Lakhasly

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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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.
First, we will look at the need to interrogate the brief as a starting point for
effective research before going on to explore the importance of market research,
audience research and visual research.
| 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.
Top row: A ‘warm-up’ exercise identifying
carbrand values helpsto sharpenclients’
analytical skillsbefore they then learnto
apply them to their ownbrand.
Middle row: Competitors’ visual
identities, marketing materialand
websitesare analysedto helpevaluate
theirrelative strengths and weaknesses.
Bottomrow: Abrand matrixis a visualway
tocomparebrands using selected criteria.
The drawing ofcustomerjourney maps
helps designersand clientsunderstand
howusersinteractwith brand andservice
touchpointsover time.
Understanding the brief
Although it may seem obvious, understanding the
brief is absolutely vital to the success of a project.
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.
A good briefwill articulate the project aims, requirements,
intended audience, timescales, budgetand, increasingly, the
criteria by which success will be measured. A great brief will
also supply relevant background information and explain
where this project fits into a wider design strategy. 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.
When reading a brief, orreceiving a briefing presentation,
we often look for guidance on three key areas of research:
projectcontext,focus and process. Project context is
background research on the client’s business; this might
include its history, competitors, andcurrent and future
trends within its industry.
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.
The goalof the project isto find better
practices for thedailyadministrative
routines, such as monitoringpresence,
and thus free time for the children.
Market research
Market research refers to the systematic planning,
gathering and analysis of information about a particular
product or service. Market research utilizes a collection
of research methods to shed light both on consumer
behaviour and on market competition. Market research
is a key strategic tool used in business decision-making
and is an important component of design research. Market
research can be undertaken by a client’s own marketing
department, commissioned separately, or may form part
of a design brief. Where market research is unavailable,
a designer is often expected to undertake basic market
research to provide ‘project context’ and inform their
design decision-making. The following selection of market
research methods may prove helpful to you when making
your initial design decisions.
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
point of a review is to familiarize yourself with your client’s
history and market position. It also provides a safeguard
against presenting ideas that have been tried before.
For design students who are unfamiliar with performing
this kind of review, a visit to see the college or university
librarian is a good place to start. They will help you to
become familiar with the tools and resources that are
available to help you carry out a context review.
Questionnaires and surveys
Where time (and budget) allows, a questionnaire or survey
may be used to gain new quantitative market intelligence.
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.
Questionnaires or surveys work well when participants
are asked about current or previous use of a product or
service. Try to avoid asking leading questions, or asking
participants to speculate about their future use of a new
service, because what they say they ‘might’ do and what
they actually would do often prove to be two very different
things! 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.
Brand matrix
A brand matrix is an important visualization method that
informs market research. 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. The brand
and its competition are then plotted against these criteria
in order to visualize their relative value. 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.
Use brand matrices to plot important criteria for your
own digital project. For example, you could use them to
compare the form versus the function of websites, or the
cost versus the features of video games.
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. If you have already
performed a context review, you will have discovered who
your client’s competitors are, so now it is time for a little
more in-depth analysis.
Select four to six competing products or services and
choose some selection criteria by which to judge them.
For example, if you were planning on designing a new
iPhone app, you might choose look and feel, ease of use,
content and functions, and value for money. Score the
products in a table, take screengrabs of their key features
and write down their individual strengths and weaknesses.
This evaluation provides useful analysis that you can
keep for reference or use in a research presentation. More
importantly, you can now cherry-pick the best features
to include in your design and use the selection criteria to
evaluate your own design.
Web analytics
Web analytics is statistical information about user visits
to websites. For designers working online, they provide
an incredibly useful source of information in helping
us to understand web traffic patterns and the overall
effectiveness of a website.
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. 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.
Thislevelof information commonly relies on ‘page tagging’,
whereby a small pieceof code(usuallyaJavaScript) isinserted
into every websitepage. Most web-hostingcompaniesprovide
some form ofweb analytics toolwhen youacquire space,but
the mostpopular free toolis Google Analytics.
A client who already has a website should be able
to give you access to their current analytical data. Web
analytics should be used on a continual basis to assess
whether website changes and digital promotions are
achieving measurable results.
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. 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.
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.
Focus groups
In contrast to questionnaires, focus groupsallow a
researcher to gather qualitative information abouta product,
service or idea. 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.
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. 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.
