Exercise 3.2 – Personas – Paul Tutty
PERSONAS – PATRICK & TYRA
SCENARIO
Patrick & Tyra are just married. They met in their MFA grad program two years ago. For inspiration they used to enjoy going on long walks. Due to their apartment being close to the downtown area this has become an exploration hobby, with both of them enjoying finding new places for their own reasons.
They’ve almost outgrown Tulsa and the surrounding area for various reasons, and so they’re very excited to hear of a new freebie urban exploration tour of the Tulsa Arts District and downtown area. They’ve heard of the underground tunnels between the oil company headquarter buildings, but have never been able to go until now.
Made a reality by the same group behind the First Friday Art Crawl, the Third Thursday Tour (3T) is sure to be an awesome experience!
STORYBOARD
Project 3 – Experiences: Paul Tutty
Exercise 3.1: Narratives – Paul Tutty
Warm. Cozy. Smiling. Together. Inviting. True love. You just left…
I’ve traveled around the world to be with you.
Now I am here, we have unrestricted access to each other. Whenever I’m alone with you, you make me feel like I am home again.
Credit: The Cure
Still, you never bore me with your ability to morph into whatever I need you to be right now.
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Too much of you is unhealthy. But you’re intoxicating.
Moderation is the key to a good relationship. But I’m staying (and finishing my milk).
I can’t wait for our next date at Chimera, the coffee shop where we first met.
I miss you already!
EXERCISE 2.3 Geographies – Paul Tutty
I chose to walk out of the side entrance of my work complex after work, one evening, as it gave me the best options to see interesting things (the front is one big parking lot). It was a cool day, so the ground was starting to get crunchy after a few nights close to freezing.
The directions took me towards a private park within our office complex. It has a beautiful walking track around the entire park, a duck pond, and small wooded area. In this rapidly darkening evening, the wooded area felt more like a forest as the leaves haven’t fallen enough yet to let light through. My biggest observation is how quiet it is on one side of our work complex vs the other. As you pass through the wooded area, you can imagine yourself in another world almost (as long as you don’t look back!). The silence is broken by the occasional aircraft taking off overhead, and by a family of ducks kept fat by the neighborhood families that visit here. Overall, the exercise was tough because Tulsa is not a walkable city, so the option of work or home gave me limited opportunity to explore as much as I’d hoped this would. In future, it would be nice to remove that constraint, as there are some beautiful parks and neighborhoods I could have explored otherwise.
Project 2: Mappings – Paul Tutty
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART ONE
The Brady Arts District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a historically important area just north of downtown. Originally built on oil money, it decayed for years. Since the turn of the century local investment has helped build a culturally-rich area full of museums, galleries, parks, music venues, and a variety of food and entertainment venues.
The district’s namesake, Wyatt Tate Brady, was a founder of the City of Tulsa and an affluent member of the Klu Klux Klan. The area next to the Brady Arts District, Greenwood, was the location of one of the United States worst racial violence outbreaks in 1921. In September 2017, the district was finally renamed “Tulsa Arts District” after years of campaigning by local activists.
Divides are still very apparent in this area; however, there are genuine attempts to repair them. Today, visitors can witness a vibrant, upcoming district full of rich history, juxtaposed against a dilapidated industrial zone struggling with homelessness and crime.
CRIME
The City of Tulsa crime map shows that this district struggles with petty crimes, sex crimes, as well as more violent crime. It also has a large homeless population, and local charities have set up shelters, soup kitchens, and other assistance services nearby. While the homeless do commit some of these crimes, they are also often the victim.
The district is also home to the Tulsa County Jail, a private low-security jail, and the ever-present adjacent bail bondsmen.
AFFLUENCE
Affluence corresponds heavily to zoning in this district. The industrial areas and the north side of the district are extremely poor. Homelessness is mostly confined to those areas during daylight hours. The cultural area of the district features more upscale apartments, and is clearly occupied by the urban professional during daylight hours. At night, the homeless tend to meander into the more affluent area to make use of its comfort features. Affluence can be seen in the types of businesses, such as expensive hobbies and artisan stores.
ZONING
The area zoning is highly contrasting. On the west side, it is highly industrial. The east side is full of culture-oriented businesses. The north side is empty and abandoned, while the south is residential aimed at the young professional who works downtown and wants to be able to walk or cycle to work.
BUSINESS TYPE
The area is heavily dominated with culture. Museums, art galleries, artisan coffee shops, artisan bakeries and chocolatiers, record stores, and music venues rule here. Some are world famous, such as Cain’s Ballroom, established in 1924 (I’ve watched Jimmy Eat World here in a crowd of just a few hundred, which is an amazing experience!), while others are local-famous.
