Patterns of Behavior and Expectations During Covid
Covid informs so much of our daily lives in the last year. It reveals changes in patterns or behavior and expectations.
Rather than being frustrated by lack of access to observe patterns of experience and immersion patterns, I opted to look at how these patterns looked and how they worked in my neighborhood in New York City during the pandemic by looking at common day-to-day activities — like going out to eat or going to the grocery store.
Cookshop - a local farm to table restaurant in Chelsea created a friendly, warm and inviting curbside dining experience. The reviews by diners revealed a change in attitude about service and experience during Covid. Missing were critiques about sub-standard food or service. Instead diners remarked on how safe they felt eating at Cookshop and how much they welcomed the experience of eating out — even if it was on the street in 37 degree weather.
Grocery stores in New York City all adapted to safe practices during Covid. Trader Joe’s was no exception and leaned into its friendly brand to create flow patterns for letting people in and out of its store at 6th Avenue. Trader Joe’s also set up bagging stations on the sidewalk. Again, like Cookshop, there were no complaints or confusion about queuing up to enter the store, or packing groceries on the tables outside the store.
Cookshop - pre-pandemic
Cookshop - Outdoor dining in February 2021
Experience analysis - page 1
Experience analysis - page 2
Experience Analysis page 3
Experience Analysis - page 4
Cookshop - pre-pandemic
Cookshop - during Pandemic
Trader Joe's - immersion patterns
Analysis of Interlocking Relationships in “The Game” (1997)
David Fincher’s 1997 film “The Game” was the backdrop for two team projects. Here are my contributions to the analysis of the film and to the design brief for the app designers.
While fascinating in terms of the interlocking relationships and pieces that make up Nicholas van Orton (NVO), the protagonist, world and Consumer Recreation Services (CRS), the purveyors of :The Game” the immersive multi-actor experience, it was challenging to establish the exact boundaries for “the game.” Was CRS truly a company or yet another prop created for NVO? How many of the props were macguffins, serving to move the film along and how many were actual “game pieces.” Were the housekeeper, lawyer and book publisher as innocent as NVO, or were they also playing a part as deceptors in “the Game.”
This was my contribution to the team work on ‘The Game” - a visual diagram of the key characters, props and sets.
The final project for the course circled back to “The Game” and the assignment was to create a brief for an app. We chose to go in the direction of creating an app to facilitate “game play” by the CRS actors. I helped contribute the synopsis as well as craft the major sections of the user flow from onboarding to post-mortem.
Initial mapping of "the game"
Refined mapping of "the game"
team work on mapping "the game"
creating a visual reference for "the game"
Completed visual diagram for "the game"
Team design. brief for an app for an actor in "the game"