My experience for User Experience

Holding water with Hand

Designing User Experience (UX) to me is like holding water with your hand; no matter how hard you try or clench your hands together, water still slips through. I can never cater to all with the UI we created as a group. However, certain steps such as the Ten Heuristics do serve as a general guideline. After some thinking, I thought perhaps it is due to the social environment people grow up in that is why they have a general acceptance to the things mentioned in the Ten Heuristic. As much as we tried to grab all the water(users) through card sorting, surveys, in depth interview and so on, the best we got was an insight. In fact, I realised the limitations of the work we did. All the research and prototype is still unable to test the exact experience we wanted because our goal was to create a website (UI) which customised contents and generate them for users according to their likes and dislikes. It seems that what we have been able to do till end was the overall layout but not the true experience we hope to create.

Bottomless Pit

Researching on UX is like falling down a bottomless pit. One will never be able to get all the experience down or to express the entire experience clearly to the details. Hence, it is impossible to scientifically 'reproduce' an experience for one user to another. UX is unique and mysterious in that there will be difference no matter how close one feels from another in terms of the website (UI).

A little step at a time

Through the research done, I realised a lot of information which I would never have thought about. Even though users went through the same thing, the comments were drastically different like 2 ends of the pole at times. There can never be enough work done or changes made as there are new insights each time we try to research on people the latest prototype.

Walking in Circles

At times I feel that I'm walking in circles making changes time and again but it is not true. When I went through our first prototype with our 4th or 5th one, the experience was better. I guess the quest in this merry-go-round would come to a stop when the creators feel that there is more or less a unique experience in the pleasant sense for majority of the target users. The work never stops, through feedback, changes will be made again. Just like Yahoo!, Google or any websites or UI, they change with time through valuable insights gain on UX.

Enlightenment of UX

Designing UX is like seeking englightenment. UX is subjective and unstable where one can never quantify. Hence I feel apart from the general guidelines to guide designers, it is the inspiration that counts, the personal touch that adds depth and body to UI like a piece of art as some authors like to put it. Thus, even the reflection on this module is difficult as the overall knowledge learnt is like an experience, those that I can write out are but guidelines which authors pass on. However, it is my experience that will have a different touch in designing of UX apart from the others.

Reflections on User Research - Smoke and Mirrors

UX vs Englightenment

It is clearly evident that the author was trying to explain that techniques and methodologies of gaining user insights on User Interface (UI) or User Experience (UX) so to say, is not restricted by boundaries, concrete or scientific. With this, I kind of understand the joke that my lecturer (Reddy) shared with us. Be it the story of the person seeking englightenment or the samurai trying to become one, it just saying that such insights could be there but yet not. It might sound a little confusing but I guess it is saying it that the data collected might be right or wrong depending on circumstances and the methods (though the same) could likewise be right or wrong in gaining an insight to UX. Similar to englightenment, UX can be felt but not defined or quantified. Thus, it is important for qualitative research. Nonetheless, research does provide a direction for creators of UX to go in. As a Buddhist might say, all roads led to englightenment but it depends on how you walk it.

The Journey

As from the author, research gives us the direction but it is what we put in that matters just like the depth of a novel. It is impossible to be right at all times, what one interpret will be different from another. Just as what the creators of UX wants might not be what the users felt. Hence, the journey of UX starts with knowing the target group and general traits of such a group through research. With the general direction, UX creators might have to trial and error plus incorporate their ideas for a UI to have the body and flavor for users.

The Goal

I understood that UX is subjective like an art piece. One will never get it 100% right nor would he be totally wrong. Just like the creators, users will never be wrong as it is their unique experience. Experience is subjective and if it could be defined, love could be as well.

Nightmare Assignment

HOW WE GOT DATA

Ethnographic

• Personal observation during lectures (more technical)
• Limited because of nature of learning experience- individual
• We always qualify to comment as we are students
Interviews (focus)
- 12 people in all (excluding us)
- each of us interviewed 4 persons
- 2 friends (more willing to be frank), 2 strangers (diff views as we tend to have same group of friends)

PROBLEMS FOUND PLUS SOLUTIONS

Technical

- equipment not user
- friendly (lecturer doesn’t know how to use, so waste time) training session for lecturers, get tech idiots to choose the AV equipment, attach a technician to these lecturers
- but note that it is better to teach one how to fish than give fish
- poor temperature control (subjective) can’t satisfy everyone, wear less and bring a sweater- low screen leading to poor visibility by shorter students sitting at the back taller positioning of screens- too cramped seats with insufficient leg space