HEALTH & WELLNESS
The area features a nice park space, called Guthrie Green. It often has outdoor concerts, yoga, community events, as well as movie nights. The district itself is one of the most walkable in Tulsa, with safe sidewalks along most streets as well as decent pedestrian crossings. There are also a variety of other green spaces, and the area is generally cyclable.
There are a few health and wellness-related business here too, including an outdoor sports field with organized weekly events; a health spa; some upscale health boutiques; and an artisan bike maker.
PART TWO
For this part of the project, I experimented with axonometric projection (Jesse has since explained this is not axonometric, but a blown-up layer map). The viewer should start on the bottom layer, where important information is explained, such as the district’s border and a compass orientation. Then move up layer by layer, where a level of information about the district is added at each stop.
Full-size image [PNG, 1550 x 3493 pixels]
PART THREE
During our crit session, Jesse mentioned that the blown-up layering technically counts as one map. So I decided to continue with this style for the final version, and incorporate a lot of feedback I received in the crit as well as from other feedback on Slack and offline.
The biggest visual change is the 3D district boundary on each force. This helps show the district in relation to its surrounding area, while also avoids details in the back getting lost on the 2D plane, which was feedback I had received on part 2.
The second biggest change is the removal of icons and a rework of the forces. Where previously I had a layer for zoning with patterns and a layer for business type with icons, based on Jesse’ feedback, I decided to amalgamate the two forces into one layer and forego the obvious icons. I instead mapped the perceived atmosphere around the district based on those businesses. I found it difficult to incorporate both forces in one layer, since they both cover the full district, but ended up removing the color from the patterns and relying on their obvious difference to portray the land use. While using a heat map effect to display the social atmosphere. I like that this really shows the social environment being crowded around the cultural heart of the district, and that affluence and walkability match the most social areas. Crime also seems to be lower in the more social areas.
The affluence force was also heavily reworked, as feedback received was that the colored dollar signs weren’t that obvious. So I added height to the mapping based on Sarah’s idea of incorporating 3D elements into the map. I added in a subtle color to help assist, and I think the final result works well.
I also added a few more perspective lines to help orient the viewer, as well as link the layers visually so it does become a single map.
Full-size image [PNG, 1550 x 3490 pixels]
Exercise 2.2: Architectures – Paul Tutty
Single Office
Office Suite
Office Block
Exercise 2.1: Informations – Paul Tutty
This is a map I have kept since my infantry training back in 1998. It shows the training area around Catterick Garrison, which is in the north of England. I have noted the following design strategies:
- Alignment. The grid is specifically designed in rows and columns for ease of reference.
- Consistency. Components of the map are color-coded or shaped the same based on what they represent, so they can be easily identified.
- Forgiveness. Danger areas have red boundaries to help you avoid them.
- Iconic Representation. Certain items on the map are displayed as icons for the various benefits it provides, includes recognition and recall, and reduction in space used.
- Signal-to-Noise. This map is specifically used for military maneuvers. It has therefore been tailored to only show relevant information by removing unnecessary information that would otherwise be extra noise.
CC Tennis: Shreya & Paul
Chairs in Paul’s Life
1. Upstairs office chair. I often work from home, and this is my chair of choice when I do. After suffering some injuries over the years, my legs and back would ache after a full day working on an older office chair. So I decided to buy a high quality office chair, and settled on the Steelcase Leap v2 with headrest after trying out the Aeron and other competitors. This chair is amazing compared to any other office chair I have ever sat in. You can tweak the ergonomics almost any way you like. It makes me very productive as I don’t focus on any discomfort. The only downside is that I tend to work too long without a break because of the lack of discomfort, which is something I need to fix.
2. My reading nook is in my downstairs home office. I have a couple of leather IKEA POÄNG chairs. I like their minimalist design, which works well for me as the area is meant to a calm, relaxing space. I was initially concerned about the durability, but I have owned these a couple of years now and they see almost daily use without any issues. I’d like to make another trip to Kansas City to get the matching footstool, as that is something I miss even though I didn’t think I would need it.
3. This is one of my dining chairs. It is standing in for an old office chair in my downstairs office. The old one is a cheaper office depot chair that I’ve owned for over five years. It hurts to sit in, so I’ve got this temporarily until I figure out what to replace it with. This chair is a World Market design from a few years ago. I really like the fabric, and it makes me feel upbeat. I also like that the other chairs are not exact matches, so when they are all together around the table it feels vibrant and fun. I don’t usually dine at my dining table, it is more often used for board games with friends, and so the chairs match the atmosphere.
