Poster Feedback!

Today I received the comments from my poster session:

The End to a Great Semester!

Today's presentation went great! It was fun to see everyone's thesis posters and I received some great feedback. Here is a summary of the feedback:

Juror 1:

-seems to "blue skyish": why would everyone want to play a game?

-"community" needs to be better defined

Juror 2:

-Is it a game, or more of a playful activity?

-how will you motivate the users to participate?

-communities vary from place to place making the scope too broad; maybe there should be some general core issues that are adaptable to each location so it can be easily personalized

-for the next steps, try presenting the prototype as an enactment or narrative

Juror 3:

-what is the time scope? Will it be a long-term activity or an ice-breaker

-some commonality must be found; so far the demographics are extremely broad and could use more focus

Final Poster Design

Poster draft 2 Advisor Critique

This was my final practice presentation. Many of my peers' comments on the visual presentation were echoed by my thesis advisors, but overall everyone seemed extremely happy with the verbal presentation! I was extremely happy with the result of my presentation since I don't think it will be too difficult to modify the visuals.

Poster Draft 2 Critique

After presenting with my poster in front of other design students in my program, I received a lot of great feedback; however, at this point, the majority of the feedback was only about visual presentation, not content. People commented that the white space in the circles were extremely awkward and distracting; the asterisk in the center of the diagram was not noticeable enough; the abstract was too small and unnoticeable; the timeline was too heavy and distracting; the font was too faint. Overall it went pretty well, I was pleased with my work and it seemed everyone understood the content clearly and were satisfied with my argument.

Poster draft 2

For this draft of my poster, I made sure to focus more on the main element of the overlapping circles, including more content within them. I wanted to address more serious issues to convince the viewer that this project is a legitimate issue.

Poster Draft 1

After presenting this to my thesis advisors, it was clear a lot of questions were left unanswered: Why is this a problem at all? How is this project significant? What exactly were the findings from the research? What do the word clouds mean, how do those words connect to each other? My advisors and thesis peers gave me much to think about for my second poster draft!

Poster Brainstorming

I decided I would like to communicate my thesis by separating it into three areas of interest: Context (Boundaries of the final project: who, where, when, why, etc.), Community Theory (Why people need community, interview findings, etc.), Games (Mechanics, Game design techniques, etc.)

Overall Key Findings from Fall Semester

The Problem in a Nutshell:
Downfall in Community Participation, "Neighborliness", and lack of emotional attachment to one's neighbors and neighborhood


Effects of the Problem:
-Increased Crime rates
-Decreased Participation in Politics and Community Volunteering
-Lack of Community Organizations, Weakened Relationships


The Root of the Problem:
-The invention of the car (people's abilities to travel farther faster)
-Women in the workforce (increased pressure to spend more time working)
-Advancements in entertainment technology (television, the internet, and other isolating activities)




Resident Interview Findings:
-4 Main Types of Neighbors: Community Activists, Social Butterflies, Polite Reserved Neighbors, Shy/Detached Neighbors
-People are afraid of their neighbors, yet they are looking for ways to meet people and to connect with one another
-Feeling attached to one's physical environment leads to emotional attachment to one's neighbors


How Games can Make a Difference:
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