Students

- bad view of screen tall people should just sit behind
- shy to speak up culture change/ technical: logging in real time to contribute
- laptop charging facilities only available at back of lecture build more power supply sockets
- latecomers are disruptive thought of building 2 levels like in UCC but not feasible, thought of imposing fines on latecomers but will not affect the rich → can scan matric card as attendance (but thought that people might get friends to help), so can do fingerprint scanning instead
- help lecturers feel more secure having webcast for those who really can’t make it on that day cause this method ensures attendance
- loud keyboard typing sounds see below- talkative use of technical equipment (soundproof headphones
- those who are hygiene freaks or are feeling too rich can purchase a personal set or coax the school to change new sets every few years. Lighted student seat/ soundproof bell), culture (could it be lecturer’s fault indirectly as well?)

Lecturers

- speak in monotone/ high pitch use of technical equipment to adjust pitch as lower pitches with varying tone have been proven more beneficial for maximal absorption
- talk too fast but if use technology to slow down pace, when people reach home, you might still be there listening to the recorded lecture
- too much information in a single lecture
- information overload get lecturers to better manage workload and cater to students’ tastes by holding surveys, resist the temptation to impart a lifetime of knowledge in one and a half hours
- not sensitive to students’ needs: when we are tired, don’t give break technically, could use technical equipment to vote for a break and alert the lecturer when majority opts for one
- refuse to end punctually, hence the students who may need to leave earlier for a next class may miss crucial things like exam tips and be deprived of a chance to listen through a lecture in its entirety like the above problem, could try not giving lecturers performance bonus
- boring: can cause people to talk/ doze off bring gadgets/ samples like Mr. Reddy did with the cameras and scents, hold surveys/ ratings (but not very effective because locals tend to be polite about this), make lecturers memorise some related jokes when all else fails (it worked for a GEK module I took)
- not uploading notes before lecture culture in Singapore to be kiasu. Some lecturers in other countries may feel this impedes learning,but because of Singaporean culture, we tend to copy everything even when there are no notes; even harder to listen
- quality of notes



BUT....
• Tools are only as good as their user
• Majority of people interviewed mentioned that lecturer is still the most important
• Which way the lecture goes depends on the lecturer: if interesting, people naturally find it easier to follow through and recall/ be silent & punctual out of respect (top down cultural change)
• We admit that being students, we could be biased about the solutions
• If lecturers were to do this assignment…

CONCLUSION: cultural solutions

Good points of cultural solutions:
- get to root of problem
- save $$
- technology can be unreliable at times (headphones could spoil)
- inventions cannot solve the problem and we do not want to churn out inconsiderate noisy people from NUS (macro- societal level)

Bad points of cultural solutions:
- takes a long time to implement and see changes
- people cannot be controlled, could be too stubborn to change, should respect human rights

WHAT WE REALISED
- Everyone is different, can’t please everyone
- No one blamed their own attitude (including us)

Four Pleasure Analysis

Mike is a 33 year old Civil Engineer living in Singapore.

Mike has a passion for photography since his high school days.
Being a Civil Engineer working for SBS trains, the opportunity to practice photography has become part of his job.

Due to the late night shifts, Mike gets certain days off. With his free time, Mike goes for short trips as he loves to travel and take pictures. He loves the nature and prefers taking landscape shots. Mike is middle built with tan complexion.

Ever since he got engaged, he became more health or rather shape conscious. Thus, Mike goes for occasional runs or jogs when he has the time to prevent an unsightly tummy especially for his wedding shots.

Mike’s social circle involves working professional with almost half in Engineering fields and the other half in varied occupations such as Army officers, executives in public sector and a few entrepreneurs. Mike enjoys social hang outs especially during weekends but has since cut down when he got attached.

Four pleasure analysis of Mike;

Physio- pleasure: Maintaining a healthy built without a tummy and a slight tan

Socio- pleasure: Maintaining social contact with his friends while improving the relationship with his fiancee. Needs recognition or a sense of belonging among friends.

Psycho- pleasure: Sense of achievement from mastering certain gadgets, application and technique especially those in photography. Not trend setting but must be acceptably sleek, stylish, quality and/or practical. Self confidence from protraying a good image such as being sleek, neat and clean.

Ideo- pleasure: Believes in himself and being down to earth. Being filial to his parents.

