The picture depicts how complex the designing of what the users want can be. The initial goals and objectives can be one thing, the end product and what the users expect can be totally different. Over the course, we have learnt how important it is for designers to know what the users require and how to fulfil these requirements so that the end product can be effective, efficient and bring satisfaction to the users instead of frustration. It is important for any designer to communicate with users during the designing process.
“The designer determines which attributes are key components of the product for usability, and he/she should define what each one really means for the product and how this will be measured by using usability methods to find out how each characteristic of usability can be measured” (Falcão, & Soares, pp. 301).
Falcão, C. S. & Soares, M. M. (2013). Ergonomics, usability and virtual reality. In F. Rebelo & M. M. Soares (Eds.), Advances in usability evaluation (pp. 297-304). Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group
VIDEO COMPARISON
User experience is dynamic and user expectations change. To keep up with this, companies have to update their apps to continue providing a better usability to their customers. One way to identify and test user expectations is to harness the power of data. Companies can have precise data like how many times the app is being used in a day or a week, which tabs are used frequently, etc., and use them for evaluation. In this video, Rochelle King, the senior designer at Spotify, explains how data has leveraged her company to provide a better user experience.
Inch Scale devices: Logbar’s ring and apple watch.
Logbar’s ring:
Every other electronic equipment can be connected to this device which as its name suggests can be worn on our finger like a ring. A simple gesture will control devices such as TVs, home lighting and also send messages from your phone. This device will interpret the hand writing and send it as a text message or even send it via our smart watches. A detailed functionality of device can be understood from the video below.
Positive usability aspects:
The device simply connects with almost all our daily electronics and works seamlessly. It is easy to use. Simple tap on the side to activate the device and gesture in the air to communicate with other devices. Also by using (Kim, Choi & Ji, 2008) usability evaluation of ubiquitous devices we can say that the device is adaptable to context of users, controllable since it can be used under any circumstance. The device also supports interconnectivity with other devices, and the ring can be easily moved around without any issue. The system is generally seemed to be satisfying the users who use it.
Negative usability aspects:
The device is a bit tough to get used to without any training. It may also be difficult to use the device for elders since their hands may not be as stable as younger people and this may be cause the gesture to be misinterpreted. The negative aspects of usability based on (Kim, Choi & Ji, 2008) are that the device is not that simple to use from the start since it requires training. It may also not support transparency since the state of the device at every point of time might not be that clear. Accessibility aspect of the usability also will be difficult due the fact that elders and differently abled people will not find this usable.
Apple Watch:
Apple watch is a smart watch from Apple which connects and works seamlessly with the iphone devices. You can practical access most of your applications from your smart watch. It is of great help for navigation, accessing media easily, have a look at the mails and messages and reply and also help take care of our health with the health kit available. Given below is a video which demonstrates the uses of an apple watch.
Positive usability aspects:
Generally, apple watches provide users with the convenience because just by raising the wrist they will able to see the messages, respond to them which makes their job simpler rather than taking their mobiles out. It also has a feature whereby even payments can be done without the cards which is apple payment, making the life of the user easier. With respect to the usability aspects of Kim et al, the device has the ability to adapt to the changes in context such as the user’s location and also user’s activities such as exercise. They can also be interconnected with iPhones which enables them to share the information with the users mobile. The mobility aspect of the device is high too due to the fact that it is a wrist watch and is always on you. The state of the apple watch can be easily understood by the user and hence it is transparent.
Negative usability aspects:
One major usability issue with such devices is that they have a small interface and hence may be difficult for the user to interact. Since the watch is on your wrist only one hand is accessible and few users may find this difficult. When aligned with the usability paper from Kim et al the problems that are found are that the device predictability is almost nil since this is the first such device from apple and hence the user may not have any prior experience. The usage of the digital crown to zoom in and zoom out is one of the feature available which is not simple for a few users who might not be that inclined to use the latest technology. Compatibility of the system is also questioned because the user’s mental model of using a watch is quite different from what is being presented to them.
