Testing

For my user testing I decided that it would be appropriate to take it back to my family. This is where I would feel more comfortable and get more out of the testing session rather than if it was with some random people. They have also been used at the start of the project so I thought it would be appropriate to take this back to them as it they are still relevent to the project.

Since my user group has been focusing upon famiies and domestic photography it was great to take along to my brother and sisters birthday to test it out. It gave a good feeling as to how it would be used in real life.

Although the camera was too heavy for the balloon to lift, it was still able to take images and the interaction experience was still the same. There is also a good range of generations to work with in my family from my grandad down to my neice which gives me a good user testing group full of varied opinions.

What I found was how amazed everyone was about the size of the balloon, this seems to draw people into the project immediately. The balloon didn't take as long to inflate as I had expected and was approximately 1.30 - 2minutes and uses one full disposable helium cylinder that is enough to fill 30 9" balloons.

Although the balloon was used in a garden and not as open as it is intended for, it worked very well since it was a warm day with sun coming and going. After explaining to everyone how it worked, which they catched onto very well they wanted to know more about how it was made and how it works which I found very interesting.

After the camera and balloon was all set up I stood back and observed how some of them interacted with it and questioned what to do with it. When using the switch, it was simple and where they found it satisfying and easy to control with one hand. If the balloon had lifted higher then I think the impact of the results would of been greater but the wau everyone wondered what the camera was catching was exactly what I was trying to embody with the camera.

Watching the smiles on everyones faces as they interacted with the reel and watched the balloon (as someone held it up) was a joy to watch. And as it was a windless day, controlling the balloon was not difficult to do and they said that they felt in complete control with the reel and that if the balloon had enough lift that it would not come loose and float away.

This was a successful day testing out Aerial Capture where the interactions and the experience with the camera were correct and the users could see the potential of using it for other events like weddings, parties etc and were amazed by the creative results that they had produced.

The results can be seen in the post example images.