I first started my journey with designing for user experience in the first lecture of the module. Though it was a short introductory lesson, I was exposed to the concept of user experience. It is about the overall quality of experience one has when interacting with the product or system. This is different from the usual fuctionality, usabillity or asthetic view that one perceives when interacting with the product or system. I learnt that this whole idea of user experience is an emerging discipline and it is indeed of a higher level than functionality or usability.

For the warm up assignment, we had to find a bad design. This got me started to be on the look out for products and designs that are bad. I learnt to observe the designs of products around me and found some products are indeed badly designed. Also, from hearing the presentations done by my classmates, I felt that some designs are not considerate enough as they do not take into account the usability of the product in the actual environment.

Assignment 1 definitely made me learnt about the definitions of visceral, behavioural, and reflective designs and how to apply these concepts to the product. “It is not possible to design for experience” but how the product is designed can evoke emotions and create personal experiences for individual users. Patrick Jordan’s 4 pleasures (physio, socio, psycho, ideo) gave me further insight to categorise the different types of pleasure. Of course, it is only a framework to organise thought and emotions better and serves as a guideline to how the product may be pleasurable.

I find that the laddering approach is an interesting and useful approach because the final result obtained is usually very different from the start. It enables designers to have a deeper understand of the needs and concerns for the users that they are designing the product for. It is important to understand the users and design something that caters to people in that category.    

The nightmare “improving learning experience for lecture theatres” assignment led me to observe the behaviour and comments by students in the LT environment, when conducting enthnographic research. As a result of the observation, Joel and me compiled a list of problems and solutions revolving the learning experience in lecture theatres. Often, observation can reveal personal perceptions by the anonymous.

The final project, which is the ePan entertainment system for Fish & Co., lasted 8 weeks and my group went through an in-depth analysis for the system. It started from idea generalising, to knowing the objectives and goals of Fish & Co., to doing a needs analysis, to creating scenarios and information structure, to producing prototypes. This process made me learnt a lot as I was able to apply the concepts taught throughout the course to the ePan entertainnment system. We need to consider many factors and think of our target users and what they really want, in order to create a product that is functional, asthetically-pleasing and also having a positive user experience.

All in all, it has been a pleasant experience taking the module of user experience design! Now, I have a better understanding of the whole upcoming concept of UX and the concept will help me in designing or evaluating any design next time. I would like to thank Reddy for teaching this interesting course and also my classmates for listening to my/my group’s presentations and giving feedback and for sharing what they have done during their presentations! (:

The article “User Research Smoke & Mirrors” by Christopher Fahey is an insightful article that has perspectives and issues which I have never thought in depth about.

Indeed we have to acknowledge that less-rigorous techniques such as “card sorting, focus groups, guerilla usablity testing and user personas” are helpful methodologies that can aid the user experience designer to know more about the users. These techniques enable us to understand the users’ behaviour and reactions, though the results are subjective in nature. It is important to note that the ultimate aim of conducting user research is to design effectively for the users, who will have subjective views of their own.

Interpretation of data by non-experts and even experts is subjective and differs from individual to individual. A subjective data analysis should not be intentionally presented to appear objective. The seemingly scientific research will mislead others into thinking that the “scienticfic” research is impartial and credible.  

The “Persona Rooms” mentioned in the article actually sounds pretty interesting because the design team can actually get a feel of the persona by entering the room with a particular set up. This no doubt brings the design process to a higher level. However, I also agree with the author that having professional set designers to build these living room spaces does inccur a significant amount of money. The amount of money spent on such rooms may not even be necessary in the first place. Hence, I feel that setting up the persona rooms shouldn’t be a priority in user research.  In fact, it should be of low importance even though it is an innovative idea.

The eyetracking example mentioned by the author reminded me of a guest lecture in one of the modules I took last time, where there was a live demo of the eyetracking system. Volunteers sat in front of the computer and took a test, where they had to see pictures or find a particular piece of information from a website. Heatmaps were generated according to how long the eye looked at a particular area on the computer. Graphs and data can also be generated from the results of the tests taken. 

