1. Explain and discuss practical and theoretical aspects of Human-Computer Interaction.
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/heuristic-evaluation.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/more-about-hardware.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/02/persona-william-worthington-meeting.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/11-conclusion.html
2. Apply HCI principles to practical problems
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/02/personas-trisha-was-ill-so-i-had-to.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/02/between-last-meeting-and-latest-we-have.html
3. Participate in analysis and design work in HCI
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/02/initial-design.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/software-revised-and-elaborated.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/this-is-nursery-rhymes-and-stories.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/8-focus-groups-target-persona.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/8-cognitive-walkthrough-evaluation.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/heuristic-evaluation.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/9-re-design.html
http://superhyperglobalmegablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/re-design-hardware.html
Friday 30 March 2007
11 - Conclusion
Designing a product for a child is a much harder task than we first thought. Imagining something from another perspective can be tricky, especially when that perspective is so different from our normal one.
The persona's really helped with this task. We spent a lot of time thinking out our persona's and understanding their families and way of life. This really helped us target our product.
As a group we came up with some great ideas. Often ideas clashed and led to heated debate but this only helped everyone see everyone else's point of view. We spent a few weeks refining our prototype as we kept having new ideas or concepts of how it could be improved. We found that, before we started using formal techniques, we were constantly evaluating and redesigning and we were all really happy with our first prototype.
We were fortunate enough to have access to lots of parents with children of varying ages who we sent questionnaires to and the results were great. Overall the parents were very pleased with our product and one even offered their contact details in case we'd require funding to produce the product. They also offered some great criticism and made us realise that our original research and ideas about what a child was capable of were a little misguided. This led to us changing the age range and look for our product.
We found the heuristic evaluation and focus groups surprisingly helpful. This brought up loads of points we hadn't thought of in our original design. The results of these evaluation methods, combined with the results of the questionnaire made the task of redesigning what we thought was the perfect product much easier.
The product has evolved enormously since our first prototype and we are very happy with our final design. We feel that were our product actually made commercially available, it would be very beneficial for children providing them entertinment alongside education and that it would be well received by parents.
The persona's really helped with this task. We spent a lot of time thinking out our persona's and understanding their families and way of life. This really helped us target our product.
As a group we came up with some great ideas. Often ideas clashed and led to heated debate but this only helped everyone see everyone else's point of view. We spent a few weeks refining our prototype as we kept having new ideas or concepts of how it could be improved. We found that, before we started using formal techniques, we were constantly evaluating and redesigning and we were all really happy with our first prototype.
We were fortunate enough to have access to lots of parents with children of varying ages who we sent questionnaires to and the results were great. Overall the parents were very pleased with our product and one even offered their contact details in case we'd require funding to produce the product. They also offered some great criticism and made us realise that our original research and ideas about what a child was capable of were a little misguided. This led to us changing the age range and look for our product.
We found the heuristic evaluation and focus groups surprisingly helpful. This brought up loads of points we hadn't thought of in our original design. The results of these evaluation methods, combined with the results of the questionnaire made the task of redesigning what we thought was the perfect product much easier.
The product has evolved enormously since our first prototype and we are very happy with our final design. We feel that were our product actually made commercially available, it would be very beneficial for children providing them entertinment alongside education and that it would be well received by parents.
10 - Re-evaluation
We are very happy with our new design and it's fresh unique look and it's much easier to control than before.
However, we still have criticisms of our device:
1 - We thought the camera button would only fit in next to the right button. It's a bit annoying that this button only has a purpose in one application and makes the device less symmetrical. The button could also be pressed by mistake when a user wants to press the right button or vice versa. Whilst this wouldn't be a disaster (the camera button wouldn't actually do anything in any other mode than camera) it may become annoying - the user would think they've pressed the button but nothing happened.
2 - There is little space for the icons with the new, smaller design. Since the age range has been upped it is not so critical that they are large. Ideally they should be bigger or somehow more clear.
3 - The retracting string may be noticeable and pull whilst someone is trying to use the stylus. On top of this using a weak spring may mean that it is easy to break. One alternative is to have a retractable string that works like a pull down projector screen. You pull the pen out so that you have a length that you are happy with, you can then draw away without the string retracting. When you have finished you pull the string and it retracts. The difference between this and pull down projector screen is that you know how far you need your projector screen to be pulled down from when you start. Children may find it hard to grasp the idea of pulling the pen out to a suitable length before they start drawing.
