Discussion - Seminar 2

Chapter 6 
Since we are well passed the brainstorming part of the project, this chapter had more of an evaluating function for us. We think that we mostly followed the guidelines given in the book in the sense that we didn’t use a lot of technology when brainstorming. Instead we used pencil, paper, whiteboard and sticky notes as our primary tools. What could be improved for future projects is not discussing single ideas too much during the brainstorming-phase, since we want quantity in this stage of the process, not quality. 

Chapter 7 
 When it comes to constraints, the ones that apply to us are skill-constraints and time-constraints. Something that was really interesting was the poka-yoka method, where you don’t allow the user to make mistakes in the first place. We wish to have the feedback/feedforward in mind when designing our prototype. Discussion points: lag, direct/indirect manipulation, the seven rule, poka-yoka, 

Chapter 8 
We should start off with creating a non-digital prototype (other than the one we already have) to get feedback from people testing it before we make a digital version. We already have a really rough concept-prototype (low-fidelity) (http://fabd5.blogspot.se/2014/10/design-concepts.html?view=flipcard) 

Questions from the blog: 
When we create the prototype, should we create several prototypes for different scenarios in the museum? 

Three different prototypes, for three stages of the museum-visit. 

1. An informative part at the start of the exhibition. 
2. The competitive part during the exhibition. 
3. Ending screen at the end of the museum with feedback about the visit and 

What are some good scenarios we can work with? With the limits in skills and time what are good approaches when we work with prototyping? 

We should develop different scenarios for when users use our concept in different stages of the museum and in different constellations (eg. in group or single person). We also want to create different scenarios for visitors of different ages. 

What kind of prototype do we want to create? Have we have got pronounced design principles? 

We want to start of with a low-fidelity (paper) prototype and later develop a more high-fidelity prototype in order to first test out the concept and later make sure that it “feels” the way we want it to and gets the right “personality”. 

How do we best visualize the interaction with a product without being able to code it? Are you allowed to use video? 

http://www.invisionapp.com/ 

In our case (explain project if necessary) will we need to actually make an RFID-wristband or does a simple 3d-model suffice? 

We discussed and came to the conclusion that we will make a rough physical model to demonstrate the concept, but avoid including any technology. 

Quote of the day: 
Jonathan - What’s rights with me? 
Josefine - That’s a good question.

Seminar 2 - Josefine Martinsson

Chapter 6 is about the part of the design process where there is a lot of brainstorming and when it comes to ideas it is, as they say in the book, about quantity over quality. This is a part which we are now passed in my opinion. Reading about it I feel like we did a lot of the things being talked about during our brainstorming and the structuring of our ideas.   

 Pictures from our brainstorming and structuring of ideas.

During the brainstorming we came up with a lot of ideas and used “analog” methods such as pen, paper, whiteboard and post its. I believe, just as the literature, that this really helps the process and keeps the flow going. What we did not do was keep away all technology, we still had laptops present and there was some multitasking present, which perhaps we should avoid in future projects as well as focus even more on the quantity over quality of ideas. But I do think that we had a great environment during this part of our project where all kins of ideas were welcome and we had a lot of fun!

The next stage of the design process is Refinement, which is discussed in Chapter 7. I would say our project is currently at the end of this stage. It is all about refining the ideas the team came up with during the brainstorming by considering constraints and various principles of interaction design. We talked about constraints already during our brainstorming, which perhaps should have been saved for this, and I believe we have done a good job taking them into consideration. The various principles really intrigued me, especially since some of them could have solved the problems we found with the interaction today at Naturhistoriska. Especially feedback and feedforward is something we found issues with and something I think we should focus on in our design. I also found The Poka-Yoke principle very interesting. I would like us to work with scenarios as we finish this stage.

The last chapter, Chapter 8, is all about prototyping, testing and development and is the stage we are going to next. While the development part of the product is not something we will do during this course; prototyping and testing is very relevant for our project. We have limitations here, both in the skills available in our group but also the time at hand for doing this. I think this seemed like a huge task at first, but I liked what Tod Zaki Warfel said about prototyping in the book: 

You dont’ have to prototype everything - it’s a prototype. And prototypes, by definition, are incomplete.

This made the task seem less intimidating. 

I believe we should work with paper prototypes at first, which we did a little bit already during about idea stage, and work our way to a digital prototype. I am looking forward to the prototyping and testing and I believe it will be a very new and challenging part of the course.

Questions: What are some good scenarios we can work with? With the limits in skills and time what are good approaches when we work with prototyping?

Seminarie 2

In preperation for this seminar we had to read chapter 6,7,8 in the book.

Chapter 6 - Ideation and design principles

When you have done your research it is time to come up with various types of concepts. This can be done by brainstorming. When brainstorming the use of technology may only act as a roadblock that slows down the creative process so instead of using computers you should go back to basics. By using papers, pens, highlighters, post-its etc. you are free to quickly draw, write or via art express ideas, emotions and insights regarding the project. To add a little structure to your brainstorming you could create personas, scenarios, pain points, metaphors or opportunities so that your ideas has a fundament to originate from and thereby also be able, in a later stage of the process,  to combine some of the concept ideas.

