Research 2.0 Process, Findings, and Upcoming Plans

To figure out the current way of how two strangers engage with each other, I went through two types of scenarios: when people are waiting in line for coffee and when people are sitting alone at the bar. I also observed people at these two places, cafes, and bars.

As the on-site research goes, I found that one thing plays an important role for two people who don’t know each other well: a certain amount of distraction.

The awkward silence makes people feel uncomfortable. Especially for two persons who just met, it takes some time and several tries to know what to talk about. And from the on-site bar research, I got the first insight: a certain amount of distraction helps people socialize better. For instance, when people don’t know what to talk about on the bar, they can naturally watch the bartender making cocktails without feeling awkward. Drinks are a good example of distraction as well, like coffee and wine. When people don’t know what to talk about, they can sip wine and utilize that pause to come up with topics. What’s more, the music in the bar and coffee helps, not only for the mood, but they can also become the topic.

The other finding is that knowing when the conversation will end encourage people to socialize with a stranger. When people wait for coffee and talk to someone, knowing that no matter how the conversation goes, good or bad, it will naturally end anyway when their coffee is ready, that helps relieve some social stress and help people engage.

One more interesting finding is that when people are sitting alone in the cafe or the bar if there is an empty chair in front of them, they kind of look lonely. But if there is no chair or a laptop in front of them, they don’t look lonely.

One of the possible reasons a bar is a good place for socializing with people is the seat setting. When people sit on the bar, they face the bar instead of looking each other in the eyes. That helps remove the social anxiety as well.

So with these findings, I will try to design the “distraction” for my 2nd prototype, which removes social anxiety. And also, do some design for the space to make people feel relaxed when engaging with each other.

And speaking for the challenge, in reality, people might only have 10–20 minutes talking with each other. Considering this, the efficiency and effectiveness need to be balanced with all the distractions designed to help people relieve social anxiety.