Team
Miriam Green
UX Researcher & Creative Direction Lead, leading the team in background research, aesthetic finishes of the prototype and documentation.
Jodie Clothier
Interaction & UX Designer, leader of user testing sessions, analysis of data, video composition and general team leader.
Mikkel Astrom
Visualisations & Fabrication Lead, in charge of making the prototype structure and components, renders and sound experience.
Taha Kanj
Front-end Developer, in charge of code creation and troubleshooting for the lights, sound and technical setup.
My Role
Background Research | Concept Development | Analysis | Documentation | Artistic Fabrication
Project Brief
To augment urban environments in an innovative way, creating an improved standard of living for residents.
The Problem: Noise Pollution
Noise pollution is a major issue within our city spaces, with exposure causing negative effects on the mental and physical well-being of the residents. Noise pollution triggers a stress response within our bodies, leading to chronic stress, risk of heart disease, depression and other health issues. Noise pollution impacts city streets, as well as parks and green spaces, changing them from relaxing escapes to new sources of stress for citizens.
Solution: Oasis
Oasis is a large wall which is built around existing park benches and green space infrastructure. Complete with relaxing lights and sound, Oasis masks the noise pollution in the park, creating a pocket of tranquility within bustling cities. Users experience a calming, melodic sound which is played over the surrounding noise. They can customise the sound by turning the lights, changing the volume of different notes. The lights ‘breathe’ calming colours of blue and green, completing in the meditative environment.
Video
Process
Background Research: Noise Pollution
We did research into different problem areas and existing designs and discovered that the problem of noise pollution was not well addressed, and there were many opportunities for improvement.
I found some design precedents and exisiting technologies which we drew inspiration from and researched their target audiences to see how we might differentiate ourselves. Primarily, there were products targeting indoor office areas or individual devices, presenting a gap in the market. Most products were addressing the problem by using noise cancellation.
Initial Concepts
We developed concepts as a team to address our problem area, focusing on designing for key areas where noise pollution was most intrusive, especially construction sites and residential areas. Concept development was collaborative and we each brought our background research, knowledge of sound, coding and building together to create both our initial concepts and iterations. I combined my findings of noise cancellation with further research into noise transformation to ground our initial Oasis concept in realistic and innovative technology.
Concept 1:
Painting with Noise
Painting with Noise is an LED light installation placed on walls surrounding construction sites in cities to improve the experience of walking past these areas of high noise pollution. The lights create artwork by converting the noise levels in the site into colour and intensity. Pedestrians can see where the sound is more concentrated and enjoy the display.
Concept 2:
City Soundscapes
City Soundscapes involves data collection and mapping in cities which allows residents and city planners to make more informed decisions regarding noise pollution in different areas. The noise pollution data is collected using IOT sensors and displayed in an interactive heat-map highlighting where particularly high levels of noise exists and what is causing this.
Concept 3:
Oasis
Oasis is a noise transformation wall, lighting and seating installation which creates a pocket of tranquility in a green space overwhelmed by noise pollution. The wall collects sound from the park, such as traffic noise, and transforms it into a more pleasant sound to play back to the user as they relax. Lights on the wall react to the transformed noise to complete the ambient atmosphere.
User Testing and Prototyping
Lo-fi prototyping and user testing was conducted using a variety of methods for each concept depending on what aspect of the idea we were testing.
Painting with Noise
Prototype: A walkway of projector screens and construction noise to test whether changing the visual elements of a users’ surroundings within a construction environment improved their emotional state.
Testing Methods: Contextual Walkthroughs, Observations, Questionnaires, Post-Interaction Interview
City Soundscapes
Prototype: Paper wireframe of the interface collaboratively created from design session with potential users showcasing key features they wanted from the idea.
Testing Methods: Focus Group, Co-creation Workshop
Oasis: Noise Transformation
We did separate user-testing for the noise transformation and light disc aspects of the concept to gain greater feedback.
Light Disc Prototype: a round tray hung on a wall which could be rotated to test how users would interact with the disc and whether it was intuitive.