4 - To remove the stylus from the device you need to press the nib side in and the rubber side pops out. We are not entirely happy with this as it wouldn't be immediately obvious to a child that this is what they need to do. We had considered having two gaps so that fingers can grab the pen but we decided against this to save space.
However, we still have criticisms of our device:
1 - We thought the camera button would only fit in next to the right button. It's a bit annoying that this button only has a purpose in one application and makes the device less symmetrical. The button could also be pressed by mistake when a user wants to press the right button or vice versa. Whilst this wouldn't be a disaster (the camera button wouldn't actually do anything in any other mode than camera) it may become annoying - the user would think they've pressed the button but nothing happened.
2 - There is little space for the icons with the new, smaller design. Since the age range has been upped it is not so critical that they are large. Ideally they should be bigger or somehow more clear.
3 - The retracting string may be noticeable and pull whilst someone is trying to use the stylus. On top of this using a weak spring may mean that it is easy to break. One alternative is to have a retractable string that works like a pull down projector screen. You pull the pen out so that you have a length that you are happy with, you can then draw away without the string retracting. When you have finished you pull the string and it retracts. The difference between this and pull down projector screen is that you know how far you need your projector screen to be pulled down from when you start. Children may find it hard to grasp the idea of pulling the pen out to a suitable length before they start drawing.
4 - To remove the stylus from the device you need to press the nib side in and the rubber side pops out. We are not entirely happy with this as it wouldn't be immediately obvious to a child that this is what they need to do. We had considered having two gaps so that fingers can grab the pen but we decided against this to save space.
9 - Re-design (hardware)
The overall response from the questionnaire suggested that the device was too big. It would have been difficult to use whilst being carried. If you were using the old design and carrying it using the handles you wouldn't be able to reach the buttons to do anything. The handles actually have no point other than for carrying it around so we decided to chop them off and have a strap instead. This makes the device much smaller and removes an almost pointless part of the design. We then thought it would be a good idea to have the buttons at the top corners of the device and expand the sides as it goes up. You'll get a better idea looking at this picture:
The user can grab the top left and right sides of the product which are specifically swollen to make it easier to hold. Grabbing the device in this way also means you have your thumbs free to press the buttons.
The point of being able to hold and use the device at the same time is even more important now that the age range has increased. It's much more likely a seven year old will want to walk around and use the device at the same time or even in other situations where it's not possible to rest it on your lap.
The general look is a lot more trendy and attractive. We think it will really appeal to our new age range and it's unique shape will ensure it flies off the shelves.
In our new design we have also included a retractable string which connects between the device and the end of the stylus. The string has a very light retracting force so the string is dragged in but isn't noticeable enough to be annoying when using the stylus. The child can get the pen out from the device by pressing the nib side of the pen in and and make the rubber side pop out.
Based on the responses from the questionnaire we have also decided to make the product available in a range of colours...
The user can grab the top left and right sides of the product which are specifically swollen to make it easier to hold. Grabbing the device in this way also means you have your thumbs free to press the buttons.
The point of being able to hold and use the device at the same time is even more important now that the age range has increased. It's much more likely a seven year old will want to walk around and use the device at the same time or even in other situations where it's not possible to rest it on your lap.
The general look is a lot more trendy and attractive. We think it will really appeal to our new age range and it's unique shape will ensure it flies off the shelves.
In our new design we have also included a retractable string which connects between the device and the end of the stylus. The string has a very light retracting force so the string is dragged in but isn't noticeable enough to be annoying when using the stylus. The child can get the pen out from the device by pressing the nib side of the pen in and and make the rubber side pop out.
Based on the responses from the questionnaire we have also decided to make the product available in a range of colours...
9 - Age Range
We have decided to change our age range from 18 months - 4 years to 3 - 7 years.
The questionnaires were unanimous in pointing out that our age range is wrong. Questionnaires filled out by parents with children under the age 3 indicated that they would have difficulty using it. It was also suggested that the age range should go up to 7 years old.
We originally thought we had a good age range based on our understanding of children's capabilities. Obviously the parents who filled out the questionnaires have a much better idea than us.
The questionnaires were unanimous in pointing out that our age range is wrong. Questionnaires filled out by parents with children under the age 3 indicated that they would have difficulty using it. It was also suggested that the age range should go up to 7 years old.
We originally thought we had a good age range based on our understanding of children's capabilities. Obviously the parents who filled out the questionnaires have a much better idea than us.
