Explaining and discussing practical and theoretical aspects of HCI
Product Research
Meetings
HCI principles applied to the practical problem
Personas
Questionnaire
Responses To Questionnaire
Evaluation Techniques
Analysis and Design work in HCI
Characteristics of Elderly People
Design Ideas
Product Decision - Nutritional Device
Problem Definition
Requirements for the Nutritional Device
Task Analysis
Initial Prototypes
Hardware Requirements from the Prototypes
Software Requirements from the Prototypes
Final Hardware Prototypes
Software Prototype
Evaluation Techniques
Re-Design on Hardware
Re-Design on Software Prototypes
Cognitive Walkthough on Re-design
Conclusion
Friday, March 30, 2007
Conclusion of Final Hardware Design
Our design has changed somewhat from our original, however these changes have been justified through our cognitive walkthrough, our questionnaire and market reseach.
The first design, although looking rather slick with its 'ipodness' theme of being white, slim and rather attractive did not fulfill the objectives set out. As described in the walkthrough, the device was hard to hold, with no strap and the buttons not large enough. The product also lacked a feeling of robustness with the screen being so large and no grips/protective sides. Although the center button was easily identifiable, the other weren't so and so some labelling would have been helpful but the layout was well established and followed other devices used frequently by people(e.g remote) which was identified in the questionnaire.
The second design solved the problem of the buttons however the grip was way too large and uncomfortable to hold. The idea of grooves on both sides may allow both left and right hand users to use the product, however it ruined the look of the product and appeared to be overkill. The scanner is also hard to identify so where the put the barcode is confusing. The screen stayed the same size as it was seen adequate in the walkthrough and was inline with other PDA screens found in the market research.
The final design offers the user a device that can be held comfortably and used with ease. The buttons are self explanitory with the use of labels, and the scanner clearly indentifiable. The modified grip now looks in keeping with the design and the overall outfit is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. An added modification that can not be seen is the use of a strap that can be added to ensure that the PDA stays firmly in the palm of the user. Overall the developments that have taken place on the design have made the end product a user friendly device that is purposely sculptured around its target audience.
The first design, although looking rather slick with its 'ipodness' theme of being white, slim and rather attractive did not fulfill the objectives set out. As described in the walkthrough, the device was hard to hold, with no strap and the buttons not large enough. The product also lacked a feeling of robustness with the screen being so large and no grips/protective sides. Although the center button was easily identifiable, the other weren't so and so some labelling would have been helpful but the layout was well established and followed other devices used frequently by people(e.g remote) which was identified in the questionnaire.
The second design solved the problem of the buttons however the grip was way too large and uncomfortable to hold. The idea of grooves on both sides may allow both left and right hand users to use the product, however it ruined the look of the product and appeared to be overkill. The scanner is also hard to identify so where the put the barcode is confusing. The screen stayed the same size as it was seen adequate in the walkthrough and was inline with other PDA screens found in the market research.
The final design offers the user a device that can be held comfortably and used with ease. The buttons are self explanitory with the use of labels, and the scanner clearly indentifiable. The modified grip now looks in keeping with the design and the overall outfit is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. An added modification that can not be seen is the use of a strap that can be added to ensure that the PDA stays firmly in the palm of the user. Overall the developments that have taken place on the design have made the end product a user friendly device that is purposely sculptured around its target audience.
Conclusion of Final Software Mock Up
The screens(designed by david) have taken into consideration everything a lot that we have discussed on this blog. If you review back to the photos of the meetings on the software requirements we can tick evaluate our final design to what we set out to achieve:
Simple Menus: Everything is clearly labelled and the buttons easily identifiable
Nutrition Colours: The food can be broken down into its components which is understood by the majority of the users. If, as expected, the owner uses this device often they will become familiar with the colours and be able to identify the healthier foods more easily by its 'components'.
Advanced Options: The owner can set up their own profile whereby they can set allergies or particular diets that they need to follow. This is really important for elderly people whose diets could make a huge difference to their actual health.
Clear: each screen is labelled and set out with to maximise clarity. No large words or huge amounts of texts are used. As our senses depreciate with age, and our target audience being the elderly this was a major factor in our design. If the text is too small then all the functionality of the device would be wasted as it would be deemed unusuable by a large proportion of the population we are aiming at.
Simple Menus: Everything is clearly labelled and the buttons easily identifiable
Nutrition Colours: The food can be broken down into its components which is understood by the majority of the users. If, as expected, the owner uses this device often they will become familiar with the colours and be able to identify the healthier foods more easily by its 'components'.
Advanced Options: The owner can set up their own profile whereby they can set allergies or particular diets that they need to follow. This is really important for elderly people whose diets could make a huge difference to their actual health.
