Through-Line: Designing a Playful Survey
Team: Yiling Zhang, Jacob Dommer, Christine Flauta, Joseph Hillenbrand, Tse-Hsun Kuo, Vanessa Segura Duque
Programs: BS Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Graphic of Design, Human Factors & Ergonomics, Apparel Studies
“Through-Line” is an interactive string survey focusing on design education, engaging design students with co-creating a playful installation at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Traditional surveys can be perceived as mundane and time-consuming, posing challenges for design students constrained by busy college schedules. Our project aims to increase design students’ participation incentive and enhance their survey experiences. The colorful strings integrate visual and tactile elements as the survey methodology to evoke curiosity and multisensory interaction associated with play. This approach not only generates data without staff intervention but also transforms data collection into a co-creation of public art. It creates a richer and more authentic dataset for the investigators, while providing participants with a fun experience and a sense of community.
The project was showcased in two locations at the university to engage design students across disciplines. The analysis reveals that participants, prompted by creativity, contributed to answering the questions in unexpected ways and at times actively reimagining the installation’s format, thereby blurring the line between investigators and participants. Although playful surveys are prone to a lower degree of control, they are more effective in recruiting participants, enhancing the survey experience, and generating genuine data through multisensory engagement.
Keywords: Interdisciplinary String Survey, Student Co-Creation, Playful Survey
Funder: Kusske Design Initiative
