Reflections on User Experience and Final Project and Enlightenment

After printing the final document and burning the final product of our hard work into a CD, I finally handed up the portfolio to Mr Reddy just now ^^. Now I am at one of the benches along AS3, writing my reflections on the module.

The thing that strikes me about user experience is that we have to put users at the core of what we designed, and how hard it is to do that. There are many a times when we almost fell into the trap of designing what is most comfortable for ourselves, only to get pulled back to reality by test users comments and suggestions. The thing is, it is easy to assume some things when you are in the process of coding/designing and realise that hey there is something that we did not cover during the interviews and user researches. I guess the solution will be to keep testing the product with different target users and make sure that in the end, the product is for them and not for us. Constant trial and error, constant testing and interviews and redesigning are very essential. A tedious process that may not guarantee to work 100% but nonetheless essential. There isn't such a thing as a final final product, every product got to constantly reinvent itself to keep up with the ever changing world. Sometimes, it is also easier to think that our product is the best. After all we have spent a lot of hard work on it. A lot of people get offended when people pointed out their flaws, thus it is essential to keep an open mind to suggestions and not dismiss them. We must alway remember the ones using the product is them and not us.

User experience is supposedly different from usability, user experience is usability plus something much more. The something much more is so hard to grasp. In a way, I guess what differ user experience from usability, where all we have to make sure is that everything is working perfectly fine and that users are comfortable about using the whole interface, is the total feel they will get out of the product. Aesthetic quality is one important factor, as I have learnt. Visceral design, behavioral design, reflective design, different type of designs will give rise to different impacts. Usability is also important, because if a user cant get the interface to work his way, the experience will be very bad no matter how nice it looks on first sight. But if the user interface runs smooth, looks aesthetically pleasing, thats already half way to a positive experience. The hard part is to make sure they can get the 'wow' experience, and it is hard to do that because every user likes and dislikes different things. It is lucky that our target users are children and easily pleased. The turning faces navigation buttons is enough to garner a positive surprise reaction "huh wa the face can turn one !!" and you realise that user experience can be something so simple, yet so hard to grasp.

User researches is a very important part of user experience. Interviews, background researches, focus groups, surveys, some of the ways we do user researches. Not only these, we have really got to know our users, by talking to them and knowing them, just to create the whole experience for them. Yet how well can we know a person through interviews and a few questions? I guess better than not knowing our users and assuming based on stereotypes. Personas, sociological pleasures, physiological pleasures, psychological pleasures, ideological pleasures, needs, wants, appreciations, tough to break down a person in these categories but we can never get away from these.

User experience is all about user user and user, but we must also take note to convey the corporate experience to user, so that when user use the product, they will relate it to the comapany. It must be in line with the corporate vision. I guess one area of improvement for us will be to really talk to the company. We have talked to Kumon tutors, to Kumon students but not really Kumon. We tried to design the product as best as we could to adhere to the corporate vision found in Kumon website, however, giving the product to the company management to try may provide us better ideas. Striking a balance between what company wants and what users want is also important. After all we are in a profit making society.

Another thing is that technical skills are also rather essential to make the total experience. Junhao was the only one who knows how to code flash, so everything was coded painstakingly by him and I really appreciate it. However, there are some ideas we have that never materialize due to both time and technical limitations. Would have really hope to see the whole product work! Oh those would have, could have will really make a better experience. I should start to learn flash.

One of the background images that we used. Very nice right? Thanks to Jialin!
And also to thanks the test users for giving us many valuable comments. Some of the little one who are not so shy of the camera:





Don't you love their smile?

On enlightenment, I guess I haven't reach that state yet =P

User Research Smoke and Mirrors Reflections

The Die Die Must Read Article.
1 2 3 4 5

Even though I think we are only required to read part 5, but reading all parts put the author argument in clearer light. :) So I will suggest everyone read all.

