Studio 12 - Design Principles

Lidwell et al's Universal Principles of Design

Lidwell et al try to be concise by using the following five categories:

1. How can we influence the way that a design is percieved?
2. How can we help people learn from a design?
3. How can we enchance the usability of a design?
4. How can we increase the appeal of a design?
5. How can we make better design decisions?

Whilst Lidwell et al do use the above five categories they apply these within the design principles, allowing them to ask themselves the questions of how the can constantly improve the design. I am going to discuss a few of Lidwell et al's Universal Principles of Design and apply the five categories to these design principles.

80/20 Rule

This principle of design basically stands for; 80 per cent of the effects of a system are caused by 20 per cent of the systems variables. An example of the 80/20 rule is an Internet web browser such as Internet Explorer by Microsoft. The web browser has a vast amount of functions that it can perform however the general public or average computer user will not know what these functions are, so, the main functions are that users require are shown in the toolbars located along the top of the web broswer. These toolbars include functions like: going back a web page, forward, saved web pages/favourites, typing in an URL etc. This is a good example of the 80/20 rule because these main functions represent 20% of the web browsers available functions, yet there actions represent 80% of the tasks a user would want/need to do.

Categories that apply:

• 1
• 4
• 5

I believe that these three categories apply to the above principle because the 80/20 rule seems to be mainly focused around the user and how they will interact with the interface of the system. So category number one will see how the design is interpreted by the user to see how they can make the system most efficient to the user without the need to be over complicated. Category number 4 has been developed along the same method as category 5 because the design of the web browser's interface has been taken into consideration to provide the user with an easy to use interface that requires minimal effort in order to achieve the users goals.

Affordance

"The term 'affordance' refers to the properties of a physical object or environment only. When images of physical objects or environments are used (e.g., image of a button), the images, themselves, do not afford anything. The knowledge of button affordances exists in the mind of the perciever based on experience of physical buttons -- it is not the a property of the image. Therefore, the affordance is said to be 'percieved'." - Universal Principles of Design By William Lidwell, Jill Butler, Kritina Holden

Affordance coincides with what a system/object is designed to do. The reading mentions doors and discusses about the opening and closing techniques to do with doors. This can be used as a simple example to explain affordance in the instance that a flat panel on a door (normally made of metal, attached to a wooden/plastic door) is designed and used to be pushed, whilst a handle is designed and used to open doors. Another example of affordance can be a GPS device because these afford mobility. Almost every design to date for the GPS devices are designed to be carried around by users, placed in cars, mobiles phones etc so they are designed to be mobile.

Categories that apply:

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Constraint

There are two basic types of constraints that come under the titles Physical and Psychological constraints. A contstraint is essentially something that limits what a system can perform. A physical constraint can control how and where a system or part of the system can move where as a psychological constraint can limit the amount of things that a user can perform by thinking about how the user would already percieve things. This links in with symbols, words, mappings, coventions and even to objects such as a physical barrier.

An example of a physical contstraint could be a computer cable i.e. the cable that connects a keyboard to the computer. These two devices work together via the cable so if this cable was removed users would know that they would not be able to use these device together any longer, as well as this the keyboard would not be able to be taken into a different room because of the physical constraint linked to the length of the cable.

An example of a psychological constraint could be the red and green man signs on traffic lights, because when the red man symbol is lit up the pedestrian can still choose to cross the road even though via the education system people are taught from an early age that when the red man is lit you should not cross the road. So from seeing this symbol the pedestrian may choose to ignore it, but every person will still know that this sign means do not cross for obvious reasons.

Catergories that apply:

• 1
• 3
• 5

I believe catergory one can me integrated into this design principle because the user can be influenced by a recognisable symbol; in this example, the red man on traffic lights.

Cost-Benefit

The cost-benefit design princple relates to a 'is it worth it?' approach, by this I mean that a design should only be persued if its benefits are equal or greater to it's cost. So you have have one of the world's most expensive systems but is absolutly non-beneficial then it will have poor design according to the cost-benefit design principle. Although with this said, a system does not always need to be low cost to have a good design because if a particular thing is vital to a system then the benefit totally out weighs the cost (though cost doesn't have to mean currency as it can also include extra factors such as effort, time etc).

