A blog created whilst studying Digital Media Arts at the University of Brighton.
by James
I’ve recently had the opportunity to get feedback on my live draft of labyr.in/th – watching other people engage with the website, or at least seeing their reactions & that they were able to navigate it, was very helpful. Visitors found the playful nature of the site very enjoyable, they were curious to explore and understand how to interact with (and progress through) the site as a whole.
Getting regular feedback on how the experience is performing (whether people understand what is happening, what they are feeling throughout the website journey, what they take away from it) will be a vital part of this project. A large part of my design choices will be based around user experience, so this is what I’d like to research in greater depth. In particular, I’d like to read the Turing Complete User closely, as it contains important questions around expectations for website user interface design. To enable website visitors to complete tasks as quickly and effiecently as possible is the current meta – I’d also like to provide a virtual space for contemplation, an aim of my current Three.js gallery project.
I’m meant to be writing 500 words to outline the scope of my interactive project, but that’s been sidetracked whilst I’ve been developing – here’s the project headline for you now…
To create a playful website that engages the visitor’s attention with simple web interactions (clicking, scrolling, key presses). The design of the website follows themes found in traditional labyrinths; one entrance and one exit, repeating patterns, simple black and white graphics.
I also intend to work with a set of creative limitations
A further goal is to draw the visitors attention closely to how we use web browsers in general; for example, playing with the many ways we can display the cursor to signify different interactions. This project is inspired by how rarely I practice mindfulness online, particularly relating to my own experience engaging with social media attention algorithms.
I will continue to investigate contemporary discussion around User Experience and how this relates to the form of the Labyrinth.
The role of “experience” is to hide programmability or even customizability of the system, to minimize and channel users’ interaction with the system. It brings “user illusion” to a level where users have to believe that there is no computer, no algorithms, no input. It is achieved by providing direct paths to anything a user might want to achive, by scripting the user and by making an effort on audiovisual and aesthetic levels to leave the computer behind.
Olia Lialina, Rich User Experience, UX and Desktopization of War (emphasis added)
My website exists within the context of the web, and this is important to remember – there is one entrance and one exit, but what if users access the webpage early, or skip an important step?
How about confimation of a free gift from President Trump? https://secure.winred.com/tmagac/quarter-4-thank-you-gift?utm_source=ta&utm_medium=sms&utm_campaign=20200103__thank-you-gift_bradparscale_tmagac&utm_content=gop_merchandise&additional[content_slug]=exclusive-free-gift-q4&additional[issue]=White%20House&additional[topic]=POTUS
A thank you for becoming a victory volunteer? https://secure.winred.com/rnc/trump-victory-volunteer (https://web.archive.org/web/20201103002454/https://secure.winred.com/rnc/trump-victory-volunteer)
Or maybe you’ve just sent a message to Trump himself? https://secure.winred.com/djt/message-to-presidenttrump And he’ll see your signature on his christmas card? https://secure.winred.com/rnc/first-family-christmas-card?utm_campaign=20191214__christmas-card_gop_rnc&utm_source=ta&utm_medium=sms&additional
I’ll have to use cookies carefully to avoid similar UX hijacking. Try UX hijacking yourself by googling "site:whateverURLhere.com" thank you