Prototype testing

On Wednesday we went to the park (Zach, Brendan and I) and brought along some new and improved versions of prototypes for letters to use with the webcam. We went at 7:30pm and stayed for a few hours. We knew that this was going to be difficult because we had to locate the webcam which took a good half hour or so to do. That involved dancing around the park while one of us looked on the shake shack website and directed us. I will say that prior to the hunt, I was approached by several shake shack patrons asking me if I was selling something. Anyway, we finally located the camera, and to my disappointment the letters could not be seen if they were placed on the ground. The only way that the letters were visible were if they were held up high above our heads. Additionally, the glow in dark prototypes: spray paint, glowsticks, wire with glowsticks were all unsuccessful despite our enlarging of the letters themselves.(I had tripled the size of the prototypes and made them with stark foam core). The only text that worked in terms of being visible was the black letters that were cut out of foam core. They were approximately 2 feet tall. Another major obstacle that we faced was the weather. It was intensely windy and the letters and board of foam core that I brought along as a test continuously blew away- almost to the point of destroying the prototypes. I think that if we continue with this project that we have a few things to consider:

1. creating a wall- if we create a wall to place the letters onto- it will need to be MASSIVE and heavy so that it does not blow away.

2. materials- everything that we create from now on needs to be much sturdier- no paper materials. The park is essentially a wind trap because it slopes down just enough to capture the wind -pretty much within the vicinity of the shake shack. I would investigate the magnet idea as a possibility and need to figure out wall materials.

Other thoughts: I am not sure that we should continue with this concept. I think that the wall might cause some trouble in terms of the park police, the lines and crowds around the park are getting smaller because of the cold weather and in general people were a lot less approachable because of the frigid weather conditions. I am feeling discouraged with the project. Need to continue brainstorming.