User Research,Project Pitches and Brainstorming

CS 5115Fall 2014

September 10

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Agenda

• How many pitches?• User research• Representing user knowledge:

– Tasks, Scenarios, Personas• Pitches• Brainstorming / matchmaking

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GOAL OF DESIGN?

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GET PEOPLE TO WANT TO USE (AND BUY!) YOUR PRODUCT

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GET PEOPLE TO WANT TO USE (AND BUY!) YOUR PRODUCTMAKE SURE YOUR PRODUCT IS USEFUL

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GET PEOPLE TO WANT TO USE (AND BUY!) YOUR PRODUCTMAKE SURE YOUR PRODUCT IS USEFULMAKE SURE YOUR PRODUCT IS USABLE

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HOW?

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ANSWER 1: USER-CENTERED DESIGN

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Learning / Goals • What people are doing

now• What people don’t like

to do / find hard to do• What people would like

to do

• Make what they’re doing easier/faster

• Make these things obsolete (or fun)

• Make it possible for users to do these things

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How?

• Ask

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How?

• Ask – Why this isn’t enough– People may not be able to identify their problems– People are not good at coming up with solutions– People are really bad at predicting whether and

how they’d use a new product

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How?

• Ask • Watch• Listen• Dialog

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Some terms

• Interviews• Focus Groups• Surveys • Job Shadowing• Contextual Interviews• Ethnography

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You need real users

• You may think your idea for a new system is so wonderful that everyone will want it, though you can’t think of a really specific example, and that it will be useful in some way to people, even though you can’t say how. But history suggests that you will be wrong. (Lewis and Rieman, Chapter 2)

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(BUT)ANSWER 2: TECHNOLOGY-CENTERED DESIGN

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Don Norman

• Sometimes what is needed is a design dictator who says, “Ignore what users say: I know what’s best for them.” The case of Apple Computer is illustrative. Apple’s products have long been admired for ease of use. Nonetheless, Apple replaced its well known, well-respected human interface design team with a single, authoritative (dictatorial) leader. Did usability suffer? On the contrary: its new products are considered prototypes of great design.

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In response to a question at its press conference today…., Steve took the opportunity to rip on bigger rivals, saying that making a phone so big “you can’t get your hand around it” helps, but “no one’s going to buy that”. We’re assuming he’s likely talking about the latest crop of 4-, 4.3- and 5-inch phones…

(July 16, 2010)

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/16/jobs-no-ones-going-to-buy-a-big-phone/

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February 2012

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• http://bgr.com/2012/02/22/samsung-galaxy-note-review-the-smartphone-that-samsunged-samsung/

• There is really no way to sugarcoat this and even if there was, I wouldn’t want to. You need to be warned: the Galaxy Note is too big.

• Not everyone cares about how the world views them, but I have never seen a smartphone that draws peculiar stares and full fledged laughter like the Galaxy Note. Holding this beast to your face while on a phone call in public will result in awkward stares. Not “maybe” or “might,” but “will.” It just looks silly.

• When I showed the phone to my wife and to friends, the reaction was always the same. First, confusion… What is it? Next, disbelief… You’re kidding. This is a phone? Finally, laughter… Ha! There’s no way I could ever carry this thing.

• If you’re an average sized human looking for a smartphone, you should probably look elsewhere.

• My sincere hope is that this is the turning point in the giant smartphone trend, and that we will now see smartphones shrink back down to manageable sizes.

• Smartphones like the Galaxy Note and LG Vu have taken things too far though, and they are well-suited to such a small subset of smartphone users that they likely need not exist.

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• http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/23/2722302/samsung-galaxy-note-review

• Human society has yet to evolve to the point where it can witness a person holding up a massive slate of technology to his ear without attempting to make a bad joke about it.

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• http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400249,00.asp

• Samsung says it makes a phone for everyone, including, apparently, people with huge hands. That's the only possible explanation for the Galaxy Note "phablet." While its size verges on a tablet, its software and usage scream "phone." That leaves the Note an unfortunate tweener, and this too-big phone is hard to love.

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• http://gizmodo.com/5886054/samsung-galaxy-note-lightning-review-wait-who-ordered-this

• Great technologies are often met with the response "I never knew I wanted that!" So, uhm, here's the Samsung Galaxy Note! It will only fit in raverpants, and its trademark feature is a stylus. Well, we certainly never knew we wanted those features... but do we?

• What Is It?• Big-ass smartphone? Or teeny-tiny tablet?• Who's it For?• Giant-handed peeps, stylus-loving scribblers, and media eaters.• Should You Buy It?• Only if you have giant hands, bad eyesight, and watch an imperial crapton

of video on your phone.

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• http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/15/atandt-galaxy-note-review/ • The Galaxy Note… is, in fact, one of the best phones to hit the

market since another Samsung powerhouse -- the Galaxy Nexus. It's a device with a lot to love and is the kind of phone that would make almost every Android aficionado swoon. However, with its massive 5.3-inch display and generally understated styling, it isn't for everybody.

• The Note is big, but not unmanageably so. Those with small hands might find it a bit unwieldy at times, but even if your glover has you written down as XS you shouldn't rule this out completely. After a few hours with the Note you'll very quickly become accustomed to the size, and once you have you won't want to go back.

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Late 2012

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Late 2013

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Late 2014

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September 9, 2014

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September 3, 2014

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• http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c2817%2c2400253%2c00.asp

• Samsung says it makes a phone for everyone. In that way, it's the anti-Apple. Apple makes one phone for as many people as possible; Samsung makes a nearly infinite number of phones for different tastes.