Foot-scale devices: Emiota’s Belty smart belt and GPS navigator
Emiota’s Belty smart belt:
It is an interesting product developed to be worn around the waist to enhance the health of a person. The belt can adjust itself by getting tighter when standing and loosens when a person sits. The belt can also interact with the user and let him know that he has been sitting for a long time. It has the abilities to identify early signs of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. It has built in sensors that monitors inactivity, waistline trends, Bluetooth capabilities and also has a phone app. It increases the comfort of the user and also provides valuable advice.
Positive usability aspects:
It uses the belt metaphor in an effective manner which improves the ease of use of the user. While considering Kim et al framework for usability adaptability of the device seems to be excellent due to the fact that it changes according to the user context. Mobility aspect of the device is a huge plus because it being a belt can be carried around with much ease. It is completely compatible with the user since all he has to do is wear the belt and move around and it provides all the valuable information.
Negative usability aspects:
One of the main usability an issue is that the user has to access the mobile app every time he needs to check about his health. The user interface of the system is almost nothing since it is just a belt and this sometimes may cause an issue due to lack of simplicity.
GPS navigator:
As suggested by the name itself the most important functionality of the GPS navigator is help people with the routes to the required destination. They are mostly used in the car. It can also have voice activated navigation for increasing the ease of use and also can link up with the smartphone.
Positive usability aspects:
It is simple to use since it is almost like a phone. It is also flexible due to additional functionalities such as the usage of voice navigation. The device is excellent and can be controlled under any circumstances and it also provides interconnectivity with the smartphones. The simplicity of the user interface will only increase the usability of the device and its mobile phone metaphor is only an added advantage.
Negative usability aspects:
The clarity of the information provided by the device may sometimes be vague that can confuse the users.
General note: The framework for usability evaluation of the ubiquitous devices are taken from the following paper. Kim.J.H, Choi K.J and Ji.Y (2008). Usability evaluation framework for ubiquitous computing device. Third 2008 International conference on convergence and hybrid information technology, 164 - 170
Title: User requirements of social media for the elderly: a case study in Taiwan Authors: Chou, Wen Huei; Lai, Yu-Tin; Liu, Kuang-Hsia Source: Behaviour & Information Technology. Sep2013, Vol. 32 Issue 9, p920-937 Link: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2529943
This is a research paper by Chou, Lai and Liu (2013) that addressed design requirements of social media for the elderly while noting issues that were reported in previous studies. In this paper, the details study on how the elderly operates social media platforms is conducted. It also discusses the interface design requirements, accessibility assistance and elderly usage adoption for social media platform based on previous studies. This makes it our choice of a research paper for this week.
Title: What’s on your mind? : investigating recommendations for inclusive social networking and older adults
Authors: Norval, Chris; Arnott, John; Hanson, Vicki L.
Source: Proceeding, CHI '14 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
This paper proposed potential solutions to challenges faced by the elderly when using social media platforms and investigated how designers can tackle these challenges. The authors conducted evaluations by developing recommendations for developers and putting them in practice.
The article is about an evaluation of software applications at Tata Consultancy Services. It consists of a concept called intelligent testing system which Tata Consultancy Services implement to enhance the quality of the software and also reduce the time required to test the application. They make it possible by implementing a solution which is to introduce automation early in the development which helps them reduce the cost, improve quality and accelerate delivery. This approach to testing will be able to cater to business organizations since they want to outpace their competition and break into the market.
The approach is interesting since this approach to an evaluation of software is not conventional but it is effective and aligns well with the needs of organizations in the current business environment. It also takes manual process of writing test scenarios out of the equation and hence reduces time required to provide test scenarios. The solution enables TCS to manage end to end testing ranging from the UI layer to the database layer. The solution is also helpful to build a regression suite.
The diagrammatic representation of the Intelligent Testing System is given below. This approach helps us understand how to cope up with the demanding deadlines and also produce a quality product. It also provides knowledge about how to reduce dependency on multiple applications and also minimize the efforts in managing multiple environments and thereby reduce the time in setting up a development environment. This teaches about automation, UI testing, test data management and regression testing. Also, it must be noted that this solution used at TCS help reduce cost by 10%, the number of bugs by 5% and reduces time-to-market by 30%. Hence, this article is a must read for companies with applications that need to hit the market before competitors.
