Questions asked: • “What is the light signifying?”

• “How big would it be?”

4. Does it help the pain point: Yes, to some extent: • The plant is actually helping detoxify the air inside the house.

• As for visual signals being presented in the plant pot some people thought it would be helpful since they would be able to plan the day better.

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AIRBUDDY FINAL PROTOTYPE

Light Therapeutic Smart Reliable

PROTOTYPE MECHANISM STUDY

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AIRBUDDY THE BRAND

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APP

PROTOTYPE AND EXPERIENCE VIDEO CLICK TO VIEW

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NEWSROOM DESSAU

ACTION RESEARCH ORGANIZATION DESIGN COMMUNICATION DESIGN

A student organization geared towards bringing the german and international community on campus togther.

Using Action Research we carried out a number of interventions to understand our core concern “Lack of integration between different student bodies at Anhalt Dessau”.The insights resulted in the creation of Newsroom Dessau, a communication platform that would inform students of ongoing events and how to access them.

Master’s Studio Project Hochschule Anhalt Project Member: Aysel Cebrailoglu & Ismail Çobanoğlu 2020

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OUR CONCERN “Lack of integration between different student bodies at Anhalt Dessau”

RQ: How do we get to know more about the concern?

FIRST INTERVENTION Organize a quick low cost, low production event. The objective was: • Bring the diverse factions of the student body together (Germans, International, Bachelor Students, Master Students and different departments) • Create an event that everyone can enjoy • Get an opportunity to ask the students some questions and feedback about their experience at Anhalt

MOVIE NIGHT

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MOVIE NIGHT

OBJECTIVE

Key Decisions: • Screen the movie “Back to The Future” • Because of it’s nostalgic value the different segments of the student body will be interested to attend

1. Bring German and international students together 2. Ask them questions about thier experience at the campus 3. Investigate the reasons for lack of integration 4. Make it cozy, bring mats, cushions food and beer. Create the warmth we feel is missing in the campus 5. Find out if students want more events like this

FIRST INTERVENTION: MOVIE NIGHT Process

Designing quick flyers to market the event. We had 3 days to do this and we had to act fast.

Printed flyers ready to be hung around the campus

Our initial impressions were that many will not show up because we did not have time to market very well

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FIRST INTERVENTION: MOVIE NIGHT Process

Event Schedule:

Questionaire

• Welcome People • Talk to them about their experience • Ask them a series of prepared ques tions, record the feedback • Watch movie • At the end introduce who we are and hand them a feedback questionnaire

Event Space

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FIRST INTERVENTION: MOVIE NIGHT 43 student’s showed up to the event.

Feedback was recorded in the form of: • Voice recordings from casual conver sations we had • Questionnaires answered Participants were requested to join our instagram page which at the time was called “Blue poppy”. This way we could stay in touch with them for further research.

FEEDBACK Students wanted more spaces of integration: People are hungry for such events – they wanted more movie nights

Identifying other bodies who were doing similar work: We were told there are already existing student organizations who are trying to make similar efforts

Lack of a unified communication source: We were also told that events are happening but the campus does not have a unified source of communication

Current sources of communication: Most people saw our invitation on the facebook community “Dessau International” showing FB and social media is an important channel of communication 58

THE EVOLUTION OF OUR CONCERN

OUR PURPOSE

1. Medium of communication 2. Creating spaces/events for integration 3. Collecting, creating and dissiminating news content highlighting already existing events Started off as a physical space where people would connect and would attend events we host. As we recieved feedback our purpose and focus changed.

OUR FOCUS

1. Focus on community building 2. Facilitate inter-department communication, remove silos 3. Create a culture of sharing and collaboration 4. Facilitating acceptence of diversity 5. Creating empathy

NEW CONCERNS

1. Need to study current channels of communication 2. Need to reach out to existing student bodies from other departments actively seeking to get students together 59

SHAPING OUR SOLUTION OUR FUNCTION

1.

A communication platform Objective: Connect existing events with students

2.

Create content/space/events based on community feedback: - Workshops - Films - Game Nights - Food - Skill Sharing - Language - Game acitivty design - Art

NEXT STEPS: VALIDATION

1. Validate concept 2. Contact student body represen tatives from other departments 3. Recruit a German student on board to access German students 4. Budget

SECOND INTERVENTION: Presentating to panel of students from Cloud Design Club OBJECTIVES: 1. Present our concern and proposed solution, record feedback 2. Present feedback from Movie Night 3. Ask volunteers to join us 4. Ask experts at Cloud how they managed to establish themselves and were successful 60

SECOND INTERVENTION: CLOUD PRESENTATION

SHAPING THE SOLUTION

20 minute Presentation & 40 minute feedback session recorded on video.