Cost-benefit can be applied to many different forms ranging from design to business or even gambling. In business the company director will normally make a decision based solely around how much money will be invested e.g., a company director is thinking over taking over another firm and so his cost-benefit analysis will majorly focus around how much money will it cost his company and in return how much profit can be made from this transaction. In gambling the gambler will look at what he is betting on (horse racing, roulette etc) and he will be looking at which odds statistically look the most profiable but also the most secure.

Categories that apply:

• 3
• 4
• 5

Errors

These are things that can (and according to sod's law probably will) go wrong in a system, or errors can apply to an action being performed and the feedback is the wrong result. The most common reason why errors occur is the simple factor of Human Error, however this error will most commonly occur due to a design errow/flaw. One way in which errors can be avoided throughout a system is the implementation of feedback and using as much feedback as possible for the user so that they know exactly what is going on through the system all the time.

These days errors are commonly avoided to most system interfaces allow the user to go back and undo the error easily, for example; when a user has accidently deleted a large paragraph of written text the use can simply go to edit > undo or use the shortcut Ctrl + Z.

Categories that apply:

• 2
• 3
• 5

Five Hat Racks

Using this design principle states that there are five ways to organise information; category, time, location, continuum and alphabet. It also states that there is a limited number of ways to organise data/information, regardless of the application; basically meaning that no matter what type of application or system is being used the information has to be organised to a limited number of different methods.

An example of this design principle could be used for automobiles (cars, vans, limo's etc).

1. Category - what the type of automobiles are (cars, vans etc)
2. Time - How old the automobiles are
3. Location - What dealership is the automobile being bought or rented from
4. Alphabet - All automobiles are categorized alphabetically
5. Continuum - This could apply to various things, including spare parts, price and other types of specifications

Categories that apply:

• 1
• 2
• 4
• 5

Lidwell et al VS Normans Design Principles

Recap of Norman design principles: Visibility, Feedback, Constraints, Mapping, Consistency and Affordance.

The 80/20 Rule can be linked in with Visibility and Mapping, because this rule (80/20) is majorly focused on what the user can see, which links to Visibility and the rule also focuses on how these things should be placed, which links to Mapping.

Affordance and Constraints are already integrated into Norman's design princples, Affordance and Constraints can easily be linked together because they concentrate on how a system and its peripherals work and what physical and psychological contraints surround them.

Cost-Benefit relates to consistency and mapping because if functions on an interface, device or system are poorly placed or the general theme is not kept consistent then these things may become a problem as opposed to becoming a benefit to the interface, device or system.

Errors can be linked in with all forms of Normans design princples because error's are generic and can be system wide;

- Feedback needs to be given if an error occurs and as previously discussed, feedback can help prevent errors from occuring in the first place.

- Bad Visibility can lead to errors because if the user of the system can not see the right things this will, in the end, lead to further errors.

- Consistency goes a long way to preventing errors as well, because if a user can see the same layout, colour scheme, menu's etc they will be less likely to choose a wrong option; thus leading to less errors.

- Mapping can be important where layout and menu's are concerned because if symbols, buttons or options are placed in a poor position then this will lead to errors from the user.

- Constraints can help to stop users from choosing the wrong options and they can help to prevent users from performing the wrong actions.

- Affordance comes into play if a system looks like it is designed to be used for a certain task but turns out that it is a device for something completely different this leads to bad affordance because it will create confusion for the users which will lead to errors.

Five Hat Racks implements feedback and visibility because it relates to how users see things and how they percieve them, as well as seeing the after effects of their actions when selecting certain options within a system.

