Alright, a recap of everything that we've done so far:
First we had to come up with a concept for our Critical Design. To reach a product that we ended up going with we needed to explore a few options.
The Concept
After two brainstorm sessions we were left with two options:
- Gamification of money and online transactions.
- The reputation and public image of money.
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| First brainstorm session. |
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| Second brainstorm session. |
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| Ideas for small installations using friends as currency. |
So, as you do when having two option, we didn't choose either and started pitching ideas. The point of using friends as a currency is to show that currency is abstract and only has the value that you give it. So, we took friends, which are invaluable, and tried to use them as currency. Arcades, the 'I AM MORE VALUABLE' button, trading friends game and gambling with friends are all based on this concept.
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| Third brainstorm (also the smallest one) |
However, we were worried about the transparency, whether or not people would understand the fact that it was about money; These would all be good (or at least somewhat decent) critical designs for the public's use of social media, but they are too obscure for a 'cashless world' theme. As such we took a few steps back from the transaction itself and went to look at the medium used to make these transactions: the ATM or site of the bank.
And so we chose to create a 'social banking' system, where the value of the money you (or rather, the bank) says that you own is actually based on your social relations with your friends. As such we contrast the rigidity and seriousness of current online banking to the 'fun' of social media; The rigid modern day 'Money is srs busyness' and 'The Euro is now worth 1,xx American dollars and [...] exchange rates and [...] investments and management and [...]' is something that we will, like relations with friends, make fluid and subjective. The amount that a friend values you determines your worth, and vice versa. This makes for some very interesting gameplay mechanics, but we'll talk about those at a later date.