I find that such innovation shows the technological progression in our society as we may never have thought that such an eyetracking system is possible. I have to admit that, just as the author pointed out, the results stated the obvious like what I would have expected. For example, users took longer to find a particular piece of information on websites that are more wordy and cluttered. I agree that good user interface designers would probably come up with the same conclusions as compared to the analyses obtained from eyetracking tests. Probably, the only difference is that the eyetracking tests have numbers, figures and graphs to backup their conclusion while user interface designers do not have such data as evidence. 

Conducting such research “can’t hurt” and it can be an addition to the current research findings, but the amount of money required to conduct such eyetracking research is an important consideration. After all, the conclusion arrived from eyetracking research does not differ much from that of user interface designers. In addition, as the whole idea of interpreting data is subjective (even if it’s done by experts), there is a risk of misinterpreted results as the eyetracking tests do not question why the user looks at a particular point.     

The author also explained that user research is useful when explaining good design decisions to people (or higher authority) without deep design skills or instincts. Having concrete data of research findings makes it easier for these people to be convinced that certain design decisions are good or that a particular bad design needs to be changed. Hence, even if the design problem is obvious to designers right from the start, user research may be necessary in such cases.  

When we were first told about this final project that will last for 8 weeks, we had to brainstorm on ideas for our project. We have to ask questions such as “Who are they?”, “What do they do?” and ”How does it matter?” The project scope is pretty broad and it is really up to us what we want our project to be on. For example, it could be web, CD or game-based.  Our group of 4 came up with 4 ideas and consulted Reddy about them.

The first idea was to have a website that can conveniently keep track of the borrowing and returning of instruments from ccas such as chinese orchestra. This is a need for this system so that the borrowing and returning can be more organised and efficient, with online forms to fill and so on.

The second idea was to have a CD teaching users how to use a particular gadget, say a digital camera. There will be demos in the software so that users know which button to press to interact with the gadget. However, this idea isn’t as feasible as users will tend to explore the functions on their own rather than insert a CD into the computer to see how to use.

The third idea was to create a product for Singapore Tourism Board to promote the Uniquely Singapore image. It could be a portable gadget that have maps and locations of Singapore’s tourist attraction. There can even be Gobal Positioning System (GPS) installed into the gadget so that tourists will know their current location.

The fourth idea was to create a product for Fish & Co. Because it takes some time for the food to be served,there is a need to entertain diners before their food arrives so that they will not feel bored. This is to keep them coming back for more. The product, probably a gadget, can also include the menu and the ordering system so that diners can order directly from the system.

After consulting Reddy and weighing the pros and cons, we decided to go with the fourth idea, which to create a product for Fish & Co.  

In our discover phrase (phrase I), my group jumped too quickly into the solution of what the final product will be. Hence we may fail to see things from other perspectives. We had thought of the final product to have the online ordering system, themed games and fun facts on a handheld electronic/wireless device/touch screen LCD. Then we had feedback that we should take a step back and view the problem from another angle.

Hence, in define phrase (phrase II), we abandoned the online ordering system since it wasn’t a need for diners. Instead, we thought of games, nutritional/fun facts and cartoons (for the young kids).

In phrase IIIa (design phrase), we further revamped our ePan entertainment system to include cartoons for children aged 8 and below, fun facts and ePan calculator for the health-conscious, and entertaining games for groups or individuals. The ePan calculator will be a function where diners can select the dishes they want to order, and then obtain the nutritional information such as energy and fats for each individual dish. The total amount will also be tabulated. This enables health-conscious diners to make a more informed choice before they decide on what to eat.

In phrase IIIb (design phrase), we showed Reddy our low fidelity prototype. We also included one more feature in our entertainment system: drawing pad. This drawing pad can allow users to select colour and thickness of pen, and then draw and scribble on it. There is also the option of saving the drawing so that it will appear in the gallery. Users can view other saved drawings in the gallery. Hence this gives them a chance to see other people’s work. Administrators have to manually filter out unwanted content in the drawings. Friends can also games such as win, lose or draw using the drawing pad.

In phrase IIIc (design phrase), we presented our high fidelity prototype and user evaluation. The prototype had yellow and blue as the colour theme. However, some commented that it is too blue and that it looks quite cartoonish/kiddish. The graphic calculator and the gallery was not done.

