Digital Product Design
Lean Prototyping
User Testing
Product Activation
User Engagement
User Onboarding
Prototype Testing
User Experience Review
Before the Second World War, work and play were not as distinctly separated as they are today. As cancel culture continues to heighten reputational risks and HR polices define organizational culture more than any other force, organizations of all sizes need a pressure value. This exploration of an unregulated online space pokes audiences to explore its relevancy, and risks in an otherwise hyperpolicied digital architecture.
An open invitation to play, The Virtual Smoking Area invites the broader Greenwich Village Community to enter an online world through an avatar that can 'hangout' with other online participants and engage on a variety of themes or initiate exchange on a new theme over video chat or text.
Participants use a QR code to enter the space built on Gather.ai through their smartphone. They can choose a variety of levels of self-identification, including complete anonymity. Using on screen controls, users can walk around the digital space and enter video chats if they are in close proximity to others. All conversations are private and unmoderated. Users can engage in any way they seem fit. Only text based interactions are public. Users can gather under various 'umbrellas' to engage on different topics, or start a new topic of conversation. Other uses can see who's under which umbrella and can join them if they choose to do so.
Parked at the intersection of 14th Street and Fifth Avenue, a Pop-Up Truck with digital displays ushered users to the online space. Over two days, 289 users entered the Virtual Smoking Area, and engaged in a variety of synchronous and asynchronous actions including exploratory loitering and group/ one-on-one conversations, and posts on the digital message board. It also allowed members of the The New School Community that work/ study from home to socially engage in a manner that official platforms currently do not allow for.
Digital Product Design
Lean Prototyping
User Testing
Product Activation
User Engagement
User Onboarding
Prototype Testing
User Experience Review
Before the Second World War, work and play were not as distinctly separated as they are today. As cancel culture continues to heighten reputational risks and HR polices define organizational culture more than any other force, organizations of all sizes need a pressure value. This exploration of an unregulated online space pokes audiences to explore its relevancy, and risks in an otherwise hyperpolicied digital architecture.
An open invitation to play, The Virtual Smoking Area invites the broader Greenwich Village Community to enter an online world through an avatar that can 'hangout' with other online participants and engage on a variety of themes or initiate exchange on a new theme over video chat or text.
Participants use a QR code to enter the space built on Gather.ai through their smartphone. They can choose a variety of levels of self-identification, including complete anonymity. Using on screen controls, users can walk around the digital space and enter video chats if they are in close proximity to others. All conversations are private and unmoderated. Users can engage in any way they seem fit. Only text based interactions are public. Users can gather under various 'umbrellas' to engage on different topics, or start a new topic of conversation. Other uses can see who's under which umbrella and can join them if they choose to do so.
Parked at the intersection of 14th Street and Fifth Avenue, a Pop-Up Truck with digital displays ushered users to the online space. Over two days, 289 users entered the Virtual Smoking Area, and engaged in a variety of synchronous and asynchronous actions including exploratory loitering and group/ one-on-one conversations, and posts on the digital message board. It also allowed members of the The New School Community that work/ study from home to socially engage in a manner that official platforms currently do not allow for.
