Sptail Design II
Task 02: User Research, Storytelling & Functional Art Development
(I)When User Journey Meets Regenerative Art: A Healing Experiment in a Chocolate Retail Space.
This is a retail adventure in user research + art installation design. We focused on two groups of people: Gen Z cultural explorers like Florence, a 22-year-old university student in Kuala Lumpur, who is obsessed with the fusion of local culture and modern aesthetics, and is keen on choosing chocolates for special occasions; and Li Wei, a 30-year-old business traveler, who is in search of convenience and social sharing scenes. The research has developed a new style of "mall behavioral observation + mood board interviews" - observing the customers' movement in the chocolate store and listening to their "ideal shopping experience" with a collage of mood boards, which accurately captures **"the ideal shopping experience". The research captured the three core demands of "desire for cultural narrative", "need for instant interaction" and "sustainable value recognition ".
(II) Let stories and materials build an experience ecology together
1､ The Narrative Magic of User Profiles
Injecting soul into user profiles: Florence is a "culture fusion pursuer" who wants to convey the story of Malaysian cacao through chocolate; Li Wei is an "efficiency-oriented experiencer" who wants to lock down the exclusive goodies for traveling quickly. With their shopping journey maps, the "information access gap" and "single interaction anxiety" are transformed into design anchors - making the installation a connector between story and experience.
2､ Transformation from data to installation
The research data is the spark that ignites the function of the installation: users' expectation for "cultural tracing" becomes the "Cocoa Journey Card" popping up in the induction area; "desire for instant interaction" gives rise to the play of touching and glowing, plucking and sounding. The "desire for instant interaction" gives rise to the play of touching light and plucking strings to make sounds. The material experiments are even more surprising: recycled metal wires (changed from old musical instrument strings) take on musical interactions, a used globe stand is reshaped into a ring structure, and even the transparent plastic packaging is dyed to look like a chocolate bean - each piece of "old stuff" becomes a carrier for a new story, and after being polished and insulated, it becomes a safe and self-contained storyteller. Each piece of "old stuff" becomes a new storytelling vehicle, sanded, insulated, safe and with its own sense of narrative.
(III) Dripping Shadow: A Two-Way Run for Function and Emotion
(I) Triple interaction to activate the retail space
- Touch and glow: the sphere hides pressure sensors and lights up when touched, like the sweetness of chocolate bursting out in the dark, responding to Generation Z's obsession with "instant surprises";
- Plucked strings play music: the metal wires, depending on the material and length, flow a unique melody when they are plucked, turning the rhythm of cocoa grinding into an audible interaction that cures shopping loneliness;
- Induction card: When the chocolate is placed in the induction area, a small card will pop up with the origin and craftsmanship printed on it, so that each piece of chocolate will have a "global story" to alleviate the anxiety of consumer decision-making.
(II) Echoing the inspiration of the old works
Referring to the research on "beryls chocolate" in project1, I learned that the keywords of Beryl's brand are pure cocoa, Malaysian flavor, craftsmanship, natural ingredients, and innovative fusion. The core concept of Beryl's Chocolate is to use high quality chocolate as a carrier, incorporate local characteristics (such as durian and coconut sugar), adhere to the traditional craftsmanship and innovation, to convey the "uniqueness of Malaysian sweetness", and to create a chocolate experience that is both international standard and local flavor. I combined this with project2.
Dripping Shadow:In-depth Decoding of Chocolate-Inspired Installations
Form: Visualization of the soul of chocolate
Taking "melting chocolate" as the soul of the design, its flow track is solidified in the form of the installation. The ring-shaped structure is like the vortex formed naturally when the chocolate flows, inspired by the circular globe, which not only implies the trajectory of the cocoa bean's travel from its origin to the world, but also builds up a sense of wrapping up the space, allowing users to step into the "Chocolate Universe". The metal wires and spherical parts of the pendant draw on the romance of a spherical chandelier and the roundness of a chocolate bean. The metal wires seem to be drops of unsolidified chocolate liquid, while the spherical parts are cocoa beans to be melted, and the lines and curvature of every part of the pendant replicates the wonderful process of the chocolate going from a solid state to a liquid state.
