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The Makers Mosaic

Tasks

  1. Raise awareness and present cases for using machine learning (Watson) APIs via IBM Cloud hosting and services
  2. Build the experience using the products, tools and services being amplified
  3. Design an in-person, engaging installation for the SXSW showcase
  4. Measure engagement levels and the funnels created
  5. Make a portable experience that can be packaged and used at other events

Challenges

  1. Compact time frame to concept and build
  2. Installation location and space limitations for portability
  3. Hardware must be agnostic; no proprietary or specialized technology
  4. Learning curve must be short for attendees and users
  5. Highly visible brand value meant many stakeholders must approve of all efforts

Timeframe

  • 1 week of concept design
  • 1 week visual and UI build
  • 2 weeks MVP and testing
  • 1 week final approvals and debug

Team/roles

  • Creative strategist - align vision with brand and stakeholders, visual design
  • Front-end dev - deliver prototype, components and live build
  • UX designer - lead UI and interaction guidelines, validate with stakeholders
  • Content lead - provide editorial and control of new content

Activities and methods

  1. Visual prototype for presentation layer and brand representation
  2. Axure prototype for walk-through and proof of concept
  3. Usability testing with 3 member group–register, scavenger hunt, share

Measurement

  1. Interactions with no registration
  2. Interactions with regisration
  3. Total sessions
  4. Average engagement time
  5. Hashtag mentions and shares

Visual design and layout wires

Proposing a system of interaction that is easy to use and fast to learn

This greyscale artboard served as the first walk-through of the experience. It incorporated brand, tone and content as well as the basic interactions for a user.

Applying the design system

The color, type and usage being defined for the delivery team

The framework was to never change, only the content. This allowed us to set and forget the basic UI and address the modularity requirement of repeatable experiences.

Applying the same process to the shell UI header/footer that could be turned on and off dependent on the hardware for future events.

Interacting with the Mosaic

Choose the APIs and see them in a live context

We began testing the live application demos by pulling them into the experience. This represents the core functionality of register, interact, learn and end session.

The final navigation grid for the Mosaic

Deployed at SXSW

Choose the APIs and see them in a live context

Live at SXSW on 8 touch tables with over 4k sessions averaging ~5 minutes of engagement. The Mosaic went on to be used at Gartner, The Masters and MWC in Barcelona.

The Maker's Mosaic