Advanced Human-Centered Design Presented by Carla B. Zoltowski, Ph.D. EPICS HS Workshop – July 2010

Good/Bad Design - Activity Think of 2 things you think were well- designed. Think of 2 things you think were poorly designed. For each item: oItem oWhy you think it was well/poorly designed oWhat did the designer understand/not understand in the design that made it good/bad.

Good/Bad Design Activity, cont Get in groups of 3 or 4 Talk about your answers Pick one or two things from the group to present: oItem oWhy you think it was well/poorly designed oWhat did the designer understand/not understand in the design that made it good/bad.

EPICS Design Process

From IDEO HCD Toolkit What do people desire? What can be financially viable? What is technically and organizationally feasible?

Human-centered Design: Basic Principles Early focus on users Designing for and with users Empirical measurement and evaluation Iteration

Human-Centered Design Processes Human- Centered Design User- Centered Design Contextual Design Use- Centered Design Inclusive Design Participatory Design Practice- Centered Design Activity- Centered Design Client- Centered Design Empathic Design

Who is a “user”?

What is already out there? Literature Review Benchmarks oWhat is available oWhy did they use their approach oPatent searches avoid infringement Protect IP Reverse engineering or dissection

Gathering information from users User surveys and questionnaires Interviews (formal and informal) Focus groups– interviews with multiple people Semantic differentials SimpleComplicated

Gathering information about users Observation: Observe the users, preferable engaging in the target activity of the design Ethnography: Deeper immersion; understanding the culture in which the product exists Role-playing: put yourself in the user’s shoes, chair, and/or space oEmpathic modeling: Simulating the sensory/motor/cognitive constraints

Creating tools to understand Persona oPrototypical user, described in detail (age, gender, background, family association, hobbies, professional life; may include picture) Scenarios o“before and after” stories of your persona using your product Focus on the user’s need and how their life might be improved oVideos?

Caution! These tools should not replace getting feedback and information from the users and stakeholders themselves! Just because you have “pretended” to have a disability or in a certain situation, doesn’t mean you understand what it really like for those users and stakeholders.

Inclusive Design Motivated by many factors, including business reasons Design should not be more exclusive than basic task requires Moving beyond accessibility for people with disabilities to designing products that are usable by people of all ages and abilities Source: Keates and Clarkson, 2003

Inclusive Design: Scales Motion Dexterity Reach and stretch Vision Hearing Communication Intellectual functioning Source: Keates and Clarkson, 2003

Locomotion capability scale Source: Keates and Clarkson, 2003 Consists of walking, stair climbing, bending and balance capabilities.

Dexterity capability scale Source: Keates and Clarkson, 2003 Considers picking up, carrying, holding and twisting capabilities.

ADA Accessibility Guidelines

Anthropometric Data: Variations in Size and Proportion (Voland 2004)

Five Usability Attributes Learnability: Easy to learn to use Efficiency: Can be highly productive once user learns how to use product Memorability: Easy to remember so when return, do not have to relearn Errors: Low error rate; if do make errors, easy to recover. Catastrophic errors must not occur. Satisfaction: Pleasant to use; users like it. Source: Usability Engineering, Nielson, 1993

Usability Testing Is it usable? Does it make sense? Is it appealing? Is it fun? Is it educational? Does it meet the need? Have we considered all users?

Usability Testing Prototype Test the prototype oAsk people who fit the user demographic(s) to try out the prototype oWatch: What errors? What works well? Refine the prototype Repeat

Quick and dirty IDEO working with Gyrus ACMI to design new apparatus for operating on delicate nasal tissues Prototype: whiteboard marker, 35 mm film canister and clothespin Prototype for mouse for Apple: roller ball from tube of Ban Roll-on deoderant to the base of plastic butter dish

Usability Slogans (Nielson, 1993) Your Best Guess is Not Good Enough The User is Always Right The User is Not Always Right Users Are Not Designers Designers Are Not Users Vice Presidents Are Not Users Less Is More Details Matter Help Doesn’t Usability Engineering Is Process

Norman’s Design Principles: Affordances Make sure that appropriate actions are perceptible and inappropriate ones invisible.

Norman’s Design Principles: Affordances Why do you think this door needs to be labeled “PUSH”? From

Norman’s Design Principles: Constraints Make it impossible or very difficult to make an error or make the consequences of the error as minimal as possible oWhat are examples of constraints in design?

Flexibility versus constraint??

Mapping: knowledge in the world Which stovetop is it easier to remember which knob is for which burner?

Norman’s Design Principles: Concept Map

The actual conceptual model!

Norman’s Design Principles: Feedback Design should show effect of an action Both positive and negative (not just an error) Examples: oIndicator lights oComments boxes o“Time Remaining” oClicks/sounds oTactile

OXO Distinguishing Feature Universal Design - A philosophy of making products that are easy to use for the widest possible spectrum of users.

Another resource:

Unintended consequences Identify users – all users Designing for some can impact other users negatively Does a design create problems later? oSustainability principles for disposal or recycling

Unintended consequences Problem: reduce poisoning of children Solution: Child proof caps for medicine Unintended consequence? Adults with arthritis couldn’t open bottles oBottles left open at grandparents

Unintended consequences Problem: Creating space on buses for people who use wheel chairs Solution: Added lifts to double-decker buses and space for chairlifts by removing seats Unintended consequence? Elderly had to climb stairs to get a seat

People with Disabilities: People-first language, Beyond PC Reflects an appreciation for the person, and does not make the disability or other characteristics the central feature. oPeople with disabilities vs. Handicapped person or “autistics” oSomeone who uses a wheel chair vs. confined to a wheel chair Impacts we interact with people, the way we view people, and as designers, the way we design for people.

From:

How to teach HCD?? What is important in learning design?

Outcome Space of Students’ Experience of Human-Centered Design

Experience Results suggest that critical or immersive experiences involving real clients and users were important in allowing the students to experience human-centered design in more comprehensive ways.  All students in “Commitment” had critical experience.  Sejal’s wake-up call  All students in “Empathic Design” had immersive experiences  Rapid prototyping experience  Assessment trip to developing country

Reflective Activities  Reflective activities, such as the interview, contributed to the student’s learning.  Heather asked if her views of human-centered design had changed, she replied “Yeah, probably just in this last discussion.”  Similarly, Julian replied “doing this helped me better understand like human-centered design, like what’s involved in that.  Not focus of study  What role did it play?  Or what role could it play?

New Way of Thinking  Being introduced to human-centered design concepts brought a new way of thinking about design.  Andres: I think it was mostly having more things to think about or introducing ideas and ways of thinking about things that you wouldn’t always think about normally or wouldn’t come up with on your own.  Gina: I didn’t think in terms of user-centered design when I came to college. You just think an engineer designs things.  Misconceptions about the terminology “human-centered design” itself.  Sejal: human-centered design is something that immediately affects humans  Maddie: A design that affects the end user positively

Context of Experience  Impact of academic context on experience of design  Not focus of study, but requires further study  Initially surprised about the degree to which students discussed aspects of the course.  For most students, design experience was very much situated in academic context.  Most students described multiple experiences from different contexts.  Area to explore is how the student perceived various experiences and the impact of those different perceptions on their learning.  Realness of design  Approached design differently because of context