Creative methods for designing and evaluating user experiences

David Geerts Research Manager Centre for User Experience Research (CUO) K.U.Leuven Creative methods for designing and evaluating user experiences

Agenda The User Experience Analysis methods Requirements specification Design methods Evaluation methods / 50

First wave HCI (70’s-80’s) Cognitive approach Human as information processor Interaction between single user and computer “ Human factors” Disciplines Cognitive psychology, computer science Methods Rigid guidelines, controlled experiments, formal methods, user modelling, … Theories GOMS (Goals Operators Methods Selection rules), KLM (Keystroke Level Model), Fitt’s law, Hick’s law, … / 50

Second wave HCI (80’s-90’s) Social context Groups working with collection of applications Work settings and communities of practice “ Human actors” Disciplines Social sciences, anthropology Methods Ethnographic observations, participatory design, prototyping, contextual inquiry, … Theories Activity theory, situated action, distributed cognition, … / 50

Third wave HCI (90’s-00’s) User experience Private and public environments The home, everyday lives Culture, emotion and experience Non-work, non-purposeful, non-rational Disciplines Design research, cultural studies Methods Exploratory methods, cultural probes, narratives, experience prototyping, … Theories Emotional design, four pleasures, threads of experience, … / 50

Designing the user experience? Avoid negative emotions vs. produce positive emotions Making products challenging, seductive, playful, surprising, memorable, moody, enjoyable, … It is not possible to design the user experience, you can only design for the user experience Exploit design solutions that evoke or intensify certain feelings A holistic view on designing products / 50

A model of user experience (Hassenzahl) / 50

Emotional design (Norman) / 50

User-product interactions and experience / 50 ( Forlizzi and Battarbee)

Cultural probes Collections of evocative tasks meant to elicit inspirational responses from people Package with e.g. postcards, maps, camera, diaries, … with assignments, often provocative or ambiguous Materials are returned one by one during a short period Fragmentary clues about users’ lives and thoughts Inspiration, not information Stimulate imaginations rather than defining problems Openly subjective and playful Use ambiguity, absurdity and mystery Recognizes and embraces the notion that knowledge has its limits Values uncertainty, play, exploration and subjective interpretation ‘ Unscientific’ approach, a subversion of traditional HCI methods / 50

Advantages of cultural probes Provide opportunities to discover new pleasures, new forms of sociability and new cultural forms Not designing solutions to user needs Offer possibilities for surprising results Doesn’t focus on an ‘average’ user Reduce distance between researchers and users Formal, geographic and cultural distance Through its design and communication, the designers make their intentions clear Gives a deep sense of familiarity and engagement with the people you design products for / 50

From probes to design Probes are not meant to be rigorously analysed Serve as inspiration for reflecting Don’t directly lead to designs Making you aware of the detailed richness of an environment Embraces subjectivity, uncontrolledness and personality Prevent from believing you can look into people’s heads Impossible to arrive at comfortable conclusions Understand their responses empathetically Make the strange familiar, and the familiar strange Probes are only one source for designing product Some design decisions directly based on probe returns Create a relationship with users, like designing for a friend / 50

Example cultural probe results / 50

Extreme characters (Djajadiningrat) Fictional users with exaggerated emotional attitudes Take another perspective To highlight cultural issues Complementary method, not replacing personas Advantages Character traits can be exposed which normally remain hidden because they are antisocial or in conflict with a person’s status. Disadvantages It is not your user, not based on data How many extreme characters? Which extreme characters? / 50

Example extreme character for agenda planner The drug dealer Information is very sensitive, cannot fall in the wrong hands He does not plan far ahead since dealers come and go / 50

Experience prototyping (Buchenau and Suri) “ A form of prototyping that enables design team members, users and clients to gain first-hand appreciation of existing or future conditions through active engagement with prototypes” What are the contextual, physical, temporal, sensory, social and cognitive factors we must consider for our design? What is the essence of the existing user experience? What are essential factors that our design should preserve? Example: experience of a heart patient Designers were given a pager for a weekend When the pager went off, this simulated a defibrillating shock Designers had to record their current experience Closely related to role playing / 50

Examples of experience prototyping / 50

UX evaluation methods Most amount of new methods in this category A lot of research in this area New methods or variations are being discussed at several conferences (e.g. see http://www.allaboutux.org/ ) Different classifications possible, based on Verbal or non-verbal measurement Quantitative or qualitative results Phase in the design process General type of evaluation (lab, field, survey, …) Analysis, design or evaluation? Some methods could be used in several stages Only evaluation when interaction with product is the focus / 50

Verbal vs. non-verbal methods Non-verbal observation methods (‘objective’) Language independent, unobtrusive, more objective Limited set of basic emotions, no combination of emotions Psycho-physiological measurement, facereading, emotion heuristics Verbal self-report methods (‘subjective’) Subjective feelings measured through self-report Can represent any set of emotions, can measure combinations of emotions Difficult to apply between cultures Questionnaires, rating scales, laddering Non-verbal self-report methods (‘subjective’) Subjective feelings, distinct or combinations of emotions Does not require subjects to verbalize emotions Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), Product Emotion Measurement Instrument (PrEmo), Emocards / 50

Means End Theory A theory to understand how specific features or attributes (means) of a product relate to personal values (ends) People choose a product because it has attributes (the means) that provide consequences and fulfilling personal values (the ends)

Examples Attributes colour, taste, design, … Consequences Functional: price, quality, user-friendliness, … Psycho-social: habits, reliability, … Values Health, security, fun, social power, … / 50

Glass => transparent, see what is in it => make sure it is healthy => my children deserve the best => I am a good mom Glass => can be cleaned and reused => environmentally friendly => save the planet Plastic => light => easily disposible => practical => more time for more important things => you have to be productive and get ahead in life Example: Yoghurt packaging

One particular method for researching means-end chains Not the only one but the most popular in consumer research because it proved to be superior Entails both a qualitative technique (which ladders) How to interview quantitative technique (which are dominant) How to analyze data and generalize from it Laddering

Graphs the dominant links in a hierarchical value map (HVM) association network meaningful couplings between attributes, consequences and values. (reynolds and Gutman, 1988) Hierarchical Value Map

How to perform laddering One-to-one in-depth interviews Researcher asks question ‘what do you like about [product x]’ After first answer, question is reformulated to ‘what do you like about [answer]’ Reveals the relation between Product attributes (A) Product consequences (C) User’s values (V) Results in means-end chain / 50

Example of laddering interview / 50 Researcher: I forgot again, which one did you like most? Child stands up and points at the bird Oh yes, the bird, can you tell me why? "Because I like it" Ah, because you like it, and can you tell me why? "The tumbling it makes” [A] Ah, the tumbling it makes, and why is that nice? "Because that is so funny” [C] Ah, and why do you like it when it is funny? "Because it is really cool that it can make a looping" [A] Ah, and why do you like that it makes a looping? "Because sometimes they fall on their bum and they do funny"[A-C] Ah, and why do you like that it is funny? "That they fall on their bum" [A]

AttrakDiff evaluation (Hassenzahl) / 50

Example analysis emocards (Wimmer e.a.) / 50

Sensual Evaluation Instrument (Isbister e.a.) A tool for self-assessment of affect while interacting with computer systems Subjective Real-time feedback Transcending language and cultural barriers No distortion through verbalization More fun for the user / 50

Example analysis SEI (Wimmer e.a.) / 50

Creative methods for designing and evaluating user experiences

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