Clear: each screen is labelled and set out with to maximise clarity. No large words or huge amounts of texts are used. As our senses depreciate with age, and our target audience being the elderly this was a major factor in our design. If the text is too small then all the functionality of the device would be wasted as it would be deemed unusuable by a large proportion of the population we are aiming at.
Re-Evaluation - Cognitive Walkthough II
Upon picking up the device I was pleased with the improvements I suggested. I'm not sure why the screen size has decreased, but the text seems viewable for me at least. It’s always nice to have a large screen but maybe this was the reason I found it hard to pick up in the first place. The suggestions of button colour, design and text placement on the device are to my liking. Despite the reduction of screen size I still feel people with arthritis will still find it hard to pick up and hold. I think now that the device is easy to hold with one hand there is no need for a strap to attach it to my person.
When I turn the device on the initial screen showing the setup was of decent quality and allowed me to personalize the device to my dietary needs. I noticed that some dietary needs were still missing and if you add these the device will be improved. I started off by trying to scan in a packet of crisps and I was still confused when it didn't scan in first time round, but it finally worked just like last time. I can't see a way you can improve it though. I was disappointed there was no picture alongside the text which displayed the item I scanned in. I like the way it said press the red button since pressing a coloured button is easier than which of the two buttons is the select button. I like the way you could go back to the main menu easily but preferred text which displayed how far along the chain of menus I was. Going back to the main menu I was somewhat pleased that the main menu was quite simple but also it had lost a lot of functionality I think more menus should be added but maybe this is just a prototype of what it looks like rather than a complete prototype. On the report screen it would have been nice to display numbers/percentages on the bars to show the values. It was also lacking a suggest meal plan option unlike the old prototype which I think you should bring back. I think if you added more functionality the product would be better but then again you need to keep the device simple for my companions.
Analysis
- · The improvements were well approved by myself
- · Screen size is suitable but preferred it before
- · The grip is much easier to hold now the device is smaller
- · Unsure why functionality is lacking but this might be due to the prototype just showing the improvements only
- · Liked the way buttons were referred to by colour
- · Preferred the original prototype’s report section
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Cognitive Walkthrough Analysis
Since the cognitive walkthrough post on Harold Carter is quite long, i thought i would make a second post to summarize the points, and comment on them. This way, both the cognitive walkthrough, which keeps the detail on the evaluation, and the summary of points, which will aid members of the team on the redesign, will be present on the blog.
HARDWARE
1) Refine the way in which the device is held, which is one of the major issues with the device at the moment. One suggestion, I came up with is having some kind of bar underneath the device for the user to grip onto, that could have finger marks to press fingers into. Its quite hard to explain it here but I'll explain better in person to the person doing the hardware redesign. Any other sensible grips would be suitable too, where the users fingers and thumbs do not touch the screen. Possibly increase the size of the control panel too!
2) Adding a Nintendo Wii like strap to the device could also be useful, and help the user feel more safe and less afraid of dropping it. This is only necessary if a decent grip is not manufactured.
3) Screen size and text size is great - keep it the same!
4) Button design is good too, and buttons are placed right, but add in text underneath the buttons to say what they do! Take out the middle button since its quite confusing to distinguish the difference between this and the select button. Move the arrow buttons further apart! Whats the difference between the red and the green buttons? No need to have different colours here, only on the undo/select buttons.
4) Round off the top corners like the bottom ones. They make the look and feel of the device better!
5) Make sure that the infra-red scanner location is obvious to the use, either by text or a sticking out bit.
SOFTWARE
1) Maybe show a warning screen on startup to indicate what beeping or vibrating does, to save the user working it out or reading the manual.
2) Add on more box messages to let the user what is going on constantly. If the user presses scan and nothing happens, pop up a screen saying 'Try Again' or something. After the item is added, pop up a screen saying 'Item Added'.
3) Simplify the way in which users add food which doesn't have a barcode. Remove the screen about nutrition groups here, its quite confusing. Although liked the little box which showed the user how far along the process they were at.
4) The recommendations menu was great, and showed the user what he should be eating. The way in which they could select things and displays was of a decent standard.
HARDWARE
1) Refine the way in which the device is held, which is one of the major issues with the device at the moment. One suggestion, I came up with is having some kind of bar underneath the device for the user to grip onto, that could have finger marks to press fingers into. Its quite hard to explain it here but I'll explain better in person to the person doing the hardware redesign. Any other sensible grips would be suitable too, where the users fingers and thumbs do not touch the screen. Possibly increase the size of the control panel too!
2) Adding a Nintendo Wii like strap to the device could also be useful, and help the user feel more safe and less afraid of dropping it. This is only necessary if a decent grip is not manufactured.