In participatory design, participants (putative, potential or future) are invited to cooperate with designers, researchers and developers during an innovation process. Potentially, they participate during several stages of an innovation process: they participate during the initial exploration and problem definition both to help define the problem and to focus ideas for solution, and during development, they help evaluate proposed solutions.
Research Paper 1:
Gronvall, E. & Kyng, M. (2013). On participatory design of home-based healthcare. Cognition, Technology & Work, 15(4), 389-401.
Participatory Design with Elderly people:
We look at the Research Paper “On participatory design of home-based healthcare” by Erik Gronvall and Morten Kyng. It discusses challenges relating to the Participatory design (PD) in a private home setting.
The paper reports four challenges conducting the PD process in homes of weak/elderly population. As it describes, the challenges are: (1) “designing for, and negotiating knowledge about, the home”, (2) “ill, weak users and their participation in PD”, (3) “divergent interests of participants” and (4) “usable and sustainable post-project solutions” (Gronvall & Kyng, 2013).
The table below describes how control over the setting differs in a home to a hospital.
Home
Hospital
High Control
Patient
Healthcare worker
Low Control
Healthcare worker, researchers
Patient, researchers
Table 1: Distribution of control
What makes the paper distinct from most other PD papers is that the PD process is set in private homes of participants in contrast to professional environments which are usually the norm. This paper shows that challenges can be difficult to solve, and how tackling these challenges can lead to new possibilities in “development of national infrastructures and service architectures as well as organizational models for healthcare” (Gronvall & Kyng, 2013).
Research Paper 2:
Siozos, P., Palaigeorgiou, G.,
Triantafyllakos, G., & Despotakis, T. (2009). Computer based testing using
“digital ink”: Participatory design of a Tablet PC based assessment application
for secondary education. Computers & Education, 52811-819.
doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2008.12.006
Participatory Design with secondary school Students and Teachers:
This Research Paper explains about how the participatory design helps in identifying key
challenges faced while developing computer based assessment (CBA) application in
secondary education and students and teachers are also participated in
framework design. CBA Application called “MyTest” is designed with
collaboration of 31 students and teachers.
Need of Students and Teachers for designing application:
·Students and teachers should take responsibility
for co-designing the assessment applications, in order to fulfil their
expectations, address their deficiencies, adapt them to their computer
experience levels and create products that are specific-tailored to their sociocultural
and educational traditions.
·The equipment selected for the assessment
delivery should minimize the influence of the platform-mode and test-mode
effects, should provide familiar and easy-to-learn interactions and should
provide opportunities of use in real learning conditions.
·Application design should not cancel but enhance
previous hand-written assessment practices, enriching them with new
possibilities. They should be an evolution that emphasizes educational
effectiveness and not a revolution highlighting technological innovations.
Distinguishing Factor of this paper:
One cannot simply design and
develop exact solution for others who is in need of it, unless the client
themselves involved and give their opinion about the ongoing process. Here
students and teachers are involved in the process of Design which helps in
bringing out an exact application which satisfy both students and teachers who
are the real time users of that application.
Three main guidelines were highlighted for the incorporation of CBA in
secondary education:
·design in cooperation with the students and
teachers
·selection of the most adequate media platform
·planning an evolution rather than a revolution
of the prior practices
They have provided evidence that
designing effective CBA applications can be realized by actively involving
students and teachers in the design process. Both students and teachers were
excited about their participation in the design sessions, and they asserted
that they would rely more on educational software designed using this approach.
This throws light on their willingness to undertake a process of
re-conceptualizing existing pedagogies in the light of new opportunities and
engage in the co-formulation of their future.
This is a type of interaction which involves the users moving around in a virtual or a physical environment. One of the applications that suits this type of interaction is the YELP. It is a mobile application which helps users to identify the restaurants or eateries which are present nearby. This application perfectly fits the physical environment of the exploring interaction.
