Haptisches Feedback oder auch als taktiles Feedback bezeichnet tritt auf, wenn Vibrationsmuster und Wellen verwendet werden, um Informationen an den Nutzer eines elektronischen Geräts zu übertragen.
“Taktil” bedeutet “berühren”, was hier angemessen ist, wenn man bedenkt, dass viele Produkte heutzutage darauf ausgelegt sind, Informationen per Berührung an ihre Benutzer weiterzuleiten. Telefone und Tablets mit Touchscreens sind hervorragende Beispiele für Produkte, die taktiles Feedback verwenden.
In der Vergangenheit waren Audiofeedbacks in Form von Glocken und Alarmen häufiger. Taktiles Feedback ist ein zeitgemäßer Ansatz für dasselbe Grundprinzip.
Haptik ist ein physisches Signal, welches vom menschlichen Körper wahrgenommen werden kann. Haptische Feedbacks werden beispielsweise dazu genutzt, um Nutzer eines Mobiltelefons mitzuteilen, dass gerade im Moment ein Anruf eingeht oder eine Nachricht empfangen wurde.
Es kann aber durchaus im Kontext von Accessibility angewendet werden. Die Einführung von berührungsgesteuerten Benutzerschnittstellen im öffentlichen Raum, am Beispiel eines Geld- oder Ticketautomaten, erleichtert zwar die Reinigung der Geräte und ermöglicht die Individualisierbarkeit der dargestellten Inhalte, allerdings wurde dadurch die Gestaltung von inklusiven Benutzerschnittstellen wesentlich erschwert.
Die Einbindung von haptischen Feedbacks hilft Nutzern mit eingeschränktem Sehvermögen beim Bedienen von Touchscreens an öffentlichen Geld- oder Ticketautomaten mit Touchscreen.
Dabei wird das haptische Feedback verwendet, um konventionelle mechanische Bedienelemente, auf berührungsempfindlichen Benutzerschnittstellen zu emulieren. Nutzer haben so den Eindruck, als würde eine mechanische Taste ausgelöst werden.
iPhone 7 – home button
Apple – taptic engine
Apples taptic engine in iPhones
Das Apple iPhone 7 war das erste Smartphone von Apple ohne mechanischem Home-Button. Der mechanische Knopf wurde durch eine drucksensitive elektronische Komponente ersetzt. Der “Klick” wird durch ein haptisches Feedback eines Vibrationsmotors simuliert. So lassen sich auch unterschiedliche Druckstufen parametrieren.
Beispiel – Nextsystem
Das österreichische Unternehmen „nextsystem“ konzentriert sich auf die Entwicklung von Touchscreens mit einem fühlbaren haptischen Feedback für medizinische, industrielle und öffentliche Einsatzzwecke.
“Data voids are a security vulnerability that must be systematically, intentionally, and thoughtfully managed.”
When talking about data voids, people often forget that there are different kind of information and most importantly the process of getting information. Search engines, for example, use another strategy compared to social media platforms. Search engines like Google or similar have lots and lots of data, but people’s approaches to search engines typically begin with a query or question in an effort to seek new information. However, not all search queries are equal. So, if you’re searching for a term like “ironing”, you’ll most certainly get some adds and some organically produced output (SEO), but nothing about “extrem ironing” (although it is quite fun to look at these pictures). In comparison to that social media, where users primarily consume an algorithmically curated feed of information. When there is not enough, too little or no data at all about a certain topic it is called a data void. When search engines have little natural content to return for a particular query, they are more likely to return low quality and problematic content. As already mentioned before, bad or low quality content ist harmful to our society.
According to datasociety.net there are five types of data voids in play:
Breaking News: The production of problematic content can be optimized to terms that are suddenly spiking due to a breaking news situation; these voids will eventually be filled by legitimate news content, but are abused before such content exists.
Strategic New Terms: Manipulators create new terms and build a strategically optimized information ecosystem around them before amplifying those terms into the mainstream, often through news media, in order to introduce newcomers to problematic content and frames.
Outdated Terms: When terms go out of date, content creators stop producing content associated with these terms long before searchers stop seeking out content. This creates an opening for manipulators to produce content that exploits search engines’ dependence on freshness.