Specifications of product;

Practical
- Bluetooth (easy connectivity)
- Wlan (easy connectivity)
- removable memory card preferably 2 Gb
- organiser (to organise his schedule)
- e-mail and internet accessibility (to check his mails)

Affective
- large screen (necessary especially for taking photos)
- 3.2 megapixel camera (his interest in photography and a certain quality)
- Carl Zeiss lens (his interest in photography and a certain quality)
- music player that can play MP3 and AAC formats (in his line, they prefer using Mac system)
- sleek but not loud
- weight around 160g (too light in weight feels filmsy for Mike who's used to rather solid cameras)

Mike already has a mobile phone and it's common for people in his social circle to own at least 2 phones. He needs one that is stylish and potrays himself.
Suggested phone in my opinion.

Image taken from www.nokia.com.sg

This phone is sleek and stylish and would be somthing different from what Mike already have.

The ability to twist the screen allows for easy photo taking and the slide show function allows him and his friends to view his photos easily.

Carl Zeiss lens is what attracted Mike at first since it's the first time the lens was incorporated into a mobile phone in Singapore market.

Being into photography, Mike have long wanted to try a little video taking as well. However, perhaps the back of the phone could be leather to have an extra touch. The price range is comfortable for Mike as well.

Pleasure with products - Watches

Image taken from http://www.casio-intl.com/wat

This is one of the typical rubber strap watches from Casio that is of the very 'basic' range where one could get it easily for around S$25 - S$35 dollars in Singapore. For most people, they're likely to have owned or seen one during their childhood years or National Service (NS) days.

Visceral: Simple and dull design usually black in colour which is not attractive. Boring.
Behavioural: Economical and value for money. Labelled as one of the (Hokkien; 'Chong Suah') watches meaning it's commonly used during NS time for outfield training.
Reflective: Not of show off value but could indicate certain status such as being in NS or being thrifty. No frills.

Image taken from http://www.tissot.ch/?mod_collection

This is the T-Touch series watch from Tissot and was widely advertised in the media previously is Singapore. The price range is around S$1200 dollars in Singapore. There's a touch screen to operate the functions such as the compass, thermometer and altitude.

Visceral: Sleek and visually pleasing.

Behavioural: Not value for money and functions are not really neccessary in daily activities. Have to take off the watch to get an accurate temperature.

Reflective: Status symbol as a working professional, young at heart.

Image taken from http://www.22dollars.com/2006/07

This is one of the most expensive watch in the world from Rolex with a price tag of about a quarter million in US dollars. Covered in diamonds, scratch proof sapphire crystal watch face and 100m water resistance.

Visceral: Beautiful and sparkling.

Behavioural: Lack functions compared to digital watches.

Reflective: Status symbol as the rich, show off, self image.

Move over Muvo!

Getting warm up to NM4210 and the need to blog for a non blogger like me, let me roll in the carpet with Creative Muvo Mp3 players.

Nearly 3 years back when prices of Mp3 players were still rather steep (one that's pursuing a degree in NUS without sources of income except allowance), Creative Muvo was rather popular. Although Muvo is not cheap, it was still afforadable. (>S$200 for 256MB)
Having rationalise the usability of Muvo as both a music companion, thumb drive for school work and back up in case voice recording needs to be taken - for whatever reasons be it project interview or recording a lecture, I bought a Creative Muvo.

Image taken from www.creative.com

Here it is, Creative Muvo TX FM. Here comes the irritating and lousy user experience for a bad design that Creative have yet to rectify for their Muvo series of Mp3 players.

The black coloured part of the Mp3 player could be pulled out to be connected to a USB port on any computer to function as a thumb drive. However..... "Muvo, you are too FAT!"
Unlike portable thumb drives or most of the other devices using the USB port, the circumference of Muvo is a little too big. SO much so that I had to remove the mouse when using the labtop as there's simply not enough space with the FAT Muvo around not to mention other occassions where I had to make space for Muvo by unplugging other devices.

As a result, my confidence of Creative have since dropped and their image is tarnised. I started finding faults in other areas such as the impossible rate Muvo consumes power. (3-5 days for a new AAA battery to be depleted) Next I find their ear phone sucks and finally, I just give up on Creative except for the sound cards they make.

Well, I've gotten other 'slimmer' thumb drives and I tend to prefer Ipod to Creative Zen as I just feel that their Mp3 players are fat. I believe it is necessary to look at other aspects of a design especially one that the producers promise usability in. Creative failed to recognise the space between USB ports resulting in lousy User experience.

"Move over Muvo, it's time to make space for others!"