I especially like the argument about in Part 2 about the eyetracking device with the example shown. Sometimes these so-called scientific testing devices just do not work, there is always such a time when exceptional cases come up. If such scientific devices are all so wonderful, we actually do not need the humans at all. Producing and designing a website can be all done with machines without the human eye. Machines can use the test results to organise and hi-light information the 'correct' way. So why not just let machines take over? In scientific research, interpreting results is often a subjective matter. We often see that different TV stations have different ratings from each other, and most of the time each TV station will show itself as having the best ratings. Scientific research can be not scientific at all. Crunching numbers to suit each of our own agenda, to prove ourselves right are just ways to make us feel better about our products. By arguing that red spots are the 'hot' spots people look at longest and hence the best element of the site, it is just to suit one's agenda. Like the article states, the red spots can both mean that something is interesting or something is so difficult that people must ponder over it for a very long time. Besides, the scientific research disregard any environmental elements that might be at work, I may be thinking about something else and thus staring at one spot in a daze for no reason. Probably it could mean that the website did not catch my attention at all, yet the eyetracking result will show that I am interested in this random spot. Of course, I do not mean that these tools are useless, they could still provide some valuable insights when used with other non scientific researches. The point is we should not rely on such tools blatantly and management must also think with their brain and not just feel happy because such tools reflect that their sites are full of red spots. We can deceive ourselves but not users. When users visit and decide to come back to the site, they look at the whole site subjectively in their own ways and not at how popular the eyetracking tool shows the site to be. In a nutshell, like what Fahey says "an eyetracker can tell you what people are looking at, but not necessarily what they are seeing (or why they are looking at it)".

I was laughing abit when I read about the persona rooms in Part 4. The first thing I thought of is how filthy rich these people are. I imagine the designers trying to think and live the life of a persona they have created and eventually become the persona. The point is no amount of persona rooms is going to make a designer into a real "Bob, the single dude” or “Mary, the homemaker”. It may help one live and create the imagination more vividly, but just one room doesn't bring you into the world of a real Bob and Mary. I think it will be more fruitful to seat down, talk to a real Bob and Mary, know them personally, ask them about their dreams, ask them about their lives, ask them what they hate, ask them about all places they lived before, try to think in their shoes and keep those money for something more meaningful.

This bring to the discussion of the less rigorous methodologies like card sorting, focus groups, usability testing, and user personas. I have done card sorting and did usability testings, heard about focus groups, but the first time I have come across user personas as a form of user research is in NM4210. I remember writing for the first time my first user persona Skye. We were suppose to come up with a user persona using one type of product and then choosing a phone to suit the persona. The hard part is that I tend to want to write Skye with a particular phone in mind, but I try to think Skye in the terms of sunglasses that she would buy. Because Skye is whatever I made her up to be, I didnt really get the gist of persona yet until the final project. That was when we interviewed real target users and talk to them. Then we came up for the personas, which are partly true and with a little of our imagination. Then we tried hard to think in terms of these users, of what their expectations of the learning portal would be. I guess the personas feel more real with a real persons behind them. I will think back about the people we have interviewed and imagine their expressions or exclamations when faced with certain product elements. But of course what I imagine is totally based on my assumption about how I feel they will feel, with the background information (sociological pleasures, physiological pleasures, psychological pleasures, ideological pleasures, need, wants, appreciations) I have on them. It may not be 100% accurate, but it is something for me to base on.

I like how Fahey used the analogy of the work a novelest does when researching her characters, historical events, and locations in preparation for their to the impact and value of these non scientific kind of researches. I mean everyone can get the facts of history from textbooks, scout the location, interview people who are similar to the characters they are building, but ultimately the novel is purely his creation by weaving together his imagination with research data. Although he has created a more convincing world to readers. This does not mean that everyone might agree with what he wrote, they will still use their own experiences and encounters to judge the book. They may love it, but they may hate it too.

Even after we do user testings, personas and what nots and build a product with users in mind, there is still no 100% guarantee that the final product will be a success, because no one user is the same and everything is subjective. Like what Seldman said "If web design were not an art, then we would always get every part right. But it is an art, and, like all arts, it deals with the subjective. The subjective is something you can never get 100% right." Furthermore, no matter what, the product is still build with one's impression of target users. There will never be a time when we can totally be in other people shoes, we can be very close to, but not totally. Our encounters and expertise would have interfered with all these. Hence I feel most products, even those which claim to be totally build around users, will still have a little shadow of what we like ourselves. And it is easy to just fall into the trap that I think I know what is best for users.

