mural prototype survey - Chicago Public Library

SCENARIO:
Set up boards in hallway outside of the Winter Garden Room of the Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago. The special luncheon event featured a presentation on “The New Green Economy: Creating Green Collar Jobs”, sponsored by the Delta Institute (a non-profit environmental institute). [The speaker Van Jones was GREAT!] My project objective was to observe audience attraction or interaction to information murals.  My intention is to survey viewers only after they pause and view more than 2 murals for longer than 30 seconds.

SURVEY Q&A
Q1) Which of these boards did you notice first or “caught your eye” first?
A1) Carbon Emissions-4    Conserve Energy-1    Recycling-1    Water-0    Healthy Kids-0

Q2) Can you guess what about that board attracted your attention?
A2) Content-4     Type/headline-3      Symbol/shapes-1      Color-3

Q3) Where would you usually see something like this?
A3) a textbook-1     an art gallery-0    a billboard or ad -3
a museum exhibit-1  none of the above-1

Q4) Did you discover any new information? What was new info?
A4) Yes-4     No-2   , Recycling-2, Healthy Kids-2

Q5) Did these boards have positive or negative messages?
A5) Negative-0       positive-6    

Total survey participants: 6, Males: 5, Females: 1
Ages: 20 to 30 = 4, 31 to 55=2

General notes: This group was an environmental-issue savvy, well-educated group. I observed that this group was really more drawn to certain subject matter than to color. I know that many people in this audience work with “carbon trading” or are interested in the politics or business of “green Industries”. Therefore it did not surprise me that the Carbon mural had drawn the most viewers from across the hall.

Comments

[Jennifer Price]

The progression and variation from each testing site appears to be providing you with real insight to how the work is being perceived. Do you feel as though observers are self-reporting fairly accurately?

It appears the context of the venue and on-site events/on goings is playing a role in the viewers' responses. Looking forward to seeing more results!

Keep at it! J