Studio 5 - Identifying Research Methods 1

What is ethnography?
Tony Salvador, Genevieve Bell, and Ken Anderson describe design ethnography as being "a way of understanding the particulars of daily life in such a way as to increase the success probability of a new product or service or, more appropriately, to reduce the probability of failure specifically due to a lack of understanding of the basic behaviors and frameworks of consumers." - Cited from Salvador, Quoted from Answers.com

Ethnography is something which has become recognised as a ubiquitous feature of the normal everyday life which we lead. It is part of the 'invisible computing' world that we live in, It is something that everyone does, everyday throughout life but will never notice it at all.

A person will often question their surroundings i.e. when you go to push a button whilst waiting for a lift and the button is slightly too low for you then the question would occur 'why didn't they place the button slightly higher than that?' - this is in our human nature to question things, but most of the time it is more of a random thought that an actual question to be stored, taken and analysied to look for a solution.

Ethnography is based around the analysis of things, it is one of the most important parts which makes up ethnography. It is using this part that we can determine between a normal individual and a professional, whom seeks out to solve everyday questions that others will think upon but look no further.

3 examples of ubiquitous computing

1. Uncle Roy All Around You
This is a game which dwells in the real world and within world wide web, where players start off as strangers and have the possibilty to become 'friends and helpers' towards one another. The concept of this game is that it will have users playing in the real-world and online combined as the same time playing an extremely high-tech game of hide-and-seek across the city of Manchester, England. Uncle Roy All Around You was created by Blast Theory Ltd, with the 1st title of the 'Uncle Roy' games being released in 2003.

• Online players can contact the real-world players via the use of text-messaging, whilst the real-world players can leave voice messages using their mobile phones in 'cyberspace' for the online players to retrieve at their disposal.
• Street players are equipped with PDAs to help them look for the thought up character of 'Uncle Roy'
• The game did encounter a few problems during the early stages of creation using GPS because it took quite long for information and data to be sent between the players and the sever. Since then Blast Theory have changed to using GPRS as this is faster and more efficient for the users of Uncle Roy All Around You

Changing the way that people think about a city - which for most people is just a backdrop for their life - is one of the professed aims of Uncle Roy. Instead of a blank cityscape, players have to interact and engage with it, asking people they have never met if they are Uncle Roy. Instead of a city full of strangers, people become potential helpers and friends. - BBC News

2. Treasure
This features a team and location style, played across a small area; mainly consisting of 4 people. In such a small area points are gained by the team collecting coins by visiting certain locations sent to their mobile, PDA or similar device using 802.11 wireless networking.

The user must ascertain the location, where a coin has been dropped then proceed to take their handheld computer devices. They must then take them to an area where they can connect wirelessly to a network and upload them to a server where they can be converted into points.

Although the basis of this game seems simple, the tasks of collecting the coins can be extremely difficult due to a player's opposing side. Once a user has located a coin and is on their way to getting in range of a wireless network, an opposing player can steal their coin to convert into points if the original player has failed to upload the coin in time.

3. Savannah
The target audience for this educational game were children from the school years of 6, 7, and 8 and the aim of the game is to teach these children about the ecology of the Savannah, Africa with the main scope aimed towards the behaviour of lions and their surroundings. The following technology was used for the Savannah game:
1. Global positioning system
2. Wireless network
3. 3 servers (games, events, maps)
4. PDAs
5. Mobile Bristol client (Bristol were in partnership with teams conducting the research for the trials of this game)
6. PC interface software

The children were given PDAs (Wi-Fi enabled) which included GPS location sensing technology. This was so that the children would be able to move around an augmented area using these devices to discour what resoucres a lion would need to survive, and learn to move around the 'terrain' like a lion would in their natural environment. The 'terrain' was an empty school playing field, fitted with camera's to monitor the children's behaviour as lions. Within the Savannah, the lions (children) had two domains, their den's and the outside terrain.

