Week 9

Round Table Discussion

Reflection:

This week we finalised our brief for the round table discussion. We also made a basic (low budget!) role playing video to clearly identify and explain the user needs. The tutors seemed happy with our progress and suggested a few things for further development as we have now started working on.



Developing Personas

As there are two main users for our Haptic Ball product, we have developed two personas to help explore all needs and user specific needs. These are the personas developed to show the need and make the product more relatable. 

User 1: Billy, 5

•Just about to start his first day of school

•Active and healthy

•Loves playing with handheld toys

•Enjoys team sports, has not made friends at his new school yet

•Very close to parents

•Only child

•Quite anxious about leaving mothers side for school

User 2: Zoe, 32

•Married to Mike, 36

•Recently returned to work after caring for Billy as a baby

•Works as a full time Legal secretary

•Enjoys being a mother

•Enjoys playing social sport and family outings

•Worries about her son constantly

•Wants him to be happy

Reflection:

These personas reflect a very common situation in society today. While the parent is understands what is best for her child, it is just the initial separation that causes upset for both parties. These persona's are based on real life people (my sister-in-law and her son) and their perception of the situation that are yet to face. Zoe, (my sister-in-law) feels anxious when discussing the idea that she will not know of her son's state or wellbeing for up to 8 hours at a time. She knows of his whereabouts, however, she will miss having a constant companion by her side. This discussion helped to indicate the main user needs for the product. She insisted that the product also needs to be subtle and non-disruptive for both users. This will be further explored.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

...Scenario...

•Young child’s first day of school

•Close relationship to parents, mother in particular

•Mother and child have rarely been separated before

•Both feel anxious  about being separated

•Both would like to be discretely in contact with each other throughout the day

Week 8

Scenario Workshop 2

Scenario = Context of Experience


This week we did an video scenario exercise. The idea was to video a situation of human interaction around campus. We chose to film the Subway fast food restaurant as it usually quite busy and has some obvious design flaws. With the stills captured from the video, we made video cards and discussed apparent problems and solutions for the venue.


Observations:

There is minimal seating in the entire venue, there are 2 additional outdoor tables . These outdoor tables are in a public walkway meaning that it is not enjoyable or relaxing to sit here. When Subway gets busy the queue leads out the door, hindering seating and blocking the view of the food and menus. 

Through the sandwich obtaining process you are served by at least 3 people. While it may be faster and more efficient there are usually mistakes due to lack of communication between staff. These mistakes can be negative for both the customer (not getting exactly what they wanted) and for the restaurant (accidentally undercharging customers). There is no evidence customer service skills and you feel like you are part of a production line. This creates a negative emotional response and unpleasant association, meaning many people wont return again. 

The stores interior is not at all tidy, another deterrence for customers. The boxes in the far left corner show that the facility is lacking space and is generally messy. this reflects badly on the restaurant as customers automatically assume that this how the kitchen and preparation areas would look, implying that it may be unhygienic. 

Finally, we observed that the space was extremely loud. Due to the overcrowding, metal chairs and table are being moved around, clanging and clashing into each other, as well as scraping along the concrete floors. The restaurant users appear to want to be in and out as quickly as possible to avoid this harsh noise disturbance. We would also assume this is one of the reasons why this restaurant user is wearing headphones.

Reflection:

I think it is important to understand why exactly people choose to  use different public places, for which they are spending their hard earned money. This relates to our specific project as we want to identify any problems, that may have even subtle negative associations, early on in the design process. If we can develop our Haptic Ball into a product that connects a person to their loved one, we will be encouraging the user to create an emotional connection with that product. In doing this we will evoke a positive association with the product, thus pro-longing its success.

Week 7

Scenario Workshop 1

In this weeks class we divided up into our specific O-B-S groups. As one team member was absent that week I naturally took his place in the Scenario workshop. In this workshop we were taught how to fully breakdown and understand the scenario components that essentially help to develop a product-specific persona.

We then looked at how this could be adapted to suit our groups specific ideas and possible scenarios, and in doing so began to create some of the scenario specific requirements to be included in the brief (illustrated below).

(Breaking down the main components of the scenario)

Reflection:

This workshop was especially effective in helping to clarify what is expected from our scenario research. Our group has now also decided on the following division of workload...

Object: Andrie

Behaviour: Nick

Scenario: Both Rohan & myself.

Additionally, I will be assisting wherever additionally required by the group, especially in terms of creating presentations and boards, report and brief writing.

Haptic Ball Development

After deciding one a certain concept to develop we deconstructed the purpose of the product and how we can enhance it's usability. At our group meeting we brainstormed way to improve the product and clarify the direction is to be going in.

The initial form of the product

We determined that the main aim of the product was to allow users to communicate through touch. To transmit and receive haptic feedback. To feel a 'presence' of their geographically distant loved one. The physical form of the product is most likely going to stay spherical as it the easiest to handle, for maybe differently abled users. 

Week 6

This week we formed groups for our next project. My teammates are Rohan Doherty, Andrie Pretorius and Nick Wolff. We then explained and critically analysed our initial concept designs, identifying some of the positive aspects of the design, solving any design problems and highlighting similarities between the projects.

 

 

Our 4 initial designs

 

 

 

Nick's MoverMeter design was most certainly an interesting approach to the task. While it creatively transmitted the required information it was lacking a tangible aspect, similarly to my Mood Light concept. In terms of my initial concept, a moodlight that senses a child's laughter and symbolically transmits that information to the parent, I believe that there is potential for further development, especially in terms of the emotional aspect behind the design. Rohan's work, the Pin Touch concept was a creative design, both haptic and ludic. However, after further analysis we thought that this idea had been explored in previous years and there was not enough potential for further development throughout the semester. Finally, we looked at the Haptic Ball designed by Andrie and decided that it had the most potential for further development as it already embodied many outstanding characteristics required for the task. Some of the key aspects that made the Haptic Ball stand out were it's...

• tangibility
• input/output sense and transmitting functions
• portability
• inclusive usability
• simplicity in design
• aesthetic appeal
• ease of use
• subtlety
• broad range of users

We now aim to further enhance and expand on some of these aspects to create an outstanding final design. Additionally, some other keys words that were noted for inclusion in the design were...

• connectivity
• emotional response
• ludic
• fun / playful
• supportive
• instant / real time
• comfortable
• sensing / prescence
• intuitive
• non-specific user
• different abilitied users
• social aspect

Reflection:
After this weeks collaboration I am more enthusiastic and excited about the project. I believe that as a group we have a greater potential to succeed in this project due to the fact we all have very varied skills and ideas. By combining these mixed skills and ideas we not only give the project more potential for development but we also promote personal skill development and growth by learning from each other. As I am the 4th member of the group (as my previous group collapsed due to an unenrollment) I am assuming that I will help out all three aspects of the project (Object - Behaviour - Scenario). However my personal interests lie in 'scenario' and especially in emotional design. I very much look forward to working alongside Nick, Rohan and Andrie as I have not had the chance to do so in previous years.