Over the week, I spent each day observing people around my area, and here's how I faired in my observations.
Day 1: At the Pool Below my Apartment
Day 2: At The Promenade outside Marina Bay Sands
Day 3: At the Open Space in The Esplanade Tunnel
Day 4: At the Open Space in The Esplanade Tunnel
Day 5: At the Entrance to Starbucks
Learning Pointers
When I started this activity, one of the difficulties I encountered was deciding who and which part of a scene should be captured. Many individuals are involved in a scenario, and I often found myself repeatedly asking, "Is this person's current action relevant?". I hesitated often and ended up losing the moment before I could note it.
Looking at my sketches over the past few days, I noticed that this struggle was present in my earlier work. The observations were gathered, but can't be connected.
What I learned from this, later on, is to practice more mindful observation. I found that it was good to approach the scene with clear intent and to think about what I wanted to gather from the observation. I spent more time watching nuances in the person's actions to gain a preliminary idea of their role at the moment, before validating it in subsequent behaviors. This helped me gain better clarity in my later observations and formed more meaningful interpretations (why and how) which I could translate in my sketches.
Everyone starts from somewhere, but I definitely have to practice and refine this skill more often, especially going into design research.
Comments