In this chapter they also introduces us to design principles, they use this example:

“Let’s say, for example, you are designing a new recipe display for kitchens and you’ve noticed people’s hands can get covered in flour or other foodstuffs while cooking—too soiled to be able to operate most controls easily. Thus, one of your design principles might be Operate with Messy Hands. It’s almost a requirement, but it applies

across a number of features and suggests the concepts that might work well for the product…”

It is almost like loose boundaries for the project so that the design ideas stay on taget and do not include totally redundant or ineffective suggestions. A principle should be applicable to many parts of the design if it’s not, it is probably a requirement. 

An example for us could be “Should be able to be operated by anyone”.

Chapter 7 - Refinement

Constraints, standards, principle and laws you have to or should abide id the main focus of this chapter. Personally i was triggered by indirect/direct manipulation, feedback/feedforward, Magical number seven and the Poka-Yoke principal. Except from the Magical number seven all of these explain what to think about when users are “communicating” with the interface. They need to know what is going to happen, what is happening and how to manipulate objekt on screen. The Magical number seven is a rule of thumb to keep in mind when the program asks of the user to remember things. You can usually only remember up to 7 things and this number should not be exceeded.

All of these techniques we have to use to create a system that is both quick, easy to use and keeps the user interested.

Chapter 8 - Prototyping, testing and development

This chapter is what we as e group is currently working on. By creating a prototype with a basic interface design and operations you can test your concept on yourselves or other to see where it fails. A system fails when it causes confusion, anger or is time consuming. We should use the Heuristic Evaluation when we evaluate our prototype. We shouldn’t put to much effort into making it perfect either, just a shell for the original idea so that you get what it is all about.

Questions for discussion:

What kind of prototype do we want to create? Have we have got pronounced design principles?

Seminar 2 - Rickard Bergeling

Chapter 6 – Brainstorming and Ideation

This chapter was about a stage of the project that I feel we are well passed at this point. It’s about brainstorming and how to come up with ideas. Since we have already concluded the fact that our current idea is the one we are going to stick to, it feels a bit excessive to further analyze the different methods of brainstorming and ideation. What could be relevant, though, is to analyze our design process and how it has related to the contents of this chapter.

“Brainstorming requires some tools. First, because of the limitations of today’s available technology, brainstorming should never be done digitally; it should be done with paper, pencils, pens, markers, and possibly whiteboards and sticky notes. You need to be able to jot down an idea quickly, set it aside, and move on to the next idea. Fumbling with technology just gets in the way.”

This is something that I feel has worked very well for us, even though many of the members in our group frequently brings laptops and tablets to school, we have kept brainstorming using as little technology as possible. Something that also went well was the fact that we have a great tolerance in the group for different ideas and perspectives.

Something that I think could be improved for the next group project when it comes to the brainstorming-phase is that we shouldn’t spend too much time on a single idea. In our group, we really wanted to evolve the idea as much as possible as soon as we saw even the slightest potential. I think it could be better to move on and come up with as many ideas as possible and then go back to get the best features from each idea.

Chapter 7 - Refinement

When it comes to this chapter, what I found most interesting was Direct/Indirect Manipulation and The Magic Number Seven-rule. Since we have not started on our interactive prototype-development yet, we have only stated in words how we want the interaction to be. We have said that we want an ageless design that is intuitive to use. Therefore I think that we will benefit the most from using Direct Manipulation as our main concept when forming the interactive tools. Also, this chapter state that you should not deviate from the standard unless your design significantly improves the program. I therefore believe that we should design using the guidelines of application-making for tablets and try to deviate as little as possible. Our products “personality” will come in place with the choices of fonts, colors and so on. Not by using a weird layout.

The Magic Number Seven-rule states that a person’s short-term memory can only hold 7 (plus-minus 2) pieces of information at a given time. If given too much information the person will naturally forget some of it. I think this is something we can use when deciding how much information the visitor should be exposed to before our product indicates that he/she is able to answer questions about the exhibition. 

Chapter 8 – Prototyping, testing and development

Since we do not stand to actually develop our product, my discussion about this chapter will be limited to prototyping and testing. This is something that I am really excited about, although I am not sure of how we are going to make the prototype since none of us have experience in application-programming.

A quote from this chapter that really stuck was: “Eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak”, stating that we do not want excessive options or such that will plotter the application and make it hard to use. We have stated previously that we want an ageless and simplistic design, which I think will aid a lot in eliminating unnecessary elements.

So far we have not yet discussed whether or not our product should use sound as a tool for feedback to the user. My instinct tells me that we should limit our use of sound as much as possible since we have clearly stated that we don’t want our screens to take focus from the exhibition itself, and using sound-queues might be distracting to the other visitors.

Questions for the seminar:

How do we best visualize the interaction with a product without being able to code it? Are you allowed to use video?

In our case (explain project if necessary) will we need to actually make an RFID-wristband or does a simple 3d-model suffice?