I feel that qualitative research is more useful than quantitative research. However, sometimes we are so used to the numbers, to the nicely charted graphs that we tend to need quantitative research to justify findings. Moreover, qualitative results can differ so extremely, so I think a lot of people would rather stay safely on the figures and charts. Some more these impressive charts can be shown to the management. I myself is more used to qualitative research like surveys because they can give the number you want. But now, I feel that I must try to do more qualitative research, especially with users experience design so hot now.

I find this line by Zeldman very meaningful. "The user is never wrong because experience is experience, not fact." But I think as designers, we are prone to think that the user is wrong, especially when something so obvious is put right smack in front of them. It is hard to think that users are never wrong, because more often than not, we will think of thinks our way and not as others. Like in real life, being in a waitress position, we may think that the customer is over demanding. But when we switch position to the customer position, we may think that we have every right to demand good service and that the waitress should have better attitude. I think that sometimes we need to think ourselves as users too and not as designers. Sometimes, when we design something, we are so bent on seeing our own way that we neglect some elements. It takes a user to point out the mistake, and a designer to listen for changes to be made accordingly. Many a times, designers don't take bad comments well, and its easier to say that the users don't know anything. Well they might not know all the technical jargons, but at the end of the day they are the one who used a product most. This is a point we must remember and take suggestions, good or bad and however hard openly. I have encountered this myself a few times as web designer and video editor, and it hard real hard to hear someone criticize my hard work. It easier to bitch about to friends who agree with you that those people don't know anything about web pages or video editing. But at the end of the day, I try to take it in my stride and see it from their point of view. And sometimes, not all, those suggestions are not that bad after all.

"The user is never wrong because experience is experience, not fact". I will remember this ^^.

Ethnographic Study

The nightmare assignment: Improving learning experience in lecture theatres (LTs).

The Study
To improve learning experiences in LTs, our group (me, Jialin, Junhao) decided to find out what exactly needs improving for learning experiences. Thus we decided to use the observational method and chose to crash a friend's lecture. We choose only one lecture because as students ourselves, and having attended so many lectures before, we have a rough idea of how learning experiences in LTs is like. The one lecture crashed is to increase our insights from an observer point of view rather than as students. We didn't want to observe students from our own classes as we thought we might have more insights simply concentrating on observing students from other lectures, rather than have to split our concentration observing and trying to pay attention. Being students ourselves, we are able to merge into the crowd easily and using the technologies of a webcam and laptop, we are able to do a non-invasive study.

The Lecture
CS3253 Management of IS lecture in LT34 at Monday morning 10am to 12nn was the lecture we crashed.

Right from the start of the lecture, the students were restless. With technical glitches to start off the lecture, it seem like a bad omen. Well maybe it was not due to the technical glitches, maybe its just the lecturer. Could she be more interesting? I hear noises - doors are slamming with students coming in 30 minutes late, students talking about the latest gossips, the rustling of plastic bags. I see distractions - handphones and laptops. Ooh look at the whole lecture. So many students are falling asleep! 1..2..3...6..7... Hmm what are those words on the lecture slides? Look so small and there are so many words! Silence. Nobody is answering her question. Ah when is the break going to come? This lecture is getting way too long!

The observations
Disturbances

• Students talking at the back [What are they gossiping about? Let's hear it!]
  
• Students sms-ing [Even in silent mode I can also hear the soft tapping of keyboard, better check my handphone if there is any sms too.]
  
• Students still streaming in 30 minutes into the lecture [The door slams again, the guy is sure taking his own sweet time to sit and settle down, moving persons is more interesting than the lecture.. ]
  
• Students eating in lectures – rustling of plastic wrapper [What is he eating? I feel hungry too!]
  
• Students doing other things on their laptops [Let's see what are they doing on the laptop!]

People falling asleep

• Limited attention span [How long more before the break?]
  
• Too early in the morning [Yawns.. I need more sleep]

Technical glitches (Interrupted flow of lecture)

• Projector turning on and off [The entertainment factor out of this was that when the technician came in, the projector behaved well and stopped turning off by itself]

Monotonous lecturer

• Drones on and on [ZzzzZzz..]
  
