Presentation (With Narration)
Dossier
Dossier Transcript
‘How Might We…’ Question
The provocation we came to at the end of our research brief was:
How might we facilitate humour on city streets to encourage unexpected and fun moments of connection that reduce stress?
Audience
Our audience is 25-45 year old business workers in the CBD.
An interesting insight into our audience from our research brief was: When people have positive interactions with others on the street it makes them feel less stressed and gives them a more enthusiastic mindset.
Our user needs the city streets to provide them with opportunities that they can quickly engage with to elevate their mood and take their mind off work.
Stress has been highlighted by The World Health Organisation as one of the major health challenges of the twenty-first century (Adli, 2011). Pressures in the workplace mean that office and business workers are highly likely to have excessive amounts of stress (Sainfort, 1991). The city streets offer a moment in a business worker’s day where they can get away from the stresses of work, unwind, and connect.
Balloon
As part of our primary research we went down to Lambton Quay and observed our target audience. We discovered that they didn’t seem to like unpredictability as we watched how people reacted to a balloon that had been dropped by a child on the footpath. We observed how it created extra stress because it was out of the ordinary. It appeared that when people were seemingly focused on an end goal, anything that interrupted their journey was startling and was to be avoided. We would like to change this mindset.
Hi-Five Cam
Our initial big idea was to install a large screen at a set of traffic lights and project two people waiting at the lights onto it, while encouraging them to hi-five. Similar to the concept of American Kiss Cams.
Lambton 1
We went down to Lambton Quay and tested whether people would interact through a hi-five. It was great to see how hi-fiving made people smile, break out of their bubble, or even laugh, which confirms our theory that hi-fives can improve people's wellbeing. We did two types of tests; offering high-fives to people walking the opposite direct that we were down the sidewalk and hi-fiving people waiting at traffic lights. We found that it was harder to interact with people waiting at the traffic lights as it felt more awkward to approach them and people seemed to expect further conversation after the hi-five.
Prototyping 1
For the first interim critique we prototyped a teaser hand installation that let people know Hi-Five Cam was roaming about, and a Hi-Five frame that we used to spontaneously frame people around class to see if they would hi-five without any explanation. An insight we gained from this session was that lots of people hi-fived the hanging hands and we wondered if there was potential there for some sort of installation that people can interact with.
After this class we decided to let go of the Hi-Five Cam concept as our ideas were developing in a different direction and we had quite a few people questioning whether participants would be turned off by the idea that they could be filmed and projected onto a giant screen at any moment. Our 'how might we' is trying to make streets more fun - not more intimidating. We also feel like Hi-Five Cam is quite exclusive as it would only be installed at one set of traffic lights, whereas we want to impact as many people as we possibly can. Another reason we decided to drop Hi-Five Cam is because of the insight we gained while prototyping on Lambton Quay; people were actually really willing to respond to a hi-five but we feel like this is mostly because it's easier to interact when someone is enthusiastically offering you a harmless gesture rather than someone having to gather the courage to initiate the interaction themselves.
Hi-Five Day
Our idea evolved into the concept of a National Hi-Five Day, similar to other wellbeing awareness days such as the various ribbon days, but after further consideration we evolved our idea again as we want to make an impactful campaign - not just another day that people don’t take notice of.
Hi-Five Week
Hi-Five Week still uses our initial big idea of how an enthusiastic hi-five can provide the opportunity for people to shift their moods. A hi-five can convey support and encouragement far more quickly and accurately than words. This momentary positive experience improves wellbeing and enhances workplace performance as it reduces the stress hormone, cortisol (Carey, 2010).
This week-long campaign combats workplace stress by disrupting routine and relieving tension; facilitating quick spontaneous interactions that lighten moods. Cheerful brand ambassadors occupy city sidewalks throughout the week and offer this interaction in the form of a hi-five. Hi-Five Week culminates in a free street event on Friday afternoon, which provides humorous and fun entertainment while reinforcing the key messages of Hi-Five Week. By making the sidewalk more unpredictable and refreshing, Hi-Five Week improves wellbeing and creates conversation around a disregarded issue.
