Through My Anxious Eyes 2.0 (Consentful Interface)
Would you like to see the World Through My Anxious Eyes…?
(The Pre-Recorded Example Simulations have been resized into Poor Quality files, and hence have broken visuals. Work is in progress to rectify the same.)
A Consentful Approach is something that is always on my mind, and it is also something that I find the most difficult to execute.
My Personal Experiences quite strongly govern my perspective, which can be clearly seen in the Simulator Camera here; However,
what such an ideology more importantly does is drives my emphasis towards more Empathetic Approaches.
Here is an Example of a Consentful Interface, sure, however, it is more than that, it is also unconventional in its manner
of explaining and reassuring information, rather than just providing with all the facts. Looking at the personal nature of
the Simulator, and the Sensitivity of the Subject, it was only appropriate to take it a little away from the professional
and legal jargon.
‘Through My Anxious Eyes’ is meant to be an Autobiographical Simulator, a means of Education,
and Comfortable as well as Safe interactive Experience.
Thought Process, Design Process, Reflections and Observations
Consentful Interface:
Head over to Through My Anxious Eyes, if preferable, to have a
background story of the Experimental Camera.
One of the key points of the ‘Through My Anxious Eyes’ Camera’s Consentful version was to convey the message about
how this is a Personal Experience, and not an established fact, since that is the very thing wrong with Simulators,
when they are portrayed as Empathy Machines, it encourages stereotypes, and diminishes the personal significance by
generalising an idea or an experience.
Another aim was to make the User feel as comfortable and safe as possible due to the Sensitivity of the Subject.
Reassuring and Explanatory tone of the introductory page is a nod towards that aim, over and above providing the user
with flexibility to switch to a comfortable part at any given time without losing track of their Actions, or without
starting over. This was important since the Experimental Camera has multiple Filters and it was important to not consider
all the Visual Filters as equal Triggers.
The need for a Permission to Access the Camera was certainly the very first question of Consent, but what I looked
for was to have the user experience the Simulator without a Camera. It was all about flexibility and options, thus,
I settled for sample pre-recorded simulations, and an option to not view the Simulation at all, in case it is a
Sensitive matter for someone.
Design Process:
Keeping in mind the above direction, I started exploring the various possibilities, permutations,
and combinations of interactive flow, to help me navigate the users comfortably, yet let them have
all the options available at all times.
The more options I sought after for the users to have, the more complicated it started getting.
I contemplated having just the home button when one wished to close the Camera, however, that made the
idea about just access to the Camera, and not the freedom to Revert one’s choice, and certainly not the Idea of a
Mindful Approach towards the Subject, that is more than the technical accessibility permission.
I was aiming to have as less page/scene changes as possible, for a smoother interaction, however, considering
intake of information, I settled with having 3-4 pages, or scenes. I used Radio DOM Element at the most crucial interaction-
the accessibility to Camera, since there was supposed to be just one choice to start; in addition to having a Confirm button,
to let the users have a chance to rectify unintentional selections. The freedom to choose was the most important during the
part where the Simulations changes, hence I assigned the most basic symbolic icons to a Menu-Bar, so the user can navigate
smoothly during the Simulations without having to go back to Home Page and start over. The most challenging thing here was
to Navigate the Nested Interactions, that ran from Switching Scenes, to oscillating to and from the different filters.
In addition to the freedom to choose, I also attempted at proposing a Transparent System, by Providing the information
of the creator, sources of my Research, and yet to be realised attempt at providing Crisis related Resources, which is
supposed to be added on the last page. But since it requires trustworthy references, it is a wok in Progress.
It was an over-all battle between ease of interaction, and freedom of choices.