4. Sectional wedge. This is the wedge piece from an older sectional, now repurposed as a hangout space for my Labradane. It fits two humans or one of him. I don’t have much love for this wedge piece, as I think the color is ugly and when it was used as a part of the sectional, you’d fall through the cracks so it didn’t really work well. I also am not a huge fan of fabric sofas due to the fact they attract dog hair like crazy. This wedge sits across from my reading nook under, so whenever I am working downstairs one of the dogs will be curled up on here.
An Object Paul Loves, an Object Paul Hates
Photo credit: CNET
I love my Plantronics BackBeat Pro headphones for a few reasons. I purchased them primarily for the active noise canceling feature, so I could get better rest on my flights to Europe, but I find myself using them all the time now. The volume is mapped to twisting the outside right cup, while the left is used to changes songs or radio stations. You also have to remember a button on each side. Right for on/off, left for ANC on/off. These buttons have audio feedback. These controls are not natural, but they are easily learnable primarily assisted by the symmetrical design. My favorite feature is the battery life. I’ve used it almost 24 hours without needing a charge.
Photo credit: CNET
I strongly dislike my Amazon Echo. While it has many excellent qualities, the basic onboarding experience was not intuitive. With my European accent, it was not apparent, until an internet search, that I could train it by creating a voice profile. But to do so required using a mobile application. This feels like a logical constraint, because it is not obvious. One of the bigger issues I have with the Echo is that recognition over recall is poor, because you have to remember the available speaking options. As you add abilities to the Echo, this issue becomes more apparent. Once you get Alexa working, I’ve noticed people are having difficulty knowing what the Echo is doing if they’re not tech-savvy. Alexa’s Voice Chrome has six different states for visual feedback, which are displayed in various color lights and patterns. I think this provides poor visibility because four of those states are the same shades of blue, so you have to recognize the pattern in concert with the audio feedback.
Strategy: Iconic Representation
Iconic representation is a way to impart information through simple imagery and symbols. This can be branding, so we can more easily recognize and recall [1]; icons that help us navigate systems while minimizing the space used, as with UI controls; and, can be used as a way of imparting information to a large group of people without the need for language, such as with signage [2] along roads and in airports.
Example from Doctor Disruption
Other Example
Tulsa Airport Signage
Source: EMG Graphics
[1] “Doctor Disruption » Principles Of Design #30 – Iconic Representation.” Doctordisruption.com. N. p., 2017. Web. 14 Oct. 2017.
[2] “Iconic Representation.” O’Reilly | Safari. N. p., 2017. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.
Strategy: Chunking
Chunking was introduced by George A. Miller, in a 1956 paper: “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two : Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information.”[1] In psychology, it means an organizational unit of memory.[2] Information science has rapidly learned to use it to distill ever increasing amounts of information down to bite-sized “chunks.” The design world uses this principle to impart a lot of information in a digestible format.
Example of Chunking Information
Source: Peak Performance Center
Infographic Example
Source: Visual.ly
Downtown Tulsa Visitor Map
[1] “Chunking.” The Interaction Design Foundation. N. p., 2017. Web. 14 Oct. 2017.
[2] “How Chunking Helps Content Processing.” Nngroup.com. N. p., 2017. Web. 14 Oct. 2017.
Strategy: Waist-to-hip ratio [NSFW]
Waist-to-Hip ratio (WHR) refers to the penchant to find a specific ratio of waist and hip attractive. For men, studies show 0.7 is the “golden ratio,” while for women it is shown to be approximately 0.9 [1]. In design, this can be used to sway the viewer towards liking what they see in context to the WHR, as can be seen with the average fashion model’s WHR being 0.7. This concept is based on research by Dr. Devendra Singh of the University of Texas at Austin.[3]
Waist-to-Hip ratio Attractiveness Scale
Source: Psychology Today
Waist-to-Hip Actual and Ideal Plots
Source: PLOS ONE
Tulsa Vintage Store Mannequins
[1] “Beautycheck – Beautiful Figure.” Uni-regensburg.de. N. p., 2017. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.
[2] “Waists, Hips And The Sexy Hourglass Shape.” Psychology Today. N. p., 2017. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.
[3] Singh, D. (1991). An Evolutionary Theory of Female Physical Attractiveness. [ebook] Austin. Available at: http://people.fmarion.edu/tbarbeau/An%20Evolutionary%20Theory%20of%20Female%20Physical%20Attractiveness.pdf [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017].
Strategy: Wabi-Sabi
Wabi-sabi is an aesthetic principle based on the amalgamation of two Japanese aesthetic concepts: wabi, meaning “things that are fresh and simple,” and sabi, meaning “things whose beauty steam from age.”[1] It is also known as the “art of imperfection.” [2] It is a humbling aesthetic choice that shows that art, architecture, design, or even life does not have to be shiny, new, expensive, or fancy to be perfect.