In phrase IV (evaluation phrase), we took in user testing comments from the previous phrase and made changes to our prototype. The colour scheme now incoporates orange colour to give the system a more fun and cheery feel. The prototype of the graphic calculator and the gallery function was also added. Hence, users will have a better idea of our prototype. We also explained to the class the positioning of the holder that will hold our system, which is a touch screen device, such as a tablet pc. With the feedback we received, we will come up with the most appropriate solution for the placement of the holder.

We are tasked to improve the learning experience in lecture theatres. At first, it seems very technical to improve the learning experience in lecture theatres but after much thought, I realised that there are many aspects to this issue. My group member, Joel, and I decided to employ an ethnographic approach to this issue. The details can be found in the powerpoint presentation uploaded in the workbin.

I shall summarise the points here.

Learning experience in lecture theatres(LT) is about the interactions inherent in an LT learning situation. Observations were made during typical lectures in the LT to see the behaviour and reactions of students and lecturers. We found that the learning experience is influenced by human behaviour(students, lecturers), time and environment.

Observations of factors affecting the learning experience:

Human Behaviour:
Students
Seating behavior – trend to sit at the sides/ends of the rows of seats or at the back.
Late-Coming – arriving late after lectures have started
Students’ Absence from Lectures – especially if lectures are webcasted
Passivity to Speak Up – when lecturer asks questions
Noise-Making – by students
Lecturer
Delivery Style – may be monotonous, non-interactive, with chunks of words on the slides
Lecture Notes – are provided only after the lectures, in some cases
Guest Lecturers – may be unappreciated as seen from lower student attendance

Time:
Early Lectures – more latecomers and sleepy students
Late Lectures – tired students after a long day

Environment:
Front Door – distracting when latecomers walks in
Seats – spoilt chairs, first few rows of seats unutilised
Table (attached to LTs) – table generally too small
Air-Conditioning – air-con temperature may be too cold
Look of LT – some LT looks run-down
Sound Level (sound system) – lecturer’s voice may be projected too loudly or softly
Lighting – dimmed lighting may make students more sleepy
Seats Layout – limited space between rows of seats

Suggested Solutions:

Cultural:

Seating Behaviour:
Have students sit in the front and middle of the rows

Late-Coming:
Take attendance during first 15 mins of lecture
Encourage the early students to sit in front
Play interesting video clips at the start of the lecture when applicable

Absence from lectures:
Mark attendance during lectures
Leave blanks in the lecture notes for students to fill
Make students do graded reaction papers

Passivity to Speak Up:
Emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers
Give small rewards for lecture participation

Noise-Making:
Have students seek clarification from the lecturer regarding doubts on announcements, concepts etc
Have breaks for the students to rest/chat with friends

Lecturer’s Delivery Style:
Engage students more actively
Incoporate more multi-media in the slides
Reduce the amount of words on the slides

Lecture Notes:
Provide lecture notes early to enable students to have sufficient time to print them if they wish to

Guest Lecturer:
Lecturer should explain how the guest lecturers’ speech relates to the course material
Guest lecturer could perhaps lecture for about one hour only
Invite more “famous” guest lecturers where applicable

Lecture Timeslots:
Timetable committee to avoid planning for early/late lecture slots as much as possible, especially for large classes

Technological:

Front Door:
Students who are late should come in by the back door
Oil the doors to lessen the creaking

Seats:
Faulty chairs to be replaced
Checks to be done regularly for fault equipment

Tables:
Bigger table for each seat in the LT

Air-Conditiong:
Tweak the air-con temperature when possible
Otherwise, students can bring their own jackets

Look of LT:
Refurbish the older LTs where possible (The feel and structure of the run-down LT26 has now been entirely renovated.)

Sound Level:
Lecturers to make sure sound system is functioning properly
Technicians to conduct regular checks

Lighting:
To be kept at appropriate levels at all times

Seats Layout:
Install shorter rows of seats with gaps in between every 5-10 seats or so
Widen space between rows

Conclusion:

It should be noted that not all of the problems can be solved by the solutions we proposed. Students should do their part to pay attention and be considerate to their classmates. Only then can learning experience be enhanced.