Fragmented Concepts: By breaking connections between related ideas, and creating distinct clusters of information that refer to different political frames, manipulators can segment searchers into different information worlds.
Problematic Queries: Search results for disturbing or fraught terms that have historically returned problematic results continue to do so, unless high quality content is introduced to contextualize or outrank such problematic content.
So how can we fill these voids with qualitativ data?
The biggest problem with these newly occurring data voids is the enormous speed in which they are spread and some of them are spread through apps like WhatsApp or Telegram. So the main problem is how can we know if there is a data void in development. In the following video it is explained why fast response to search engines most searched questions with fact checking is so important.
At the end of this research post the most important question for me is how can we filter and label all of this content properly and fast enough to not let these kinds of data voids arise.
Harms framework to explore the risks posed by data voids
One and in my personal opinion the most promising solution could be a browser based plugin which would have to be operated by an independent platform fo experts. This platform must have its own funding so that there can be no rumors of corruption, propaganda and so on. This means it could be like an individually paid virus detection software, but for detecting false information, filtering and labelling it and also filling data voids as soon as they arise.
Have you ever thought about the environment during a meeting? Maybe only if you are bored or if the environment is disturbing or distracting the participants. But what if the space plays a bigger role in the sense of the ‘human’ aspect in web meetings? Geographical distance is usually the main reason for holding a web meeting. This includes that there is no physical meeting space at all. How does this influence the meeting? When we meet in presence, we immediately have the sense of coming together as a team or at least as a group.
In the last blog entry I wrote about proxemics and environments and how this subconsciously influences our communication. I found out, that in web meetings:
relational space does not matter
personal hierarchy is not visible
side conversations are not possible (only via private chat messages)
environment do not seem to matter even though they can influence the meeting situation and communication
front view of all participants is not natural (unless you are a lecturer) and differs from presence meetings
In comparison to the other mentioned points in my last entry, space and environment make out one of the biggest differences between presence and digital meetings in my opinion. I think they could be a crucial part of making a web meeting experience more human. But how? Let’s have a closer look at the meaning of ‘room’ and ‘space’ or the german words ‘Raum’ and ‘Platz’. Definitions or translations of these words look really diverse to me. In my research I focused on the german research on ‘Raum’ as it describes best what I mean. I will use the english word ‘space’ to make the text easier to read. The Duden has seven different meanings of space which range from physical to mathematical to hypothetical meanings. Space is a much discussed controversy in philosophy and physics. Especially the philosophical and sociological aspects seem to be important in regard to my topic of meetings and communication.
There used to be two main concepts about the meaning of space: The absolutistic and the relativistic. The absolutistic room can be seen like a container which is either empty or filled with humans, things, spheres or characteristics. The division between space and matter results in the assumption that spaces exist independently from actions. In contrast to that the relativistic space concept sees space only as a result of relations between bodies. That means that the space only exists through actions what exclude the influence of physical spaces.
Following the hypotheses of M. Löw, the two previous named concepts have to be seen in combination. Löw’s concept of space is called the ‘relational’ spatial model and represents the ‘duality of space’. The concept follows the assumption of a space as a result of actions but simultaneously as a legal, social, cultural and spatial structure of actions. This means, a space needs actions to exist but also consists of its own structures that enable or limit those actions. A space can be seen as a structure and not as a certain dimension or unit.
In this point of view we can notice that a space is not necessarily dependent from a physical space and results from our own actions and relations. With this in mind we could also say that space is something completely imagined – if we want to. Furthermore the concept mentions that the structure of a space itself has an influence on our actions and relations. Sticking to the idea of an imagined space: Do we naturally give the space a structure even if it is not a real place? Or do we try to adapt it to the structure of a comparable, real or at least visual space?
When we imagine the look, the smell and the taste of a lemon and then imagine biting into that lemon, we usually feel our body reaction to that without physically experiencing the situation. It also works with spaces: Imaging a really nasty autobahn toilet, we automatically start shaking in disgust. These examples only work because of our previous experiences. If we never tried biting into a lemon, we do not know our reaction to it. In our imagination it could taste sweet or even salty which results in another physical reaction.