Testing Methods: Think Alouds, Observations, Post-Interaction Interview
Noise Transformation Prototype: soundproof wall with a seat and speaker on each side, one playing traffic noise and the other a transformed version of that sound. Testing whether the noise transformation was desirable and successful.
Testing Methods: Usability Testing, Post-Interaction Interview, Observations
Analysis and Insights
We then synthesised the data using affinity diagrams, insight statements, how might we questions and a decision matrix to find key insights, apply them to improve our concepts and to decide on a final idea to develop.
Key Insights
City soundscapes:
Needs to become community focused and increase its customisability to be desirable or viable.
Painting with noise:
Improves the experience of construction sites, but only marginally as it does not directly address the noise pollution.
Oasis:
Core functions are desirable but must be refined to be user friendly. The ambience of transformed noise must be more emotionally conscious of users, while the light disc interaction needs to be more intuitive.
Overall, Oasis was the most desirable and viable concept in line with our brief and user feedback so we iterated and did further testing on this.
Iterations: Oasis
Redesigned light disc
Prototype: light disc with a frosted plastic cover, LED strips inside and wooden backing. Testing the look, construction and functionality of disc to improve for the final prototype.
Testing Methods: Physical prototyping, Role playing, Heuristic Evaluation
Key Insights: The disc components need to be redesigned to diffuse the light and clear documentation must balance with minimalist design for the light disc.
New noise transformation sounds
Prototype: 4 new styles of transformed noise with varying moods and background sounds. Testing which sound had the most relaxing ambience to be used in the final prototype.
Testing Methods: A/B testing, Questionnaire
Key Insights: The preferred sound qualities were calming, atmospheric and musical.
Final Design and Prototype
Flowchart of design and construction
Core Functionality
Sound: Noise Transformation and Customisation
Oasis has speakers which play transformed traffic noise for the user. A sound clip recorded in Victoria park was manipulated using effects like reverb, compression & EQs, to create a soothing ambient sound.
Oasis allows the user to customise the sound to their liking so they can relax. Each light controls the volume of a different musical note and add it to the transformed backing track. The sound can be louder and more musical, or just masking for the noise, depending on user preference.
Light Discs: Interaction and Display
The light discs for Oasis rotate to control the sound customisation. The large size of the discs makes it easy to turn and control the sound. The spinning motion and round shape of the disc imitates the interaction model of volume dials, so it’s more intuitive to users what the function is.
The light discs have LED strips inside which cycle through green and blue colours, slowly ‘breathing’ in and out, creating a meditative aesthetic. The dome casing on the lights has a frosting spray on the inside to diffuse the light.
Aesthetics: Contextual Design
Oasis is designed to suit the park environment in which it would be built. The structure has a concrete-look with faux ivy foliage covering the wall on both sides. This helps the large structure fit the colour palette of the green space. It is also a calming feature of nature which complements the green and blue of the light discs.
Final Prototype Challenges
Live Noise Transformation
Due to time and technical restraints, we were unable to make our noise transformation live, instead we manually edited a track of traffic noise to create a melodic sound. This allowed us to demonstrate the effect of noise transformation and allow the user to experience it.
Light Diffusion
The light diffusion was not as bright and consistent as desired, having a dark circle in the centre. We tried different placement of the lights and frosting the domes more, but found that the wrapped LED strips were still the best for this prototype. In future versions we would change the light source.
Feedback for Lights
The light disc had a limited feedback model for the user, only affecting the sound when interacted with. This is problematic in terms of communicating to the user what the function of the discs is. It is also difficult for the user if they are hearing impaired or the environment is particularly loud surrounding the wall. Alternatives such as changing the colour or intensity of the lights, or an LED volume bar would be possible solutions for further iterations.
Prototypes: Lo-Hi-Fi
Initial Idea
Hexagonal lights
Varying colours
Not interactive, only reactive noise transformation
Environmental/natural soundscape
Iteration
Interactive model - turning light discs
Adding vines for environmental context
Changing colour and shape of discs
Dark ambient soundscape
Physical model
Similar to iteration, but no screen
Bright melodic soundscape with added notes for discs
added signage (arrows) for prompting
Final Prototype