YELP and its exploring interaction type:
YELP as described is above is a mobile application that can provide users with online reviews about restaurants that are nearby. It has a particular functionality called as monocle which enables users to open their phone camera through the app and instantly displays the surrounding restaurants along with their ratings. These ratings and restaurants will be augmented to the phone’s camera display. An example screen dump of the application used inside NTU to find a restaurant is given below.
Fig 1: The app showing the restaurants available in particular locality when the user points the camera at a direction. The information displays the restaurant name, address, rating and the distance from current location.
On clicking a particular restaurant that is being displayed on the camera through augmented reality, the user will be taken to a new page with more detailed view. A screen dump of that screen too is provided below.
Fig 2: A detailed view of the restaurant the user chooses from the augmented reality screen.
The application involves the user to move through the physical environment. This is because the user has to move around with the camera view to locate the restaurants in the locality. The application uses both augmented reality and location services to provide user the required details. Hence, this application is based on the exploring interaction type to enable user to be involved physically.
2. Conversing interaction type:
In this type of interaction the users can converse with the application through voice. There are many application in market which will match this kind of interaction. Here we take Vilingo Virtual Assistant. This application is more like a personal assitant. This application will keep track of our messages, schedules, meetings etc. We can also reply for the message update status by giving instrcution over voice.
VLINGO and its conversing interaction type:
Vlingo as described is above is a mobile application which will act as an users personal assistant. This application is mainly useful when we are performing some other activities and at the same time if we want to attend phone calls or reply to a message or email and even we can update our status in our social profiles like facebook and twitter, we can do these task simultaneously with the help of this application. In real time scenario, For example, while we are driving a car, we may get a call or message and we should not attend them as per rules. This application will help us to know who is calling and it will also read out the message for us.
Fig 3. Vlingo Application which can recognise our voice input
Thus this application uses voice recognition process to translate our voice input to a task to be performed. It is really helpful in performing some action which we would like to do using mobile by our voice input. Screen shots of this application is provided below.
Fig 4. Replying to the message just by reading out the message and the app will capture it as text
The application will also keep track of our tasks and meeting schedules and it will update about those tasks and schedule. The only difficulty in using this application is we should communicate in proper english else the application will get confusion and it will misinterrupt our command and end up in doing different task.
Application that meets Usability and User Experience Goals: 1. FlipKart Application: http://www.flipkart.com/ FlipKart – A web application that satisfies usability and user experience goals. Flipkart is an e-commerce website that provides users the platform to purchase a wide variety of goods ranging from shoes to mobile phones. The justification for satisfying both usability and user experience goals are given below.
Usability goals:
Effectiveness:The application’s main objective is enable users to buy their products without visiting the brick-and-mortar store by providing the same experience. It completely satisfies that objective and hence effectively helps the user to buy his product from selection to check-out without confusion.
Efficiency: Users who use the application for the first will find it easy to navigate around and find their required product without much hassles. The application provides enough assistance to the users to help them navigate around and find their required product easily.
To demonstrate these two goals, the following set of screenshots are provided which is an attempt to buy a shoe rack.
Fig 1: User selects the required category
Fig 2: User gets the list of shoe racks with options to filter the racks based on price, material etc.
Fig 3: User after selection can easily check out using the buy now option
These screenshots reiterate the efficiency and effectiveness since it focuses on the primary goal of the application and the user can efficiently navigate and get his product.
Safety:The chances of the users to wrongly click a button is minimal since all the labels and buttons are very clear and understandable to the user. Even when the application closes unexpectedly when the user logs in the next time the orders can be found in the cart thus providing effective recovery.
Utility: The application has several functionalities that might aid the user in buying his product easily. Search, filtering by price, brand, categories, preferences and suggestions are some of the functionalities that helps the user perform the task
Fig 4: An example for filtering functionality available on flipkart
Learnability: The application is easy to learn for the users since it is basically modelled on the users’ approach to buying products at a brick-and-mortar store. There are no complex functionalities that requires training for the users’. The user can easily familiarize with the application by exploring the interface of the system.