3) Screen size and text size is great - keep it the same!
4) Button design is good too, and buttons are placed right, but add in text underneath the buttons to say what they do! Take out the middle button since its quite confusing to distinguish the difference between this and the select button. Move the arrow buttons further apart! Whats the difference between the red and the green buttons? No need to have different colours here, only on the undo/select buttons.
4) Round off the top corners like the bottom ones. They make the look and feel of the device better!
5) Make sure that the infra-red scanner location is obvious to the use, either by text or a sticking out bit.
SOFTWARE
1) Maybe show a warning screen on startup to indicate what beeping or vibrating does, to save the user working it out or reading the manual.
2) Add on more box messages to let the user what is going on constantly. If the user presses scan and nothing happens, pop up a screen saying 'Try Again' or something. After the item is added, pop up a screen saying 'Item Added'.
3) Simplify the way in which users add food which doesn't have a barcode. Remove the screen about nutrition groups here, its quite confusing. Although liked the little box which showed the user how far along the process they were at.
4) The recommendations menu was great, and showed the user what he should be eating. The way in which they could select things and displays was of a decent standard.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Cognitive Walkthrough (Persona: Harold Carter)
The device doesn't look like it can be picked up using one hand, since the control panel with buttons on is so small and the screen is so big, my thumbs overlap onto the screen, and this doesn’t seem like it should be used this way. I tried holding the device by grabbing the control panel but this seems unnatural and the device feels top heavy. Its practically impossible holding the device and pushing menu buttons at the same time with the desired effect, by holding it in one hand, so I swapped to two hands. Even then I was unfamiliar with using any kind of device with two hands, the hi-fi and TV remote is not like this despite the buttons, which indicate the familiarity. I was having to grip the screen by the side because it didn’t fit in the palm of my hand while I punched in the buttons using my other hand, and I felt like I could drop it at any point. I finally put it on the table since it seemed the easier option and I didn't want to break it. I think the way in which you hold the device could be refined since I was unsure. Something to grip onto would be nice, and then I wouldn't be afraid of dropping it, possibly even a strap to connect it to my wrist.
I felt the size of the screen was just right and the text displayed on it was easily readable, which is a problem with some devices since they think smaller is better! I liked the idea of the button design being like a Sky TV remote, I instantly know which button does what. The fact the UNDO button is always on the left on devices like these brings familiarity, although text underneath the button saying UNDO would be nice since I wasn't 100%. I'm not really sure what the difference between the okay button on the right and the select button in the middle is? I also feel the arrow buttons should be further apart since at one point I pressed left, and the menu did something different. I didn’t understand the difference between the red and green buttons? I definitely think you should round off the corners at the top, like you did at the bottom, to make the device safer. The rounded edges at the bottom are very nice though.
Onto the actually things on the screen! I started by trying to scan in an item, and had to awkwardly pick up the device again since resting it on the table, the device couldn’t see the barcode of the item I wanted to scan, in fact where is the scanner located, I guess its at the top but it looks the same to me, I will try doing that first. I put a can of beans in front of where I thought the scanner was and nothing really happened so I kept putting it in the way. I was about to give up but something came on the screen. The device started beeping at me, what does that even mean? I should have really read the handbook, but the box told me its simple to use! A picture of a can of beans flashed up on the screen, it seems to have worked, now where do I press to go back to the main menu, do I press back or next, I’m not sure. I press next and the software reverts to the main menu, I assume its added it in to the machine, a warning would be nice, but maybe that’s what the beeping was for!
Next I tried adding some food without scanning it through the barcode. I was confronted with a men u about food groups, a can of beans fits into none of those food groups so I went through each one, clicking undo if I couldn’t find beans in the list. This men u seems a bit confusing to me, but maybe I should know more about food than I do! I liked the idea that the food groups correspond to colours still! I also like the fact that the menu shows where along the chain I am in adding food. This comes in very useful if I put the device down and pick it up five minutes later, I don’t have to start again! I finally worked my way into adding beans, and clicked confirm, that seemed quite simple despite the early mishap. The beeping sound must mean its been added, maybe I didn't need to read the manual after all.
After a few days I felt like trying out the other menus since the device had enough information to work out my dietary needs. I clicked on recommendations and it showed me how much I had eaten of each food group, this was interesting! Too many carbohydrates for me compared to fibre, better try to balance my diet. I don't mind having one meal a week that I don't enjoy to improve my health, it might keep me living longer, so I can play more sport!! I clicked the next button to recommend meals to me to fill out my diet. A list popped up of meals to have and I clicked on the food that I enjoyed the most and it showed me the meal to make. This seems quite simple and the ingredients were listed too. I added them to the planner and made the meal as per description on the page. I went back to the recommendations page, and it said my diet was balanced, I could choose what to eat next! Great!
