to/from: Designing a Non-Verbal Reciprocal Online Connection. Case Study of Japan Support Flags Project

Abstract

The Internet has enabled people to share information without boundary of time, locality or physical space and people increasingly share their opinions, knowledge, photos and even intimate feelings on everyday life. After the Tohoku Earthquake of 11 March 2011 in Japan, countless support messages were sent from the world via the Internet, typically by social media to express their sympathy, but the language barrier and lack of reciprocal feedback seemed to be a challenge. Japan Support Flags (JSF) is a design project which explores an approach to build a non-verbal reciprocal online connection. The way to deliver personality with the message is also considered. As a prime motive it aims to deliver support messages of the world to the people who are affected by the Earthquake and help to relay people’s sympathy.

The practical part of the thesis consists of the website and two art installations. The written thesis examines the concept of a photograph as a message and an interaction design to connect the sender and the recipient of the message in a simple and effortless way. The two installations present an approach to transform a two dimensional product into a three dimensional artifact. The process of transformation worked to further develop the concept of JSF. The thesis is written from a user experience designer’s point of view, which examines the concept development, process of prototype making and collecting feedback for next iteration. The production part of the thesis can be found at: http://japansupportflags.com.