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Not just Apple and Samsung…• http://www.cnet.com/news/mot

o-g-motorolas-surprise-hit-honed-at-knifepoint/

• http://gizmodo.com/moto-x-2014-review-still-the-android-phone-for-every-1633601557

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Back to user-centered design…

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Task-Centered User Interface Design

• UI should match the users and what the users are trying to accomplish (== tasks)

• Development process should use the users’ tasks throughout design and evaluation

Tasks• Detailed description of a complete job that specific users want

to accomplish• What, not how• Concrete, detailed• Complete job

– Not just feature lists– Transition between sub-tasks– Inputs/output: information flow

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Professor Terveen finds out the schedule for 5115 for Fall 2014. He’s got two sections(!), both on Friday, one from 8:15 to 10:45 and the other from 1 to 3:30. Professor Terveen wants to enter all the course dates/times into his calendar. He also wants to check for any conflicts, rescheduling or cancelling as necessary.

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Example task

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Another Example

• Loren wants to buy tickets for a trip to Toronto, leaving December 6 and returning December 8. He wants to arrive by 5pm local time at the latest. For the return trip, he wants a flight that leaves as early as possible after noon, but gives him enough time to get to the airport comfortably. He prefers to fly Delta, since he’s a SkyMiles member. He prefers an aisle seat. He’d also like a row where no other passengers are seated or else an exit row so he’s got more room to stretch out. And he wants to be sure he’s on the upgrade list… even though he never gets upgraded.

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Yet another example

• Loren has a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. He wants to turn off some of the fancy features that use battery life and slow the phone down. He thinks that a lot of these features have “Air” somewhere in their name but he’s not sure.

What tasks?• Focus on frequent, important, and difficult tasks• Depth/quality of tasks more important than number• Number: typically 5 to 10 tasks• Size: typically 2 to 10 minutes to do a task

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• Write-up tasks, circulate to users– clarify missing details

• Sketch an interface, using existing systems or designs where possible

• Sketch out how each task would be accomplished in the interface: develop walkthrough scenarios

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From Task to Design

Scenarios

• Specific instance of system use: from what to how– A particular task– In a particular interface

• What would the user do, in detail, in specific interface– Enough detail for a user to complete without task

knowledge

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Example

• Task. Loren has a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. He wants to turn off some of the fancy features that use battery life and slow the phone down. He thinks that a lot of these features have “Air” somewhere in their name but he’s not sure.

• Scenario.– Pull down the settings menu– Touch the gear icon– Touch “Controls” icon– Scroll down– Touch “Air gesture”…

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Personas

• Fictional user descriptions– Research-driven– Narrative

• Basis– Cluster users by relevant attributes– Identify clusters– Create “realistic” representatives– Helps you consider whether your design is appropriate

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Example Persona• Sara is a graduate student living in Minneapolis. She travels by plane

about three times a year—about half of that time for conference trips for her University research group. When she travels on her own dollar, she is very price-conscious, and wants to be sure to get the lowest price, even if that involves obscure routes or indirect trips. When she travels for the University, she is happy to let their staff make the arrangements.

As a computer scientist, Sara knows all about search engines and other computer systems. Sometimes this makes her think that the system may be hiding the best fares. …

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Another Persona

• Nelson has been an English professor at Carleton College since 1975. He’s written several books of poetry and has been using computer word processors since 1980, but has only used two programs, WordPerfect and Microsoft Word. He doesn’t care how computers work; he stores all his documents in whatever directory they get put in if you don’t know about directories.

All these representations are concrete and specific

• Questions come in different kinds• Some can be settled through abstract

argument– Are there more real numbers than natural

numbers?• Some only can be settled empirically

– Can students use OneStop.umn.edu to find out whether there is room to enroll in CS 5115?

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Exercises

Exercise 1

• Take a look at the student section of www.OneStop.umn.edu

• Define a task (not scenarios) students might try to accomplish with the site– Remember what tasks are used for

• Present tasks, discuss, ask questions

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Exercise 2

• You’re in charge of designing the software for information kiosks for the Minneapolis / St. Paul airport. The kiosks will help travelers do common tasks, such as checking flight departure and arrival times and baggage claim locations, finding restaurants and shops, etc.

• Your job:– What sorts of user research methods would you use to find out

about the user population?– Based on your experience and intuition, identify at least two

categories of users– Write personas for these categories

• Factor out tasks if/as necessary

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Project Pitches

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Project brainstorming

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How many of you….?

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OK, HOW?

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Don Norman: Human Centered Design Considered Harmful

• (Instead) focus on (fairly) universal activities• Evolutionary design• People adapt to technology instead of the other

way around– In fact, technology defines activities!

• Problems with HCD– Non-universal– Incremental– Piecemeal

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• http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-galaxy-note/

• http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-review

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User Research

• Some examples…• http://www.cnet.com/news/moto-g-motorolas-surprise-hit-h

oned-at-knifepoint/

• https://www.yahoo.com/tech/survey-says-people-want-bigger-phones-89679157394.html

• http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-galaxy-note-4/ • http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-galaxy-note-edge/ • http://www.cnet.com/products/apple-iphone-6-plus/ • http://www.cnet.com/products/apple-watch/ • http://www.cnet.com/products/motorola-moto-360/