Material: a fusion of old things and ingenuity
Metal wire: Used musical instrument strings are reborn after anti-rust treatment and pitch adjustment. It retains its toughness and sound transmitting qualities, so that the musical sound when plucking becomes the "sound translation" of cocoa grinding and stirring, and the different tones of each wire are just like the different flavor levels of chocolate.
Spherical parts: Recycled transparent plastic chocolate packaging is cleaned, dyed, polished and shaped into a rounded sphere. It not only echoes the shape of the "chocolate bean", but also realizes the touch light function through the built-in LED strip, making the visual metaphor of "cocoa bean being lit up" come true.
Ring Frame: The used globe frame is dismantled, re-welded and polished to give it a new structure. The rust stains have been specially processed and turned into "retro texture", which tells the story of the old object and is also in line with the design idea of "spreading cocoa culture around the world".
Functions: Chocolate Narrative with Five Senses
(1) Tactile-Visual: Touching the sphere to enlighten the light
When the fingertip touches the spherical part, the pressure sensor triggers the LED strip to light up the whole area, and the sphere is awakened like a "cocoa starburst". Instead of a single output, the light simulates the gradation of melting chocolate - from warm brown at the core to golden yellow as the cocoa butter flows and spreads under the heat. This is not only a visual spectacle, but also a sensory linkage between touch and vision, extending the experience of "touching chocolate" from taste to light and shadow interaction, echoing Generation Z's pursuit of "immersive five senses experience".
(2) Hearing and Touching: Plucking Strings and Playing Music
The metal wires are the "audible veins of chocolate". The different lengths and materials of the wires correspond to the process of chocolate making: short and thick strings simulate the thickness of grinding cocoa beans; thin and long strings replicate the softness of stirring chocolate liquid. By plucking the wire, the user is playing the symphony of chocolate making, transforming the originally hidden production process into an interactive experience that can be participated in and listened to, and curing the modern consumer anxiety of being "separated from shopping and production".
(3) Taste and Cognition: Sense Card Traceability
The sensor area at the bottom of the installation is the "chocolate story switch". When the chocolate is placed on it, infrared recognition and AI algorithms link up to read the product's genes - from the latitude and longitude of the cocoa bean's origin, rainforest climate data, to the story of the maker's handiwork, all of which are condensed in the small card that pops up. The card material is made of biodegradable paper, and the printing ink is extracted from cocoa shell pigment, so that "environmental protection" and "story" go hand in hand. When the user reads the card, the cocoa aroma microcapsule coating ruptures (hidden design on the edge of the card), and the taste memory and cultural cognition are activated synchronously, so that "eating chocolate" is upgraded to "reading the whole life of chocolate".
Emotion: the antidote to emotions in the retail space.
Loneliness Cure: When one person touches the light and plucks the strings, the installation will be accompanied by light and music; when multiple people interact, the lights and colors will be interwoven, and the music and strings will resonate, turning the "shopping loneliness" into a "shared experience", echoing Generation Z's belief that "people who love to be alone but also love to be in love with each other". "This is an echo of the emotional conflict of Generation Z, who love to be alone but need to be connected.
Anxiety relief: The story output of the induction card dismantles the consumer inertia of "chocolate is just a commodity", allowing users to rebuild a sense of security in their consumer decision-making and alleviate "product selection anxiety" by learning about the origin and craftsmanship of chocolate. The user can rebuild a sense of security in the "consumer decision" and relieve the "selection anxiety" in understanding the origin and craftsmanship of the chocolate.
Cultural resonance: The integration of the ring structure and cocoa story allows Malaysia's local cocoa culture (e.g. Nyonya elements and rainforest stories that Florence is concerned about) to be conveyed to global tourists (e.g. business travelers such as Li Wei) by means of the device, using chocolate as a medium to sew up cultural differences and strengthen the community and cross-cultural relations. Using chocolate as a medium, the installation sews up cultural differences and strengthens community and cross-cultural identity.
Dripping Shadow is not only an installation, but also a "five senses narrative poem" written in the retail space with chocolate as the pen and old objects as the ink - making every interaction a deep dialog between the user and cocoa culture, the new life of old objects, and the user's own emotions. Each interaction becomes a deep dialog between users and cocoa culture, the renewal of old objects and their own emotions, and the moment of "buying chocolate" is printed as a "symbol of experience" that is worth recalling over and over again.
'.
No comments:
Post a Comment