• Little interaction with the students [When she tried, she failed quite miserably. It is hard to get students to participate in such a large LT.]

Lecture was not engaging

• Too many points on one slide [The word so tiny, what if I did not have lecture notes?!]
  
• Not much pictures used [All words! Groans!]

Non-participative students

• No response from the floor when a question is posed from the lecturer [Sometimes it feels like the lecturer is only entertaining herself]
  

Break given only after 1 hr 15min into the lecture [Oh my god, there is like only 15 min left before class end after the break. Why give a break at such a weird time??]



The suggestions
Give a break near the one hour mark

• A limit to the attention span of the students.

Engage with the students in meaningful discussions

• Instead of just throwing a question to them.

Give out small goodies to those who answer the questions

• Encourage participation

Slides and presentation design

• Less points on one slide
• More pictures instead of all words
• Use of multimedia teaching material

Leave blanks in lecture handouts

• So that students have to pay attention to take notes.

Other Presentations
I think most students in the class would have the most impression on the group which did the Feng Shui study, an alternate and rather amusing point of view on this topic. I wonder how true really is 8am, the so called hour of the Rat, the most conducive time for study. Of course, with regards to Feng Shui, my belief is to rather believe that it might be true than to believe that it is not true.

Most groups did the observational and interview methods for this topic. The laddering concept was used in most interviews. The other groups chose to use more than one lectures to observe in, a point different from our group.

The Review
After seeing the other students presentations, I find that there are some things our group could learn from. We did a rather narrow study using only one observation, thus we might not have reached the scope for improving learning experiences in LTs in general. Also, since we did only one observation, we cannot do a effective comparison of how learning experiences differ with regards to elements such as time, size of class, types of table and chairs used and environmental factors like air-con temperature. Of course we have our own experiences to compare from, but that is not really conclusive as really observing all types of LTs environment.

The Conclusion
Many factors affect the learning experiences in LTs, from the environment right down to the size of tables, we see that even minute things affect the quality of learning. Also different students have different perspective of how the learning experiences can be best in LTs. Thus, it is hard to find the best solution to the topic. The very most we can do is the change some of the things which affect most students like types of tables and chairs, but it is hard to do so for certain elements like time as time is limited. Also, there will be budget constraints.

Our group believe that as long as a student is willing to study, he will pay attention no matter what and is oblivious to all external factors. Of course that is not to say that learning experiences cannot be improved, but the most important thing to learning is to have the heart and mind to study.

Understanding User

Reverse Marketing Analysis (RMA) of Imaginary client: Skye

Skye is a 27-year-old female living in Singapore. She works as an chief editor in a popular woman fashion magazine.

Skye is currently single, though she had a few relationships before. Being an independent woman, she moved out of her parents' house at the age of 25. She lives alone in a condominium. However, she cherishes her family very much. As such, her condominium is very near her family, and she visits them at least twice a week no matter how busy she is. If she is away on a company trip, she will call back home every two nights.

Skye never leave home without dressing up. She likes to look good and through dressing up she feels good about herself. Skye's sense of dressing is stylish, chic and classy. She dislikes herself looking too feminine and especially hates the colour pink. She never follows the fashion blindly, and sometimes she starts a trend. She especially like it when people notice her. Skye's friends admire her for her style of dressing and often ask for her opinions. Skye enjoys giving out fashion tips.

Skye loves shopping and if she like something, she will buy it on the spot. She had a particular buy that she was very satisfied with.

Skye fell head over heels with the sunglasses the moment she saw them. At this moment, she is very into the stylistic and retro look. Even though these sunglasses were marketed for a male target audience, she didn't care and bought them because she look great in them. She feels that these big retro sunglasses with thick frames could just be the very next 'in' thing for women.

Skye is an ambitious woman. She believes that a woman can work as well as a man can, and even better. She strives to do her work well and go beyond what is expected of her. Her networking skills are excellent, she knows almost everyone in the fashion industry by name. She feels that her job is stressful yet enjoyable. The perks of her jobs includes getting special invitations and exclusive invites to fashion shows and other events, and hence the opportunity to show off her style. Due to the nature of her job, she is constantly on the move to look out for new fashion trends and ideas.