Sunday 25 March 2007
9 - Re-design
- Questionnaires
- Heuristic evaluation
- Cognitive walk-through
- Focus groups
Parent control
In our proposed design, The console did not have any sort of functionality that would allow the parent to control what is going on, such as downloading additional software(stories, nursery rhymes etc), changing the settings and so on. A suggestion was put forward to the parents through the questionnaire to ask whether a "Parental control" facility was appropriate. As a result to this question nearly all parents agreed to the suggestion to have a parental control facility as they felt this would be quite useful because they could have more control over their child.Stylus
In regards to the cognitive walk-through evaluation process we discovered that when the child selects a colour in the drawing application there is no indication shown to the child of what colour they have selected. Therefore, we decided to incorporate an LED into the transparent stylus so that it would light-up depending on the colour selected.
Above is an example of a light-up pen which is similar to what we are intending to use but as an alternative we will use a more chunkier pen with it lighting up at the nib with a transparent rubber. This will show the child more clearly what colour they have chosen. in the sense of lighting-up and not the shape of the pen.Progress bar
As stated in the heuristic evaluation and the cognitive walk-through, there is no indication to the parent or child as to where they are in the story application and how many pages are left. To improve this facility, we decided to place a progress bar on the application as we felt this would be the most effective way to demonstrate to the child and parent how far they have progressed and how many pages are left in the book. As shown above it will be implemented on the top of the application to avoid confusion with the words lighting up.
This improvement also applies to the gallery and music feature. In the gallery application it will be used for the same purpose as the story application and for the music application it will be used for the progress of a song and the length of the song. Additionally, we will also use the page numbering effect for this application to show the number of songs in application. e.g. Song 1 of 20. It will be placed on the top of the application to show consistency.Return button
One of the major discussions we had was on either physically having a "Home" button or having a "Return" button on the touch screen. This issue was raised during the heuristic evaluation process which may possibly confuse the child as there was no specific way of getting out of the current screen. Having a home button would mean another button on the console which we did not want. The other option was to have a return button on the touch screen but not all applications needed this feature. In conclusion to this discussion we felt that placing a return button on the touch screen would be the most effective.Error message
As pointed out in the heuristic evaluation there is a possibility of getting an error message when the camera memory is full and the child attempts to capture some more photos. At this point, a sensible error message should be displayed to the childlren whilst it's being read out to them:
Then parents would have to log-in to the parental control program and empty some space by deleting some pictures.Templates
During the discussion with the focus groups an issue was raised in regards to the camera application. The parents thought it would be a good idea to use templates with the camera as you would with a mobile phone. This will enable the child to choose a different template with the forward and backward buttons and use it with the camera.Certificate
Another idea in which would be beneficial to the child would be to have some sort of reward system where the child would be recognised for getting answers right. We thought giving the child a star every time they completed an exercise successfully would be a good reward. Once they had received a certain amount of stars they would be awarded a certificate. Above is an example of how a certificate would look. If the child was to achieve 1-5 stars they would receive a bronze award. If the child was to achieve 6-9 stars they would achieve a silver award and if the child was to achieve 10 stars they would achieve a gold award. These certificates will be stored in the Gallery so they can be printed by attaching a printer to the console later on.Menu Consistency
Whilst discussing the consistency and standards point of the heuristic evaluation we thought it might be a good idea to have a welcome menu to each section. This is already the case for the stories and music section and we thought it might be a good idea to use it throughout. After discussing it further we realised that menus for sections such as the alphabet and numbers section would be inappropriate. We then thought about getting rid of welcome menus for all sections but they are essential for the stories section. We concluded it would be best to keep the menu set up as it is. Whilst it's not as consistent as we'd like, we do think this is best possible layout and makes the most sense.
During our re-design process, there were certain aspects of the console that needed further consideration that would improve our proposed design. The methods that we used to throughout this process includes:
The results from these methods concluded that we need to modify some parts of our proposed design to suit the user requirements. These modifications are as follows:
8 - Focus Groups: Target Persona
One of the evaluation methods that we used is having a Focus Group session with our target personas. Focus Groups as they say is a qualitative research to find out more about the user's reaction to an interface and have an equal contribution towards the design evolution in product life cycle. This has come up very handy because it is an easy and low costly way to gather a group of people to cross communicate their ideas and actually come up with design modifications.
We gathered all our target personas together to give us a detailed feedback on our product design. One of us acted like a moderator who mediated the discussion and gave everyone a chance to speak about in the discussion. A brief conversation amongst the parents of target personas was recorded as follows:
Abbreviation: Britney's Parents (BP), Dennis's Parents (DP), William's Parents (WP), Moderator(M)
DP: I think my child can use all these physical features on the console like pen, buttons and slider immediately. However, he might have to explore a bit before he can use the touch screen, camera and eraser.