I tried clicking on this analysis of health menu, which is for my doctor to see what would happen. It might give me some useful information about my diet. It showed me a graph of my levels, and suggested a few things, that I was eating healthy, and so on. It gave a few medical names too, which I ignored since it was for the doctor really. It doesn’t seem too useful for me; I’ll leave it for the doctor to handle!
Overall I feel the software was of a decent standard, the familiarity I had with the hardware helped me use the software more easily. With the removal of one or two useless menus, and a few more warnings and ideas of where to click when I’m done with things, I think the product could be useful, to someone like me at least! I'd happily follow the diet plan if the doctor recommended it to me, so I could carry on with life but I could see the more elderly people having trouble with some meals in here.
I felt the size of the screen was just right and the text displayed on it was easily readable, which is a problem with some devices since they think smaller is better! I liked the idea of the button design being like a Sky TV remote, I instantly know which button does what. The fact the UNDO button is always on the left on devices like these brings familiarity, although text underneath the button saying UNDO would be nice since I wasn't 100%. I'm not really sure what the difference between the okay button on the right and the select button in the middle is? I also feel the arrow buttons should be further apart since at one point I pressed left, and the menu did something different. I didn’t understand the difference between the red and green buttons? I definitely think you should round off the corners at the top, like you did at the bottom, to make the device safer. The rounded edges at the bottom are very nice though.
Onto the actually things on the screen! I started by trying to scan in an item, and had to awkwardly pick up the device again since resting it on the table, the device couldn’t see the barcode of the item I wanted to scan, in fact where is the scanner located, I guess its at the top but it looks the same to me, I will try doing that first. I put a can of beans in front of where I thought the scanner was and nothing really happened so I kept putting it in the way. I was about to give up but something came on the screen. The device started beeping at me, what does that even mean? I should have really read the handbook, but the box told me its simple to use! A picture of a can of beans flashed up on the screen, it seems to have worked, now where do I press to go back to the main menu, do I press back or next, I’m not sure. I press next and the software reverts to the main menu, I assume its added it in to the machine, a warning would be nice, but maybe that’s what the beeping was for!
Next I tried adding some food without scanning it through the barcode. I was confronted with a men u about food groups, a can of beans fits into none of those food groups so I went through each one, clicking undo if I couldn’t find beans in the list. This men u seems a bit confusing to me, but maybe I should know more about food than I do! I liked the idea that the food groups correspond to colours still! I also like the fact that the menu shows where along the chain I am in adding food. This comes in very useful if I put the device down and pick it up five minutes later, I don’t have to start again! I finally worked my way into adding beans, and clicked confirm, that seemed quite simple despite the early mishap. The beeping sound must mean its been added, maybe I didn't need to read the manual after all.
After a few days I felt like trying out the other menus since the device had enough information to work out my dietary needs. I clicked on recommendations and it showed me how much I had eaten of each food group, this was interesting! Too many carbohydrates for me compared to fibre, better try to balance my diet. I don't mind having one meal a week that I don't enjoy to improve my health, it might keep me living longer, so I can play more sport!! I clicked the next button to recommend meals to me to fill out my diet. A list popped up of meals to have and I clicked on the food that I enjoyed the most and it showed me the meal to make. This seems quite simple and the ingredients were listed too. I added them to the planner and made the meal as per description on the page. I went back to the recommendations page, and it said my diet was balanced, I could choose what to eat next! Great!
I tried clicking on this analysis of health menu, which is for my doctor to see what would happen. It might give me some useful information about my diet. It showed me a graph of my levels, and suggested a few things, that I was eating healthy, and so on. It gave a few medical names too, which I ignored since it was for the doctor really. It doesn’t seem too useful for me; I’ll leave it for the doctor to handle!
Overall I feel the software was of a decent standard, the familiarity I had with the hardware helped me use the software more easily. With the removal of one or two useless menus, and a few more warnings and ideas of where to click when I’m done with things, I think the product could be useful, to someone like me at least! I'd happily follow the diet plan if the doctor recommended it to me, so I could carry on with life but I could see the more elderly people having trouble with some meals in here.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Evaluation: Heuristic Evaluation
Overview of system:
Publish
The system provides constant feedback to the user an example of when this feedback is provided is when the food is scanned it shows the name of the food and a picture of it and also it provides feedback in a "beep" in response to a complete scan. Having looked at the system maybe a list of all the screens they have gone through to get to the current one could be displayed as this would help the user know where abouts they are.
Language in the system tries to avoid any technical words and keeps the language relatively simple.