Memorability: The application has breadcrumbs implemented to help users remember their navigation and since it is very simple approach the users will not find it difficult to carry out their tasks on the application. Since this is an ecommerce site and can be used frequently by users’ memorability aspect may not play a big role.
User Experience Goals: Flipkart, apart from having satisfied all the usability goals also provides the user with excellent user experience. The application provides users a cognitively stimulating experience. For Example, the user will be able to take closer look at their interested products. It also enhances sociability since most of the products have reviews and the users can reply to those reviews thus helping the users. Since most of the products have offers, photos and recommendation the entire application is engaging for the users. Since the entire interface of an application is simple and enjoyable. Users will have a satisfying experience.
Fig 5: The users can easily have different views of their products
2. Freecharge Application: http://www.freecharge.in/ Freecharge – This is one web application that satisfies usability and user experience goals.This web application is used to recharge our Mobile, DTH, Datacard, Bill Payments and Metro Train Pass recharge. The justification for satisfying both usability and user experience goals are listed below.
Usability goals:
Effectiveness: Main objective of this application is to recharge any mobile number within India. There are many websites which are providing same feature to recharge. But other websites are loaded with many steps to do this and more advertisements and promotions loaded in a page which is annoying the user visiting that page. Thus this site stand apart from other application by providing only the intended purpose for the user
Efficiency: Any user on entering the application can easily understand what the system is all about. The Home screen is providing intended purpose of recharging option. At the top it provides a menu for selecting what to recharge either mobile or DTN or DataCard or any Bill payments or Metro Train pass recharge. Series of five steps will finish the recharging task.
Fig 1: Home Screen of Freecharge
Safety: There is very minimal ways of user going wrong on proceeding while recharge. Everything is so transparent and very easy steps. If any user constantly performing similar recharge rate from their profile, then on next time this application suggest option to choose the similar option so that user can proceed faster to recharge.
Fig 2: Providing option to choose from earlier recharges
Utility: This application prrovides multiple recharging options for Mobile, DTH, Datacard, Bill includes Electricity Bill, Land Bill, Gas Bill and Metro Train Recharge.
Fig 3: Multiple bill payment option
Learnability: This application is very compatible for any basic users. Anyone can easily understand the end to end functionality of this application. Also by using all payment feature will make the user familiar in using all options.
Memorability: This application has payment page which can be done either by Debit / Credit card, Net Banking. But user dont need to remember their card number always instead they can save their card so that on next payment they can easily pay in short steps.
Fig 5: Payment Option where card details saved
User Experience Goals: Thus Freecharge satisfied all the usability goals and provides good user experience. This also has some promotion coupon to attract users. which will make user as their advertiser, which provides free recharge coupons on referring their friends to sign in this application. Thus the interface of an application is simple and efficient which satisfy user in providing intended purpose.
Application that Doesn't meet Usability and User Experience Goals:
1. Sketch Application: https://sketch.london Sketch – A very highly rated restaurant with 5 AA rosettes and 2 Michelin stars in London has a website (sketch.london) that allows the users to view events, menus and more importantly, make online reservations. We visit the site with the goal of booking a table making use of the online reservation web application.
Fig 1: sketch.london homepage
Usability goals:
Effectiveness: sketch.london fails in defining its purpose. As soon as the website finished loading the user gets greeted by an animation that makes no sense. At first glance sketch is more of an art gallery than a restaurant. As seen in the picture above, there are no labels to the logos or icons. The sidebar has confusing labels; the labels are overlapping and not clearly defined. Lunch with Monet? Who is David Shrigley? On the other hand, the reservation application is effective as it can achieve goals as intended.
Fig 2: sketch.london sidebar
Efficiency: Next, we look at the reservation application itself.
Fig 3 & 4: Reservation System
From the above images lack of consistency of the reservation system can be seen. The drop down does not provide the user the “Dinner” option as it should have. Once the user clicks the wrong option there is no way to amend it without going back. We also feel that there should be images or indicators of what “Parlour”, “Gallery” or “Lecture Room” are.