The den would provide the Children an area indoors where they could look at their findings, study the research, plan their tasks and reflect on the whole experience of each level they come across. The children are also set up via their PDA's 3 levels - 1) to claim territory through scenting; 2) to hunt successfully in the wet season; 3) to survive hunger and thirst in the dry season.
Using Ethnography Studies To Understand Users Interaction With The System

Savannah - This game is a very good example of how technology out in the 'real-world' can be used to study users' and how they interact with devices given to them. For example; because the actual Savannah game was created in an augmented enviroment out in the open, the analysts were able to modify the environment so that the following could happen:

• Recording - wireless microphones were used to record the conversations of the participants
• Video - There was a dedicated camera to each player of the game throughout the entire time that they were actually playing. Also because this game was placed in an augmented natural enviroment it meant that camera's could be set up to monitor the entire area and all players can be kept in shot so nothing is missed.
• Interactions - analysts would be able to look into how the participants acted within the enviroment, naturally.
• Logging - A central server was set up so that all system logs of the game, its actions and data were captured; to be used for study.

After the Savannah game and all data was captured, the research teams behind the game then created a 'dedicated game replay interface'. This allowed complete game status to be displayed for all of the participants, so that they could see what had happened to them as lions. Also using the reply interface analysts were able to view the system logs in a variety of ways. A fine-grained analysis was created about GPS sensing and location based interaction.

Assignment Method Discussion

For my assignment I have decided to go with option 1 and conduct the Usability Evalutation of a Mobile Device, and for this instance I am going to be conducting this on an Apple 8gb iPod Touch. Some of the methods previously discussed that I think would be of benefit to this evalution is;

• Wireless microphones - This wouldn't really be a major benefit, but encase their is any type of self-talk from the user whilst using the device it could be beneficial to have some vocal feedback from the participant whilst they are using the device and not being questioned.
• Video Capture - These could be used in various natural environments i.e. on public transport, within the home, in a park, walking down the street etc. This would be very useful also in a controlled environment where the user can be studied to see what functions they tend to use on the device more, and how they use it as it is a flat-panel touch screen technical device. I would like to test the product in a controlled area on a new iPod user and an experienced iPod user to find out if the interface is simple to use and if not, what are the problems.
• GPS Sensors - This would be an interesting technology to use, as the iPod touch already has Wi-Fi and GPS technology these could be used to study the pattern of use with the device. For example; at what times of the day is the device used, is the device only used whilst travelling etc.
• Combination of conceptual frameworks - I would like to combine usability-in-itself with usability-in-life making use of Norman's design principles and the hueristics of the device.

The major problem with testing an iPod/mp3 device is being able to get the feedback, as the main sources tend to come from questionnaires and interviews. Where as the main problem with the way I would like to conduct my experiment is cash-flow; to use devices mentioned would cost quite an amount of money with no real outcomes apart from mainly how the iPod is used rather than how good the product is in itself. Also as I would like to use video capture, alot of people do not like the feeling of being watched and so the testing would prove to be a farce in a way. Mainly because the participants wouldn't act in natural way, whilst they knew they were being recorded. Many would feel pressured and would tend to act differently with the device, and for that reason alone makes the testing in a controlled area or the use of video capture; extremely difficult.

Studio 3 - IDEO and Reading Week 3

Creative Design Approaches

Interpretive understanding of taking notice of what people do in their everyday lives, what they use and how they do it. Also, how this might inform design and create an influence within a design process.

Page 54, Parked Car
I think from this image, most people would assume that the driver of the car was in a hurry to get parked because they were late for some form of transport. However, if you notice in the car window screen the user has set up a sun block to keep the car cool; from this I feel that the driver wasn't in a rush.

The layout of the car park isn't making full use of the space available, because there is some left over room (see right-hand side of image). You can see that the car has been parked over the edge of parking line in order to give the car and user move room to get out of the car (possibly to remove luggage from the back seats). Also the bigger automobile (bottom-left of image) seems to have parked over the line as well because there is extra 'wasted' space next to the pre-designed parking space.

I think the main issue within this layout is the actual design of the car park itself. For example: the spaces have all be arranged in straight lines where as the end of the parking space is going diagonal ( \ ).