To keep the system consistent the colours and format of the different screen are consistent. The system also keep a main menu back and a next button on the bottom of the screen for all screens other than the main menu itself.
The ability to recognise what to do next is clear in most cases as constant feedback allow for the user to know what to do, but this really has to be put to the test in a user evaluation.
Our system is based on the principle of being able to correct mistakes made as we all make them. There is an undo button on the hardware and also a back button on the screen.
The system is relatively simple there are advanced functions that can be access as the system allows doctors, nutrition experts to view what a specific person has been eating. There are many many different forms which the user could possibly access so again it would be good if a user opinion could be obtained.
The system error recover built in occurs mainly in situations where a scan of the product hasn't been recognised. It prompts the user to scan the item again.
The documentation is mainly in the form of user prompts which allow the user to follow there process in the system and also alert them about what to do next.
The expert use needs to be improved or ignored as it maybe helpful to more technological minded elderly but, i would also say that the system is quite simple and relatively
Publish
The system provides constant feedback to the user an example of when this feedback is provided is when the food is scanned it shows the name of the food and a picture of it and also it provides feedback in a "beep" in response to a complete scan. Having looked at the system maybe a list of all the screens they have gone through to get to the current one could be displayed as this would help the user know where abouts they are.
Language in the system tries to avoid any technical words and keeps the language relatively simple.
To keep the system consistent the colours and format of the different screen are consistent. The system also keep a main menu back and a next button on the bottom of the screen for all screens other than the main menu itself.
The ability to recognise what to do next is clear in most cases as constant feedback allow for the user to know what to do, but this really has to be put to the test in a user evaluation.
Our system is based on the principle of being able to correct mistakes made as we all make them. There is an undo button on the hardware and also a back button on the screen.
The system is relatively simple there are advanced functions that can be access as the system allows doctors, nutrition experts to view what a specific person has been eating. There are many many different forms which the user could possibly access so again it would be good if a user opinion could be obtained.
The system error recover built in occurs mainly in situations where a scan of the product hasn't been recognised. It prompts the user to scan the item again.
The documentation is mainly in the form of user prompts which allow the user to follow there process in the system and also alert them about what to do next.
The expert use needs to be improved or ignored as it maybe helpful to more technological minded elderly but, i would also say that the system is quite simple and relatively
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Responses to Questionnaire
The responses to the questionnaire:
Harold Carter
Eilleen Stone
Raven Miur
Arthur Rawlings
1) Which size of screen do you think is suitable for the product to display relevant information back to the user?
A - The design of the product is aesthetically pleasing. The colours in the other design confuse me somewhat
B
B or C - I believe that both the design are quite similar and i'm not too fussed as long is it looks similar to either of them
2) Which device has buttons which you feel more comfortable with?Mobile Phone TV HI-FI
Microwave
TV - As i spend a lot of my time watching TV i feel very comfortable using 'most' button on my TV remote.
TV
TV - Although i'm familiar with a HI-FI i still prefer the TV remote.
3) How would you prefer the device to be powered?
Rechargeable batteries - I would like these as it would save me money and when your my age you need all the money you have to spend on other things.
Rechargeable batteries
Batteries - it seems easier to change the batteries when they run out.
4) Which is the heaviest weight you would be comfortable carrying?
An orange - I don't really understand what the question is getting at, but i would prefer a bag to carry the milk and sugar in.
Bottle of milk - I could only hold a bottle of milk for a limited period of time though.
N/A - I don't really understand what relevance this has but i could carry the weight of a bottle of milk.
5) Which style menus would you prefer?
N/A - I can't figure out what the difference between the two.
Horizontal sliding menu
Vertical Sliding - i like the look of the menu but i don't really understand the question.
6) Would you have a problem with force feedback?
Yes - A flashing screen would irritate my eyes. A rumble pack would be suitable if that involved some sort of vibration alert like a mobile.
Yes
No - I would love the feedback idea as it gives me an indication that the device is working.
7) Picture yourself scanning an object, would you need one hand or two hands to manoeuvre the device?
One hand.
One hand.
One hand.
8) Would you like extra functionality if it could be plugged into a computer?
No - I don't own a computer and wouldn't know where to start, so that would be pretty useless for me.
No
No - I don't understand how to work a computer.
9) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you didn’t like, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
No - Lifes to short.
No
No - If i don't like a food i will not eat it.
10) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you did not prefer, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
Maybe - food is all about the mood
Yes
No
11) Would you be prepared to use the device daily so that it can store an accurate record of daily intake?
Maybe - but it does sounds like quite a bit of hassle
Yes
Yes
12) How useful do you think our product would be in the home environment?