Student Bodies

Existing Communication Platforms

Student Council AG Kultur VorOrt DIA MAID PLUM

Dessau International AG Telekom group Cloud Discord Channel Incom

KEY FEEDBACK

• “Excellent initiative” • “Just do ıt, dont waıt for admın to help or for permıssıons” • “Get a physıcal space – maintain sustainibility ” • “Get in touch with student body” • “Other people have also tried and failed”

BE THE COMMUNOCATION PLATFORM FOR ALL

Core Function 1. Collect information 2. Dissiminate Information 3. Create marketing content 4. Cover events on our platform

Core Team 1. Community Growth Developer 2. Creative Direction / Graphic Designer 3. Content writer (english and German) 4. Community reach volunteer 5. Photographer 6. Videographer

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NEXT STEPS: EXPANDING THE TEAM

Recruiting Leo; Strategic benefits Based on the feedback from the presentation we hired Leo who was a German Bachelor student and the Student Council President. He played an influential role in further shaping Newsroom Dessau by: • Bringing in logistic and administrative skills • Informed us about the student council and how it works • Informing us about how we can leverage on the system and gain validation from university by giving students credits for joining the organization • Informed us that student council can fund some of the activities • Helped us claim a room in the campus and make it into our informal office

Newsroom headquarters at the campus

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DESIGN OUTCOMES THE BRAND Logo

COMMUNICATION

Marchandise

Mobile application

Campus Guide

Funtioned as a unified noticeboard

Campus Guide: Function was to make inter-department/community access easier and to help international students integrate in the city easier.

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DESIGN OUTCOMES POSTERS

Logo Details: Color : Yellow for vibrancy Font: Chose the font with some movement in it showing interaction and a “buzz” A homage to Bahaus

Manifesto: “Making life Thrive in Dessau by bringing people together”

Endorsements: AGKultur: Campus events Organization cloud: Campus design club PLUM: Architecture department com munity group Vorort: Dessau’s go-to creative space/community center

Posters displayed around the campus

Team Intro and recruitment

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DESIGN OUTCOMES

SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

An encouraging initial feedback

Instagram

Facebook

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LMS Process Mapping for Learning Management System for Saudi Electricity Company

CLICK TO VIEW FINAL PRODUCT VIDEO

DESIGN RESEARCH UX STRATEGY PROCESS MAPPING SRS DOCUMENTATION

I was involved as the project consultant for creating the Learning Management System for Saudi Electricity company (20,000 employees). The system needed to consider training and development needs for employees on different levels of their profession.

I worked extensively on interviewing various stakeholders and compiling the needs in a Functionality Requirment document.These needs were then mapped out in the form of an entity relationship diagram, use case diagrams data-flow diagrams and activity diagrams.

Project Consultant Saudi Electricity Company 2018 - 2019

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BRIEF

PROCESS

• Create a System Requirement Document that collects and analyzes all assorted ideas that have come up during stakeholder interviews

1. Extensive interviews with the stakeholders (Admin, Coaches, Employees, Line Manager) 2. Compiled requirements in a functionality requirement document 3. Created Solution Scope 4. Created process mapping diagrams including entity rela tionship diagram, use cases, data flows and activities per

• Provide a detailed overview of the LMS, its parameters and goals based on project's target audience requirements that is to be handed-over to the IT team for development.

SOLUTION SCOPE To provide Learning Management System Application that has the following features: 1. User Login process Using Active directory 2. Coaches Registration 3. Load SEC Employees Form HR database 4. Category Functionality 5. Programs Functionality 6. Modules Functionality 7. Program Content Functionality 8. Content Doc Type, Pdf Type, Video Type Functionality 9. Cohorts Functionality 10. Activity’s Functionality 11. Employee Attendance Functionality 12. Employee Pre/Post Assessments Functionality 13. Employee IDP Report Functionality 14. Workshop Evaluation Report Functionality

15. Group/Individual Chat Functionality 16. E-Mailing Functionality 17. Employee Quiz Functionality 18. User Management Functionality 19. Events Schedule Functionality 20. Notifications Functionality 21. Library Integration Functionality 22. Job aids Functionality 23. External Users Registration Functionality 24. Assigning Programs To Coaches Functionality 25. Assigning Programs To Employees Functionality 26. Coach Quiz Evaluation Functionality 27. Line Manager Employee IDP Evaluation Functionality

