Slow Down from Data through Design Exhibition
Company Seungmin Ellen Oh
Introduction Date March 2, 2018
Project Website http://datathroughdesign.com/ellenoh.html
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Slow Down stands out as a unique data visualization project that takes translates New York City open data on traffic crashes fatalities to physical and tactile form. The artifact with visually striking construction and fluorescent colors offers active perception through three dimensions. Physical interaction amplifies the unique experience of sensing data, which ultimately provides more impressive opportunities to engage the conversation in the audience about urban environment issues. Slow Down aims to communicate with the public and bring awareness on streets regarding mobility safety issues in New York City. Every year, more than 200 traffic crashes and 50,000 injuries involving pedestrians, bikers, and drivers occur in the five boroughs of New York City; Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. Data shows that a person dies from traffic crashes every other day and about 140 people get injured every day. The designer was also intrigued by the fact that fatalities have occurred everywhere in the city and each data point represents a deceased life, which will remain a permanent death mark on the street. Slow Down is therefore also a memorial piece dedicated to hundreds of lives lost and their families to remember and encourage to participate in city’s Vision Zero initiatives and take actions. Slow Down already recognized as one of 8 selected projects to exhibit in ‘Data Though Design’ exhibit from March 2-10 as part of 2018 NYC Open Data Week, a city-wide endeavor by NYC Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics. Under the theme with 8 questions for the City, the exhibition showcased projects using open data. The project and the exhibition had missions of the exhibition was to encourage a wider knowledge of New York City’s open datasets and how these resources can enable better public understanding of life in the city. Slow Down is multi-disciplinary collaboration of an emerging designer, academic research institution Pratt SAVI (Spatial Analysis and Visualization Initiative, and data intelligence startup CARTO and Enigma based in New York City to achieve the mission and motivate creativity to civic communities.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
A unique aspect of Slow Down project is leveraging physical properties of materials to present data and offering perceptual, cognitive, and communicative value that digital interface nor paper can offer. By using digital fabrication and computer-aided design, the project shows a new potential to overcome some of the technical challenges of the physical form of data visualization that has existed for thousands of years. More specifically, the project plays with the transparency of the material and smart construction that allows data points to be viewed through overlaid layers of panels from any direction. Active perception and multiple senses of physical artifacts effectively serve as the most important goal of data visualization and communication of information. Even though the City government made open data is easily accessible to the public, perceiving and understanding the implication requires analysis of complex data which can be challenging for the public. Furthermore, an industrial designer's mission is to bring awareness to societal issues through design, use creativity to impact emotions and to improve lifestyle. An Innovative design approaches this challenge through open data and visualization and by bridging the communication gap between data community and the public.
Who worked on the project?
Support from Pratt SAVI, CARTO, Enigma, Brown Institute for Media Innovation, and Made in NY Media Center and special recognition to Jessie Braden (Pratt SAVI), Case Wyse (Pratt SAVI), and Wenfei Xu (CARTO).
View the project video:
Socializing AI: a human experience with Watson
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Artificial Intelligence is everywhere. More than 8.3 billion devices around the world are turning on lights, brewing cups of coffee, and controlling the comfort of our homes with the ease of AI. But, few among us understand how these systems work, and even fewer can effectively communicate those ideas to others in a way that is clear and approachable. Challenging ourselves to transform the conversation around Artificial Intelligence — IBM set out to create a way to explain these complex and technical ideas in a clear, reasoned, and human voice. To tell the story of AI, we looked to history for inspiration. We were particularly inspired by Ray and Charles Eames’ iconic work for IBM at the World’s Fair; a visionary exhibit that told of the partnership between computers and society. This inspiration led to an idea of humanity at the core of AI — the Watson Experience Center. We created collaborative meeting spaces where clients, researchers, and students learn about Artificial Intelligence with real-world examples of AI working to help people across industries, demystifying AI and reshaping misconceptions in the process. Our visitors encompass all levels of technical expertise — from technically savvy CEOs to a student in our local Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P-Tech) partnership. Every visitor leaves with a clearer understanding of Watson and AI and feel inspired by its potential for society. Our guides invite visitors to look under the hood of AI technology: how we transform terabytes into insights, how we teach Watson to learn, how we train it, and how we utilize it; the power of AI presented with a