Content Creation
Moonflower-
created for DS4SI
Overview of Moonflower
Moonflower is a digital experience that helps creative professionals define their practice.
This helps:
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Build a personal brand and market oneself.
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Students to select an area of study/ job.
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Those looking for a career shift.
Original Brief
This project was created for the Design Studio for Social Impact (DS4SI).
DS4SI is an an artistic research and development outfit for the improvement of civil society and everyday life.
One of their offerings is 'Hack a diagram', a facilitated activity that acts as a problem solving tool.
The brief: How might we make Hack-a-diagram into a portable kit that can be distributed and, potentially, monetised?
Research
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Shadowing DS4SI as they conducted the activity with a class at the Rhode Island School of Design.
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Field visit to their studio to better understand their unique approach and offerings.
'Hack a diagram' was extremely effective as an activity, and led a majority of the participants to a clear outcome for their selected problem.
'Hack-A-Diagram' activity being conducted with students
‘What Works’ about the 'Hack-A-Diagram' activity?
What works?
What facilitates this?
Establishing a clear start and end
Establishing comfort in the space
Clear instructions
Creating a comfortable sharing environment
Encouraging thoughtful responses
Having had time to ‘arrive’ before we began the activities
Conducting a detective game that allowed us to explore the space freely and with purpose.
Conducting a ‘Talk show’ as a way to share information
Having work displayed, so you feel like your voice matters
The success of the activity is very rooted DS4SI's unique skillset and methods.
How can these characteristics be replicated without the facilitators in DS4SI?
The solution
Moonflower, a guided digital experience with an accompanying kit. The tools provided help the user write a two line explanation of their creative practice drawn from their experience, skills and aspirations.
Introduction; What's in the kit?
The user receives a kit containing a constellation map, as well as a note containing a QR code that guides them to the digital experience
Closer look at Moonflower
The objective of Moonflower is to fill in the blanks on a 'Constellation map' using words and objects around you. The user is guided through each step with specific activities.
These words and objects act as prompts to fill in the description of their the users practice.
On launching the digital experience, they are taken through three activities.
Activities;
‘Charting your journey’ with The Scavenger Hunt
‘Identifying the planets’ with talk show host, Astrobot
‘Naming the stars’ by drawing connections between your findings
Activity 1;
‘Charting your journey’ with The Scavenger Hunt
The scavenger hunt asks users to find objects in their physical space that address a specific prompt. Each object represents different professional milestones.
The activity puts the user in a more reflective mindset, and brings to surface patterns in their trajectory. It also allows them to become more comfortable in the physical space they are occupying.
Activity 2;
‘Identifying the planets’ with talk show host, Astrobot
‘Identifying the planets’ involves the user being interviewed by a bot talk show host, Astrobot.
The mentality of having a mic, and by extension, the undivided attention of an audience, allows users to speak freely. The answers they give correspond to their experience, their skills and their reflections.
The answers from the interview are transcribed, and users can read through them at a later stage.
While testing the product, users found the transcripts of their interviews surprisingly insightful. They are asked to pull quotes from their own interviews to act as guides.
Activity 3;
‘Naming the stars’ by drawing connections between your findings
By the end of the activity the user has collected a few physical objects that represent their milestones as well as quotes from their own interviews. These are laid out in a specific arrangement on the provided ‘Constellation map’.
The users are given a short period of time to sum up the story built through these items in a two line summary of their creative practice.
Using digital design to create the right mindset.
The Introduction
Digital products do not command attention the same way being in a physical space does.
The ‘set up’ of the activity allows users to arrive and fully engage with the activity. It also ensures they have the logistics required to complete the activity in place.
The Museum of Maps
An important finding from studying DS4SI’s work, is how to facilitate thoughtful engagement with an activity.
Users are more inclined to make meaningful contributions when they know their work will be valued.
The museum of maps is a digital curation of maps created by other users of Moonflower. The awareness that their map will be seen by future users influences the energy brought to the activity.
