Construction Junction Affinity Diagram (Team 1)
Once retrieving research data from the cultural probes and expanding our awareness of wayfinding experiences through desk research, our group began to organize an affinity diagram to categorize our specific insights (low-level observation) into overarching themes of wayfinding (high-level observation) at Construction Junction.
Yellow to Blue— Observation
We began to see certain themes emerge in the first stage. Important dimensions such as physical artifacts, time, space, arrangement, emotion, and user behavior were helpful in assessing how each insight fitted with one another. For instance, the group placed the notes “inconsistent visual language and signs” and “A lot of the signs overlap” under the same category because both notes elucidate how the signage itself and its arrangement elicit feelings of disorientation.
A know-how the group developed along the activity is that affinity diagraming can be thought of as finding the missing puzzle pieces of a larger unknown story.
Blue to Pink— Emotional Experience
Once we examined the blue notes, the group realized that these could be divided up into primarily positive and negative categories — even if they’re describing the same thing. For instance, one of our categories is “I enjoy exploring CJ” while another one is “Walking through CJ is draining” Both describe navigation through space, but the elicited experience is highly contrasting. Overall, the pink categories touched upon the emotions that customers felt while navigating the space and how unique this experience is — from the layout and arrangement of the space to the interactions you experience throughout the shopping experience.
Many of the blue notes captured user’s emotional experience in the space. As a result, the pink notes are categorized based on both positive and negative emotions and attempts to illustrate how user’s appraisal of spatial interactions elicits certain emotional responses.
Pink to Green — User Framework
The final stage of the affinity diagram is the most categorical of the user’s wayfinding experience at Construction Junction. The binary interpretations of the users became more apparent by the pink notes. Users were either deeply compelled by the chaotic atmosphere or enervated from the constant state of alert that the space imposes on the users.
Positive pink notes highlighted the “unique voice” that Construction Junction brings to the local business scene. Notes emphasized words such as style, exploration, and different to reflect the distinctive user narrative of Construction Junction.
Negative pink notes highlighted the “confusion” of navigating Construction Junction. Notes emphasized temporality(change), drained, and unfamiliar to demonstrate what types of factors pull down the general shopping experience.
The core experiences at Construction Junction can be distilled to either “unique” or “uncomfortable” based on the user’s goal, attitude, prior experience, etc…
