Ciclavia Puzzle Hunt Video
Role: Project Manager
and Video Editor
and Video Editor
Project: Academic Project
Client: Ciclavia
Duration: Fall 2022
(Aug - Dec)
(Aug - Dec)
Ciclavia is a fun non-profit driven to show all of LA’s fantastic communities. The events are a place to get together and enjoy vibrant public spaces with car-free streets by walking, skateboarding and bike riding, and everything in between. You are encouraged to explore with friends, family, or by yourself to create long-lasting memories. “
Ciclavia Came to IxD with several different lenses to focus on. We received the physical lens which was a focus on creating a more dynamic space for sponsors and partners.
Problem:
Create within a physical lens that focuses on making sponsors' spaces more dynamic and interesting
Insight:
- Most people tend to speed past sponsor booths while participating in Ciclavia.
- With everyone speeding past this makes it difficult for sponsors and partners to share with the community their outreach and provide more insights into the projects they are creating.
- A lot of people didn't know where the sponsor booths are and how to interact with them.
- With everyone speeding past this makes it difficult for sponsors and partners to share with the community their outreach and provide more insights into the projects they are creating.
- A lot of people didn't know where the sponsor booths are and how to interact with them.
Solution:
A Ciclavia Puzzle hunt with a main focus on smaller sponsors
Process
Subject Matter Expert Interviews
Our team was able to interview several professionals that have had a booth at Ciclavia events. This lead our team into interesting insights on booth design and community.
Valuable insights
- It is important to know what already exists in a neighborhood, and its history, and involve the community in the design process when building upon it.
- Art is a great tool to communicate, engage, and involve the community to express emotions and ideas.
"Overall, when approaching design, you have to understand what exists before you build anything upon it." - Christopher Locke
"The best way to have a successful booth is to start by asking yourself why you are having the booth; then select 3 goals." - Kaithlyn Soares
Observations
On Oct 09 2022, we were invited to observe a Ciclavia event in action. There we were able to observe the booths and how each one had a unique interaction with people passing by.
Valuable Insights
- Interactivity Creates Engagement: Several booths had fun games or photo booths within it to make people stop by and interact with the sponsors and activities.
- QR Codes Actively Engage People: QR codes were used everywhere to share more information with people when there wasn't another way. This creates a simple sharing of information without it being time-consuming or in the way.
- People love free stuff: Talking to sponsors we found out that most of the free swag was going fast and it was one of the main draws for getting engagement.
Survey
As well at the Oct 9th event we were given another opportunity to give out surveys to people attending the Ciclavia event. The survey questions revolved around if people knew where the sponsor booths are, wishes for booths, attending past Ciclavia events, and much more.
How might we...
improve the way sponsors engage with
the event on-goers?
the event on-goers?
Ideas
Advisory Guidance
geared towards new sponsors
geared towards new sponsors
Kit for Onboarding New Booths
A kit to help new booths understand what they can do within their section.
A kit to help new booths understand what they can do within their section.
- Can help with ideas on free swag, engagement, and creativity
- Can also be scalable to accommodate different booths desired involvement
- Can also be scalable to accommodate different booths desired involvement
Interaction Collaboration
geared towards getting more attendees to booths
geared towards getting more attendees to booths
Collectible Puzzle
Every sponsor booth contains a puzzle piece. An attendee is given a piece after visiting the booth and participating in a short game or answering a riddle. Once they have visited every booth they have a collectable puzzle that holds significant meaning to them.
Every sponsor booth contains a puzzle piece. An attendee is given a piece after visiting the booth and participating in a short game or answering a riddle. Once they have visited every booth they have a collectable puzzle that holds significant meaning to them.
- Touches on three key points, interaction, exploration and collectability
- Can be reused at any event
- Attendees can participate at any point within the event
- The design of the puzzle will relate to wherever the event takes place. Therefore it's one of a kind and can show more for the community around it.
- Can be reused at any event
- Attendees can participate at any point within the event
- The design of the puzzle will relate to wherever the event takes place. Therefore it's one of a kind and can show more for the community around it.
Ciclavia Puzzle Hunt
Showing a lot of interest in the collectable puzzle idea our stakeholders really liked this idea and we decided to take on this challenge. One major challenge was finding a puzzle manufacturer that would create 100 whole puzzles for us in a short amount of time. Luckily we were given the opportunity to talk with the project based learning (PBL) team.
Puzzle Creation
PBL is a program that is done on the Santa Monica College campus that aids and guides senior high school students into hands on projects they would like to insure. With this new experience they are more suited for college and the world around them.
With the help of Jean, Cooper and Hudson , PBL was able to create 113 puzzles for us within a short period of time.
Physical Puzzle Design
Before we could get the puzzles made by PBL we had to create the size, shape and how many pieces. This way it can be manufactured fast and efficient. I was able to create a paper version of the puzzle which consist of 9 pieces (each piece is 1 1/4 in) and created a 3.75 x 3.75 in square when placed together. This made it easy to hold and place together aswell.
Art Puzzle Design
The art for the puzzle was created by the Ciclavia graphic designer which showed images that related to the community the up coming Ciclavia event were to partake in.
Marketing
The physical and digital signage were all made by Juan on our team and we were able to get everything done right before it was time to give it out to the public.
The Event South LA Ciclavia
At the South LA Ciclavia Event the Puzzles were a huge success, a lot of the pieces were gone within a few hours and people would travel back and forth to find each and every Piece.
With a growing interest in the Collectible Puzzle idea from our stakeholders we were given the opportunity to create a collectable Puzzle Hunt at the next Ciclavia event. At first we didn't have a puzzle manufacture that could create 100 whole puzzles for us, but that changed when getting into contact with Project Based Learning. PBL is a program created to help senior high school student get a hands-on experiences.
Reflection
This whole project was a giant success and I enjoyed working on the project with my team to bring an excitement I haven't seen before. If this puzzle hunt was ever done again within Ciclavia I think it could be improved on by a larger number of whole puzzles being made and adding an AR content to it if needed.
