Research for interaction
Designers are often keen to shy away from digital media
projects, perhaps because they have a tendency to falsely
equate technology with a lack of creativity.Brief
Your workshop challenge is to undertake design research
for a newinteractive product or service that will make life
simpler for two important target audiences - 'organized
parents'andthe 'young tech elite'.These two audiences both
have the disposable income to be able to afford to pay for
a product or service that would effectively organize,make
more efficient and thereby enhance their work/life balances.Start to collect and digitize inspirational images and
to reference material that you come across in books,
magazines, online and so on. Organize your images into
themed folders on your computer, such as by colour, image,
typography and layout, or by more specialist categories
such as audiences, brand language, navigation elements,
art direction and so on.
Create a document the size of your desktop in Adobe
Photoshop or Illustrator and place and arrange your
digitized images on the canvas in order to create your
moodboard.Fortunately, it is mucheasier thanever before to keep track of
andshare sourcesof inspiration, thanks toan arrayof simple
bookmarkingand portfolio sites.Choosing the right resources
andtools for this is a matterof personal choice - butthe table
here providesaselection of bookmarking andportfolio sites
for you toget started with!Google's
PageRank scores pages from 0-9 based on thenumber and importance
of incominglinks from other web pages.Alexa Toolbar ranks and displays
graphs of visits,and (perhaps more interestingly) also displays related
links to websites with similar content, which is great for finding out more
about thecompetition.Industry perspective:
Eilidh Dickson & Helle Rohde Andersen,
CIID Consulting
Client
Novo Nordisk
Brief
To investigate the lives of Type 2 diabetes patients in the
USA, with a view to discovering unaddressed user needs
and new opportunities for innovation.Brandand user
experience workshop
These photostakenduringabrand
workshop with Plump Digital's client,
Ardent Financial Planning, show arange
of research techniques thathelp both
designers andclients toevaluatecurrent
brandpositionand user experiencesprior
tostarting new design work. Agency
CIID Consulting (Copenhagen Institute of Interaction
Design), Copenhagen, Denmark
Solution
Designersand researchers from CIID undertookin-depth
field research through an approach they termed 'Immersive
Living', which discovered a number ofkeyfindings that were
presented through the design of an interactive iPad app.A limited number of participants, usually
between sixand twelve, are selected froma target audience
or consumer group, and their preferences, attitudes and
opinions are then gathered through moderated discussions.Middle row: Competitors' visual
identities, marketing materialand
websitesare analysedto helpevaluate
theirrelative strengths and weaknesses.For example, a website with a clean minimal
interface employing a subtle use of typography may appeal
to one technically savvy user, but to an IT novice with
visual impairments it may appear obscure and difficult
to read.Moodboards are
still very useful, but their form is changing as it is now
much easier to simply curate them online using sites
such as Pintrest, or to create moodboards using desktop
software packages, which can be easily changed and stored,
shared and even polished for client presentations.Better every day atday care
withNFC
The Finnishagency Nordkapp worked
closely withtheirclients tohelp shape
the brief as part of theEU-funded
Smart UrbanSpacesresearchinitiative.The Nappula project aims to test and
research howto bestutilize contactless
technologies (such as radio frequency
identification (RFID) and near field
identification (NFC))in day-care centres.Investigating website popularity
Download Google Toolbar and Alexa Toolbar foryour web browser so that
you can view the popularity of websites that you visit at a glance.Scenarios and competitor analysis are often used
together to give insight into user experience as they
generate lists of important content and functions that
can then be collated to form the basis of a design.Culture hunt
In contrast to cultural probes, designers gather research
first-hand by visitingselected locations for aset period of
timeon designated culture hunts.Information can be gathered
by using the same techniques as for cultural probes - that is,
diaries, notebooks, cameras and sound recording equipment,
aswell as by undertaking impromptuinterviews.Moodboard desktops
Traditional moodboards collaged with images cut from
magazines, printed photos and colour swatches from the
local hardware store have become somewhat anachronistic
in the modern open-plan design studio.This timewe choseto use an extremely small sample of
threepatients; however, we spenta week witheach of them