In this point of view, we could assume that the imagination of a certain place is related to our previous experiences with that kind of space or related structures. We also can assume that the imagination of the room can lead to something like an imagined reaction. But what does that mean for (online) meeting environments? Everyone of us met someone somewhere before. We know how to greet each other or keep the right personal distance to our meeting partner. We usually know how to use the objects in the meeting environment: Chairs for sitting and a table to share food or to look at the same piece of paper. We are used to the background music in restaurants, the ambient noise of the park or the silence in business meeting rooms. But what about online meeting environments? No matter which meeting we are in, we usually stay at the same place (or we at least search for a quiet place). Does this affect the meeting? And if yes, how?
Thank you for reading! If you have any thought, idea or comment on that topic (or just for chatting), feel free to contact me – I would be happy to get in touch 🙂
Keywords space, room, environment, online meeting, web meeting, web conferencing, telecommunication, online communication, connectivity, remote communication media
Sources Martina Löw: The Sociology of Space: Materiality, Social Structures, and Action (2016) Gabriela B. Christmann: Zur kommunikativen Konstruktion von Räumen (2016) Johannes Moskaliuk: Zoom-Fatigue – Drei Erklärungsansätze, warum Videokonferenzen so anstrengend sind https://wissensdialoge.de/zoom-fatigue-drei-erklaerungsansaetze-warum-videokonferenzen-so-anstrengend-sind/; last review 17.01.2021
Aged 67 | Housewife | Married | Lives with her husband in Istanbul
She thinks digital is a means of facilitation of life.
She has been using digital devices for 6 years.
She has a tablet, a smartphone, TVs and a laptop.
She has internet connection and she uses it to communicate with relatives, browse social media, learn new stuff and check news.
She mostly uses her phone and tablet to connect.
She feels adapted to the digital world.
She uses visual aids and bigger letters on her tablet, she uses a remote with bigger buttons for her TV.
She manages daily works by herself or with her husband. She knows about the services but she doesn’t use them because of trust issues and difficulty of usage.
Interviewee 2 & 3
Aged 68 and 72 | Housewife and Retired Doctor | Married together | Live in Istanbul
They think digital is the outcome of fast development of technology.
They have been using digital devices for 10 years.
They have 2 smartphones, a tablet, a laptop, a desktop and TVs
They have internet connection and they use it to browse social media.
She uses her tablet and he uses the laptop to connect. Also they both have phones that are connected to Whatsapp.
They feel partially adapted because they just use a small part of it.
They use visual aids on all their digital devices that they need to read from (phones, laptop, tablet). She has a hearing aid and she needs a bit louder then usual to hear sounds.
She manages the daily works by herself. They are aware of the services provided and they order food and buy clothings through them. However they also have difficulty of usage.
Interviewee 4
Aged 66 | Retired teacher | Married | Lives in Orth an der Donau
Digitalisierung ist für mich die rasante Entwicklung neuer Technologien, die meinen Alltag erleichtern, aber auch verändern.
Ende der 1990er Jahre erhielt ich mein erstes Handy, meine erste Digitalkamera und der erste Computer hielt Einzug in meiner Familie.
Smartphone, Computer, Kamera, Internetradio, Fernseher, digitalgesteuerte Heizung, Navigationssystem im Auto.
Ja, ich habe eine Internetverbindung im Haus. Ich benutze sie, um emails zu schreiben und zu beantworten, um meine Bankgeschäfte zu erledigen, um Recherchen im Internet zu betreiben, um Fotos zu archivieren und zu versenden, um zu telefonieren, um Waren zu bestellen.
Ich verwende einen Stand PC, einen Laptop, ein Smartphone, einen Fernseher und ein Radio.
Ich komme im Alltag gut zurecht, solange es sich um Prozesse handelt, die mir schon vertraut sind. Bei Problemen oder Neuerungen hole ich mir gerne Hilfe bei meinen Kindern.
Nein.
Ich erledige Bankgeschäfte seit vielen Jahren über das Internet und bestelle auch manche Artikel des täglichen Lebens online. Lebensmittel, Kosmetikartikel, Bücher und alles, was in meiner näheren Umgebung in Fachgeschäften erhältlich ist, kaufe ich dort ein.