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ENTITY RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM

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USE CASES ADMIN

LINE MANAGER

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USE CASES

COACH

EMPLOYEE

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DATA FLOW DIAGRAMS

ADMIN

LINE-MANAGER

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DATA FLOW DIAGRAMS

COACH

EMPLOYEE

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ACTIVITIES

LOG-IN

CREATE PROGRAM

UPLOAD CONTENT

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ACTIVITIES

CREATE PAGE INFO

EMBEDD CONTENT

CREATE CONTENT VIA URL

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ACTIVITIES

ADD REFERENCE

CREATE ASSIGNMENT

CREATE EVENT

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ACTIVITIES

CREATE COHORT

ASSIGN COHORT COACH

CREATE CHAT

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ACTIVITIES

CREATE ROOM

ASSIGN MENTOR

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SoSpree AI facilitated Fashion app

DESIGN RESEARCH UX STRATEGY PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS USER INTERVIEWS CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT PROTOTYPING

I was involved in the concept development and UX strategy of an inhouse AI facilitated fashion app for which I conducted target market, comptetitor and AI research. I created a product requirements document based on business USP’s and first hand user desires from such a fashion platform. We came up with unique AI facilitated features based on real target market feedback. I then visualized these as UX flows and app mock-up/prototype.

UX Strategist, UX/UI designer TaylorFlynn 2022

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SOSPREE: AN AI FACILITATED FASHION APP BUSINESS CONCEPT:

A mobile first AI curated digital shopping experience BUSINESS GOAL

Use AI to Outperform classic retailers in their online activities through highly automized and individualized journeys including content creation.

WHO: Age: 16-59 Gender: Female Location: USA Common Interests : Online shopping

USER RESEARCH METHODS: 1. SURVEY 2. COMPETITOR USER REVIEWS

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SOSPREE USER SURVEY

SURVEY OBJECTIVES: -

SURVEY QUESTIONS

What users want in thier online shopping experience What are some of user insights into buying motivation

USER INSIGHTS: RECURRENT THEMES THAT SHAPED THE SOPREE FUNTIONALITY INSIGHTS

SERVICE FEATURES

Users wanted to shop for complete outfits

“Make a Spree” : A button that would allow the app to create a whole outfit for the user

Users tended to shop for specific occasions

Occasion based categories

Users were taking their shopping inspirations from Hollywood stars and their looks

Creative AI search: User would be allowed to search for “Madonna in American Pie”

Users were often trying to look for items that matched their existing pieces of clothing

My wardrobe feature: Allows user to upload their piece of clothing based on which our AI would make outfit recommendations

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SOSPREE COMPETITOR USER REVIEWS [ANALYSIS] COMPETITOR REVIEW OBJECTIVES -

COMPETITOR USER REVIEWS

Identify potential challenges for Sospree Identify potential oppurtunities for Sospree

USER INSIGHTS: RECURRENT THEMES THAT SHAPED THE SOPREE FUNTIONALITY INSIGHTS PRAISE Users praised fast and accurate shipping

CHALLENGE SoSpree shipping pipeline to be as fast if not faster

Users praised it as a solution for when in a hurry

Sospree shopping experience to be more streamlined

Users praised the collection of items

Sospree collection to be more individualized and customized

CRITIQUE Users critisized substandard quality items

Oppurtunity Partner with quality fashion brands

Users critisized pricing as expensive

Pricing to be good value for money

Users critisized “Model perfect” clothes

Hold collections for real bodies 81

SOSPREE CONCEPT VISUALIZATIONS BASED ON USER INSIGHTS

Instagram add

“Make a spree” button gives an entire outfit suggestion “My Style” allows user to choose formal/casual

Sospree home screen with the brand’s unique “Make a Spree feature

“My Themes” are custom themes that allows the audience to view entire outfits based on specific events

“Creative search” features allows the user to search for celebrity looks, this is where the AI really comes into play

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SOSPREE CONCEPT VISUALIZATIONS BASED ON USER INSIGHTS

“My Wardrobe” allows users to keep inventory of their items, also the ones they own!

“Add items” allows users to upload clothing items they have

SoSpree AI then gives outfit options for the item uploaded

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SOSPREE CONCEPT VISUALIZATIONS BASED ON USER INSIGHTS

“ 3 click pay funnel” for faster puchase “Custom menu for user profile” allows user to: 1. enter their body details for individulized suggestions 2. Access my Wardrobe feature 3. Be able to revisit saved outfits

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rahema@gmail.com

+49 176 28665538

@rahema.z (instagram)