Myriam – users testing

USER TESTING

I tested my prototype of "The dying arrow" with people I would want to buy my design : Collin, a 21 years old photographer, and Athena, a 23 years old marketing junior manager at Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry. Both love, buy and make art or design.

They liked the aspect of the arrow and its concept, but had some changes they would do:
– use real mirrors
–  Collin would use a different color than red for the Leds (red is obvious for an arrow sign we see everywhere). Pick one unexpected color that would even add more meaning to the sign, and gender neutral (not blue and pick, can be seen as feminism…). And maybe have more than one color.
– Athena won't put a color too aggressive. Just white Leds.
– use plexiglas instead of wood
– Colllin asked why have a frame, and not have the arrow as the design?Arrow
– make it bigger, almost human size
– have much more Leds
– the sign makes him think about old neon signs reinvented here. 
– Athena likes the arrow to be inside of a frame, as a painting, and says she might get bored of the arrow alone.
about the animations:
– would like several different animations
– would like one mode where it is not animated, but all the leds are on.
– said animations could be annoying after. It depends the context where you are, but if you're alone with the design in your home, it is really disturbing to have something always moving.
– have the animation of Led blinking faster.
– would like one animation of light sweeping back and forth on the arrow, to have more movement.
Athena asked:
– why don't you make a different shape than the arrow?
She'd like to have a potentiometer to regulate the light brightness.
She would like white Leds with a warm color for the plexiglas (brown, orange) to contrast with the light.
She would like to have it home, and would put it in her corridor or bathroom.

Collin would like to have it home if there is a still mode, he was really annoyed by the lights always moving. He'd hang it on his room's wall, or just put it against the wall in his living room. 

MY IDEAL USERS

1. Adrian, 25, architect.
Adrian is at the beginning of a promising career. He just moved to New York to work in his dreamed architect agency, and lives in a nice studio loft in soho. He enjoys art, has many friends in the design field, and likes taking photographs. In fact, all the decorations in his apartment are photographs of different sizes, mostly black and white. He decorated his place to be simple and modern, with enough space to work in.
In this clean atmosphere, he likes the big arrow he put in a corner against the wall of his living room. Next to the window, the arrow lighted brings life to his loft, a certain pace that makes the charm of it. He changes the arrow's mode depending on the people that are in his place, setting a different rythm, a mood to the crowd that's here. He enjoys the effect it has, and how it easily lives and dialogue with the photographs on his walls.
2. Suzy, 21, art history student.
Suzy is quite a sentimental girl. She lives with her roommate in a nice two bedroom in chelsea, and always has new stories to tell. She has an animated love life, and is always out or inviting friends home. Her and her roommate have chosen nice cheap furniture they discovered in thrifts shop. They enjoy shopping, changing. They can't live in routine.
They have the arrow they put all over the house, they carry it around. When Suzy is sad, she puts the arrow facing down and dying, When she's happy, she likes to have it up or facing a direction, animated while she's dancing alone on some music.
The arrow is a set of mind, and she sometimes uses it to communicate her mood to others.
3. Emma, 30, freelance graphic designer.
Emma lives in the West Village, in a big duplex with 6 roommates. She enjoys being a freelancer, because she's never doing the same thing, and always meeting new people. She would have killed herself if she had to work in an office, staring at the same old faces the hole day. She is happy to live with so many roommates, because everyday is different. Emma loves New York, because people move in and out, and they leave their furniture in the streets. Sometimes, she finds a beautiful piece and takes it back home to renovate it. She changes the color, adds new accessories, she transforms the furniture her own way. 
She loves her arrow because it reminds her of old neon signs, but it's new. She likes playing with the different animations on it. She placed the arrow in the entrance of the apartment, and it is turned towards the living room, inviting people to come in. The entrance is dark, so having the arrow gives life to the room, and describes the atmosphere of the happy roommate she is in. It shows to people coming in a special space they're entering, that is full of surprises.