Over the Air 15: Experience design for the IoT: system UX & interusability 150924
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This document discusses key considerations for designing user experiences that are interusable across connected devices and systems. It identifies conceptual models, composition, consistency, and continuity as important facets of interusable UX for the Internet of Things. Conceptual models are important for users to understand how connected systems work, as functionality is often distributed across multiple devices. Consistency in terminology and some conventions help users transfer knowledge, while composition and continuity aim to provide a coherent experience across devices. Latency and reliability issues also require transparency or gracefulness in how systems represent real-time states and responses.
Over the Air 15: Experience design for the IoT: system UX & interusability 150924
- 1. Interusability: designing a coherent system UX Claire Rowland - @clurr Image: Greg Williams via Flickr
- 2. Hello :) - Independent UX and product consultant - Lead author: “Designing Connected Products: UX for the consumer internet of things”
- 3. One person, one computer, one UI, probably doing work, low context Conventional usability Image: Radio Shack via scalzi.com
- 4. Things have changed… Mobile, specialized devices, cross-platform, multi-user, distributed, contextual awareness, embedded in the world Images: Withings, Made by Many, Philips, Streetline, Evrythng/Diageo, Lockitron
- 5. - The fundamental heuristics of usability are still valid - They relate to the capabilities of the human brain and brains haven’t changed - But there are some new concerns to take into account …(although we haven’t) Image: Popular Science Monthly via Wikicommons
- 6. UX for IoT: not just UI & industrial design Images: Nest
- 7. Users have to understand systems - Functionality and interactions are distributed across multiple devices, often with different capabilities - Systems are inherently harder to understand - We are much better at thinking about things than about relationships between things Images: Withings
- 8. Image: Nissim Farim We don’t (yet) expect Things to behave like the Internet The average consumer is going to find it very strange when objects take time to respond, or lose instructions.
- 9. Facets of IoT UX
- 10. Today we’ll look at this part:
- 11. Conceptual models Understanding how it works
- 12. 3 part diagram: Value proposition Conceptual model Interaction model What does it do? How does it work? How do I use it? Image: Instructables Image: How It Works Daily
- 13. Non-connected products are often conceptually quite simple
- 14. Connected products are more complex Product images: Philips
- 15. Connectedness requires users to think about system models - Which bit does what? - Where does code run? - What fails/still works if connectivity is lost?
- 16. It’s extra stuff to think about Product images: LIFX, Philips, Cree In addition to price, aesthetics and features, customers have to understand how a product connects and whether that meets their needs.
- 17. You can explain the system model... BERG Cloud bridge: transparent network commsLowes Iris: showing the connection to the hub Image: BERGImage: Lowes
- 18. …or simplify the conceptual model …and iBeaconsAutomatic gearboxes… Image: Estimote
- 19. What actually happensWhat the user needs to know iBeacons
- 20. Interusability Creating a coherent system UX Cross-Platform Service User Experience: A Field Study and an Initial Framework. Minna Wäljas, Katarina Segerståhl, Kaisa Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila, Harri Oinas-Kukkonen MobileHCI’10: http://bugi.oulu.fi/~ksegerst/publications/p219-waljas.pdf
- 21. Composition How functionality is distributed across devices
- 22. Distribute functionality to suit the context of use (Nearly) all interactions via phone app Interactions mirrored on phone and thermostat Image: Tado Images: British Gas
- 23. Another example: Product images: BlueSpray, skydrop
- 24. Minimal elegance? Or missing features? Product images: drop
- 25. Determining the right composition - What best fits the context of use? What do users expect? - What devices do users already have and what can they do? - How much should the hardware cost? - How much do you need to upgrade the system or change features over time? - Do you need local control if connectivity is unavailable? - Does the system need to work if some devices are unavailable? - How accurate does sensing need to be? Product images: ring
- 26. Consistency Appropriate consistency across UIs and interactions
- 27. “Users should not have to worry whether different words, situations or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.” - Words, data and actions - Aesthetic/visual design - Interaction architecture: how functionality is organised - Interaction logic: how tasks are structured, the types of control used http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/ What is it…
- 28. Consistency != making everything the same This: “Users should not have to worry whether different words, situations or actions mean the same thing.“ …may be in tension with this: “Follow platform conventions.” Image: Made by Many
- 29. Top priority: terminology However different the UIs, identical functions must have the same name Images: British Gas
- 30. Follow device platform conventions… - … Android contextual menu iOS separate screen Images: Spotify
- 31. - e.g. Nest A touchscreen does not need a fake bezel A thermostat does not have to pretend to be an iPhone Images: Nest …be true to the device
- 32. Aesthetic styling “Click” Nest use visual and audio cues to tie the thermostat and phone app together Images: Nest
- 33. Interaction architecture need not be the same - The logical structure of UI features and controls is likely to be platform dependent - Different features may be prioritised on different devices - Devices with limited UIs may need deeper hierarchies Legacy hardware UIs may be less than ideal (e.g. confusing modes) but that need not restrict other device UIs
- 35. What is it… - The flow of interactions and data in a coherent sequence across devices - Continuity helps the user feel as if they are interacting with the service, not a bunch of separate devices Image: Kei Noguchi via CC licence
- 36. Continuity is not always about seamlessness… it often means handling interstitial states gracefully Some technical context: - Some IoT devices have batteries and only connect intermittently to conserve power. In conventional UX we assume devices are mostly connected, but many IoT devices may spend more time offline - Networks are subject to latency (esp. the internet) and reliability issues. People have mental models that help them understand this online, but delays and failures might feel strange in physical objects Image: New Wave DV
- 37. Latency and reliability BERG Cloudwash prototype Interactions won’t always be smooth and immediate
- 38. We expect switches to work like this - The switch both confirms the user action and shows the state of the lamp - But in reality, latency and reliability issues mean this can’t be guaranteed over a network - The user can’t tell whether their action has been executed or whether it’s in progress
- 39. Option 1: the white lie Confirm action, backpedal if something goes wrong
- 40. Instagram do this The photo is already shown as ‘liked’, even though the instruction is still being sent
- 41. Option 2: be transparent - Acknowledge action, show that it is in progress - Confirm only once it’s done
- 42. WeMo Switch does this subtly
- 43. Lowes Iris is more explicit Images: Lowes
- 44. Intermittency 19 2 min delay 21 When some devices that only check into the network occasionally, there may be conflicting information about the status of the system. Data/actions may need to be timestamped.
- 45. Safety critical/urgent Messages must get through quickly Status information needs to be updated frequently, and clearly indicate how old it is Need to know when instructions have been received and acted upon Low touch/non-critical: Assume it’s working unless notified of a problem OK if data or instructions take time to get through (as long as they are timestamped) Senior safety/intruder alarm Energy monitorLightingBaby monitor The ‘right’ approach depends on context Images: MyLively, Efergy
- 46. A final thought Good consumer UX for IoT is surprisingly hard
- 47. We have to get this stuff right for mass adoption ‘It’s a bit glitchy but it’s OK, you just have to be in the room at the same time’. Actual review of a connected home system
- 48. Tesler’s law of the conservation of complexity: As you make the user interaction simpler you make things more complicated for the designer or engineer Larry Tesler, former VP of Apple