human perspective. Blending storytelling with design, data, and expert-guided interaction, we present immersive AI experiences that are clear, reasoned, and approachable. Every use-case starts with a deep-dive workshop that leverages skills from our product, creative, interaction design, and spatial engineering teams. Over the course of 6 months, our teams iteratively refine the story, interactions, end-to-end prototypes, and spatial engineering to create the applications. Using gesture-based interaction and in-depth data visualizations, we demo how AI systems make decisions, and what we are doing with them today — on natural disasters and financial crimes, oil rigs and art galleries, headlines and product lines. Our 300° immersive room allows humans to see massive amounts data through the lens of machine learning, along with the endless patterns, insights, and opportunities it promises. The centers are utilized 100% throughout the year, during which the centers present these stories of Watson to thousands of groups, made up of 15,000 visitors, across 25 industries — sparking their imaginations and seeding their knowledge of AI. Visits lead to a 93-point increase in Net Promoter Score, with a measurable increase in understanding of AI and Watson.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
The IBM Watson Experience Centers are permanently branded experiences, with locations in New York City, San Francisco, and Cambridge. The centers are invitation only, and their primary audience is potential customers of IBM Watson. Each location acts as a hive of creative and technical Watson activity. The centers are a physical representation of the IBM Watson brand and challenge both misconceptions of AI and visitors’ preconceived notions of IBM. By leveraging our decades of research and expertise in Artificial Intelligence, we created a form of spatial exploration that allows non-technical visitors to scale their abilities to comprehend data at scale and see how AI works. By integrating science, technology, and creative expression, we can make clear to clients and the world the value of AI, its practical applications, and potential for society, by creating vignettes that use real-world applications of the technology and live data to present an accurate view of AI. Our applications have dynamic and evolving groups of users to solve. We have to develop real examples of Watson technology pulled from our product offerings that are intuitive for our Experience Leaders. We also need to craft stories that demonstrate the use-cases with bright ideas, discernable visualizations, and language that is accessible and not pedantic. We have adopted the ethos, "Show, don't tell," a UX pattern of progressive evidence. Using Watson's findings and discoveries as doorways the user follows — not a waterfall of information — visitors can co-discover the insights Watson is uncovering. The intuitive UX combined with the unique form factor of a 300° immersive room have led us to create practical and innovative practices of experience design that we can apply to AI products. Our team's task is overcoming and countering some unique challenges; reframing the conversation about AI and the misconceptions, creating interactions and experiences for a compelling form factor, and helping to challenge clients’ assumptions about a 107-year-old technology company. We create experiences that go beyond just our user's needs — we overcome and respond to the dynamic changes in our visitors’ and the public’s understanding of the technology.
Who worked on the project?
IBM Watson -------------- Jeffrey Coveyduc, Executive Director, Executive Stakeholder Kai Young, Program Director, Project Stakeholder Patrick Muse, Program Director, Project Stakeholder Jenny Woo, Design Lead, Creative Direction & Strategy Rob Harrigan, Design Lead, Creative Direction & Brand Integration Fredrick Benson, Product Manager, Product Management & Oversight Tom Wall, Immersive Engineering, Development and Deployment Taimur Shah, Immersive Engineering, Development and Deployment Joe Harding, Immersive Engineering, Development and Deployment Aquaris Anderson, Project Coordinator, Budget Coordination & Approvals Local Projects --------------- Jake Barton, Principal, Creative Oversight Marijana Wotton, Account Director, Account Management & Leadership Jeanne Angel, Project Manager, Project Management & Oversight Christina Latina, Senior Art Director, Creative Direction & Design Nina Boesch, Senior UX Designer, User Experience & Design Myles Bryan, Senior Motion Designer, Visual Effects & Motion Design Angelica Jang, Senior Motion Designer, Visual Effects & Motion Design Crystal Law, Motion Designer, Motion Design & Editing Danny Well, Lead Visual Experience Designer, Visual Design Vidya Santosh, Senior Visual Experience Designer, Visual Design Oblong Industries --------------- Pete Hawkes, Interaction Design Director, Interaction & UI/UX Design John Carpenter, Design Lead, Interaction & Data Visualization Samson Klitsner, Interaction Designer, UI/UX Design Brandon Harvey, Engineering Director, Software & Hardware Strategy Justin Shrake, Engineering Lead, Software Architecture Michael Schuresko, Effects Engineer, Visual Effects Tom Jakubowski, Engineer, Software & Data Engineering Tom DiNetta, Engineer, Software & Data Engineering David Schweinsberg, Engineer, Software & Data Engineering Aaron Rice, Engineer, Software & Data Engineering
View the project video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WP17KbMrNMDpP_EkiaFUS3pExRVzPD0m/view?usp=sharing
Southwest Airlines’ Digital Wayfinding Design & Prototype
Company Continuum
Introduction Date October 23, 2017
Project Website
Why is this project worthy of an award?