andmet with anyonewho was involvedin theirnetwork ofcare.This is particularly the case for interactive projects, such as building a
website or designing an app, where user experience (UX) is more likely to be
active rather than passive.Building a new website therefore requires careful research and user
testing as part of an iterative design process in order to ensure that users can
access its content and use its functions in the most effective and rewarding way.A good briefwill articulate the project aims, requirements,
intended audience, timescales, budgetand, increasingly, the
criteria by which success will be measured.To avoid
costly misunderstandings, some design agenciestherefore
prefer to supply their clients with a tried-and-tested brief
pro forma to make sure that they capture all the essential
information in a consistent format that their design team can
then quickly and easily interpret.Distinctiveness is
the ideal marketing quality for a brand: those brands that
are closely clustered in the same area of the matrix will be
less distinct and will invariably face the most competition.Thislevelof information commonly relies on 'page tagging',
whereby a small pieceof code(usuallyaJavaScript) isinserted
into every websitepage.The cultural probe can be as
simple as a paper diary and pen or as sophisticated as a
smartphone, which enables participants to take photos,
record videos and write diary entries as part of a blog.Sketchbooks and blogs
There is still nothing to surpass a traditional sketchbook for
ease and simplicity in recording notes, reference materials,
thoughts and initial ideas.Most professional
photo libraries will allow you to use comping images
of their photographers' and image-makers' work for
the purposes of producing mock-up designs so long as
images are not published or used in any commercial
form.Yet, technology
and creativity should not be seen as diametrically opposed to
one another; each new technical innovation actually brings
with it a wealth of new creative opportunities to explore.The relentless pace of technological change does, however, mean that digital
media projects are often complex, because how audiences or end users will
respond to new developments cannot be easily anticipated without solid
research and development.Unlike reading a magazine or watching a DVD, where
a certain type of consumer use and responsive behaviour may be assumed,
navigating a new website can be similar to handling an unfamiliar appliance
for users.Top row: A 'warm-up' exercise identifying
carbrand values helpsto sharpenclients'
analytical skillsbefore they then learnto
apply them to their ownbrand.Most web-hostingcompaniesprovide
some form ofweb analytics toolwhen youacquire space,but
the mostpopular free toolis Google Analytics.Web
analytics should be used on a continual basis to assess
whether website changes and digital promotions are
achieving measurable results.User research
Unlike market research methods, which give general
overviews of consumer behaviour and market
competition, user research methods give detailed insights
into user needs and behaviours from both real and
imagined end users.The key benefit of a focus group over individual interviews
is this element of group discussion, which can lead both to
a better understanding of the focus group's perceptions and
attitudes, and usefully enables problems to be identified
and investigated in more detail.Imagine, for example, shoppingfor anew online bank
account,trawling through discussion forums and comparison
sites for advice, before assessing the online application
processes for a range of different banks.There is somuchto see andlearn at the merepress of a
search button that the possibilityof missingan example
ofcreative greatnesscansometimes feel overwhelming.First, we sent the patients sticky notes prior toour visit so
that theycould tag objectsin their homesthat they associated
with their diabetesorthat made their everyday lifeeasier.Bottomrow: Abrand matrixis a visualway
tocomparebrands using selected criteria.The drawing ofcustomerjourney maps
helps designersand clientsunderstand
howusersinteractwith brand andservice
touchpointsover time.The goalof the project isto find better
practices for thedailyadministrative
routines, such as monitoringpresence,
and thus free time for the children.Competitor analysis
When designing an identity for a TV channel, creating
a new app game or redeveloping a website, knowing
your competition is very important.Web analytics can tell us a range of information about
site visitors, including: the number of unique and returning
visitors; the average number of pages viewed; the average
length of time spent on a site; the user's location; the flow
of pages viewed (also known as 'clickstreams'); and the
percentage of visitors who viewed the site from a mobile
device.Focus groups
In contrast to questionnaires, focus groupsallow a
researcher to gather qualitative information abouta product,
service or idea.Cultural probes last a set period
