Matej Vázal is multi-disciplinary creator specializing in design, animation, 3D, VFX and direction.
Visualization in Service Design
(a speech with Markéta Nemeškalová)
The rapid development in visualization technologies brings opportunities for many fields. Thanks to the connection of design, audio-visual arts and marketing at the Faculty of Multimedia Communication TBU in Zlín, we can carry out a research in a multidisciplinary team of doctoral students. The subject of the presented research is virtual reality as a tool of prototyping in Service Design. The aim is to clarify the benefits and limitations of visualization in virtual reality. To illustrate the research methodology, the field of audio-visual arts, particularly the craft of film editing, was chosen. There was an empty office size space both physically and virtually prepared in the research laboratory. Eight professional film editors were consecutively invited into the lab. Their task was to imagine that they can remake their workspace according to the needs both of their client and of their own. The respondents were guided through three levels of visualization of the environment: 2D visualization on paper, 3D visualization in virtual reality through 360° videos, and 3D interactive modelled space in virtual reality where the editorscould add or move some models of equipment and change the whole working space. The researcher recorded the respondents’ reactions to different environments and compared them. Thanks to the prototyping method called Virtual Bodystorming, the respondents were transferred to the immersive environment of virtual reality, allowed to co-create the space via 3D modelling, and collaborate with designers. In combination with the role-play method, the Service Scenarios editors were led to create their own space for working and meeting with their clients. Respondents’ experience from the virtual environment was complemented with various stimuli, such as scent and breeze, and real subjects, such as chairs. Observing and interviewing the respondents provided a valuable comparison of visualization options. As one of the results, a visual and utility concept of the “ideal” editing workspace was created and presented to the Czech Association of Film Editors.