Finding faith in fluidity.

‘Cumtree’ was presented as a project in MA User Experience Design at London College of Communication, in collaboration with Gumtree’s UX research and design team. It explores notions of trust in the context of a fringe marketplace catering to human bodily fluid fetishes. It is a speculative section on Gumtree (the UK’s #1 classified ads platform) for buying and selling human bodily fluids. Through interface and packaging design, credibility-building interactions between buyers and sellers are constructed.

Yes, it’s called ‘Cumtree’.

Research

Soho's Original Adult Store

Field research: Soho sex shops

  • Challenges in finding people who are into fetishes led the team to attempt to have conversations with sex shop staff. 14 chose to participate in an inquiry into their customers who look for bodily fluid-related implements.

  • Anonymity helps in building trust: ‘“People feel safer if there’s anonymity.’ (staff from Prowler Red)

    There is discrimination amongst the fetish community:     ‘I feel a lot of misogyny from gay men, which is difficult to talk about because I’m not homophobic, I’m queer as well.’ (staff from Soho’s Original Adult Store)

    There are specialised implements for bodily fluid fetishes (especially urine).

Situated role play & hot seating

  • Various possible scenarios when buying bodily fluids through Gumtree were played out and imagined. Participants were given detailed descriptions of their character and circumstances.

    Scenario 1: Seller did not use the prescribed packaging material.

    Scenario 2: The seller suddenly asks someone else to meet the buyer.

    Scenario 3: The buyer did not show up.

  • During the post-workshop interview, participants implied that the exposure to the real and physical environment triggered real feelings and behaviour.

    Nuances and micro-interactions were observed despite having a nature of being artificial. The amount of detail that the team was able to record and analyse shows the potential of a situated and embodied research tool to create value in designing for complex contexts like trust.

Project Partner
Gumtree UK

Collaborators
Dora Álvarez-Dominguez, Prashanti Balachander & Siyuan Li

UX research, UX design, prototyping, packaging design, art direction

Duration
6 weeks

June-July 2022