Prototype week 6

We conducted our prototype by outlining the situation :

You are a student at CoCA, although you are designing everyday at uni you feel disconnected to your individual creativity.  This is because with the high demands of your uni workload and juggling other commitments you find it hard to take time out. 

It is week 5 and you are feeling really stressed about getting your assignments done, you have been working on one project for hours and feel like you are going round in circles. 

On your way to get some lunch you walk past the creative lab, this is on the door…. 

Creative Lab

When was the last time you did something creative that wasn’t related to your uni work?

Research shows that taking time away from work scheduling time away from work can lead to a higher level of wellbeing.

Whether you’ve got five minutes or 2 hours come in to replenish enjoy some creative play.

We had our protoype set up in two sections. A floor plan of the space which had lots of different activities that could be moved around and post-it notes for people to write comments and add things. We also had a few simple activities, drawing games, straws and lego for people to play with. This allowed people to give us feedback about what they would and would not like in the Creative Lab. The aim of this was to find out if people would use the space, when they would use it and if it will be an effective in remedy to stress. 

The feedback we got was:

• They need to activites that I can easily take home from uni. 
•  I would come with a friend, but I would feel awkward coming alone, need someone to chat to while doing the activities. 
• I would go for inspiriation, having things like playdough would be good, other activites are just more relaxing rather than inspiring. 
• It's too random to be inspiring, you can do everything and at the same time nothing.  
• It would be cool to have a Play Zone with bubble wrap, or just bubbles.  
• Bean bags!
• Coffee machine. 
• I like that there are sections for different activities. 
• No deadlines is a nice break from uni. 
• Could have weekly exhibitions. 
•  I don't know if I would come and do random things here, as a break I like to make birthday presents for people, I make posters, T-shirts, I like this because it's still constructive so makes me feel good, it has a purpose. 
• It's nice to have activities where you are taking something away. 

We also asked a few questions to get more direct answers. 

If you have a spare 30min during the day what do you do? 

• Watch Tv show
• Bake to relax, or cook, they are good things to do because it's constructive downtime.

When do you think you would use this space? 

Inbetween lectures, inbetween meetings, to take a break from work. 

Do you think this space would help you distress? 

Yes definitley, because it's a different space away from uni. 

From this prototype, we got some really valuable insights. 

We need to think about the tension between inspirational activites and relaxing activities, it is a space for destressing, but people still need to feel some sense of purpose. We also need to think about making the space comfortable for people coming alone, maybe the way we arrange tables. 

For our next prototype we need to find out more about: 

• When people will you the space
• For how long 
• What they want to get out of it e.g connection, alone time, productive. 
• How they want it to look and feel.
• If people would be keen to share skills with others and learning from their peers, as well as learning interdisciplinary skills. 
• If they want a guided expereince, or if they want it to be self directed.