Dont Leave Me Hanging!
A playful installation in Weinland Park’s intersection at 8th & Summit, featuring a “high five” crosswalk nudging users to light up their pathway for nearby drivers.
ANNA HITTS
SASKIA VAN DER MEER
IZZY LI
CLIENT:
Completed in course curriculum.
Final project - Playfulness in Weinland Park
Instructor: William Nickley
Collaboration project with Anna Hitts, Saskia Van Der Meer, and Izzy Li.
COMPLETED:
04/24/2026
SOFTWARE:
Fusion 360
Solidworks
Keyshot
SKILLS LEARNED:
1:1 Scale model making
Location analysis
Design nudge implementation
PROCESS
As a group we decided to design for the intersection at 8th & Summit in Columbus. We noticed there was a lot of debris and one-way traffic which wouldnt stop for pedestrians.
Concept #3: “Manueverable Map”
Concept #1: “Flower, Activate!”
We created our final form, a re-design of “dont leave me hanging!” now featuring a crosswalk version with light-up feet.
Concept #2: “Dont Leave me Hanging!”
We made a 1:1 scale drawing based on common measurements of waist height and the current area’s space.
We used the laser cutter to cut the hands out, and used spray adhesive to cure the paper to each side.
On installation day, we gave our classmates autonomy to enjoy the crosswalk and interact with our playful design!
We made a full model of our design in Solidworks.
We 3-D printed our mechanism and glued into place.
We made both of our models out of cardboard and hot-glue.
To visualize the light-up crosswalk we used tape and white vinyl in our blue and orange colors, and stuck them in the crosswalk.
Individuals using the crosswalk high-five the hand on either side of the street when needing to cross the road.
The hand will swing back, and the feet markings in the road will light up traveling down the crosswalk, signaling you to walk.
The light’s will hopefully catch driver’s attention in addition to the presence of pedestrians, signaling them to stop on the one-way.
After 2 minutes, if the hand remains un-pressed the lights in the road will retract slowly, and the crosswalk will reset.
Concept #4: “Step in Tune”
User’s hit the hand to activate the crosswalk so we designed a gravity mechanism which allowed the hand to be pushed, and it would travel back to its starting place.
Using Christopher Day’s place analysis we designed four different ideas focused on either earth, water, air, or fire. We used these for designing our concepts further on.
REFLECTION
We as a group were tasked to create a playful intervention inside the boundaries of Weinland Park and I believe we successfully achieved just that. This was our first large group project, and also our first 1:1 installation project, which provided a great amount of individual learning as well as challenges which we took head on as a group. We worked together to find the best way to achieve our goals without needing a perfect model to acheive our intention. We chose to make our model out of cardboard and plywood, as well as only adding color to hands themselves on either side to showcase where we actually wanted the point of interaction to take place.
As a group I know we ran into problems with deciding what to take on when and who should be responsible for each item, we did alot better as the project went on, mostly because none of us have experienced a building project similar to this beforehand working inside a group dynamic. I love personally how our piece came out, especially with the sticker feet in the road, which we purposefully staggered to achieve our animation effect and thoughtfully display our design as well as our nudge to bring awareness to pedestrian traffic in that area!