Momentan möchte ich bewusst die meisten Einkäufe nicht in der digitalen Welt tätigen und die bestehende Infrastruktur (vor allem kleinere Fachgeschäfte im Ortskern) stärken. Wenn ich so gesundheitlichen Gründen dazu nicht mehr in der Lage sein sollte, werde ich sicher mehr Einkäufe online erledigen.
Ich verwende WhatsApp auf meinem Smartphone, E-banking, Benachrichtigungen mein Heizsystem betreffend.
Interviewee 4
Aged 66 |Retired pharmaceutical worker | Married |Lives in Orth an der Donau
Calculation machines using +/-
With the first computers during my studies (late 60s/early 70s)
Desktop, laptop, smartphone, car navigation, internet radio…
Yes – for e-mailing, searching the web, phone (communication)
Desktop, laptop, smartphone
Slightly (20%) compared to the digital generation
No
Use internet sometimes for shopping
Only aware of few services , use only a few.
WhatsApp, Zoom, some other Apps
Insights
In many elder households, the main digital device used are TVs but there is a great interest in new devices such as tablets and smartphones which are usually used for social media.
These people do not want to be left out, get isolated. They want to be included in the process of development but they tend to be afraid to use new technologies/devices which is either caused by the warnings from the younger ones in the family or their own experience of not being able to use new tech.
Extensive use of social media can be observed, their main reason to use new digital devices and internet is the massive emergence of social media in our lives.
Elderly people are feeling partially adapted to the digital world and they use digital devices pretty often, although sometimes they have some problems, it can be seen that they have a big place in this digital dominant era and this should affect design accordingly.
A relatively new invention will change the way we douse fires, in particular it will improve our approach to them.
Whenever something huge burns, we think only of a forest or building fire, the risk of sacrificing human lives is truly enormous and finding an alternative way to combat this problem would mean saving many lives.
Water, chemicals, flame inhibitors, fire extinguishers, aerosol suppressors are the most common ways to put out a fire, but still not the best and not usable for every situation.
A revolutionary way to put out a fire is definitely with sound waves. But how? Sound waves move oxygen away from the source of a flame and spread it over a larger surface. In this way the “fire combustion triangle” is broken, consisting of the three elements necessary for the combustion of the fire (heat, fuel and oxygen).
Without relying on other sources such as water and chemicals, the frequencies of these sounds are between 30 and 60 Hz.
The concept of using sound waves had already been studied by teams at West Georgia University and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, but without any success.
In 2015, two final year students from George Mason University in Virginia, USA, Seth Robertson and Viet Tran, created an acoustic fire extinguisher for their senior design project at George Mason University.
It was originally created to put out small fires in the kitchen, but currently the goal is to fight large fires.
They tested different frequencies of sound on small fires and found that the lowest frequencies, 30-60Hz, produced the desired effect.
The final prototype consists of an amplifier and a cardboard collimator to focus the sound, it is a portable device of only 9 kg, powered by the network, able to quickly extinguish small alcohol-powered fires.
They are currently working to move on to further testing and refinements and studying the feasibility of applying the principles. For example, it could be applied in space, where fire is a big deal, and it is possible to direct sound waves without gravity.
It contains no refrigerant and may not be able to prevent re-ignition after the sound has been turned off, but they are trying to improve it.
Resources:
PhysicsWorld: Dousing flames with low-frequency sound waves. 2015
DellTechnologies: Sound Waves to Fight Wildfires: How Does it Work?. 2020
The first AR application used as marketing campaign was in 2008 when BMW designed their first AR advertisement for a Mini model. The advertisement consisted of a printed magazine which created a digital 3D model of the Mini model when it was held in front of a computer’s camera. The user was able to control the perspective of the car by tilting and rotating the magazin.
Only 10 years later 272 AR applications could be found in the Android app store tagged with “Shopping”.
That 49.4% of 60 668 german user of the internet are interested in AR technologies in combintion with furnishings was the reslut of a survey in 2013. Also in 2018 52.2% of 1 008 asked person at the age of 18 – 69 years could imagine to install one to five apps for digital support with AR while shopping. A extraordinary high interest was noticed for information about products (77.8%) and special offers (64.8%).
Why can AR improve the shopping experience? With AR the shopping experience gets • more effective • richer • more entertaining • more informative
So the shopping experience gets influenced in a positive way. This leads to more mouth to mouth propaganda, a better recognition of the product and also increase purchase intent. On the other hand the customer can feel unsave with is privacy because of using a digital app.
While for many people Augmented Reality is still a pretty new thing, companies which are working with AR, no metter in which field, will be defined as modern an progressive business. As long as it is not standard to use such new technology for advertisement or marketing in general, the recognision is very high and the connection to the brand deep emotional. The number of mobile AR users is predicted to reach 200 million within 2021. So we will surely be in contact with much more AR interactions.
Examples of more AR ads
Burger King The campagne “After all, flamed grilled is always better” (2019) of Burger King was about burning down the ads of competition in Brazil. The user could scan and ad of the competition with the app and burn the ad virtual down. The best of the campagne: it is not only fun for the user but they also get one free whopper by using the burning feature.
Burger King – Burn That Ad
Adidas – more virtual sneakers In 2018 Adidas created an AR lenese the allow customers to preview its new Ultraboost 19 sneakers. With using the Snapchat app, the user was able to unbox and learn more about the shoes by tap on the Adidas logo.
Charakteristiken und Merkmale von Illustration als Visual Language
Illustrationen signalisieren etwas Fiktives, Unwirkliches.
Wie bereits erwähnt wird bei Grafischen Bildern bzw. Illustrationen bereits aufgrund ihrer Charakteristiken eine symbolische Ebene geschaffen – Menschen verbinden mit Illustrationen etwas Fiktives und sie repräsentieren Ideen oder Konzepte. Im Gegensatz zu Fotografie fehlt ihnen die Fähigkeit einem Design eine gewisse Wahrheit zu verleihen und somit eine Art Beweis-Ebene zu schaffen. Gleichzeitig stellt diese Assoziation mit dem Fiktiven auch einen Nachteil der Illustration als Medium dar und schränkt auch die Einsatzgebiete dementsprechend ein.
Grafikdesigner Adrian Shaughnessy formuliert es so:
Die schwammige Mehrdeutigkeit und Fähigkeit, metaphorisch Gefühle und Emotionen zu transportieren, macht Illustration hingegen zu gefährlich für die Welt der Unternehmen.
Aus diesem charakteristischen Merkmal ergibt sich jedoch auch einer der Vorteile von Illustrationen – sie wecken emotionale Reaktionen, oft stärker als Fotos. Illustrationen nimmt man meistens entweder positiv oder negativ wahr, wohingegen ein Foto meistens neutraler betrachtet wird. Die Assoziation mit abstrakten und allgemeinen Themen, die wir mit Illustration haben, führt dazu, dass dieses Medium eine stärkere emotionale Qualität hat. Im Gegensatz dazu sind konkrete Darstellungen eindeutig und klar und wir nehmen sie eher zur Kenntnis ohne darüber nachzudenken. Eine Illustration muss man immer interpretieren und ist nie so selbstverständlich wie ein Foto.
Durch Symbole und allegorische Darstellungen kann man einer Illustration weitere Bedeutungs- und Wirkungsebenen verleihen, vorausgesetzt der Betrachter versteht die Zeichen und kann sie deuten. Ziel von grafischer Illustration sollte trotzdem immer eine verständliche Visualisierung sein.
Aufgrund ihrer Eigenschaften eignen sich Illustrationen im Allgemeinen besonders gut für:
01. fantastische Szenen
Illustrationen sind sehr gut darin, Dinge zu zeigen, die man mit Fotografie einfach nicht, oder nicht so leicht, visualisieren kann. Illustrationen haben keine Einschränkungen durch reale Überlegungen wie Schwerkraft oder „Möglichkeit“. Sie sind also ideal, um fantastische Szenen zu erstellen, die unmöglich zu fotografieren wären.
Illustratorin Ari Liloan visualisiert für Joko Winterscheidts GQ-Kolumne
02. Für Retro-Stimmung – Nostalgie
Wenn man seinem Design einen gewissen Vintage-Look verliehen will, eigenen sich Illustrationen besonders gut. Aus historischer Sicht betrachtet, werden Illustrationen und vor allem auch verschiedene Stile der Illustration mit einer bestimmten Zeit/Ära in Verbindung gebracht. Die heutige Verwendung von Illustrationen kann also auf verschiedene Zeiträume zurückgreifen und den Designs ein Retro-Flair verleihen. Mit Fotografie ist es schwieriger, dies zu erreichen.
03. um Aufmerksamkeit zu erregen
Illustration kann auch eine gute Wahl sein, wenn man Aufmerksamkeit erregen möchte. In Märkten, in denen viele ähnliche Produkte erhältlich sind, können Illustrationen eine hervorragende Möglichkeit sein, sich von der Masse abzuheben. Es gibt nur so viele Möglichkeiten, dasselbe zu fotografieren, aber Illustratoren können einem Bild eine ganz neue Perspektive und einen neuen Stil verleihen.
Werbung für die internationale Rechtsanwaltssozietät Wolf Theiss mit Illustrationen von Christoph Niemann
04. Für Icons
Und dann gibt es natürlich Icons. Man denkt nicht oft daran, aber jedes kleine Symbol auf einer Website ist eine Illustration.
Charakteristisch und wirtschaftliche Vorteile von Illustrationen:
Models müssen nicht gecastet und bezahlt werden, nachträgliche Lizenzen für Models fallen nicht an.
Man kann Szenen aus anderen Ländern, Welten und Situationen erstellen, die fotografisch einen Heidenaufwand bedeuten
Die Erstellung von Illustrationen ist daher oft günstiger als Fotografie.
Gerade Themen mit Witz sind mit Illustrationen viel besser zu transportieren. Sie wirken nicht so albern wie Fotografien, obwohl sie sehr albern sein können.
Die Glaubwürdigkeit wird bei Illustrationen nicht in Frage gestellt. Der Betrachter geht von einer Phantasie-Szene aus. Das Setting für eine absurde, abstrakte oder unrealistische Szene ist somit vorbereitet.
Nachträgliche grundlegende Änderungen sind einfacher umzusetzen.
Komplexe Sachverhalte können stark vereinfacht dargestellt werden.
Ob man für die eigene Website, eine Werbekampagne oder für Magazine Illustrationen einsetzt, hängt von der zu treffenden Aussage ab. Illustrationen sind besonders wirksam bei Abstraktionen, Vereinfachungen oder humorvollen Themen.
Mehrere Kategorien der Illustration können definiert werden:
Fotogetreue Illustrationen, die Anspruch auf Wahrheit haben
Abstrakte Illustrationen, die Emotionen transportieren
figurative oder technische Zeichnungen mit dem Wunsch nach Realismus, Karten, naturwissenschaftliche Darstellungen,
Diagramme, Skizzen, statistische Grafiken
Grafische Illustrationen, die hauptsächlich mit geometrischen Grundformen arbeiten,
Illustrationen, die abstrakte Ideen und Konzepte visualisieren
Illustrationen als Repräsentation der Wirklichkeit und als Mittel zur Informationsdarstellung
Die Wirklichkeitstreue eines Fotos und der Vorteil dadurch Interesse wecken zu können, spricht oft für dieses Medium. Unter diesem Gesichtspunkt kann ein Foto effektiver sein als eine Illustration. Jedoch können Illustrationen, die die Realität originalgetreu wiedergeben, genauso effektiv sein wie ein Foto, wenn nicht sogar mehr.
Illustrationen von Josephine Rais
Darüber hinaus werden Zeichnungen z.B. von Kindern aufgrund ihrer anregenden Kraft und wie eindrucksvoll sie sind, häufig bevorzugt. Hier können wesentliche Botschaft hervorgehoben, vereinfacht und symbolisiert werden.
“Weißt du wo es Hunde und Katzen regnet?” – Kinderbuchillustration von Clara Frühwirth
Illustrationen können manchmal effektiver bei der Übertragung von Information sein als ein Foto. Häufig können Details oder wichtige Elemente eines Objekts oder einer Erfahrung besser hervorgehoben werden (z.B. in der Botanik, Untersuchung des menschlichen Körpers und seiner Funktion, biologische Experimente, Chemie, Physik, technische Instrumente). Im Vergleich können Fotos oft, einige wichtige Details nicht stark genug hervorheben.
Außerdem können Illustrationen…
…Grafiken für eine schnelle Wahrnehmung organisieren
…die Augen auf wichtige Informationen lenken
…eine Visuelle Abkürzung für effiziente Kommunikation bieten (weniger reale, dafür „schnellere“ …Darstellung)
Ted talk by Vanessa Ruiz | TEDMED 2015 Medical Illustrator
Vanessa Ruiz is a medical illustrator and loves the human body and anatomy. This is the reason why she created Street Anatomy, a movement dedicated to showcasing how anatomy is visualized in art, design and pop culture. Through sharing these works of art she wants to lift anatomy out of the textbooks, make it tangible and take away the learned reaction of fear of anatomy and guts most of us have.
In her Ted Talk at TEDMED 2015 she tells her story and relationship with anatomy, gives a short history recap and presents some of her favorite artists. Anatomy isn’t only relevant in the medical field and these artists bring it into the public space.
Jason Freeny
SHOK-1
Danny Quirk
Fernando Vicente
Michael Reedy
One of the artists Ruiz presents is the Austrian street artist and illustrator NYCHOS who created the Rabbit Eye Movement.
The ongoing pandemic is not only impacting our daily lives. It is also impacting a lot of different industries. While the automotive industry was already changing drastically before the pandemic, the coronavirus is accelerating different trends even more. These trends will likely also influence the new normal after the pandemic.
Different surveys show that people are finding more and more comfort in car ownership. The usage of personal cars nearly doubled in some areas after the outbreak of the coronavirus. Additionally people in China and the US who do not own a car intended on purchasing a car for health and safety reasons. Tech-savvy car shoppers have also increasingly used services for comparing models, prices and deals online. The Google search volume for “best car deals” has grown by 70% globally in March 2020 compared to the same time one year prior. Because most of the car dealerships were closed, a survey also showed that customers would be willing to use review videos, digital showrooms, online configurators, at-home test-drives and vehicle delivery as an alternative to a visit at their local car dealership. While dealers did offer vehicle delivery and car configurators online before the pandemic, only a few of them had the resources to execute a full vehicle purchase online.
Because of the lockdown and the restrictions from the government, auto shows and large conferences and therefore also vehicle launches had been canceled. While some manufacturers shifted to online launches for their new vehicles, some of them were just delaying them. Online vehicle launches and the car buying process will not be the only parts of the connected customer journey that need to be optimized in the future. To be able to achieve the best car experience possible, all processes along the customer journey have to be improved in the future. Good examples for digital customer experiences can be found in the consumer-tech sector from companies like Amazon, Airbnb and Netflix.
The Car Experience
Brand Touchpoints
Brand touchpoints are all points of contact where a potential customer comes into contact with the company. They can either be digital or physical. Examples for digital touchpoints would be websites, e-mail, social media profiles, apps, extended reality applications and many more. Physical touchpoints in the automotive industry include showrooms and the employees there, all company buildings, employees of the company itself, the actual car, the packaging and all print products like catalogues and posters. All touchpoints together can be visualized with a customer journey.
A customer journey illustrates how a user gradually comes into contact with different touchpoints and what he/she is doing there. Customer journeys can be created for different processes or even long time usage. For the best car experience possible, it is important to improve and adapt the interaction on all touchpoints.
The car buying journey is an example for a customer journey in the automotive industry. It includes every interaction throughout all touchpoints between an automaker and their potential client.
During this journey, about 95% of new car buyers are researching online before actually contacting a dealer. This number is also likely to increase even more in the next few years. The online research includes searches on Google, watching Videos on YouTube, engagement on social media and visiting the company website. Currently about 60% of the total time a customer is spending on buying a car is spent online. While Tesla customers already have to buy the entire car online and therefore also spend a higher percentage of time online, most automakers still require their customers to go to a dealership for purchasing the vehicle. With the development during the current pandemic and the changing needs of the connected customers it is also more likely that customers from different car manufacturers will spend more time online in the future. More automakers will need to enable their customers to buy a car online without visiting the dealership first. Digital dealerships and virtual showrooms might also help improve the car experience.