Lambton 2
We mocked-up t-shirts to prototype whether or not our target audience responded differently to us if we were branded. Because of our branded t-shirts, we became recognisable and we started to create conversation - people even stopped to ask us what we were campaigning for. It also made us more comfortable and we felt more confident approaching people as we were embodying the brand rather than embodying ourselves. The t-shirt seemed to help people know that they could approach us, as at one point some people came up to us out of their own volition and ask for a hi-five. We then decided to try standing in one place and offering hi-fives, even though we had previously decided against this as we didn't want to look like people who were asking for money. Surprisingly when we stood in one place we received the most engagement. We wonder if this is because people could see us, read our t-shirts, see others participating, and prepare for a hi-five before they reached us.
Prototyping 2
For the second interim critique we prototyped foam hand installations and observed whether people would interact with them. We received lots of positive engagement and they seemed to brighten up people’s journey down the corridor. We also had people commenting that they were great stress relief!
Lambton 3
An interesting insight into our audience from our research brief was: When people have positive interactions with others on the street it makes them feel less stressed and gives them a more enthusiastic mindset.
Our user needs the city streets to provide them with opportunities that they can quickly engage with to elevate their mood and take their mind off work.
Stress has been highlighted by The World Health Organisation as one of the major health challenges of the twenty-first century (Adli, 2011). Pressures in the workplace mean that office and business workers are highly likely to have excessive amounts of stress (Sainfort, 1991). The city streets offer a moment in a business worker’s day where they can get away from the stresses of work, unwind, and connect.
Balloon
As part of our primary research we went down to Lambton Quay and observed our target audience. We discovered that they didn’t seem to like unpredictability as we watched how people reacted to a balloon that had been dropped by a child on the footpath. We observed how it created extra stress because it was out of the ordinary. It appeared that when people were seemingly focused on an end goal, anything that interrupted their journey was startling and was to be avoided. We would like to change this mindset.
Hi-Five Cam
Our initial big idea was to install a large screen at a set of traffic lights and project two people waiting at the lights onto it, while encouraging them to hi-five. Similar to the concept of American Kiss Cams.
Lambton 1
We went down to Lambton Quay and tested whether people would interact through a hi-five. It was great to see how hi-fiving made people smile, break out of their bubble, or even laugh, which confirms our theory that hi-fives can improve people's wellbeing. We did two types of tests; offering high-fives to people walking the opposite direct that we were down the sidewalk and hi-fiving people waiting at traffic lights. We found that it was harder to interact with people waiting at the traffic lights as it felt more awkward to approach them and people seemed to expect further conversation after the hi-five.
Prototyping 1
For the first interim critique we prototyped a teaser hand installation that let people know Hi-Five Cam was roaming about, and a Hi-Five frame that we used to spontaneously frame people around class to see if they would hi-five without any explanation. An insight we gained from this session was that lots of people hi-fived the hanging hands and we wondered if there was potential there for some sort of installation that people can interact with.
After this class we decided to let go of the Hi-Five Cam concept as our ideas were developing in a different direction and we had quite a few people questioning whether participants would be turned off by the idea that they could be filmed and projected onto a giant screen at any moment. Our 'how might we' is trying to make streets more fun - not more intimidating. We also feel like Hi-Five Cam is quite exclusive as it would only be installed at one set of traffic lights, whereas we want to impact as many people as we possibly can. Another reason we decided to drop Hi-Five Cam is because of the insight we gained while prototyping on Lambton Quay; people were actually really willing to respond to a hi-five but we feel like this is mostly because it's easier to interact when someone is enthusiastically offering you a harmless gesture rather than someone having to gather the courage to initiate the interaction themselves.
Hi-Five Day
Our idea evolved into the concept of a National Hi-Five Day, similar to other wellbeing awareness days such as the various ribbon days, but after further consideration we evolved our idea again as we want to make an impactful campaign - not just another day that people don’t take notice of.
Hi-Five Week
Hi-Five Week still uses our initial big idea of how an enthusiastic hi-five can provide the opportunity for people to shift their moods. A hi-five can convey support and encouragement far more quickly and accurately than words. This momentary positive experience improves wellbeing and enhances workplace performance as it reduces the stress hormone, cortisol (Carey, 2010).