Personas
Personas are fictional characters that represent different
kinds of users within a product’s or service’s target
audience. 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.
To create personas of your own, write down a list of
character names, along with some personal details, skills,
aspirations and goals to accompany them. Portraits can
also be drawn or chosen from photo libraries to help
visualize them. The number of personas created should be
representative of the target audience, although one typical
user may become the primary focus for your design.
Scenarios
Scenarios are hypothetical stories about the use of a
product or service, which are created in the initial research
stage to inform your design. A scenario is usually a specific
task given to one or all of your personas, which details
every step of their experience, providing valuable insights
into the requirements of your design. As a shortcut,
personas and scenarios are often integrated by creating
a series of personas, each with a given scenario.
Not all scenarios will have positive outcomes for your
personas, as what one character might find easy and
satisfying is likely to prove difficult and off-putting for
another. 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. Both positive and negative experiences tell us a
lot about the content and functions that we will need to
include, as well as what should be avoided.
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. A
similar alternative tool is ‘user stories’ – a quick method
that simply states the ‘who, what and why’ of a potential
requirement in one or two sentences.
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. Cultural probes last a set period
of time, during which participants may receive further
guidance via text or email. 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.
Visual research
There are many visual research methods that designers
can use as sources of inspiration for a design project.
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.
Culture hunt
In contrast to cultural probes, designers gather research
first-hand by visitingselected locations for aset period of
timeon designated culture hunts. 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. 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.
Culture hunts are often used in the physical world as a
means ofgaining direct experience of services and situations
that need a new or improved design solution. However, it is
possible to immerse yourself in a purely digital cultural hunt
too. 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.
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. Keeping a sketchbook to hand for
both reference purposes and for the continual development
of ideas is still a vital research and development tool.
For those who may believe that the digital age has
superseded the need for this analogue tool: think again!
Drawing is a creative and intuitive right-side-of-the-brain
activity, whereas writing is an analytical left-side activity.
By using both sides, you are using the full capacity of your
brain for problem solving. Drawing, therefore, actually
doubles creative potential!
With this said, thedigital age does allow you toharness
the power of more brains by sharing your research and
developmentwith others. Digitize key pages of your
sketchbookand upload them to yourpersonal blog site.
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.
Blogs are a great way of collatingandsharing research and
developmenton team-based projects, too.
Shared inspiration
Inspirationis everywhere inthis 24/7, always-online world.
There is somuchto see andlearn at the merepress of a
search button that the possibilityof missingan example
ofcreative greatnesscansometimes feel overwhelming.
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!
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. 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.
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. Save out a jpeg version of your finished
moodboard and set it as your desktop picture.
Always be aware of copyright laws. 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. Be careful: even republishing a copyrighted image
in a personal blog may be seen as an infringement. Your
college librarian or tutor should be able to advise you.
Alternatively, you should be able to find information about
copyright laws from a number of sources online.
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.
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.
Interview with Eilidh Dickson and Helle Rohde Andersen
Eilidh is a Project Lead and Interaction Designer and Helle
is an Interaction and Service Designer.
Can you tell me how this project came about?
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. It wasnot a problem-solving exercise,
but more an exploratorybrief.
What were the main challenges for you in tackling
this brief?
HRA: From a helicopter perspective, there were two main
challenges. The first was to take a fresh look at Type 2
Diabetes in the context of the American market. Previously,
we had worked in the field of diabetes where our research
had focused on a particular product or a very clearly
defined topic, so this was an opportunity to look at diabetes
in a more holistic way. This was the second challenge: how
do you change our approach to look at diabetes from both
a system perspective and also an individual’s perspective?
How do you define a systematic approach?
ED: Normally, when we undertake research like this, we
interview a sample of people, maybe between ten and
20 people. In the case of diabetes, we would interview
patients, doctors and nurses, etc. Each interview would
happen in isolation and last up to two hours, after which
we would build a story around them.
This timewe choseto use an extremely small sample of
threepatients; however, we spenta week witheach of them
andmet with anyonewho was involvedin theirnetwork ofcare.
HRA: We called this approach ‘Immersive Living’. This was
new for us because we normally go out and seek inspiration
from a multitude of stakeholders. But this was about
understanding a specific person and their network, and
then breaking down the system.
What inspired this approach?
