Super-Crit

One on one feedback with Caroline Cample as my 'buddy'

- Make your desired audience more specific.
- Regarding autoethnographic process, describe what it felt like in yourself prior to the exercise, make a comparison.
- Why did you choose this specific martial art? Gives details of motivation
- Use the benefits you've received from the martial art as leverage
- Narrow down your design statement, be simple and honest. Don't just use generic words like 'disrupt'. What do you mean by this? You're combining your interests
- How does your illustration fit into this? How can you persuade using this medium?
- Illustration is a very broad practice, be more specific


Feedback from group critique
- Gamify the AR aspect, makes people get out and walk around to collect the animations like Pokemon Go
- Body image as an incentive for many, convince someone to squat while they're waiting at the bus stop
- Deliberately move away from body image as a motive, this gets utilised enough in mainstream campaigns and perpetuates negative stereotypes and mainstream beauty standards

Reflection
Really good to have all this feedback, and useful to have some solid direction to go in. Been struggling to decide on a demographic to design for but I think I have a better idea now. Some people were asking the hard questions! Haven't got all the answers yet but really good to be thinking about these things. In particular 'How do I persuade people using my chosen medium?'

Info from interim presentation:

I am an illustrator exploring the potential of augmented reality and traditional animation for social change through highlighting the importance of exercise as a preventative medicine to those who are sedentary.

“Physical activity is one of the best things we can possibly do to improve our health - just by moving our body. It doesn’t have to be sport or competition. It could be dancing or walking to the bus stop.” - Professor Elaine Rush

Martin Johnston [interview with professor Elaine Rush] (2012) Half of NZ population sloth-like: Survey. New Zealand Herald. [Website]

Being overweight and/or leading a sedentary lifestyle will increase your risk diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease (Patrick, 2017). Telomeres are a section on the end of your DNA which shortens as you age. These telomeres are affected by things like exercise, nutrition and meditation among others. In a study of 2,500 twins, a comparison was made between those who were most active to those who were sedentary. Results should about 10 years of biological aging difference between their telomeres. (Patrick,2018)

Joe Rogan, Dr. Rhonda Patrick. (2017) What Every Overweight Person Needs to Hear - Dr Rhonda Patrick on Fat Acceptance. Youtube [video]

Based on research I’ve found that people need to find their niche where standard mainstream forms of exercise (gym, jogging etc.) doesn’t work for them due to motivation, routine, lack of enthusiasm and intimidation. Second to the main reasons for staying, participants found they felt part of a strong community when working out with others rather than alone. As Weis (1973) explains there is a social need for community and groups of friends rather than just one or too close friends, so joining a club/group meets this need. Participants also said they found starting a new thing intimidating, so there is a need to advertise joining a new club as accessible and not so scary.

Weis, R.D. (1973). Loneliness: The experience of emotional and social isolation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

“Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” - Edward Stanley (1779-1849)

Knowledge that exercise is necessary for health has been around for 1000’s of years, yet as a species we decline further every year into a sedentary life style and higher obesity rates

“I don’t really care who comes or what they look like. Fat, muscular, man, woman — there’s room for everyone here,” Thode says. “We end up having so much fun that most of my students don’t even realize they are holding a yoga pose."

Celia Balf (2018) interview of Saskia Thode. Death Metal Yoga Is the 1000% Intense Workout You're Not Doing. Men’s Health [web] https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19546754/death-metal-yoga/

My experience/self-reflection:

It’s interesting observing new comers and seeing them burn out quickly, seeing the pain on their faces and the lack of concentration as they check the clock behind them every 2 minutes. And yet most of them keep coming back. All for their own reasons, they have determination which keeps them coming even when they hate the exercise. I remember longer to tell Sifu that I had a headache or something and so had to leave early and couldn’t possibly stay around for the workout. So many times the excuse danced around my mind, teasing me with rest and relaxation, the ace card I longed to play. But I never did. Somehow just the knowledge that I had an easy way out was enough not to use it, not to give up so easily.

18^th July 2015 was my first Wing Tsun class. I dragged along my boyfriend at the time with me as I was too afraid to go alone. When I first started I had mild depression. I’d had more severe depression in the past and knew that it was only going to get harder the longer I had it. It was hard getting myself to the classes, really hard some days, my attendance was patchy at best. But I was tired of feeling helpless and I knew exercise would help, or at least provide motivation to leave the house. It took about 4 months before I actually started to enjoy going to Wing Tsun, and even then I’d still hate the workout we had at the end of class. A little longer still and I even started to enjoy the exercise. I was feeling better in myself, more confident and happy. I felt strong, I had new friends, and I felt more focussed both in class and outside of class which was unexpected. By the end of 2015 I was in love with Wing Tsun and addicted to the exercise.

When I was a teenager I made it part of my identity to be ‘the one who didn’t exercise’. My PE attendance was appalling, I made a huge fuss about being made to move and would refuse to even run for the bus. I was so afraid of people seeing me try, or seeing me embarrass myself, I made sure they stopped expecting me to move. This was around the time I first got depressed.