This week-long campaign combats workplace stress by disrupting routine and relieving tension; facilitating quick spontaneous interactions that lighten moods. Cheerful brand ambassadors occupy city sidewalks throughout the week and offer this interaction in the form of a hi-five. Hi-Five Week culminates in a free street event on Friday afternoon, which provides humorous and fun entertainment while reinforcing the key messages of Hi-Five Week. By making the sidewalk more unpredictable and refreshing, Hi-Five Week improves wellbeing and creates conversation around a disregarded issue.
Lambton 2
We mocked-up t-shirts to prototype whether or not our target audience responded differently to us if we were branded. Because of our branded t-shirts, we became recognisable and we started to create conversation - people even stopped to ask us what we were campaigning for. It also made us more comfortable and we felt more confident approaching people as we were embodying the brand rather than embodying ourselves. The t-shirt seemed to help people know that they could approach us, as at one point some people came up to us out of their own volition and ask for a hi-five. We then decided to try standing in one place and offering hi-fives, even though we had previously decided against this as we didn't want to look like people who were asking for money. Surprisingly when we stood in one place we received the most engagement. We wonder if this is because people could see us, read our t-shirts, see others participating, and prepare for a hi-five before they reached us.
Prototyping 2
For the second interim critique we prototyped foam hand installations and observed whether people would interact with them. We received lots of positive engagement and they seemed to brighten up people’s journey down the corridor. We also had people commenting that they were great stress relief!
Lambton 3
We went down to Lambton Quay for a third time, this time with proper Hi-Five Week branded t-shirts. People were keen to engage with us, perhaps because we looked more professional, and everyone who stopped to talk to us about what we were campaigning about seemed very excited by our cause. One thing we had been wondering throughout this whole process was whether people were happy to interact with us as we are young females, so we tested this hypothesis with a male friend but found no change in people’s behaviour.
Touchpoints
Our campaign begins with a promo video to generate awareness of Hi-Five Week and to notify people about the reason branded ambassadors will be on the street hi-fiving.
Our promo video directs viewers to our campaign website which contains succinct information to help the audience understand our key messages and inspire them to participate in Hi-Five Week.
On the website there is a series of posters available for download that can be used to encourage wellbeing in the work environment, furthering the key messages of Hi-Five Week.
People who resonate with this campaign can print out this hi-five centred ‘Five Ways To Wellbeing’ collection and display them around their workplace to promote mindfulness and create conversation around mental health.
The website also contains information about the climactic experience of Hi-Five Week, Live Five, a street event with humorous and fun live performances from five of New Zealand’s best loved acts, who provide entertainment while reinforcing the key messages of Hi- Five Week.
At this event and on the website there is campaign merchandise that the audience can purchase to show their support and leave a lasting echo of Hi-Five Week. This merchandise will trigger reflection around the key messages long after Hi-Five Week is finished.
We imagine that Hi-Five Week would have big sponsors such as; The Mental Health Foundation Of New Zealand, The New Zealand Comedy Trust, Absolutely Positively Wellington etc who would back the campaign because of shared values and to help generate support and involvement.
As well as having branded ambassadors, throughout the week there would be foam hand installations attached to the architecture around the sidewalks for people to also hi-five for stress relief. These installations have the added benefit of acting as unusual, eye-catching promotion for the campaign.
Ways To Wellbeing
We left our last brief with these wellbeing provocations…
De-stress me
Connect me
Challenge me
Entertain me
Immerse me
Unwind me
Hi-Five Week aims to provide opportunities to answer these provocations and touches upon all five of the ways to wellbeing.
Connect
Reach out to the people around you to enrich your day as positive interactions with other people on the street can reduce your stress. A cheerful interaction can convey support and encouragement far more quickly and accurately than words.
Be active
Take a moment to participate in something simple in your immediate environment and be open to playful situations. Positive experiences can reduce stress and enhance productivity.
Take notice
Be aware of the world around you, notice new opportunities. By disrupting your usual routine, the city streets can become more refreshing and you might find more opportunities to shift your mood.
Keep learning
Learn to embrace unexpected experiences, as challenging yourself and trying something different can help you unwind. Being open to unpredictable circumstances on the city streets and stepping out of your comfort zone can refresh your day.
