How to create friendly and functional architecture? It seems that architects know the laws of the art, but often user evaluations are far from the expectations of designers and investors. New precise research tools can bring a change. Thanks to them, we are able to learn about the real reactions to the quality of a space and its individual elements.
A conversation with Tomasz Dworek from Poznań University of Technology, who, as part of the EU project "Time for Professionals BIS - Professional Wielkopolska", conducts laboratories in biofeedback, or emotion reading.
Jakub Glaz: For several years you have been studying reactions to visual messages, advertisements and posters in a precise way. You recently published results on street signs and their placement.
Tomasz Dworek: As part of our research on so-called biofeedback, we took a group of street signs on Gwarna Street in downtown Poznań. The task of the subjects was to find the tailor's signboard in a jumble of other messages.
James: The result doesn't thrill, but that's not surprising. Gwarna is one of the more visually neglected streets of downtown.
Tomasz: It took an average of six seconds to find the signboard. That's a lot. Especially since the respondents were young people, even before college, who tend to be perceptive. Such messages should be found in space almost immediately. We must remember that our brain likes order, and searching for something in disorder is an unnecessary expenditure of energy. However, before the subjects' eyes found the right sign they stopped on other chaotically arranged messages, which only confirms a long-known but rarely considered fact: excessive advertising and cluttered composition are counterproductive. The search for a signboard was accompanied on the biofeedback charts by growing frustration. On the other hand, achievement of the goal showed in facereading but also in EEG studies satisfaction and joy!
James: You know such details because you use advanced technology. What do you use?
Thomas: We use three methods. The first is eyetracking, which is accurate tracking of eye movements. The second is facereading, which is the analysis of facial expressions, emotions appearing on the face. The third is the study of brain waves by means of EEG - encelapholography in a handy version, which allows us to supplement information about emotions. Sometimes we use these three methods at the same time, sometimes we limit ourselves to two, depending on the stimulus being studied, an advertising spot, a website or, as in the case of Gwarna Street, a space.
Survey of Gwarna Street in Poznan with the help of biofeedback - emotion graph
source: Tomasz Dworek
We use the iMotions data integration platform to aggregate information from all these sources . The most communicative result of the research is a graphic with "heat maps" showing what the subject focused on and for how long, or what the gaze plot was - a graph of the direction our eyes followed. On top of that, there are other analyses - such as those showing the emotions associated with a particular observation or part of a video. This type of research is most often used by marketers and retail chains to display merchandise well in the store, to persuade people to buy, or to construct a movie spot in such a way that it does not bore, but arouses specific emotions in a given target group.
James: Then maybe it's time for something more useful? For example: surveying the city space. Has anyone in Poland already started doing that? There are already architectural offices that are reaching for similar tools. But are local governments doing it?
Tomasz: I don't know anything about that. Anyway, the street space studies I know of done around the world are also related to advertising visibility. From Times Square and its big boards and screens starting.
James: What are the most common conclusions of such studies?
Tomasz: That - like Engineer Mamoń - people like what they already know. And that visual order helps in accurately reading the message and arousing positive emotions. And that the eye usually follows from left to right....
Jacob: Always? And in cultural circles where you write from right to left?
Thomas: It's not just about text, after all, images are important - especially faces. That's how we are evolutionarily conditioned. So the warmest emotions are usually evoked by well-known images, such as celebrities. Logos of strong brands are similarly powerful.
A survey of Gwarna Street in Poznan with the help of biofeedback - an EEG device on the head, a "heat map" on the screen
source: Tomasz Dworek
Jakub: Do we all have that? Do we always? For example, a signboard of a well-known fast food chain can arouse anger when we see it on an important monument. On the other hand, in an exotic country where we are unsure of the local cuisine, it can evoke a sense of security.
Thomas: These are secondary issues. Our first reaction will be to associate the fast food logo with a familiar brand (and we like what we know) and with the food. And behavior typical of Pavlov's dog. Anyway, in research, one always strives for some generalization. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about "all". Because a survey for individual customers is done based on a specific target group: e.g., students, the elderly, mothers with children, and even that takes into account the differences that divide them.
James: It is possible to assess the quality of an entire street or square with the same methods? Here, in the basic scope of evaluation, the target group is, after all, just "everyone."
Tomasz: This is doable. It all depends on proper preparation of the survey, asking the right questions or setting tasks. Even as general as asking people to decide whether they simply "like" a particular street. On the basis of a video showing a walk through such a space, we can study the reactions and interests of the respondents by checking the points we set and the feelings associated with them. Similarly, as it is done in the case of advertising spots. This is a case of stationary research - in front of a screen.
James: That is, in a comfortable environment. What about surveying a space live, during a real walk? After all, sounds, smells or strong winds can significantly change the evaluation of a place.
Thomas: That's also possible, although, of course, more difficult. In such cases, other mobile eyetracking devices are used, worn like glasses. In this case, on the other hand, but only for technical reasons, it is more difficult to study brain waves or read emotions from the face.
James: The EEG falls off because it is examined with the help of an openwork helmet? You can probably hide it under a cap.
Tomasz: You can, but it's still a bit inconvenient. The cost is also increasing. The price of a stationary study in front of a screen with twenty people is several thousand zlotys. In the "field" the cost is higher, but in my opinion, the general trends in both surveys are overlapping. At the same time, retail chains are already beginning to test the arrangement of products on shelves using VR, or virtual reality, applications .
James: A survey in a real space can help us determine what the real, rather than declarative, responseto a city space is. Be a good development and verification of the "impression curve" once promoted by urban planner Kazimierz Wejchert.
Thomas: Of course, the number and accuracy of studies can be multiplied. The only question is how detailed knowledge we need. That, by the way, is the domain of authoritarian power: to know everything. After all, in China, street cameras decode emotions on the faces of passersby, and EEGs on the heads of students examine the level of engagement in a lesson.
James: Let's not go to extremes. The point is only to enrich knowledge with data closer to the truth to better design architecture and urban planning. After all, by studying advertising, you are also juxtaposing established beliefs about the effectiveness of accepted design schemes with reality.
Thomas: And, in fact, it often turns out that the work of professional advertising professionals is far from perfect. The user perspective, or User Experience (UX), is not always taken into account. One of the more recent examples: on the tested website, the designer placed a large button for logging in. But, despite its large size, the test subjects didn't see it, because they are used to a small frame in the upper right corner of the screen.
James: Lack of user perspective is also an affliction of visual navigation in buildings and on streets.
Tomasz: This is something we haven't studied yet, although I know that car manufacturers, for example, check how drivers react to messages, both inside the car and to road signs and information boards. Similar studies are being conducted for pilots.
James: How about that? Are you going out into the field? Are you able to survey the recently reconstructed streets and squares in Poznań? Gather both enthusiasts, staunch critics and those with indifferent attitudes and check their reactions in specific places?
Tomasz: An interesting challenge, you can think about it in the future, if the city authorities are interested. For now, our EU educational project is aimed only at high school students, so we won't survey a full group of residents. But, in fact, it's a thing worth the effort, because each space is different and deserves a separate survey. Although, judging by the results from Gwarna and beyond, the rule that aesthetic and spatial order positively affects orientation in space and improves the well-being of the viewer will work in each case.
