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Summary: Modern electronic devices provide mediated communication that
can lead to a reduction in interpersonal skills. The Flight Kit inspires
face-to-face interaction through a lantern.
Introduction: Communication in the
form of SMS and email provides a mediation that allows us to remain a
safe distance from social interaction. This can work to our advantage
but can also reduce our interpersonal skills. An article from Time Out
magazine has acted as a starting point for the project. The article suggested
an increase in Social Phobia caused by forms of mediated communication.
Process: Initial attempts focused
on concepts that would not function without two or more people present.
It became evident that a design that encouraged face-to-face communication
should embody the potential of the experience and not force it upon a
user.
The album “Zaireeka” by the Flaming Lips provided inspiration
for our approach. The album is presented on four separate CD’s,
each one providing two tracks of the eight-track music that the album
contains. To hear the full potential of the music four CD players are
required to play each CD and four people to press play simultaneously.
The album inspires a collaborative, collective musical experience.
Description: The Flight Kit provides
people with the shared collaborative experience of flight. An individually
numbered kit is sent to users via the post and contains the elements required
to assemble three tissue-paper balloons. The design of the packaging and
instructions are there to suggest but not dictate use; imagination is
required. On receiving the kit the user could assemble it alone but would
soon realise that it is much better to arrange and get a group of people
together. The size and the materials of the balloons make it easier to
assemble with others and impossible to fly alone. At least three people
are needed to inflate and launch the balloons.
The flight kit acts as inspiration for group collaboration. We defined
a group as being anything over three people (“three is a crowd”).
The potential experience that the use of the balloons affords provides
this phenomenon.
Results: The Kit’s were sent
out to numerous test users. On each occasion the kit succeeded in inspiring
people to gather a group and try it out. Responses were positive, even
if the balloons did not fly, as each group had shared memories of their
experiences.
Conclusion: The design of the object
itself (the balloon) is not new; in fact many festivals around the world
traditionally use them. Rather this project was an exploration into how
designers can encourage shared collaborative experiences through the potential
of objects. The way in which the package was received, and the open nature
of how to fulfil the potential of its contents, served to allow its users’
freedom over how they experienced the Flight Kit and the emotional return
they received and shared with their collaborators. Each Flight Kit successfully
provided a focal point and mediator for human interaction, encouraging
face-to-face collaboration and communication. The nature of the object,
in the sense of its single use and the transience of its use (each balloon
was destroyed in its flight), meant that a groups’ shared memory
of the experience became the focus of the Flight Kit, rather than the
object itself.
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