of time, during which participants may receive further
guidance via text or email.The methods described below represent a small selection
of those available that might be used to encourage the
investigation, recording and use of visual research for
digital media design projects.ED: Yes,Novo Nordisk wanted to gain a more in-depth
understanding of the lives of Type 2 Diabetespatients,
particularly in the USA where the condition is an increasingly
widespread problem.Now that we can watch television on our phones,
download movies to our laptops and listen to podcasts
on TVs, organizing our social media and personal
communication is becoming an ever-more complex and
time-consuming job.In this chapter, we will explore a range of research techniques and strategies
that may prove vital when performing design research for an interactive project.Questionnaires and surveys
Where time (and budget) allows, a questionnaire or survey
may be used to gain new quantitative market intelligence.If you do want to ask speculative questions, setting
up a focus group might be a more appropriate research
method to use, as this will allow you to explore the
respondents' answers and motivations more thoroughly.Score the
products in a table, take screengrabs of their key features
and write down their individual strengths and weaknesses.This statistical information or 'web metrics' is
important in helping to judge the effectiveness of any
changes to the website or increase in traffic resulting from
promotional campaigns.Care needs to be taken so
that leading questions are avoided and the views of strong
characters within the focusgroup do not unduly influence
other participants.They are widely used in web and product design
to help clients and designers visualize their audience when
making decisions about design features, user experience
and content.Cultural probes
Cultural probes are information-gathering kits that allow
participants to self-document a design issue that is being
explored.The aim of the probe is to collect a plentiful
supply of qualitative information that will inform and
inspire your design.The aim of a culture hunt
is for designers to immersethemselves in places of study in
order to gain insights into the designproblem and so gain
inspiration for a likely solution.Designstudents are often encouraged to keep personal blogs
using Tumblr or Word Press as a means of self-reflection, as
well as a way of receiving helpful comments from others.Interview with Eilidh Dickson and Helle Rohde Andersen
Eilidh is a Project Lead and Interaction Designer and Helle
is an Interaction and Service Designer.This
wasaway forthem to feel confident intheirown home and
highlight the things that theywanted toshowus.Next, participants placed peopleor stakeholders who
influenced their diabetes care on an axis, somenear to them,
others further away.Because part of the project was visualization,wewent through
the mammothtaskof transcribingthe audio andvideos.Technology hasbeen a major driver behind this rapid
process ofchange - butcould it possibly simplify thingstoo?On the flipside, as we become more
media savvy, advertisers are working harder than ever
before to create meaningful dialogues with consumers in
order to sell their products and services.Your design research will use the competition analysis,
personas and scenarios outlined earlier in this chapter
to provide a list of user-experience requirements for this
potential new service.Search for the following terms on
YouTube's homepage: Ericsson's 'The Social Web of Things';
and Microsoft's 'Future Vision' videos and 'Our LifeStyle'.These could include a range of services,
from email clients and social media organizers, through to
interactive television and online entertainment media, such
as iTunes, Netflix or Spotify.Score the products in a table, take screengrabs of key
functions and write down their individual strengths and
weaknesses.Misinterpretation caused by not asking the right
questions at the briefing stage, or from not researching
the brief thoroughly enough, are common mistakes
made by inexperienced designers.When reading a brief, orreceiving a briefing presentation,
we often look for guidance on three key areas of research:
projectcontext,focus and process.Context review
A context or literature review is a comprehensive study of
corporate literature, articles, papers, reports and books
on your client, their industry and their competitors.The difference between a questionnaire and a survey simply
comes down to who fills out the form: a participant fills
out a questionnaire, whereas a researcher questioning a
participant fills out a survey.Brand matrices essentially allow
designers and their clients to visualize a brand's values
relative to its competition.Two important criteria are chosen for the axes of a
matrix and are labelled with appropriate scales.Shared inspiration
Inspirationis everywhere inthis 24/7, always-online world.|