The UX of Mould (Week 1)
Brief: Design a way to materialise the qualities of mould. Design an embodied experience that translates both the good and bad qualities of mould.
Research methods: AEIOU, The Love Letter/The Breakup Letter
Team: Kimberley Rodrigues, Romit Khurd, Marty Chen, YanXu Chen (Line)
We chose the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, an underground pedestrian tunnel under the river Thames for the location of our AEIOU.
Location shots from our AEIOU walk. Photo credits: Marty Chen, YanXu Chen, photo by author
AEIOU analysis. Collated by author.
Our main findings from this research were that the tunnel was:
Cold, flat lighting, dirty and uninviting;
People using the tunnel as a transactional interaction;
They moved through the tunnel only to get from one place to another;
It was the only crossing of the river nearby
We determined that people were not bothered by the mould, or at least it was not the only contributing factor to why people spent so the little time there.
We included these in our Love and Breakup letters, which can be found below.
The mould, however, was thriving at multiple places along the tunnel. Research into with the growth of mould, and its ability to travel, we uncovered in our research the Dictyostelium, which has the property of altruism.
This inspired our concept to focus on teamwork for the greater good, and tried at first to replicate this in person, by scavenging, connected but without sight or voice communication.
Initial experimentation - mould being linked together and scavenging. Video by author
The result of this experiment proved that it was not explicitly clear what we were trying to say about the mould and was also dangerous after two group members fell over each other.
We looked at other ways of showing the property of mould cells coming together to help the wider group, which lead to more experimentation.
Altruism abstracted - teamwork to complete a task that cannot be done solo. Video by author
What we presented at the interim session was a collection of the best parts of the experimentation, using the idea of navigation and multiple people (cells) to achieve the best result.
Development of the final presentation idea. Photo credits: Marty Chen
The feedback we received included:
To add complexity relevant to what mould would have experienced
What are we presenting? Is it an exercise, experiment, demonstration?
Altruism - are we getting out of engaging with mould?
More analysis and synthesis needed
Ensure the research methods inform the design
Make it real - over abstracted
Where is the mould?
I felt that we had too many loose ideas across the week, and whilst we had found good examples of mould in the tunnel, and had looked at the environment closely, we were having trouble pinning down a tangible concept of mould to present.
Love Letter
Hey Mould,
You’re pretty cool.
Your altruistic tendencies are commendable - the way you come together for the greater good, to enable one another’s survival shows a self-preservation that I can identify with. Also, I love the way you’d break off part of yourself to survive, to spawn the next generation at your own sacrifice. This tells me that you’re not only focussed on the right now, but you have an understanding of the future, and what that means for you.
You create some incredible things - love the cheese you’ve got going on there - the blue brain, the stiltons and the endless creativity you demonstrate within them. This is also not forgetting all the other foods you engage with - beer and wine for example. Let's be honest, life would be pretty awful without you around. You’ve taught us that you can adapt and participate in so many different environments, enriching and enhancing what otherwise would be bland.
I also have a lot of respect for the way you want to help the environment; your decomposition activities are vital to the ecosystem. This symbiotic relationship with plants and other matters that I have witnessed keeps the cycle going, and you should be proud of yourself. This shows how important and concerned you are to life as a whole.
Taking all this into account, we’ve found that you’re creative, thoughtful and dedicated - what great traits to have.
Keep being awesome!
Love,
Bex
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Break-Up Letter
Dear Mould,
Why must you exist?
You eat my food before I can - you’re so selfish, you take what you want without asking, and cause me so much stress. Your only purpose in life is for decomposition, which dominates the living world and creates chaos. This shows a tendency to destruct, take over what you determine you can have. Frankly, it’s rude.
People around you are suffering, you cause respiratory infections and damage structures. You’re subtle: not in the centre of the room, demanding attention, but creeping round the edges to slowly take over. Then suddenly you’re everywhere, and your presence causes people to recoil, yet you continue along as if this doesn’t bother you. We assumed that you inhabit the dark and dirty places in the world, but actually you show up wherever you can.
What I’ve learned from observing you do this, is that whilst your movement is slow and limited, your reach is widespread and over time, you can have such a huge effect on people’s health and wellbeing.
I just can’t have you in my life any more.
Yours sincerely,
Marty
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