Internship Role and Learning

Project Details

Personal Learnings and Role

User Study, Social Experiment, Understanding User Behavior

About

An experiment to understand and observe user behavior by sending anonymous letters to a group of people. Started as a personal prank, the experiment took me through experiencing honest emotions as user feedback, and provided a platform to convert that feedback into a better experience every next time. Come let’s see!

My Team

Sofia Tapias, Cyril Bertin, Maxence Fournier, Rhea Parakh

My Mentors

Niels DeJong, Wendy Snoek, Robert van der Linde, Herman Kossman, Femke Bijlsma, Sietske Sips

Time Taken

Period of 6 Months

Team

Ruby Jhunjhunwala, Rhea Parakh, Rudra Bhave, Hrishikesh Pawar, Studio Adipa Team, Team : The Mills

Personal Role

Storytelling, User Research, Interviews, Analyzing User Journeys, Creativity- Metaphorical Approach, Sensorial and Emotional Approach, Bringing in an Indian Perspective into Healing

Emotions to Feel

Playful, Feel-Good, Emotional

Access the Internship Audit Here

The Team

Alphonse Hennebel, Clemence Demeestre, Yann Gosset, Rhea Parakh

Personal Role

Planning, Concept Ideation, PR and Advertisement, Exhibition Design, Graphic Design and Video Editing, Space Visualization, Logistics and Management, On Field Work, Execution, Entertaining the Guests and Artists, Guide for the Exhibition.

Access the Essay Here

Tools Used

existing examples

"Dig in and enjoy the story that hopes to inspire, to spread a message, make you laugh, question ourselves, and hopefully, not bore you until the very end. Enjoy!"

Click to read the whole story here.

Click to continue the story here.

Just a gist

What did I learn through this?

Things to keep in mind

Addressing trending issues in the letters.

Change your handwriting!

Context and User Persona of the Receiver

Shruti Das

Originally from Kolkata
Currently living in a girls hostel in Pune

Shruti is a free spirited girl from Kolkata. She was born and brought up in the Kolkata and it is her first time living outside the city. She is surrounded by artists at home, and indulges in a holistic lifestyle. An introvert by character, she takes charge once she feels comfortable in a new situation.

“Starting college is like entering a new phase of life. New city, new friends, new experiences, new responsibilities; these are just a glimpse of what awaits you.”

Challenges

Shifting to college hostels - living without family.
Sharing your room with a stranger.
The nervousness and anxiety of having to move to a different city, against the excitement of the freedom that college life offers.
Mixed emotions
Different social structure
Engaging with new people from different strata
New coursework

What did the receiver feel post the activity?

User Journey Mapping

Emotional Quotient of the User

A glimpse of the letters

In other places ...

Did it in a hotel with my family and friends for 105 rooms in Chennai, India. For fun's sake!

My sister and I put notes in the elevators in our society during the Covid season.

Did it with my friend in my college, in France, with a slight twist. Cultural differences were seen.

What they had to say ...

"It takes very little to make humans happy, to put a smile on their faces and that note definitely made me feel special. Like I matter to someone.. it was special, the first one and then the second and honestly I would wait for the next note.. like I’d always be excited about what’s gonna be in it next."

"Felt like someone cared about me and had put in effort to see a smile on my face. We often seek for big joys and have preset ideas about what gives us joy but this made me think how joy can be found AND given through the simplest and unlikeliest gestures and simplest and unlikeliest of places."

"It felt good to know there’s someone who likes to see beyond the same old routines and same old habits to find amusement through these little interactions - by finding small but significant ways to create connections with others. Made me forget my problems for at least those 30 seconds"

Challenges

- How to make sure the experiment/ activity stays a secret.

- Safeguarding personal identity.

- Maintain user interest and indulging in personal stories.

- Maintaining a sense of surprise, over a period of time for the activity.

- Finding the right time slot to deliver the notes without being seen.

Learnings

- Capturing user’s emotional needs.

- Turning my frown into their smile.

- Turning a bad day into a problem and experimenting with solutions.

- Converting immediate feedback into experience and prototyping

What's Next?

- Where can we use this activity to make a positive difference in society?

- Exploring the connection between the act of giving and happiness.

- Bringing back simple joys in life through playfulness.

- Using social pranks to enliven public spaces.

- To use these learnings and tools and build on them to explore Spatial Storytelling as a future prospect for my career.

Anonymous Letters

A User Experience Initiative

Internship Role and Learning

Project Details

Personal Learnings and Role

About

My Team

My Mentors

My Mentors

Time Taken

Team

Personal Role

Emotions to Feel

Access the Internship Audit Here

The Team

Personal Role

Access the Essay Here

Tools Used

Just a gist

What did I learn through this?

Things to keep in mind

Context and User Persona of the Receiver

Challenges

What did the receiver feel post the activity?

User Journey Mapping

Emotional Quotient of the User

A glimpse of the letters

In other places ...

What they had to say ...

Challenges

Learnings

What's Next?