I would use it for a week or so to test how useful it is.
I would try to use it daily in the hope that it might improve my diet.
I would try to use it daily in the hope that it might improve my diet.
General Comments
Sounds like a good idea but if the design is complicated i will not bother. I if gave alternative food ideas for cooking i would be very interested in purchasing the device.
N/A
I would really like a device like the one proposed as it would massively benefit my life and stop my family giving me hassle about eating healthily
Harold Carter
Eilleen Stone
Raven Miur
Arthur Rawlings
1) Which size of screen do you think is suitable for the product to display relevant information back to the user?
A - The design of the product is aesthetically pleasing. The colours in the other design confuse me somewhat
B
B or C - I believe that both the design are quite similar and i'm not too fussed as long is it looks similar to either of them
2) Which device has buttons which you feel more comfortable with?Mobile Phone TV HI-FI
Microwave
TV - As i spend a lot of my time watching TV i feel very comfortable using 'most' button on my TV remote.
TV
TV - Although i'm familiar with a HI-FI i still prefer the TV remote.
3) How would you prefer the device to be powered?
Rechargeable batteries - I would like these as it would save me money and when your my age you need all the money you have to spend on other things.
Rechargeable batteries
Batteries - it seems easier to change the batteries when they run out.
4) Which is the heaviest weight you would be comfortable carrying?
An orange - I don't really understand what the question is getting at, but i would prefer a bag to carry the milk and sugar in.
Bottle of milk - I could only hold a bottle of milk for a limited period of time though.
N/A - I don't really understand what relevance this has but i could carry the weight of a bottle of milk.
5) Which style menus would you prefer?
N/A - I can't figure out what the difference between the two.
Horizontal sliding menu
Vertical Sliding - i like the look of the menu but i don't really understand the question.
6) Would you have a problem with force feedback?
Yes - A flashing screen would irritate my eyes. A rumble pack would be suitable if that involved some sort of vibration alert like a mobile.
Yes
No - I would love the feedback idea as it gives me an indication that the device is working.
7) Picture yourself scanning an object, would you need one hand or two hands to manoeuvre the device?
One hand.
One hand.
One hand.
8) Would you like extra functionality if it could be plugged into a computer?
No - I don't own a computer and wouldn't know where to start, so that would be pretty useless for me.
No
No - I don't understand how to work a computer.
9) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you didn’t like, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
No - Lifes to short.
No
No - If i don't like a food i will not eat it.
10) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you did not prefer, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
Maybe - food is all about the mood
Yes
No
11) Would you be prepared to use the device daily so that it can store an accurate record of daily intake?
Maybe - but it does sounds like quite a bit of hassle
Yes
Yes
12) How useful do you think our product would be in the home environment?
I would use it for a week or so to test how useful it is.
I would try to use it daily in the hope that it might improve my diet.
I would try to use it daily in the hope that it might improve my diet.
General Comments
Sounds like a good idea but if the design is complicated i will not bother. I if gave alternative food ideas for cooking i would be very interested in purchasing the device.
N/A
I would really like a device like the one proposed as it would massively benefit my life and stop my family giving me hassle about eating healthily
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Product Research
In order to begin the design process product research is vital to ensure that we can compare our features with other products where they have been implemented successfully. Viewing other similar products can also help in giving us inspiration for our own, ensuring that what we end up with is fully functioning and effective.
To begin the research i have looked into the top handheld devices out at the moment, extracting the dimensions from specifications and tabulating the results, allowing for us to decide what the most appropriate size of our product should be.
In the table above i have included two different types of handheld devices, 3 are PDA's and the other two are handheld gaming devices. The reason i have included the second two is that they are intended to be held with two hands and so give an indication of boundaries where a device becomes too large to use with only one hand. We must also keep in mind that we are dealing with elderly people who are going to have decreasing mobility, strength aswell as eyesight so keeping the screen as large as possible while the whole device as light as possible will certainly be high in the specifications.
Dietry Websites Market Research
Diet Planners work on your suggested weight range, BMI and suggested calorie intakes, however, this varies massively from person to person which is why they are not too successful and can only be used as a guidline. Another problem is the time consuming manual input required in order to track the daily intake of food, especially as the age group we are aiming at are the elder generation who havent grown up with modern toys(internet, computers,PDA etc.). These packages also incure a monthly subscription ontop of the cost of the internet, which may not appear too appealing. http://www.startyourdiet.com/howitworks.htm
Instead of telling you what to eat with strict diets, some websites try to educate the users by offering alternatives, with recipes and indicating how much you should eat to what you do eat. These can actually lead to saving money as buying ingredients tends to be cheaper than buying processed or frozen food. http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/index.aspx
There are a lot of theories about what to eat and which diets are the best, however, not many of them take into cosideration of allergy or health problems, which is vitally important with elderly people. Medication can also make a difference to the diet as some foods don't compliment your medication and can lead to making the client feel worse or have undesired side effects. http://www.freedclinic.co.uk/
With these sites come forum where expert advice is readily available, this obviously is included in the price however offers a valuable service that would be hard to implement in our device. Possibly a website for those who do know how to use the internet could be included, or a phone directory to important organisations that offer dietry advice may be a useful tool to include.