I think this image is very useful for informing design, because a solution is possible by simply changing the straight lines of the parking spaces to match the angle of the edges. Eg:

New Design: \ \ \ \ \ \ \

This would allow more cars to be parked within the area, make better use of the space given and would also generate more money for the owners of the car park (providing they charge per hour or day). Another Solution could be to provide wider parking spaces (possibly at an extra charge) for users with lots of luggage, large automobiles, families etc.

Page 86, Toilet Cubicle
The toilet in the image appears to be a disabled person's toilet, I say this because it has a bar along the wall, which is common to disabled toilet cubicles.

The main issue within this cubicle is space and distance. If this toilet cubicle is designed for disabled user, then I feel the layout is completely wrong. For example: the distance between the toilet rolls and the toilet itself has quite a bit of space between the two. This would prove to become a difficulty for the user (depending on their disability).

An example of this becoming a difficulty would be: If the disability was to do with the users legs, the wouldn't be able to reach over towards the toilet rolls by themselves without the risk of falling off.

Although I have picked out a potential problem within the image on page 86, there is something in the image that could influence design. You can notice that a user of this toilet cubicle has used a bar that is designed to help disabled people move onto/off the toilet for hanging up their newspaper.

This can lead to new designs within toilet cubicles, by including a small bar or a slot in the wall which will allow users to put magazines or newspapers in the toilet for future reading (if the toilet is within the work place). Although statistically more men read while on the toilet than women, so this design should 'possibly' be aimed towards men's toilets rather than womens.

The image also brings out some useful ideas for women cubicles, where a small bar could be put in place to allow women to hang their handbag upon whilst they are using the toilet. This would also stop robberies occurring through the bottom gaps on the toilet cubicle, which has occurred often, mainly in public toilets. Obviously one of the most common occurring things within a toilet cubicle will be a hook on the back of the door, where men and women can hang their coats, bags etc. However I believe this is still not a safe place for users to hang their bags/handbags because anybody can reach over the top and grab anything in reach, this is why I developed the idea of having some form of hanger next to the user, while they are sitting down.

Reading Week 3
Jane Fulton Suri and her team at IDEO use images to help understand ways that ordinary people use various objects in everyday use. It allows the team to develop new designs by studying how people interact normally within an environment. Jane uses images to learn “firsthand about the context, habits, rituals, priorities, processes and values of the people” , by using a collection of images Jane and her team can ask themselves various questions about, how the user is interacting with objects they are using, what they do whilst using and what they do within the environment.

An example of this would be on page 169 where they have used the concepts within a breakfast routine. The main focus of this study was to work on the concepts of 'toasting bread' before eating and 'juicing oranges' before drinking them. Whilst conducting the study of these rituals the design team developed breakfast concepts that they wished to study. Once the study was completed and after thinking about the activities rather than the juicer or toaster they understood various stages:
- Toasting bread & Stacking toasted bread – before eating it
- Juicing oranges & drinking juice

“By thinking about the activities rather than the 'juicer' or 'toaster' themselves, led to new ideas: a toast-rack life for the toaster and a straight-into-the-glass juicer”
(IDEO Reading, Page 169 by Jane Fulton Suri)

From the above example; you can see that the team at IDEO have thought of some concepts from daily tasks that people do in their everyday lives and studied them. They were asked to do this by a company named 'Matshushita' to see if they could improve the products. After studying the concepts, Jane and her team managed to improve the products to create a simple and more efficient product for the user. Jane and her team at IDEO tend to study people in comfortable surroundings, mainly in their own everyday life environment. By doing this, the team at IDEO can study how people interact with various things, how they differ and how improvements can be made.

Jane Fulton Suri goes on to say that, not everything in our surroundings has to be re-thought or re-designed with some unique idea to make it more exciting etc. She states “this is the type of product you see sold in an airplane catalog”. So as designers, we shouldn't attempt to re-design everything we see in our daily life – instead we should concentrate on how we could improve things to make them simple and more effcient, and try not to overdo our thinking when it comes our surroundings.