User Profile:

George is a 28 years old marketing executive living in Singapore.

He has a keen interest in photography since secondary school and have been taking pictures during his leisure time, but not on a professional basis. He then puts them up in his blog to share the pictures with his friends. He is also good in editing pictures with software like photoshop and often impresses his friends on the cool effects he did with ordinary pictures.

He likes to travel and will take leave from his work to go on a holiday with his friends or girlfriend. He likes beautiful scenary, and enjoys taking pictures of them. He wants to capture these moments so that they can still be well remembered many years down the road .  

During the weekends, he enjoys playing basketball with his friends whom he knew from the university. He treats this as a form of exercise to keep himself fit. He likes the team spirit forged with them by playing the sport.

He has a stable relationship with his girlfriend and they often spend their time together. They enjoy watching movies in cinemas and just spending quality time together, and having meals at high class restaurant occasionally.

He meets up with his other groups of friends on a regular basis for food, drinks or activitues like bowling, pool or karaoke. He thinks that it is important to keep in touch with these friends which will broaden his social circle and perspectives as they are from a variety of occupations. They are able to share their experiences with him and vice versa.

He is fashionable and has a good sense of style. His friends sometimes discusses about the expensive or cool-looking gadgets he have and he is secretly proud to show them off.

He makes an effort to bring his parents out for a good meal once in a while despite his working schedule. He maintains close relationship with his parents and stays with them. 

At work, he wants to climb up the corporate ladder with his own ability and believes that he can do that if he continue to put in effort in his work. He wants to earn more money to lead a more comfortable life. He is also saving up to buy a functional and aesthetical-looking car. With a car, it is more convenient to travel around with his girlfriend. 

To relieve the stress from his work, he likes to play action-packed console and online games at home. It helps him to forget the burdens at work and to relax. 

Four Pleasure Analysis of George:

Physio-Pleasure:

Physical activity(basketball) keeps him fit and in shape – Need Pleasure
He enjoys fine dining with his girlfriend on special occasions – Appreciation Pleasure

Socio-Pleasure:

George maintains relations with different groups of people for his basic social needs: his girlfriend, family and friends - Need Pleasure

He enjoys being in the centre of attention when his friends talk about his gadgets.  - Appreciate Pleasure

Psycho-Pleasure:

He has a very busy and stressful job. He plays games to keep himself stimulated and to relieve the stress from his work. – Need Pleasure

He has a sense of achievement when his friends praises his talent in photography or in picture-editing. – Appreciation Pleasure

 Ideo-Pleasure:

He is filial to his parents and brings them out for meals when he is free. – Need Pleasure

He has a sense of style and will not settle for anything less than his standards. (Eg for clothing or gadets) – Need Pleasure

He aspires to be successful in his career and to own a car in the near future. – Appreciation Pleasure

Product Benefit Specifications:

Classic, stylish or sleek looking to match with this style and status.

Good camera so that clear pictures of good quality can be taken. He can then take pictures very conveniently.

A reasonable amount of memory in the phone to store more pictures and other multimedia files.

Large screen to make it easy to play games, surf the net, watch video etc.

Bluetooth to transfer files n pictures easily.

We are suppose to find 3 examples of visceral, behavioral and reflective design. According to the lecture, these are the definitions of the 3 terms:

Visceral Design: refers primarily to that initial impact, to its apperance
Behavioural Design: is about look and feel, the total experience of using a prouduct -the physical feel/pleasure and effectiveness of use
Reflective Design: is about one’s thought afterwards, how it makes one feel, the image it portrays, the message it tells others about the owner’s taste

I decided to work on Luggage!

Viseral Design

Rockland 4-piece Expandable Upright Luggage Set
$99.99

Visceral: The range of cheery colours available for this luggage set makes it look attractive and unique. One can now buy this luggage in his/her favourite colour! It is also easy to spot for this luggage among the black ones during luggage collection at the destination country.

Behavioural: Though the luggages look pleasing, the quality and durability isn’t so good. I looked at the product reviews and there were a mix of good and bad reviews on this. Some said it can’t even withstand a single flight. They mentioned that after using it one time, the zipper broke, or the wheels broke or the luggage tore in some way. Clearly, this product is not of good quality.