WP: Yes, I agree. However, touch screens are quite common and intutive things for kids nowa days. William often plays around with my PDA at home and asks me to let him write on my tablet now and then. It will be great for kids to have their own toy to work with.
DP: Dennis will be actually very excited to own a product like this. I guess after a while he would just not leave playing with this and learn at the same time. I can see great use of this and the physical design is just appropiate.
M: Do you have anything to say here Mrs BP?
BP: Yes, I was a bit taken back whilst thinking about how Britney would cope to use the touch screen, camera features, understanding a slider and use buttons in an appropiate way rather than pressing them like any other toy.
DP: At that age, kids are only fasicnated by pictures, animations, ryhmes and something they can lift and throw.
WP: Not to forget about the early scribbling they do on walls.
BP: That would really save my wallpaper, sofas and wooden worktops.
M: So as a group you have any modifications you think our product would need to change physically?
BP: Weight might be an issue for Britney.
DP: The screen might be too small and handles are too big in comparison.
WP: Yeh, if we can have a wider screen but otherwise appearance is great!.
M: Ok great! Let's see how the colour scheme would affect the overall appearance of the console.
So, we had a long conversation and had several suggestions and contributions towards design enhancement during the session. The process was highly fruitful because parents could actually talk aloud and clear any doubts they had about their child's needs and prospective products like our educational console. They talked about how technology is changing rapidly and is effecting upcoming generation. They also talked about this product could add extra value by having a parental control, knowledge games, have several different versions to cope with the age group difference from 19 months to 48 months. They also quite like the plastic feel yet water resistant and highly safe product. They were quite excited to exchange views on how their child would react if this were to given them as a surprise present. Some of them felt that the kids would open up the box and start using straight away whilst others were concerned that they would have to manually go through each feature to make it any usable for the child. The results of the focus group are summarized below:
Ref: http://www.webcredible.co.uk/services/focus-groups.shtml
We gathered all our target personas together to give us a detailed feedback on our product design. One of us acted like a moderator who mediated the discussion and gave everyone a chance to speak about in the discussion. A brief conversation amongst the parents of target personas was recorded as follows:
Abbreviation: Britney's Parents (BP), Dennis's Parents (DP), William's Parents (WP), Moderator(M)
DP: I think my child can use all these physical features on the console like pen, buttons and slider immediately. However, he might have to explore a bit before he can use the touch screen, camera and eraser.
WP: Yes, I agree. However, touch screens are quite common and intutive things for kids nowa days. William often plays around with my PDA at home and asks me to let him write on my tablet now and then. It will be great for kids to have their own toy to work with.
DP: Dennis will be actually very excited to own a product like this. I guess after a while he would just not leave playing with this and learn at the same time. I can see great use of this and the physical design is just appropiate.
M: Do you have anything to say here Mrs BP?
BP: Yes, I was a bit taken back whilst thinking about how Britney would cope to use the touch screen, camera features, understanding a slider and use buttons in an appropiate way rather than pressing them like any other toy.
DP: At that age, kids are only fasicnated by pictures, animations, ryhmes and something they can lift and throw.
WP: Not to forget about the early scribbling they do on walls.
BP: That would really save my wallpaper, sofas and wooden worktops.
M: So as a group you have any modifications you think our product would need to change physically?
BP: Weight might be an issue for Britney.
DP: The screen might be too small and handles are too big in comparison.
WP: Yeh, if we can have a wider screen but otherwise appearance is great!.
M: Ok great! Let's see how the colour scheme would affect the overall appearance of the console.
So, we had a long conversation and had several suggestions and contributions towards design enhancement during the session. The process was highly fruitful because parents could actually talk aloud and clear any doubts they had about their child's needs and prospective products like our educational console. They talked about how technology is changing rapidly and is effecting upcoming generation. They also talked about this product could add extra value by having a parental control, knowledge games, have several different versions to cope with the age group difference from 19 months to 48 months. They also quite like the plastic feel yet water resistant and highly safe product. They were quite excited to exchange views on how their child would react if this were to given them as a surprise present. Some of them felt that the kids would open up the box and start using straight away whilst others were concerned that they would have to manually go through each feature to make it any usable for the child. The results of the focus group are summarized below:
- Age Group: Out of our discussion it was quite clear that there was a wide gap between the learning process of a 19 month old to a 48 month old. Although the product covered the learning aspects of the entire range in one way or the other, yet it would be extremely useful if we did have a highly focused age range. It will help the child in learning, be beneficial to parents, all the applications would be extensively used, the website will be constantly used for the updates and there will be more feedback from the child if the age group was shifted to 3 yrs and above.
