Thesis Process Log W3
Since I was uncertain about how I should present my topic in a feasible artifact for the final showcase, I talked to my secondary thesis advisor, Professor Kathleen McDermott this week, and we took some time thinking about some exercises and tasks that I could do next to help me gain a clearer picture of the purpose of creating an artifact based on my topic and research findings.
Kathleen firstly advised that I could rephrase my research question to, for instance, “what are the qualities that make shopping in store at Casper (or any specific mattress store that I want to focus on) different from other store experiences?”, or “how does the installation of mattresses at Casper and other starts up impact consumer desire?”.
However, I am actually more interested in the multi-sensory environment and the application as marketing strategies,whereas the mattress store represents a typical case study of this topic. When I further explained my initial intention of choosing this topic and Kit made a suggestion that “how do different settings affects customers’ perceptions of the same product?”, and “what factors impact our perception of comfort in furniture?” could be good questions to start with. And for the final showcase, installation art is more suitable for presenting my ideas. I could design it as an experiment to see, for example, if one environment works better than others for making people susceptible to suggestions. It will also be a great idea to design an immersive experience with some multi-sensory settings. The most important thing is that I need to be clear with the specific message that I would like to deliver through the experiment or the experience. This could be like a PSA (public service announcement), or an abstract artwork that welcomes multifarious interpretation.
So for the next step, I will make a list of questions on what I want to explore or answer through the installation. It is necessary to create some scale models or diorama, and conduct at-home tests to figure out the supplies I need during the next prototyping phase. I will also continue with site visits to mattress and furniture stores such as MattressFirm, Blue Dot, JoyBird, and etc..
Inspiring Project
““I want to live hidden in the world that lies midway between mystery and symbol.”
The Infinity Mirror Rooms create immersive environments as experiential practices that foster an out-of-body experience, heighten one’s senses, and produce a repetitive illusion through the use of multimedia installations including lights and mirrors.
A Possible Question to Ask
An Application of Environmental Psychology to Mattress Store Design: how does lighting impact our perception of comfort in mattress?