ED: A desire to try something new. We had done a number
of projects with diabetes patients before; however, we felt
that if we went in with the same approach as before we
might end up with the same findings – we really wanted to
challenge our approach.
HRA: It was also a unique opportunity for us to design the
research approach from the beginning and treat that as the
design problem, so we came up with a set of tools to help
us with this ‘Immersive Living’ approach.
What were these tools that you used?
HRA: We wanted to design tools that would support us on
an emotional level when we carried out conversations and
ran activities with people.
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. This
wasaway forthem to feel confident intheirown home and
highlight the things that theywanted toshowus.
ED:Other tools included a network mapping exercise. We
drew themin themiddle of an A3 sheet with circles around
them. Next, participants placed peopleor stakeholders who
influenced their diabetes care on an axis, somenear to them,
others further away. It could be anyone from a best friend
to a celebrity who inspired them to eat healthier. It enabled
them to see who had helped to define their diabetes care;
who they viewed as influential in this process.
We also made a ‘diabetes journey’ tool where the patient
would map their positive and negative emotions related to
their condition on a scale. We didn’t use this until later in
the week once we had gained participants’ trust.
How did you identify your participants?
ED:The design research was undertaken in Pittsburgh, so
we asked a local agency that we knew tohelp us recruit our
participants. We didn’t go through a professional recruitment
company becausewe didn’t want professionalrespondents.
HRA: It was a big ask and commitment for participants.
We didn’t just need their time, but also needed time from
their friends, family and doctor so it was a large task to find
people who could and would willingly give that.
How did you record your research?
ED: Apart from theworkthat wascreated from the tools,
wewouldaudio andvideorecordeverything andtake
photographs. Generally, we didn’ttake notes. At the endof
each session, we would debriefand capture ourthoughts.
Because part of the project was visualization,wewent through
the mammothtaskof transcribingthe audio andvideos.
How long did the project take from start to finish?
ED: It took five months.
What size team did you use?
ED: It varied. In the planning phase, we had the equivalent of
two and a half people working full time.On the research, we
had four people full time and then during the visualization
we had six people, and that was a combination of
researchers,designers and computer scientists.
Had you decided on designing an iPad app from the start?
ED: Actually, no. It came after we had completed the field
research. We originally said that we would visualize the
findings in a dynamic way, but did not specify it would
be an app.
With these projects, we obviously create a presentation
and an executive summary, and we usually create a coffee-
table book to communicate the visual media and stories
from the research. This time, because we are interaction
designers, we wanted to create something interactive. After
the research, it just made sense to create an interactive
application since we had so much rich media in the form
of videos and photos.
Workshop I:
Connected life
The following workshop is intended to help you apply
some of the research methods that you have been reading
about in this chapter. Working through the steps in the
workshop can take you as long as you like; the minimum
time it should take is in the region of three to four hours,
but spending a whole day on them would be better. If you
do not have that amount of time to spare, read through
the brief, watch the inspirational videos and then take
20 minutes to imagine howyou would complete each step.
Background
Today, we live in an increasinglycomplex and connected
world. Technology hasbeen a major driver behind this rapid
process ofchange – butcould it possibly simplify thingstoo?
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. 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.
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.
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.
Step 1 – Inspiration
Watch the following videos on YouTube to see two possible
visions of the future. 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’.
Step 2 – Competition analysis
Find six products or services that you feel can help to make
technology simpler. 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.
Choose a selection of criteria to judge these by: for
example, look and feel, ease of use, content and functions,
and value for money.
Score the products in a table, take screengrabs of key
functions and write down their individual strengths and
weaknesses. Make a list of potential content and functions
for your service.
Step 3 – Personas
Think about the two target audiences. Using your
imagination, write three short personas for each of these
audiences. Give each character a name, decide how old
they are, whether they are in a relationship or have a
family, what they do for a living and how they spend their
leisure time.
You should draw a portrait or find a photo that would
represent them too.
Step 4 – Scenarios
For each of your personas, imagine a positive or negative
scenario in which each group might use a new interactive
product or service. Keep the scenario to a single task and
visualize each step that they would take in completing or
not completing it. Write them down.
The task should reveal another list of potential content
and functions for your service.
Step 5 – Integrate
Add together the two lists of content and functions from
Step 2 and Step 4. Remove any duplication.
Sort the list into categories and sub-categories that
make sense to you: for example, home, work, music, film,
personal, social and so on.