The first 2 weeks of March 2017 is when I sustained my injury. Tendonitis on both of my wrists! This sucked. A lot. I couldn’t use my hands at all for the first month. Almost had to drop out of uni, could draw, couldn’t exercise and couldn’t do Wing Tsun. Basically couldn’t do anything that made me happy. I tried seeing a personal training for rehabilitation, when she told me with happy confidence that I’d be back to full function in about a year. I was devastated. The past month had been torture and hearing this was only the beginning broke me. I stopped seeing her and stopped trying to workout at the gym. It wasn’t till December 2017 that I started attending regular training again, though even then I was careful not to use my wrists in training. Returning to Wing Tsun was hard. It wasn’t part of my routine anymore, I wasn’t addicted to the exercise anymore, my peers had surpassed me in training and there were new people there I didn’t know. It didn’t feel like my temple anymore. It was harder now than ever getting myself to training, only this time I knew what I was missing out on if I didn’t go. After just 2 weeks of returning my wrists started to heal exponentially. Not long after that I could perform to full capacity again, 2 months short of my PT’s predicted timeline. Confident now that my wrists were better I took a couple weeks off to focus on assignments, in which time my wrists deteriorated back to stiffness and chronic pain. Whatever the reason was; circulation, stretching the tendons, endorphins, strength building, body connection, I needed Wing Tsun.

I was afraid of social pressure, intimidated by starting something new, and I didn’t know about Wing Tsun. I started Wing Tsun to help my mental state, I stayed for the community, I fell in love with the focus, I became addicted to the exercise. I re-joined to help my physical state. Wherever I am in life, I will never look back to a time where I didn’t exercise, or learn new things, or move with focus and precision, or train with my fellow students.

I exercise because I am passionate about Wing Tsun and everything it means to me. I found my niche. I wouldn’t otherwise have the motivation to exercise. How can I motivate people to find their niche in physical activity through animation and augmented reality?

SURVEY

I conducted a survey of my fellow Wing Tsun students to find out what motivated them to start Wing Tsun and why they decided to stay. I was surprised by the results and how widely they varied.

Having casual chats with other peers and colleagues and led me to believe many people don’t exercise for two main reasons: their intimidated by the social pressure (pressure to perform in front of already avid exercisers) and they don’t like the gym but hadn’t considered finding an alternative way to exercise. Time and cost also become a factor in people’s choices.

It seems many people are reluctant to exercise because they have an idea in their mind of what that would involve: usually the gym or jogging, something they find repetitive and boring. Instead of trying to convince people it’s still worth doing the thing they find boring, I want to just convince them to get out and try something new, a club or group, something fun with community and within their price range. Something they can get excited about and make part of their routine like a hobby. Something that isn’t advertised as exercise but that will inexplicably get their heart racing and blood pumping. Rather than change their idea of what exercise is, I’m going to remove exercise as this ‘trigger’ word which seems to mean hard work and wasting time to most people and just get them to focus on getting out there and disrupting their sedentary and/or isolated life style. Like a mother hiding spinach in a fruit smoothie, they’ll love it and have fun AND they’ll get all the health benefits of communal exercise.

IDEAS

3x posters of unusual sports and rec of varying prices, difficulties and genres. To be displayed in places where people are stationary (e.g. bus, train, office, toilet door)

Posters are of sedentary people doing mundane tasks but when disrupted by AR come to life as something more interesting.

The idea of the animation in the form of AR is to disrupt the status quo about what a poster should do, just as I’m trying to disrupt the status quo on what people’s definitions of exercise are

Tai Chi – meditative movement, slow and steady, all ages and fitness abilities, ‘accessible’? price:$ (equipment: none. Later optional weapons?) multiple locations

Roller-Derby – Active cardio and strength, fast paced, focus, let out aggression? Ages? Fitness/skill levels? Price:$$ (equipment: states, pads, helmet $-$$) Kilbirnie

Medieval combat – fun role play, at own pace, 18 and up? All fitness levels? Price: n/a (optional equipment: armour, weapons etc. $$) Lower Hutt

Thoughts: Medieval already martial based, maybe have dance/circus in place of Tai Chi?

Online resources: Meet-up, Adventure Wellington, Wellington City Council,

Statement at supercrit: I am an illustrator exploring the potential of augmented reality for social change through highlighting the importance of exercise as a preventative medicine, and challenging what people’s assumptions of exercise can be.

Feedback: way too long winded. Social change? You’re not trying to start a revolution. What people are you talking about? Be honest, be specific. Illustration is broad, what kind of illustration?

EDIT: I am an illustrator exploring why people don’t exercise and the harm of a sedentary lifestyle as millennials age.

Research finds that people in their 20’s are most active, then this steadily declines after around 35, though this is when exercise becomes most important as a preventative medicine.

Design question: How to we encourage people to exercise and then motivate them to continue physical activity in the long term? Encourage the positive rather than discourage the negative

Based on interviews, casual chats and surveys I have found some of the biggest reasons people don’t exercise are (in no particular order): They’re intimidated by starting a new thing, they feel they don’t have time, they don’t think exercise is a priority/important enough for them, they don’t have money, they find exercise boring and quickly lose motivation.

Some of the biggest reasons people who exercise regularly feel motivated: It feels great and they have more energy and more focus, it’s important for health reasons (eg. Helps them combat mental illness, chronic pain, old injuries, prevents new ones etc.), they have better posture and more confidence, if it’s a group exercise or with a PT they feel connected to people and feel part of a community. 

First person rhetoric: ‘I don’t feel tired during the day anymore’ ‘I feel accepted and connected with other like-minded people’