Last week, for the final project, Gabriel, Sweta and I had a play test last week. We showed users the pictures below and asked them "what will you do if you see this" and "the system t", and the circuits(the touching lamp with two metal foils).
The result of the playtest is very helpful. It turns out that many users thinking about the input and output differently, so we need to change our original idea.
Playtest result:
First of all, most users don't like singing in public, and they preferred to talk first. I thought the singing part will be fun, but it turns out many people don't like it so much. One or two people said they'll trying to sing if someone told them to. But still, singing is a difficult part.
Secondly, they don't feel like to touch lamp. We think the two kinds of inputs may confused users. But if we only have one kind of input and make the lamp very beautiful, or maybe instruct users to try to touch them and see what will happen, maybe the input will be clear to users.
Because of the result, we are going to leave the "singing" input for a while, and just get done with the "touching" input first. And if we still have time, we'll try to use different way to convert sound input to visual output, like the singing input did.
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Here's some notes we prepared for the user test:
What We Want Answered
- Does the name “Piano Lamps” make sense? What does the user picture when they hear the name ‘Piano Lamps’?
- Do we need a visible microphone?
- Can the user easily figure out how to play with the installation?
- Does the user get confused by being able to sing and touch in order to play the notes?
- Does the user have to sing accurately?
- Does the light get brighter if the user is singing more accurately or if the user is singing more loudly? how are we defining ‘accuracy’?
- Does the user learn that if they sing a certain note the same lamp turns on?
- Does the piece work with multiple people?
- Do the lamps have to light up in a particular order to make sense?
Before the Test
- Do you like singing? Do you think you’re a good or a bad singer?
Instructions We have a series of lamps here that will light up when you talk or sing. Each lamp lights up on a different note when you sing. If you touch it, the lamp will also light up and make a sound.
Don’t worry about singing, you can also talk if you’re not comfortable.
Now we’re going to sing together. Let’s see what happens if we both sing a song together.
Ask the User - Post Test
- Would you change the name from “Piano Lamps”? If so, what would you call it?
- On a scale of 1 - 7, how easy or difficult was it to play with the lamps?
- On a scale of 1 - 7, how easy or difficult was it to understand how to play the piece?
- Did you expect the lamp to sing when you sang a note?
- What do you think is happening when the light is dim? What do you think makes the light brighter?
- Do you think you have to sing well to play with the lamps?
- Would you want to sing with another person?