Reflective: Not a high-status luggage. This is just a normal affordable and probably low-end brand.

Behavioural Design

Samsonite Cruisair™ 24″ ABS Upright Spinner
$179.99

the inner view

Visceral: Nothing exciting about its appearance. The luggage looks like a typical black and plain-looking luggage.

Behavioural: It has a hard shell and aluminium frames for durality. There is also a warranty of 10 years. The brand (Samsonite) is also known for its quality in the manufacture of luggage, backpacks and other travel-related products.

Reflective: Not a show off luggage. It does not raise one’s status or make one high class.

Reflective Design

Louis Vuitton: Monogram Canvas: PEGASE 60
US$2150

the close-up view of PEGASE 60

Visceral: Visually-pleasing, especially with the standard Louis Vuitton design.
 
Behavioural: The quality of the luggage should be good. It features leather top, noiseless wheels, douple zip-around closure etc. However, since this is not a hand-carry luggage, airline crews handling this luggage will not treat it with extra care like how the owner probably treats it. So there is a risk of finding the beautiful luggage with marks and scratches due to handling and transit when it comes back to the owner at the destination country. Thus it may not be very practical to use for frequent travelling.
 
Reflective: Using such a luggage (US$2150!) certainly reflects the owner’s taste and class. It is a status-symbol and a show off product. There is also a complimentary service of product personalisation where the buyer can choose to have 3 letters hot stamped onto the leather luggage tag. This personalisation makes the luggage more unique to the buyer. 

This is a picture of my parents’ dressing table. There is a mirror and a cupboard behind it.

dressing table with cupboard door slightly open

The idea of having a cupboard so near the dressing table sounds good as people can store and hide their stuff in it!

But there is a problem in the design! Opening the cupboard is a problem, especially if there are a lot of things on the table.   

half opened cupboard door

cupboard door fully opened

Users’ feelings towards the product

My parents feel that it is very troublesome to open the cupboard to take things. The cupboard door is quite big and opening the cupboard will sweep all the stuff on the table away.

Actually, I don’t even see my parents making much use of the cupboard. When I check out the cupboard to do this assignment, I saw a few items in the cupboard, which are seldom used. Opening the cupboard at even a small angle would be “sweeping” some of the things on the table. This means that to use the cupboard, one must constantly keep the table clear of items.

Since it is a dressing table, users should not be constrained to keep the table clear for the easy of accessing the cupboard. Eventually, my parents kind of forgot abt the existance of that cupboard because of its inconvenience. This defeats the purpose of having a cupboard behind the mirror in the first place.

Lesson learnt from interaction

From interaction with the cupboard, my parents learnt that it is important to check for details before buying furniture or other things. Simple things like opening a cupboard may reveal bad design in that aspect. However, when buying, it may be hard to visualise the usability of the cupboard(or other products) in the actual environment.

For example, when buying the furniture, the cupboard looks fine and one may not think about the suitation where there are some items on the table which may obstruct the opening of the cupboard door.  

This is an “either or” design. The user can choose to put things in the cupboard and keep the table clear so that the things can be easily accessed. Alternatively, the user can arrange the things along inner edge of the table. This will not block the mirror. However, in this case, the cupboard shouldn’t be used that often because of the extra effort needed to shift all the items away, which may be troublesome in the long run.

Users’ impression on brand

Actually my parents no longer remember the brand/company that made this furniture. They feel that this brand/company may overlook usability concerns in certain areas. The product probably needs more user testing. They dun really have a very bad impression on the brand/company but more checking will be made if another furniture comes from the same brand again.

My reflection on the product and user reaction

If I were a user using the dressing table and cupboard, I would feel the same as my parents! There is certainly room for improvement in such a design. The idea of the big cupboard door which comprises of the mirror in front is probably not  good idea as the door is so big that it can sweep through the entire dressing table.

Furthermore, the door is very close to the table itself. This means that an object on the dressing table with even a small height may need to be shifted to open the cupoard.

cupboard door very close to the table

To preserve the idea of the cupboard, probably the door with the mirror can be made as a sliding door. Or that the door can be a little higher up, so that small items can be put on the table without getting swept away by the opening of the cupboard door.