Skye is also a sports player. She loves the sun and sea. Her favourite sport is volleyball. She is very conscious of her own figure. She excercises regularly and eat in moderation to maintain her tan healthy looks.

Four pleasure analysis of Skye

Physio-pleasure
Skye enjoys the feeling of sweating it out. She engages in all kind of exercises to keep fit and in shape. (Need)

She takes care of what she eats to maintain good health, body and complexion. (Need)

After a long day at work, Skye likes to relax at home. Lying down and listen to soothing music, or reading a book on the sofa, or watching some comedy or drama show on TV can be good physical relaxation to her. (Appreciation)

Socio-pleasure
As part of her job, Skye needs to be good at networking and maintains good personal and corporate relationships. (Need)

She loves the glamour and status associated with her job. (Appreciation)

She likes it when her friends and people in the fashion industry compliment her for her good fashion sense. (Appreciation)

She cherishes her family very much and loves the feeling of having a meal together as a family. (Need)

Psycho-pleasure
When work gets demanding for Skye, she likes to play computer games to relieve stress. She especially likes car racing games which can pump up her adrenaline. (Need)

Skye is very good at volleyball. She feels a sense of satisfaction after a good game with her friends. When she feels that she is in top form during the game, she feels especially good about herself. (Need)

Ideo-pleasure
Skye believes in dressing well. She also loves to dress uniquely. She like to be seen as a fashion trend setter and takes pride in her good fashion sense. (Appreciation)

Skye aspires to be a successful and independent woman. She believes that a woman can be as successful as a man, if not more sucessful. (Appreciation)

~

The phone just for HER..
Dopod M700

Why Skye loves Dopod M700..

Physio-Pleasure
Lightweight & sleek (Need) - 108 x 58 x 16.8 mm, 130g
Pleasing texture (Appreciation)
Fits in her hand easily (Appreciation)
Responsive keyboard/navigator (Need) - Touch screen + Mechanical wheel

Socio-Pleasure
Newly launched model (Need)
Image enhancing (Need)
Ability to keep in touch with people anytime and anywhere (Appreciation) - Bluetooth, Infrared, Wi-Fi, GPRS/GSM, USB, EDGE, 802.11b/g wireless LAN, SMS, Email, Instant message

Physio-Pleasure
Ability to learn using the phone easily (Appreciation) - Good user interface
Ability to streamline tasks (Need) - Synchronization with desktop
Satifaction from the ability to use the phone as other things (Appreciation) [i.e a MP3 player, radio, video player, digital camera, organiser, browse the Internet, check email, connect with friends, get news, create documents etc] - Installed applications: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 with DirectPush Technology; Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Adobe Reader (PDF), IE Mobile, Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, PocketMSN, Activesync, Comm Mgr, Streaming Media Player, Internet Sharing, Media Hub, Audio Booster, FM Radio, Cyberon Voice Commander, RSS News Reader, CE-Star (download) + Built-in 2 megapixles digital camera

Ideo-Pleasure
Showed off her independence. (Need)
Not cliche. (Need)
Stylish, sleek and aesthetic looking. (Need)

Why does she not choose Apple's iPhone instead?
Because in Skye own words - "its too cliche"!

That's Skye for you!

P.S: See what Junhao my partner chose for his imaginary character Trina who love that very same sunglasses Skye loved.

Emotional Designs

Visceral design: refers primarily to that initial impact, to its appearance.

Behavioral design: is about look and feel, the total experience of using a product - the physical feel/pleasure and effectiveness of use.

Reflective design: is about ones thoughts afterwards, how it makes one feel, the image it portrays, the message it tells others about the owner's taste.

The war of MP3 Players

#1
Apple iPod nano
8GB
S$428

Visceral design: Nice, sleek, thin, elegant, stylish and its an Apple!

Behavioral design: Ok sound quality, easy to use interface, lots of functions. So thin! I hope I don't break it.

Reflective design: Look I have an iPod nano! And its cool to have one. Or rather not cool to not have one?! Everyone has it and I have it too. iPod nano looks so nice!

#2
Trekstor i.Beat organix
1 GB
US$20,000
750 gold (18 karat)
adorned with 63 diamonds (one-karat)
embellished with a small chain that includes aquamarine gems
over 100 hours of handiwork
winner of 14 accolades

Visceral design: Does not look very nice. Design is not very attractive. A very common and unexciting design.