In 2017, Southwest Airlines made some big changes to its brand. They rolled out some shiny new planes. They outfitted their people in stylish new uniforms and revamped their cabins. Their in-flight game was tight, but when customers walked through the door of the airport, their experience wasn’t quite up to the same level. While Southwest was known for delivering best-in-class hospitality on their airplanes, they sought to improve the in-airport customer experience, so travelers could get to their destination confidently while spending less time worrying about the journey. We began by talking with customers, frontline employees, and Southwest’s operations teams to understand the broader context and the operational constraints. Based on these conversations, we identified three challenges that needed to be solved: LACK OF CLEAR AND ACCURATE INFORMATION We saw an urgent need to provide accurate information about flight status, departure gates, and departure times. We needed to stream contextually relevant information to customers and employees, in order to build their trust and improve their airport experience. EXCESSIVE GATE CROWDING Because of Southwest’s unique boarding process, it’s important to keep the gate area organized. Southwest’s passengers aren’t assigned seats, but board in small groups. The process is both empowering—you get to choose your seat—and it creates more anxiety (I don’t want to lose my spot!). We needed a unique way to address this issue that would serve customers well. NEED FOR MORE MEANINGFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE We needed to deliver answers to common questions (How full is the plane?) so that repetitive employee interactions could be reduced while improving customer sentiment. Over time, travelers have grown skeptical of airport signage and information. In order to compensate, travelers go directly to the gate to determine if their flight will be on time. To eliminate gate area crowding, we needed to rebuild customer trust by sharing more accurate information in more locations. Working closely with Southwest’s innovation, operations, and data science teams, we designed a new digital wayfinding system to guide customers through the airport. Based on customer and employee feedback, we redesigned all of the existing airport signage and added new sign types at key locations throughout the airport. Each sign in the new system was fully digital and location-aware, so that we could tailor each sign based on time of day, flight status, and customer needs. We designed signage to display only absolutely relevant information at each step of the customer journey. If travelers are early, signs redirect them to food and empty gates to power devices. If they’re running late, the enhanced wayfinding helps travelers through the airport faster with directional arrows, walking times, and an easy-to-understand signage system. We also saw a need to celebrate Southwest’s employees. When customers understood the effort that went into getting to their destination on time, they were more understanding of delays. With the right language and recognition of employees, Southwest could create moments of joy in a stressful airport experience.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Knowing that installing new hardware inside a highly regulated airport and developing a functional back-end is a costly and logistically complicated task, we made sure to test the system responsibly before moving into a live in-market prototype. This included mocking up a full-scale airport, using foam-core and projectors, in order to conduct user testing and modeling the entire airport in virtual reality to understand sight lines and sizing. These steps helped build buy-in within the organization by allowing us to socialize the new concept in a compelling and easy-to-understand manner. We also ensured that the system resonated with both customers and employees before Southwest made a major investment. After successfully trying out our concept with consumers via a low-fidelity mock-up, the team brought the experience to real users, live, at Dallas Love Field Airport, during the busiest travel time of the year. The experience was built on a similar infrastructure that will eventually be deployed at scale, so that technology can be tested simultaneously with the user experience. We spent seven weeks testing this new experience live at Dallas Love Field—with more than 300,000 passengers. We followed customers, observed behavior, talked with employees, and gathered surveys and metrics. Customers recognized and responded positively to the natural language and personality of Southwest throughout the system: 96% of customers said the new signs made it easier to navigate the airport, and customers rated the usefulness of the new system as 4.77 on a 5-point scale. Additionally, Southwest’s positive reputation gave the signs added credibility with many customers. The added information improved the overall usability of the airport and the digital signage dramatically helped those with visual impairments. Employees have already noticed a reduced number of repetitive customer questions—specifically, questions about connecting flights and flight capacity. General confusion regarding active flights in each gate area has decreased appreciably with the new system. The result: Southwest can now provide more meaningful customer service and hospitality. This work was beneficial not only for customers, but also for employees. In fact, employees liked it so much, that they asked to extend the pilot through the busy Thanksgiving holiday. The technology took the redundancy out of customer-employee transactions and allowed Southwest to take care of customers in truly meaningful ways. Overall, the feedback from customers and employees was extremely positive, and Southwest is planning pilot deployments of the entire system in three airports by the end of 2018.
Who worked on the project?