Safety: While exploring sketch.london, we had no idea if we were at where we wanted to be. As mentioned before, the sidebar is not very useful thus leading to wrong destinations. The user can go back to the previous page clicking a tiny logo (without labels, again) at the top right corner which provides the same function as the browser back button.
Utility: The shop and reservation system works. However, there are limited options when booking as seen in the image below.
Fig 5: Booking times
Learnability: The learnability aspect in sketch.london is low. There are no help for users to explore the site, or use the booking application. The user cannot choose a specific time to dine.
Memorability: As mentioned before, there are inconsistencies in the application. Options are not consistent in drop down lists and icons are not labelled, thus reducing memorability.
User Experience: The application can be confusing due to inconsistency. The user may feel annoyed by the background animation which is constantly there throughout. The website homepage, however, constantly plays an unpleasant music in repeat.
Orbitz - A web application that allows you to book flights, hotels and pick up cars. It also offers package deals, cruises and activities. Overall it is a one stop application for users to plan a vacation at best price deals. However, this website has few usability constraints which impacts the user experience and satisfaction. Some of them are identified below.
Usability goals:
Effectiveness: The goal of the website is to book flights, hotels, cars at individual and package deals. However, the impression of the website at first look does not effectively highlight its purpose. Too much of white area and the top/ popular destination places are stacked at the lower part of the website. There is no option to change the language of the website as well as no flexible currency option. Here there is possible scenario that users may find it difficult to read and use the website hence they may prefer a website which allows them to change the language and currency options.
Fig 1. User finds it difficult to identify the goal of the website with homepage
Efficiency: Users have to experience easy navigation and content information according to their flexibility. However, in our first case, to book a hotel, there is an option for Hotel name to search for the hotel of interest during the stay but the search does not offer any suggestion when hotel is searched. For the first time users, they experience difficulty to type in the hotel name directly without any prompt. Also, the search is for exact match and people who type in wrong spelling of the hotel find no close results.
Fig 2. User does not find suggestions in the search feature
In our second case there is confusion on the time for booking a flight as there is no proper organisation of time details.
Fig 3. User finds it difficult with unorganised non standard timing options
In our third case, while booking a room the user had to change the date of stay but the update button remained grey. The user has to go to the start to update the change of date.
Fig 4. The update option is not available to the user after he had made changes to the date
Safety: The chances of the users to navigate to and fro through the webpages of a travel website is very common. In this case the user filled in the options and searched for a package deal of flight + hotel. However, he later changed his mind and navigated back to search for flights only. However, he found his search details not been saved. The webpage had navigated to the home page of the website and so the user had to restart his search.
Fig 5. User finds himself being navigated to the homepage
Utility: During the search for hotels the lists populates under the recommended section rather than the price deals and in most cases users tend to decide on the prices and the ratings/reviews. The refreshing on the filters takes long time. Unnecessary waiting time is directed to Orbitz rewards page which frustrates users.
Fig 6. The website gets directed to advertisement and offer deals
Learnability: Compared to other online travel website Orbitz is difficult to navigate and explore. The look and construction of the website is too rigid. The users have to spend more time to explore this travel website compared to Agoda.com or Expedia.com. On a general note, the users were confused by the terminology of a ‘deal’ and a ‘package.
Fig 7. User finds it difficult to distinguish between deals and package
Memorability: Due to the difficult navigability, the too much of refreshing, it is tough to remember the steps involved in the booking session.
User Experience Goals:Though Orbitz is a application with a sole purpose to book travel packages, it fails to satisfy customer's expectation. To prove this SURL (Software Usability Research Laboratory ) has evaluated and done a comparative study with two other travel websites. (http://usabilitynews.org/planning-your-next-vacation-orbitz-expedia-or-travelocity/)
The results are as follows:
Fig 8: Reported Satisfaction of Travel Sites
This blog entry focuses on the other constraints which have been missed out from the SURL evaluation. The screenshots above provide justification for the usability goals (Effectiveness, Efficiency, Safety, Utility, Learnability and Memorability).
