Walking in Pigeon's Path: An Interactive Experience

TYPE
role
year
Interaction design
Design research / Concept design / Prototyping/
Creative coding (TouchDesigner)
2023

I designed an interactive game to evoke empathy for pigeons, inviting people to imagine and engage with pigeon behavior

prompt

How can humans be encouraged to reflect on coexistence with familiar animals in their daily lives?

This project was created in response to a prompt from the Royal College of Art's MA Information Experience Design summer school, which called for a work exploring co-existence with non-human beings using TouchDesigner. I chose pigeons as my subject—creatures we often see but know little about—and began my observations
my design flow

define the issue

Defining the importance and the potential goal of the problem

UNDERSTAND USERS

Understand diverse perspectives on pigeons, uncover unconscious feelings, identify the target and their potential connection points to pigeons

UNDERSTAND PIGEONS

Understand how pigeons see the world to find the point we can sympathize with them

DESIGN INTERACTIONS

Think playful and intuitive ways for people to experience pigeon’s views

TEST & ITERATIONS

Iterate based on user feedback

design process details

define the issue

What does coexistence with non-human mean?

academic research
According to research, coexistence with non-human means understanding and practicing mutual relationship with non-human like animals and plants. It involves moving away from anthropocentric thinking to achieve mutual respect between humans and other life forms.
Design Decision
As an important step toward mutual respect,
I aim to create opportunities for people to think from the perspective of familiar animals
I focused on pigeons - creature abundant around us yes whose ecology we know little about

Understand users

How do people perceive pigeons, 
consciously and unconsciously?

USER INTERVIEW

Persona 1: Pigeon Lover

Saki, Age65
I like observing pigeons. I observe them on sunny days at parks, but I can’t name their features about their behavior.

During the interview, I realized I feel a bit uncomfortable when they come close to me.

Persona 2: Pigeon Neutral

Ami, Age 22
I don’t pay attention to pigeons usually.

But I realized I unconsciously avoid areas where too many pigeons gather.
Their movement is unpredictable and I’m annoyed when they get in my way.

Persona 3: Pigeon Hater

Keita, Age 24
I hate pigeons.

I think it’s because they seem dirty. If just seeing from distance, I think it could be okay for me.
key takeaways
  1. Regardless of their self-perceived feelings toward pigeons, people generally tend to dislike being in close proximity to them
  2. While people may feel that they frequently see pigeons, they do not actively observe or attempt to understand their behavior.
Design Decision
I decided to take a mild approach by encouraging people to imagine a pigeon’s perspective while keeping a comfortable distance from them
Given that even pigeon lover tend to keep a certain distance from them, taking a radical approach might backfire and only heighten people's aversion

understand pigeons

How do pigeons experience the world?

EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATION
I observed pigeons in the local park 3 times/day for a week
Pigeon’s view
What I did to experience their world
See UV light
Since pigeons can see ultraviolet light, I used a UV  to observe how pigeons perceive their peers and surroundings.
330-degree view
‍
To experience the pigeon's 330° field of vision, I used a 360° camera at pigeon-eye level to capture the park.
I recorded the pigeons' movements, finding their social behavior

DESIGN INTERACTIONS

What kinds of playful interactions could foster empathy for pigeons while maintaining a certain distance?

Pigeons view are totally different from ours, making it difficult for us to relate
People could empathize with the social behavior of pigeons since “following others” is similar to our behavior?
Design Decision
I decided to create an intuitive sound-based game where players predict pigeon movements.
with different sounds indicating whether their predictions are correct, to help people intuitively understand pigeon’s social behaviors

TEST

Using Zoom’s annotation feature, I asked ~15 testers to draw their predictions of a pigeon’s path on the screen
Then, I played a video showing the actual path the pigeon took
Oh! The pigeon went somewhere completely different from what I predicted! Sometimes they move socially—that's so interesting!
-Reaction from testers

Iteration

My initial idea:
Users simply listen to sounds to see their prediction was right
Design Decision
After the test,
I ensured the drawn path stayed visible to compare with the actual pigeon’s path,
noting it was more engaging to compare their drawn path with the pigeon’s path during the reveal

Design

Using TouchDesigner, I created a game where participants predict a pigeon’s path and intuitively sense the accuracy of their predictions through sound.

The game tracks the pigeon’s movement and calculates the distance between the pigeon’s position and the participant’s predicted path (via mouse tracking). If the distance is within a certain range, pleasant music plays; if it exceeds that range, nothing is heard.
Players hear pleasant sounds when their prediction is close to the actual pigeon's path
Players can't hear anything when their prediction is far from actual path
Creative coding using TouchDesigner

user feedback

The testers, including the interviewees, found it interesting to realize that they had never thought about pigeon behavior before

Persona 2: Pigeon Neutral

Ami, Age 22
After playing the game, I found myself observing pigeons at a nearby park.
Upon closer look, I noticed them sunbathing on a nice day, and I started to feel they have more relatable traits than I initially thought

Persona 3: Pigeon Hater

Keita, Age 24
I don’t like pigeons, but this was a great opportunity to imagine that their actions might have some reasoning behind them.
It could feel easier to empathize with them when I think they might think like I do.

If I had more time ...

I would have conducted user testing with the improved version featuring sound and iterated further. However, due to time constraints, I had to conclude the project at this stage. For future iterations, I would like to create a more engaging group-based competitive game, rather than individual gameplay, similar to the format used in the Zoom session.