ABOUT

Thoughtpool is an interactive experience that documents the thoughts, feelings, perceptions and musings from the users & experts of the Metaverse. People understand the Metaverse through the eyes of others aiding them into forming their own opinion about the space.

Try out Thoughpool on SWIK.space!

About

problem

In a noisy world in an evolving field, how might we help people have a more experiential and informed opinion surrounding the Metaverse?

01 The first step was to get a better understanding of the history and current state of the metaverse. If we are going to educate people about the space, it’s pertinent that we have the right context

02 The term ‘Metaverse’ has been coined to further facilitate the digital transformation in every aspect of our physical lives. At the core of the Metaverse stands the vision of an immersive Internet as a gigantic, unified, persistent, and shared realm.

03 Yet people aren't sure what the metaverse is. Based on responses from Gartner’s Marketing Survey around the consumer awareness surrounding the metaverse,
35% of respondents say the have never head of the metaverse. 38% of respondents say they have heard about the metaverse, but not sure what it means. 21% of respondents think they understand, but may not be able to describe it to others.

Research

Primary research

After researching the field, the next step was to get a better understanding of what the average person thinks about this space.We prepared a survey as well as conducted primary interviews. Our target segment was gender balanced, aged 21-36 and consisted of 10 people.

"I want more art in the metaverse. That and something more interactive that requires storytelling. I think storytelling is a key component.”

Yuge, 25, Indie game designer

"It’s a bit frustrating trying to get an understanding of the metaverse. It’s very theoretical and a humanist perspective would be more helpful.”

Aashim, 36, Creative Director

“I think its an interesting concept, but i’m not really sure what it can do for me. I use a lot of apps so i’m not sure if there’s any point in joining the metaverse?”

Randhir, 22, College Student

patterns

Through the research, a few common themes started emerging.

01 There’s no centralized place to learn and understand about the metaverse

02 People get overwhelmed when there is too much information being presented to them about a new topic

03 The metaverse is experiential but it’s not explained in an experiential way.

Ideation

We ideated around 20-30 different concepts and pitched our top 3 to our weekly class for some feedback. Considering the brief, time and overall idea, we had our unanimous front runner concept to prototype.

concept

How might we make learning about the metaverse more relatable while acting as a space to educate and peek the interest about it's many possibilities to those that navigate through it?

Art direction

We took inspiration from 3D architecture renders, monument valley and video games.

Minimal, Beauty & Inclusivity, Softness contrasting with aggression Relaxed and Explorative, Poetic.

narrative

There was a few rounds of trying to distill a narrative on our users but then after referring to our research and project objectives, decided to go for a more exploration-driven narrative. Below are a few space and interaction based loops we iterated on to achieve this effect.

Design

Environment

Duality: We acknowledged early on in the process that there’s more nuance to the opinions surrounding the Metaverse, but for the purpose of having our user form an initial opinion, we created a space that housed the “utopian” thoughts and “dystopian” thoughts alike, while having the art direction reflect that.

avatar design

We decided to use Mixamo to animate the character for our space. As a result, it was ideal to use a more humanoid figure to work with the animation algorithm

thought bubble

The bubbles provided a more fluid and ambient aesthetic for the new users to house their thoughts.

When a user ‘Teleports’ to the dystopian side of the space, the sphere take on a red glow. This forms a greater contrast within its dark surroundings.

implementation

Testing

It was a pleasure to display this piece as part of our prototyping exhibit. Overall Thoughtpool received a great response and actionable feedback for the future.

" There's a strong sense of dynamism as I navigate through the space."

" The sound design feels really engaging and immersive"

" Really, really impressive. I like how I can hear people talk positively about the metaverse but then teleport to another area and hear something that makes me skeptical"

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