Give
Smile, give a moment of your time. Connecting with the people around you can be incredibly rewarding. Momentary positive interactions can help you shift your mood and also improve the wellbeing of others.
The Next Iteration
If we had to push our idea further we could imagine developing a series of 7-10 second long promo videos for social media platforms, that could go viral and spread awareness of Hi-Five Week and the issue we are combating to an even greater extent.
Citations
Adli, M. (2011, November). Urban Stress and Mental Health. Retrieved from https://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/urban-stress-and-mental-health/en-gb/
Carey, B. (2010, February 22). Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html?_r=1
Sainfort, P. C. (1991). Stress, job control and other job elements: A study of office workers. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 7(1), 11-23. Retrieved from http://ac.els-cdn.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/016981419190054P/1-s2.0-016981419190054P-main.pdf?_tid=c72ea1e4-5d11-11e6-ba19-00000aab0f01&acdnat=14706243
Touchpoints
Our campaign begins with a promo video to generate awareness of Hi-Five Week and to notify people about the reason branded ambassadors will be on the street hi-fiving.
Our promo video directs viewers to our campaign website which contains succinct information to help the audience understand our key messages and inspire them to participate in Hi-Five Week.
On the website there is a series of posters available for download that can be used to encourage wellbeing in the work environment, furthering the key messages of Hi-Five Week.
People who resonate with this campaign can print out this hi-five centred ‘Five Ways To Wellbeing’ collection and display them around their workplace to promote mindfulness and create conversation around mental health.
The website also contains information about the climactic experience of Hi-Five Week, Live Five, a street event with humorous and fun live performances from five of New Zealand’s best loved acts, who provide entertainment while reinforcing the key messages of Hi- Five Week.
At this event and on the website there is campaign merchandise that the audience can purchase to show their support and leave a lasting echo of Hi-Five Week. This merchandise will trigger reflection around the key messages long after Hi-Five Week is finished.
We imagine that Hi-Five Week would have big sponsors such as; The Mental Health Foundation Of New Zealand, The New Zealand Comedy Trust, Absolutely Positively Wellington etc who would back the campaign because of shared values and to help generate support and involvement.
As well as having branded ambassadors, throughout the week there would be foam hand installations attached to the architecture around the sidewalks for people to also hi-five for stress relief. These installations have the added benefit of acting as unusual, eye-catching promotion for the campaign.
Ways To Wellbeing
We left our last brief with these wellbeing provocations…
De-stress me
Connect me
Challenge me
Entertain me
Immerse me
Unwind me
Hi-Five Week aims to provide opportunities to answer these provocations and touches upon all five of the ways to wellbeing.
Connect
Reach out to the people around you to enrich your day as positive interactions with other people on the street can reduce your stress. A cheerful interaction can convey support and encouragement far more quickly and accurately than words.
Be active
Take a moment to participate in something simple in your immediate environment and be open to playful situations. Positive experiences can reduce stress and enhance productivity.
Take notice
Be aware of the world around you, notice new opportunities. By disrupting your usual routine, the city streets can become more refreshing and you might find more opportunities to shift your mood.
Keep learning
Learn to embrace unexpected experiences, as challenging yourself and trying something different can help you unwind. Being open to unpredictable circumstances on the city streets and stepping out of your comfort zone can refresh your day.
Give
Smile, give a moment of your time. Connecting with the people around you can be incredibly rewarding. Momentary positive interactions can help you shift your mood and also improve the wellbeing of others.
The Next Iteration
If we had to push our idea further we could imagine developing a series of 7-10 second long promo videos for social media platforms, that could go viral and spread awareness of Hi-Five Week and the issue we are combating to an even greater extent.
Citations
Adli, M. (2011, November). Urban Stress and Mental Health. Retrieved from https://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/urban-stress-and-mental-health/en-gb/
Carey, B. (2010, February 22). Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html?_r=1
Sainfort, P. C. (1991). Stress, job control and other job elements: A study of office workers. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 7(1), 11-23. Retrieved from http://ac.els-cdn.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/016981419190054P/1-s2.0-016981419190054P-main.pdf?_tid=c72ea1e4-5d11-11e6-ba19-00000aab0f01&acdnat=14706243
Posters
Website
