Project 4.2 The UX of Democracy
- Chun Li
- Jan 4, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 9, 2020
Brief: Make the prototype first, then let it become a finished product
Group Partners: Nancy Obeid, Sarah Mack, Abigail Zhang, Evelyn Tang, Jae Xu, Chun Li
Prototype:
One:
The idea was originally from the push coin machine;
(picture source from website, link to https://www.bilibili.com/video/av13751785/)
people put coins in when it accumulated enough then all coins would come out. To let everybody join in the voting system, we want to make a public installation. Thinking about put helium balloons on, and when the coins came out, the balloons would fly.
Because coins are too small, we decide to use foam balls instead. Compare with put things in, people would be more engaged with removing items out. We decided when all of the foam balls have been removed; the helium balloon would fly.
Two:
Due to the idea of public installation, we came out with another idea. Putting a monitor in public, first showing questions like 'Did you vote for the election?' or 'Do you think your future is also the country's future?'. Then the monitor is connected with a foot pedal, every time you see the question, you may be asked to vote by stepping on the pedal. After all, we will show the number count of overall decisions.
After the tutorial, we decide to combine two prototypes into one as a whole.
It took us some time to decide the final product. Prototype1 was trying to attract people getting to vote, as long as we have enough voters (foam balls are all removed), they will see something happening(balloon fly) because of the voting result. Vote 'yes' or 'no' does not matter, as long as they vote, they will see the change. Prototype2 was trying to let people have introspection about why they should vote.
Sarah mentioned balloons are not suitable for the environment, so we think about using chemicals, such as coke and mentos experiment, to create the effect.
Experimental Prototype 1:
When mentos dropped into coke, they will create an explosion reaction. According to that, we build a prototype; each time people step on the pedal, there will be a mento dropped into the little basket. When it has enough mass, the basket will turn over, and all mentos will fall into the coke and create the reaction.
Failed.
We tested the experiment; however, mentos have to be dropped as soon as possible when the coke been poured. Otherwise, the carbonic acid would be volatilized immediately, and the reaction would not happen.
Experimental Prototype 2:
We decide to use the LUSH bating ball instead of mentos, and water instead of coke. It's colored and dissolvable. We smashed it into ash, assumed every time we step on the pedal, it would release a little amount.
Failed.
The ash would not be able to be stored, and it drops even we did not step on the pedal.
Experimental Prototype 3:
We tried another material, acid pills. It's uncolored but can have an acid reaction within the water. We broke them into smaller fragments and manually put them into the tube one by one. Also, the lever structure needs to be fixed. It has to make sure that at the moment it became unbalanced, all fragments must be poured into the water.
Succeed.
After several experiments with the lever structure, we successfully finish the whole process. We purchased a new LUSH ball and cut it into small fragment sizes.
Failures make us exhausted on that day...
Reference:
Push coin machine
Picture
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