Southwest Airlines, Continuum, Four Winds Interactive
View the project video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dSbsBbuMkJTiDP51ZsN7k5YH-LKvuA-z/view?usp=sharing
Stanford University Home of Champions
Company Advent
Introduction Date September 1, 2017
Project Website http://adventresults.com/projects/stanford-home-of-champions/
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Tell the stories of 36 varsity sports and their great players and coaches across 126 years of athletics history and 137 national championships in an innovative, easily updatable manner that reflects the high standards of Stanford University and the deluxe aesthetic of Silicon Valley. Oh, and don’t clutter it up with trophies. This was the challenge presented to Advent. The existing space to renovate? A basketball practice court surrounded by offices. The resulting 18,000 square-foot Home of Champions blends static and digital storytelling elements and data visualization into a two-story space set in warm wood tones, brilliant white and deep Cardinal red. The audiences addressed in this space include current athletes and staff, recruits and the public. As such, our approach had to achieve multiple objectives for multiple stakeholders, from persuading blue chip recruits to calming the nerves of anxious parents. Innovative data visualization begins at the entrance, where visitors are greeted a kinetic “numerology” piece, with programmed lighting illuminating words cut into a metal panel, listing the university’s many championships and award winners in an easily updatable and visually striking display. In the Sidney and Theodore Rosenberg Hall of Fame, nearly 15,000 letterwinners from 1892 to today are listed in a series of custom hardbound books organized by decade. When a visitor places a book on the interactive Hall of Fame table, the names of Hall of Fame members from that decade float to the table’s surface, unlocking in-depth content. We also explored new forms of static data visualization, including a chalkboard where recent academic all-americans are celebrated with mathematical formulas relating to their sport or major. The storytelling within the space itself is subtly divided into zones representing topics including “The Process,” “The Moment,” “The Voice” and more. This allowed us to compartmentalize content and communicate recent championships, academic success, sports science innovations and more in concise displays in an intuitive walkpath. This also gave us the freedom to be selective about which trophies we chose to use, and where. By highlighting a handful of the most recent national championships at the entrance, Stanford can showcase the most current trophies and stories in displays that have immediate impact and are easy to change out. Deeper within the space, trophies with more permanent standing reside, including Jim Plunkett’s Heisman Trophy and other athlete accolades. In “Alumni Voices” and “Scholar-Athlete Voices,” touchscreen displays play larger-than-life interview footage with notable players and alumni, with a menu of questions to choose. The Legend area showcases the greats of Stanford Athletics. Sacrifice, dedication and humility are the cornerstone values of the stories told in this space, be they Olympic gold medalists, academic All-Americans or water polo champions who went on to become astronauts. Whether the story is a Rose Bowl championship or the first openly gay professional American athlete, it is approached with a sophisticated design language and energetic voice.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Much of the Stanford Athletics story centers around innovation, be it on the field or in sports science. By necessity, our design needed to be just as innovative, both to reflect the client’s story and to engage their many audiences. Digital elements, including the Hall of Fame interactive table activated by physical objects, the “voices” interactive interview displays, and a massive ribbon board, provide a sleek Silicon Valley sizzle to this space, but we were careful to balance them with innovative use of physical objects and static storytelling, including the Academic All-Americans chalkboard, kinetic “numerology” display and cases for physical prototypes of sports science tools. Stanford’s football coach, David Shaw, has been known to walk the space at the end of a long day, reading a new story each time. Staff and athletes move through the space daily on their way to offices or training, and former coaches and athletes have returned to see their stories told.
Who worked on the project?
Design Director: Drew Bryant Design Lead: Nathan Morgan Digital Experience: John Downie
View the project video: https://vimeo.com/243182580
STATE
Company CNN
Introduction Date April 21, 2017
Project Website http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/politics/state/this-is-state/
Why is this project worthy of an award?
The goal of STATE is to capture this moment in America's political culture, which is exhilarating for those unnerved by what they see as the country's progressive, globalist tilt under Obama and anxiety-provoking for those who unexpectedly find that approach locked out of power in Washington. This is the first digital magazine from CNN Politics
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
We incorporated illustration, infographics, photography and videos (as well as an inaugural print edition) for CNN Politics first digital magazine. We worked with award winning artists on each thematic issues on subjects such as Policing in America, Foreign Policy and Natural Disasters, Origins amongst others, creating animated 'covers' for each issue.
Who worked on the project?
Ed O’Keefe - SVP, Content verticals Nitya Chambers - VP, Premium Content Rachel Smolkin - Executive editor, digital politics Steven Sloan - Director, STATE Cullen Daly - Supervising producer Damian Prado - Creative director Stephany Cardet - Senior technologist Maeve Reston - Reporter Chris Moody - Reporter Susan Baer -- Reporter
View the project video:
