Project Overview

• The goal of this project was to investigate and design around the issue of local English farmers not being receptive to new technology and changes in the farming industry.

• My group began the project by conducting research including reviewing interviews done previously by our sponsors. The next element of preparation for the project was lots of brainstorming.

• After research was conducted, the brainstorming continued until the last few days of the short project window.

• The final step of the project was to finalize our ideas and create a provotype. Our idea for the provotype was to create a provocative prototype which would challenge the target users (farmers) so our sponsors could collect more data for the project. 

Skills Required

• Research ability

• Collaborative brainstorming

• Team collaboration

• Critical thinking

• Ability to present findings

Skills Developed

• Use of provocative design 

• Clear and concise presentation abilities

• Collaborating with others from different cultures/backgrounds

• Immersion into other cultures

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My Contributions

During this project I worked on researching the problem space, brainstorming, generating ideas, and creating sketches for the final design of the provotype.  

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Project Description 

This project was based on ongoing fieldwork over small-scale sustainable agriculture in North England by Sebastian Prost and colleagues, gauging the role and understanding of digital technologies amongst such farmers. The aim of this project is to create a “provotype” (Haverinen, 2018) based on themes identified from interview transcripts obtained during farm visits to ten farms around Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds. 

​Initial Research 

My team was provided with transcripts of interviews with

farmers around Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester. These

interviews included details about the farmer’s acquisition of

the farm land, their preferred methods around their farms,

their issues with using digital technologies around their

farms and more. The team went through these transcripts

and identified multiple themes of interests that were found

to be common among the different farmers.  

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​Rapid Prototyping  & Brainstorming​​

After analyzing the interviews our sponsors provided us with and completing initial research, my group and I began to take a visual approach to brainstorming. With the help of our sponsors, we used sticky notes to create concepts and make design fiction scales. Below are images of our sticky note brainstorming activities.  

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​Prototyping - Provocative Design ​​

After settling on an idea, my group had to begin prototyping with limited

time remaining in the project window. Our final idea was to create a fictitious

farmer's apron as well as an accompanying story. The purpose of this was to

handoff our story and prototype to our sponsors for them to use it to concept

test on local famers. Ideally, our prototype would challenge the perceptions of

farmers, leading to more research insights for our sponsors. Below and right,

images are included of a digital creation of what the full apron would look like

as well as a physical patch we created. 

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How does it work?

A farmer can associate each reactive thread to a location on their farm and then embroider said location onto the apron. To do this, an ‘associator’  is installed on the field. Once connected, the threads will depict the current state of the associated location. If a location lacks water, the thread turns dull brown and feels rough, mimicking dry earth. High temperatures cause the thread to turn red and feel warm to the touch.  

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Storyboard 

For our handoff and presentation, we created a storyboard and matching story to give an explanation to our provocative prototype. Below is a storyboard about a farmer named Earl and how he created the "Landlog" apron.  ​

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Next Steps

• Creating a full scale provotype to be brought to farms  

• World building more intricately to allow a more immersive experience  

• Collecting feedback and analyzing data to get an in depth understanding of farmers, their practices and philosophies

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Final Presentation Video