Introduction
This week we focused on preparing for the playtest that will happen next Monday at West Liberty University. We prepared 5 prototypes either with cardboard or with tablets. Our goal is to test and see how kids will react to the activities. We want to know whether they like them or not and whether they have a good understanding of each activity. On Friday, February 11, Deeplocal, a Pittsburgh based design agency, also came to the project room and shared their thoughts with the team.
Prototyping
Shadow puppet: This idea was taken a step further from an idea that came from brainstorming. The team built this prototype with 3 DMX LED lights, a white backdrop and some handmade simple puppet characters. The goal is to show kids how white light is made of red, green and blue. When the shadow puppet is held in front of the 3 lights that are focused on one area, we could see that some colors will be blocked. We will then see how red and green make yellow, how green and blue make magenta, and how blue and red make cyan on the backdrop.
Simple animation with light switching: Our fabricator, Bob, has successfully connected a DMX LED with 3 switches that turn on red, green and blue light respectively. The light is shined on a whiteboard that kids can draw on with marks of different colors. The kids can experiment with how pigment colors look differently under different colors of light. As a demonstration, we drew this explosion effect. By switching the colors, the drawing looks animated.
Light mixing software prototypes: These two simple games allow kids to experiment with the primary colors of light and to get a direct feedback of how the colors interact with each other. We are planning on letting kids play with them on tablets.
This one is made by Wizard. Kids can slide the 2 primary colors to the center of each side, and it will show the mixture of the 2 colors. Here is the link to play the game online.
This game was made by Caitlyn. It shows the kids the 3 secondary colors, and asks kids to find the primary colors that make them. Here is the link to play the game online.
The team thinks that these two activities work really well together. The first activity works as a key for the second activity: if kids are not sure about the answers for the second activity, they can refer to the first activity.
Meeting with Deeplocal
On Friday, Deeplocal visited the Entertainment Technology Center. As a team, we invited them to visit our room. We showcased our prototypes and asked for their opinions. A
Preparing for the playtesting
We are planning on going to the Center of Art and Education at West Liberty University on February 14, 2020 to test some prototypes. We are going to meet about 15 kids of various ages. Our primary goal of this playtest is to get an idea of whether the activities we made are something that can get kids excited about. We are interested in seeing how kids of different ages react differently to different activities.
We have prepared some questions that we are going to ask the kids. We have been looking into ways of conducting playtests with kids, because we want the kids to open up and not to be nervous when the team is around. We will primarily observe them and ask questions. While we are asking the questions, we want to bring ourselves to the kids level. We want to talk to them in a way that’s conversational, natural and comfortable to the kids. Additionally, we want to record videos of kids playing and analyze the recordings later when we are back to Pittsburgh.
The kids that we will work with are in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and fifth grade. Knowing the age difference, we have designed our playtest into two sessions: the first section for younger kids, and the second section for older kids. We will set up the space with 4 activity stations: shadow puppet, arduino, tablet and simple animation. The kids can choose to go to an activity station when they see it’s available.
Meeting with the Client
During our client meeting, we showed them the activities that we will bring to the playtest. The client talked about their space and the demographic, and together we discussed the itinerary on that day. Our client is very supportive and invited us to have lunch with them.
Looking into Next Week
- Playtesting on Monday and Friday
- Iteration