Instead of telling you what to eat with strict diets, some websites try to educate the users by offering alternatives, with recipes and indicating how much you should eat to what you do eat. These can actually lead to saving money as buying ingredients tends to be cheaper than buying processed or frozen food. http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/index.aspx
There are a lot of theories about what to eat and which diets are the best, however, not many of them take into cosideration of allergy or health problems, which is vitally important with elderly people. Medication can also make a difference to the diet as some foods don't compliment your medication and can lead to making the client feel worse or have undesired side effects. http://www.freedclinic.co.uk/
With these sites come forum where expert advice is readily available, this obviously is included in the price however offers a valuable service that would be hard to implement in our device. Possibly a website for those who do know how to use the internet could be included, or a phone directory to important organisations that offer dietry advice may be a useful tool to include.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Meeting 13th March
Aims
- To encourage more posting on the blogs
- To make sure that the questionnaire is complete by persona's
- To discuss the next step in our user-centred design process
It has been a while since anything has been posted, i know we have a lot to do but we are now behind in our project. It has been noted that we should all be posting at least a couple of times a week only relevant material though.
The questionnaire has now been on the blog for well over a week, we discussed the need to complete this and I will analysis the data after putting it into graphs. We discussed the questions themselves and i still felt that the question on weight was a bit hazy but the others couldn't think of any other question to ask about the weight of the device. We decided that everyone should fill in the questionnaire by Wednesday evening latest and that it shouldn't be posted on the blog as it is useless information.
Finally we discussed where to go next in the design process. It was a case of discussing doing a case analysis using our persona's, also Dave said that he would be willing to try and create a prototype using Netbeans mobile device program. Shaun is going to come up with a design of our prototypes hardware as his previous designs using a CAD package were excellent. Simon will continue doing market research to see if that can aid our final prototype design, especially focusing on the graphical user interface side. Tris is going to start the case analysis of the persona and finally I'm going to analyse the data from the questionnaires and see if there are any similarities or a large contrast in answers.
- To encourage more posting on the blogs
- To make sure that the questionnaire is complete by persona's
- To discuss the next step in our user-centred design process
It has been a while since anything has been posted, i know we have a lot to do but we are now behind in our project. It has been noted that we should all be posting at least a couple of times a week only relevant material though.
The questionnaire has now been on the blog for well over a week, we discussed the need to complete this and I will analysis the data after putting it into graphs. We discussed the questions themselves and i still felt that the question on weight was a bit hazy but the others couldn't think of any other question to ask about the weight of the device. We decided that everyone should fill in the questionnaire by Wednesday evening latest and that it shouldn't be posted on the blog as it is useless information.
Finally we discussed where to go next in the design process. It was a case of discussing doing a case analysis using our persona's, also Dave said that he would be willing to try and create a prototype using Netbeans mobile device program. Shaun is going to come up with a design of our prototypes hardware as his previous designs using a CAD package were excellent. Simon will continue doing market research to see if that can aid our final prototype design, especially focusing on the graphical user interface side. Tris is going to start the case analysis of the persona and finally I'm going to analyse the data from the questionnaires and see if there are any similarities or a large contrast in answers.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Questionnaire
Here is our questionnaire that we presented to our users after we had designed the prototype. From here we could recieve feedback so we could go away again and refine our requirements. Unfortunately blogger.com isn't particularly friendly with layout so heres the word file, that we actually presented to the user. Below is the contents, just not particularly formatted well of that file.
Questionnaire
1) Which size of screen do you think is suitable for the product to display relevant information back to the user?
A B C D
Additional Comments:
2) Which device has buttons which you feel more comfortable with?
Mobile Phone TV HI-FI Microwave
3) How would you prefer the device to be powered?
Batteries Chargeable Battery (mobile) Solar Power (calculator)
4) Which is the heaviest weight you would be comfortable carrying?
An Orange Bottle of Milk A Bag of Sugar
Additional Comments:
5) Which style menus would you prefer?
Horizontal sliding (iPod) (1) Vertical Sliding (Mobile Device) (2)
6) Would you have a problem with force feedback? (rumble pack, loud beep, flashing screen)
Yes No
Additional Comments
7) Picture yourself scanning an object, would you need one hand or two hands to manoeuvre the device?
