Wish-Them-Well / Ønskebrønden
The Wishing Well is a digital artefact that persuades, encourages and enables users to donate to local communities and organizations.
The Wishing Well is meant to be placed in public spaces and domains, where users via mobile payment solutions can donate money to the communities.
In The Wishing Well movies and pictures from the local community are displayed, whereby the users gets immersed in the specific challenges, faced by the community. The project was aimed at creating an uplifting experience when interacting with donations that could be placed in public fora - like libraries or townhalls - and through a magical atmosphere attract potential donators.
Based upon the idea of a classic oldtown wishing-well - in which a coin is tossed into to depth of the well in order to wish for better times for the local community or personal health – a video will be showcased underneath the water (using a small projector) that informs the potential donator about the local charity, organization or project to which the donation is contributing to.
In The Wishing Well movies and pictures from the local community are displayed, whereby the users gets immersed in the specific challenges, faced by the community. The project was aimed at creating an uplifting experience when interacting with donations that could be placed in public fora - like libraries or townhalls - and through a magical atmosphere attract potential donators.
Based upon the idea of a classic oldtown wishing-well - in which a coin is tossed into to depth of the well in order to wish for better times for the local community or personal health – a video will be showcased underneath the water (using a small projector) that informs the potential donator about the local charity, organization or project to which the donation is contributing to.
By swiping in the water, the video-story progress until finished. Finally, when a video is complete the user will be asked to donate via mobilepay. When making a donation the Wish-them-well creates a feeling of catharsis through the use of lights and sounds (see video below).At the donation-moment, The Wishing Well creates an auditory and visual experience for the user. Furthermore, this creates positive feedforward, attracting more users and thereby more potential donators to the design.
The overall look and feel of The Wishing Well is inspired from fairy tales and folk tales, in which the well has a religious, magical, or supernatural role. This magical expression is a pervasive element of the interaction and experience of the design.
Engaging users through memorable experiences
Due to digital centralization that society have undergone the past decades, economy is today lacking in the public space. There is a lack of local hubs with emphasis on economy, which ends out in a less transparent society.
Donations to the local community often goes through private banks and are hidden behind a shroud of secrecy and complexity. Through our research we learned that users seek more clarity surrounding their donations. Furthermore, the users expressed a desire to have an experience in relation to their donation.
These are the challenges that we sought to face and overcome through our design. The Wishing Well creates a physical public space with economy and community at its core. Through immersive technology combined with engaging storytelling, The Wishing Well takes the users on a journey of experiences.
Donations to the local community often goes through private banks and are hidden behind a shroud of secrecy and complexity. Through our research we learned that users seek more clarity surrounding their donations. Furthermore, the users expressed a desire to have an experience in relation to their donation.
These are the challenges that we sought to face and overcome through our design. The Wishing Well creates a physical public space with economy and community at its core. Through immersive technology combined with engaging storytelling, The Wishing Well takes the users on a journey of experiences.
A video-presentation of the final design and use.
Main responsibilities
The general design-process was democratic, and most work and decisions was made collaboratively across the entire team. However, I did have some areas of focus:
Beside of the genereal idea- and concept-development of "Wish-them-well", my main responsibilities during the project consisted of making the interactive video displayed in the water, making the first 1:10 mock-up version of the Well (in cardboard and polyester) as well as taking our user-data and theories regarding persuasive feedback/feedforward and map them onto a User Journey (see below).
I was also responsible for video-editing and mapping the various stages of the video in the well onto the user-interactions.
Furthermore, I was responsible for mapping out the different stages of the "Wish-them-well" (see above) in order to showcase the user journey from discovery -> to Interaction -> to the final Feedback and feeling of cartharsis.
Stakeholders on the project
Anine Hansen
Casper Kaels
Emma Ottile
Marcus Due Jensen
Mikkel Svendsen
