User Visits: Immersion

Part of the EXPLORE phase is engaging the user and one can do so by through meeting directly -- which is exactly what we did. We split the group between two user visits, asked questions, took pictures and made our individual notes (to reflect together later). The entire purpose of meeting with our interviewee was to build this connection with the user, evoking stories and emotions while also shedding light on their reasonings behind actions (which they may have never questioned until this moment). However, our UOCD professors also told us to think outside the traditional interview phase.

Immersion Methods

It is important to grab the most amount of personality data from any user visit: we want to not only understand what they do -- but how and why they do it. How does their environment influence their decisions day-to-day? Is there other ways of going about the same task? Such questions go deeper into the person which is really our target here. "LOOK-ASK-TRY-WHY?" was the framework we were given to get more at these questions.

I attempted to do this by asking the user we visited to draw out his garden for us -- and, without prompting, he began telling us stories and ideas behind the organization of his garden. Not only could I better understand the science behind and allure towards gardening, I also grasped a greater understanding of the need for communal (and natural) connections within community gardeners. His garden showed us elements of his personality we may not have found out: which flowers and vegetables/fruits he plants led us to stories about his family as well as connections he made through communal gardening. His interest in planting unconventional plants demonstrated how he saw himself on the Novice-Hobby-Craft spectrum of gardening that he described. (It also makes me wonder what a novice's or craftsman's garden would look like.) Furthermore, we learned a lot about the various roles within the hiearchal structure of a community garden -- the responsibilities, the expectations, etc -- and bookmarked such a structure as a way to later organize the persona stories we would create.on the Novice-Hobby-Craft spectrum of gardening that he described. (It also makes me wonder what a novice's or craftsman's garden would look like.) Furthermore, we learned a lot about the various roles within the hierarchical structure of a community garden -- the responsibilities, the expectations, etc -- and bookmarked such a structure as a way to later organize the persona stories we would create.