Despite the fact that automotive customers are usually well informed, only 1 in 3 car buyers knows the exact model and make of the car they are going to buy. Potential customers in the automotive industry also rely on more personalized information from multiple channels and devices.
Every customer journey can be divided into different phases. These phases may have different names or are split up in even more phases depending on the company and product but generally they are quite similar across industries. The typical car buying journey for new car buyers is divided into the following phases.
Awareness
The first phase is all about awareness. It starts when the potential customer realizes that he/she has a problem or a specific need. In the automotive industry this problem could be that the current car is breaking down or that the customer simply wants a new car. This phase also includes organic searches online about how to solve the problem, seeing an ad for a product or solution online or engagement on social media. Potential customers might skip all of the following stages and buy the product directly but this mostly happens with smaller and cheaper products and is unlikely to happen during the car buying process.
Information Gathering / Interest / Consideration
The second phase starts when the potential customers are actually beginning with research. This research could include a simple Google search, watching videos about the product or a detailed car review on YouTube, reading a professional review, visiting the website of the automaker and more. During this phase the buyer acquires knowledge about different brands and products that will most likely solve his problem. This phase ends when the potential customer has narrowed down a list of options.
Tied in with the information phase is the decision phase. The transition from information to decision often starts with the online configuration of the dream car. During this phase the potential customer also starts visiting a dealership for further information and getting a tangible feeling for the car, the features and the quality. A test drive with the actual car plays an essential role because it is the best way to get in contact with the full car experience before actually buying it. In most cases, except for Tesla customers, this phase also marks the leap from online to physical contact with the brand and product. Because new car buyers visit only two dealerships on average before going to the next phase, it is really important to focus on giving every customer the best experience possible.
Purchase / Action
During this phase the potential customer is actually buying the product after checking deals and offers from different dealerships. This phase also includes final decisions, price negotiations and the actual signing of the contracts. But this phase is actually not the end of the car buying process and a smooth transition to the next phase is especially important for the dealership.
Retention / Service / After Sales
The retention phase is one of the hardest but also most important phases for the dealership and automaker during the car buying process. It is all about building a long lasting relationship with the customer. This phase already starts with the first interaction between dealership and buyer during the decision phase. It also includes every activity after the purchase process and is essential for turning a buyer into a loyal customer. The goal of this phase is that the customer is coming back to this dealership for every service and ideally also the purchase of the next vehicle. That is the reason why it is important to convince the buyers that this dealership is the best place for all their vehicle needs. This phase also includes personalized emails or offers already considering the exchange value of the current car or invitations to special events and test drives.
Example
The following image shows a good example of a automotive customer journey. This map tracks the customer through all phases of the car buying process and also includes the different touchpoints along this journey. But because every client is different and takes different paths when buying a car it is also important to consider different routes and touchpoints depending on the target audience.
Der Pisound verwandelt den Raspberry Pi in ein Musikinstrument, einen Effekt, einen Audiophilen Netzwerk Player, ein portables Recording Studio oder gar eine Internet Radio Sation. Es ist eine ultra-low latency Sound Card und Midi Interface, ausgestattet mit 192kHz 24-bit Stereo Input and Output.
Den Pisound kann man beispielsweise im Patchob OS verwenden. Eine Software, die quasi ein Pedal-Board simuliert. Die Software, die man über einen Browser öffnen kann, lässt verschiedenste Effekte und Signalwege Programmieren. Nicht nur für Audio, sondern auch für Midi. Die Einstellungen werden über eine Netzwerkverbindung synchronisiert. Die Sound Card eignet sich auch hervorragend dafür seine eigenen Pure Data oder Super Collider Patches laufen zu lassen.
Den Raspberry Pi und den Pisound werde ich schlussendlich nicht für mein Projekt verwenden, da er in einigen Bereichen schon fast zu komplex ist und viele Features hat, die ich gar nicht benötigen würde. Weiters habe ich die Erfahrung gemacht, dass man sich nicht immer 100 Prozent auf das Betriebssystem verlassen kann, sprich dass es richtig bootet usw. Auch der Kostenpunkt ist ein Ausschlussgrund, da ein solches Produkt nicht finanzierbar wäre, wenn man eine Sound Karte um 100 Euro + den eigentlichen Raspberry Pi verbaut.