Example from zenvita
Credit: Zenvita
Example of an Imperfect Wall
Credit: adesignlifestyle.net
Tulsa Manhole Cover
[1] “Wabi, Sabi And Shibui.” Mercury.lcs.mit.edu. N. p., 2017. Web. 14 Oct. 2017.
[2] Robyn Griggs Lawrence, from Natural Home, and Inc. Ogden Publications. “Wabi-Sabi: The Art Of Imperfection.” Utne. N. p., 2017. Web. 14 Oct. 2017.
Strategy: Scaling Fallacy
A scaling fallacy is one where people believe, wrongly, that something at a certain size will automatically work at a different size (bigger or smaller). This can be related to in many areas of design, production, economics, and engineering. An example: a car that can drive 100mph with a 2.0 liter engine should not be expected to be able to drive 200mph with a 4.0 liter engine.
Example of Scaling Fallacy
Source: vanseodesign.com
Example of Font Scaling
Source: kyleschaeffer.com
BOK Tower, Tulsa – 50% scale World Trade Center
A little known fact is that the largest tower in Tulsa was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the Twin Towers’ architect. It was designed at almost exactly half the scale during the oil boom of the 1970s. Tulsa has lots of land. Going up was not necessary. This was a status symbol ordered by William’s corporation CEO John Williams. Unfortunately, it never garnered the same national attention that made the twin towers so iconic. Some argue that is due to the fact it lacks the twin and the size.[4]
[1] Hardman, Daniel. “The Scaling Fallacy.” Codecraft. N. p., 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2017.
[2] Jones, Brandon. “The Scaling Fallacy And Web Design.” Web Design Envato Tuts+. N. p., 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.
[3] “The Believer – The Lost Twin: The Lone, Shrunken World Trade Center Tower In Oklahoma.” The Believer. N. p., 2008. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.
[4] “1/4 World Trade Center: Tulsa’S Half-Sized, Untwinned Tower.” WebUrbanist. N. p., 2016. Web. 16 Oct. 2017.
Strategy: IKEA Effect
Named after the Swedish retailer that sells items that require partial assembly by the customer., the IKEA effect was demonstrated by Norton, Mochon, and Ariely, who found that people show increased value to products they either made wholly or partially. Participants “saw their amateurish creations as similar in value to experts’ creations.”[1] It is a cognitive bias that increases the perceived value of something because they had a hand in making it. The research specifically shows the effect being related to the completion of the task, not the size of the task. This means that we can “create a stronger bond between user and product” by allowing them to have a hand in its creation. [2]
Example of a Home Garden
Apple Music Onboarding
Tulsa Community College, Center for Creativity
This example is a little obscure, so I’m adding an explanation. I got my first U.S. degree from this location, and because of the time, money, and effort I put into that I feel very attached to this building. I believe it is of more value than just a community college.
[1]Norton, M., Mochon, D. and Ariely, D. (2017). The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love. [online] Harvard Business School. Available at: http://www.people.hbs.edu/mnorton/norton%20mochon%20ariely.pdf [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
[2] “Design Principle: IKEA Effect – Uxdesign.Cc.” uxdesign.cc. N. p., 2017. Web. 14 Oct. 2017.
Strategy: Mimicry
The use of something that is familiar to other people, in order to reap the benefit of that recognition. While there are negative connotations surrounding the use of mimicry in design, there is also the thought that “why [should we] resolve problems that nature has already solved over thousands of years?” [1] This can be extended to the UI design realm, taking into consideration copyright infringement, by reusing well-known or well-adopted interface elements and patterns. This makes sense from a user experience perspective, which is backed up by jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design.[2]
Big Mac versus Big Mick 
Source: The Cadillac Lawyer based on Coming to America
Leaf-tailed Gecko Camouflage
Source: The Daily Telegraph
NEST Learning Thermostat App Mimics Physical Dial
[1] Nichol, Peter. “Design Thinking Enlightened With Mimicry.” CIO. N. p., 2017. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.
[2] “10 Heuristics For User Interface Design: Article By Jakob Nielsen.” Nngroup.com. N. p., 2017. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.
Histories: Paul Tutty
Wingflex Design
Image Credit: Airbus Aircraft | Boeing 777 Wingflex Test
ATC System Design
Video link: https://vimeo.com/123835595
Image Credit: NATS | 24 hours of European ATC Visualized
Image Credit: Martin Grandjean | Airport Network Visualization
Dutch Cargo Bike