Behavioral design: Small memory space, full bodied sound.

Reflective design: Status symbol, show off, more of an accessory than a mp3 player. Think of the diamonds, gold and gems! Who cares if the design is not that nice? What's more, it an limited edition!

#3
Creative ZEN V Plus
8GB
S$399

Visceral design: Looks bulky, not very exciting. Colour scheme is nice though. Quite stylish.

Behavioral design: Excellent sound quality! Creative's audio technology is good! Good and easy to use interface. A lot of additional functions - FM radio, video player, photo viewer and other applications. And I must say again, the sound quality is five stars!

Reflective design: The sound is definitely a plus point. The design is not bad too. And Creative is a local brand. Support local brand!

Bad Design (The Real One)

The Encounter

(Writer's note: Due to the non-cooperative nature of Singapore's weather, the writer was unable to get the exact photographs of the encounter. So, please do use your imagination. Thanks!)

Some time ago, not too long ago...

Three ladies were walking home after alighting the bus. It was raining heavily, but thankfully there were shelters all around, so there were no need for umbrellas.

The Shelter

Well they were chatting happily about their shopping experience and all was well. Suddenly, they came upon some mini waterfalls at this particular part of the shelter. Waterfalls?! At a shelter?! A shelter which function is suppose to not let any rain come in?!

Mini Waterfalls

The Reactions:

Sis: Don't know what architectures are doing nowadays, they all know how to design state-of-the-art buildings but missed out on the practical stuff.

Mum: Yeah lor, what is the use of a nice looking shelter that will leak water?

Me: Use this shelter will still have to use umbrella, don't know why they build the shelter?

Sis: Quite dumb hor.

Mum: Waste our taxpayers money only!

All of us nodded in agreement. And we left wondering whether the money should be put into hiring better architects.

Or perhaps the money should really be put into educating would-be architects to think practically, on top of aesthetically.

The Bad Design

Bad design of the shelter

Apparently, the waterfalls were due to the bad design of the shelter itself.

"Part no.1" lies directly on top of "Part no.2". Due to a gap in the shelter, "Part no.1" is exposed to the rain. The rain then dripped down to "Part no.2", which then formed a mini waterfall.

The connecting part of the shelter has obviously not been designed with careful considerations.

The ugly waterstains that the rain had created

Due to the rain that day, I did not noticed the waterstains. However, when I went to take these photos, I saw the ugly waterstain marks that the rain left.

The shelter had left the ugly waterstains as a proof of the bad design!

The Writer's Reflection

The town council built shelters with the purpose of them being able to shelter residents from rain or sun. However, taxpayers' money (aka my parents' money) is wasted when designs of shelters are made without careful considerations.

The shelter in question looked pleasing and nice. Yet when it was most wanted, it could not fulfil its job as a shelter, which then defeats the whole purpose of having a shelter in the first place.

Furthermore, once a shelter is built, it is hard to make any more changes because it will involve too much work and money. Thus residents, even if they complained, will still have to live with the poorly designed shelter until the next upgrade, which could be ten or twenty years later.

I feel that there is an even greater need for design considerations when it comes to buildings and other large structures, because once built, they are very hard to change. So I think that architects should be educated to think practically on top of aesthetically.

In fact, not only architects, but designers generally, should think more practically. (As seen from fellow NM4210 classmates whose complains of bad designs ranges from doorknobs to chairs to handphones to sinks.) Perhaps more user testings and feedbacks could be done. It is often easy for designers to neglect some very obvious flaws since they are the one designing it. Architects could probably do some model testing before they send their designs for building.

I guess for now, especially during this raining season, I will have to bring my umbrella out, because afterall, shelters are not much of a use.

Bad Design?!

Do you know what is this? You don't? Well it is a rubbish bin! You didn't know that right? So obviously that is a bad design! Right?! I mean, some people could have mistaken it for a real football and kicked it! *Ouch*

Nah kidding. Just a lighthearted first post while I rack my head to find some bad designs. Remembered encountering bad designs, just can't think of any now. So pardon the crapping.

^^||