One Hand Two Hands
8) Would you like extra functionality if it could be plugged into a computer?
Yes No
9) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you didn’t like, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
Yes No
10) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you did not prefer, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
Yes No
11) Would you be prepared to use the device daily so that it can store an accurate record of daily intake?
Yes No
12) How useful do you think our product would be in the home environment?
I would use it daily and it could help improve my diet a lot.
I would try to use it daily in the hope that it might improve my diet.
I would use it for a week or so to test how useful it is.
I don’t think I’d use it much in the home.
Additional Comments on the Device:
Questionnaire
1) Which size of screen do you think is suitable for the product to display relevant information back to the user?
A B C D
Additional Comments:
2) Which device has buttons which you feel more comfortable with?
Mobile Phone TV HI-FI Microwave
3) How would you prefer the device to be powered?
Batteries Chargeable Battery (mobile) Solar Power (calculator)
4) Which is the heaviest weight you would be comfortable carrying?
An Orange Bottle of Milk A Bag of Sugar
Additional Comments:
5) Which style menus would you prefer?
Horizontal sliding (iPod) (1) Vertical Sliding (Mobile Device) (2)
6) Would you have a problem with force feedback? (rumble pack, loud beep, flashing screen)
Yes No
Additional Comments
7) Picture yourself scanning an object, would you need one hand or two hands to manoeuvre the device?
One Hand Two Hands
8) Would you like extra functionality if it could be plugged into a computer?
Yes No
9) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you didn’t like, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
Yes No
10) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you did not prefer, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
Yes No
11) Would you be prepared to use the device daily so that it can store an accurate record of daily intake?
Yes No
12) How useful do you think our product would be in the home environment?
I would use it daily and it could help improve my diet a lot.
I would try to use it daily in the hope that it might improve my diet.
I would use it for a week or so to test how useful it is.
I don’t think I’d use it much in the home.
Additional Comments on the Device:
Meeting 27/2/07
Aims
- Discuss questionnaire design
- Discuss prototype AGAIN!
- Discuss personas (after Monday's lecture)
The meeting today was rather short in comparison to other meetings this is mainly down to the fact that different people are undergoing different tasks which meant that there was much discussion. The discussion started off with the personas coming up again in discussion this was due to Russell showing us his personas on Monday. In general it was felt that a little more work all round should be done to help improve our personas and thus be able to do a very detailed user analysis of our system as well as the questionnaire.
Tris this week designed a questionnaire which we all had our opinions on most of the questions were relevant to the project. One question on his original questionnaire was:
What weight would you be comfortable in holding for a period of time?
250g 1Kg 3.5 Kg
As we are aiming the questionnaire at the elderly it was felt that the measurements given in metric should also be shown in imperial measurements. Then Someone suggested changing the question to include real world object like a bag of sugar as people will find this easier to think about.
The other main issue this week was the prototype design again! This is an on going process with new ideas added. Last week Shaun was asked to find examples of handles that could be used on the device. The ideas he came up with / found were not too bad but we are still in discussion about the actual size of the device and until this in finalised the decision isn't going to be made.
Goals For Next Week
- Finalise Questionnaire
- Re-evaluate personas
- Market research (Simon)
- Research into HCI techniques to make sure we doing the right things
- Discuss questionnaire design
- Discuss prototype AGAIN!
- Discuss personas (after Monday's lecture)
The meeting today was rather short in comparison to other meetings this is mainly down to the fact that different people are undergoing different tasks which meant that there was much discussion. The discussion started off with the personas coming up again in discussion this was due to Russell showing us his personas on Monday. In general it was felt that a little more work all round should be done to help improve our personas and thus be able to do a very detailed user analysis of our system as well as the questionnaire.
Tris this week designed a questionnaire which we all had our opinions on most of the questions were relevant to the project. One question on his original questionnaire was:
What weight would you be comfortable in holding for a period of time?
250g 1Kg 3.5 Kg
As we are aiming the questionnaire at the elderly it was felt that the measurements given in metric should also be shown in imperial measurements. Then Someone suggested changing the question to include real world object like a bag of sugar as people will find this easier to think about.
The other main issue this week was the prototype design again! This is an on going process with new ideas added. Last week Shaun was asked to find examples of handles that could be used on the device. The ideas he came up with / found were not too bad but we are still in discussion about the actual size of the device and until this in finalised the decision isn't going to be made.
Goals For Next Week
- Finalise Questionnaire
- Re-evaluate personas
- Market research (Simon)
- Research into HCI techniques to make sure we doing the right things
Thursday, February 22, 2007
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