- Wider screen/Attachable to external screen/TV/projector: The parents came to a conclusion to have a wider screen so the kids can have a larger workspace to work with as it will not put a lot of strain on their eyes. Also, if the console can be connected to external devices then some applications can be viewed at larger screens, when required.
- Selectable Colour Scheme: The parents also came to a conculsion that have a variety of colour schemes for the console will have more options for the kids rather than in a basic blue and red. The colour should be extensive and be attractive for kids to buy in.
- Menu for all sections: The parents suggested that there was no Home button or a soft key to take them backwards when they were in a middle of a section. Hence, a menu(soft key) will be implemented that can user to home at any point of time.
- Colour pallette for Colouring in: Parents suggested that kids like to mix and match different colours and having a colour palette will give them an extra section to work on in the colouring in and drawing section. This can be implemented in advanced section to have the basic functionalities simple and straight forward.
- Certificates and Rewards: The kids can be constantly encouraged and motivated if they had some scores they can keep for their work and games on the console. This will be highly rewarding and motivating for them to learn more for an incentive. The parents should be able to modify and set the incentives for them from the parent console. Also, this shouldn't discourage the child in any form if they were not able to achieve any particular goal. So, this can be kept as a rewarding scheme and not a c competition against anyone.
- Foreign Languages: Having foreign language option in advanced level will really get kids started to learn any foreign language in a fun and creative way. The language lessons are quite expensive and highly tedious for a child to get motivated to learn one. However, with this console they can actually start up and can be sent for further learning later on.
- Templates for PhotoGallery: Parents also thought that it would a good idea to have templates for photo gallery so kids can cut and paste the pictures they have clicked in the templates of their action figures like superman, spider man or other themes like barbie, incredibles etc. During this process they can edit their own clicked pictures and save them to print them whenever required.
- Parent Control Console: The parent control console will be highly useful to download the content form the web and also in keeping a track of how their child is doing in different sections. It might even display or highlight one of their child's great interest in one of the sections or more to build up on that. E.g. if you know that your child really likes to solve mathematical puzzles and is doing extremely well then you can download more puzzles or quiz games involving mathematics to push your child in the right direction.
- Music Section having highlighted keys: Parents The parents have also suggested that it would be good to have highlighted keys as the child is playing the music composition on the screen as it will enhance the speed of learning.
Ref: http://www.webcredible.co.uk/services/focus-groups.shtml
8 - "Cognitive Walkthrough" Evaluation
A - Will the users be trying to produce whatever effect the action has?
When the user selects an application by moving the slider, it accomplishes the effect the action has. We have designed a very simple application where children and parents can find it very intuitive to use and can adapt to this application very easily. We implemented a slider to correspond to this, where the user can move the slider to an application and have direct access to this without the user being located elsewhere. This has a very unlikely chance for the user to be directed to an application that is not selected.
The stylus indicates an example of effectiveness for the given action. This feature acts as a pen which allows the user to draw and select applications. At the top of the pen we have placed an eraser to assist during the colouring and drawing application to allow the user to delete and erase mistakes.
The console currently does not include an application where parents can update the console with different applications and control options associated with the application. A proposed idea put forward from us to the parents during the focus group session was to initiate a parental control device which is accessible by parents only where the different applications can be managed independently. The parents were enthusiastic on this feature so will be updated during our re-design and re-evaluation process.
B - Will users be able to notice that the correct action is available?
The physical appliances such as stylus, backward and forward buttons and the slider are all examples of tools that are obvious to the child to use.
However there are some things that the child will need to explore before understanding how it works properly. These things include the applications and how to use the touch screen to make the applications work.
C - Once users find the correct action at the interface, will they know that it is the right one for the effect they are trying to produce?
The slider proves to show that the correct action at the interface will produce what they are trying to use. For example, it is impossible for the child and parent to move the slider to an application such as drawing and end up at the colouring application. This also applies for the forward and backward buttons. This proves that the child can not be mislead into any other application.
However, when the child selects the stories and nursery rhymes application they are unaware of the length of the book and how far through the book they have gone. Hence the child does not have the ability to check their progress.
D - After the action is taken, will users understand the feedback they get?
All of the applications on the console do not have sub menus within themselves to acquire the application they want hence does not cause any complications for the user. The camera is positioned at the back of the console which can create a possibility for confusion for the child however we have incorporated an interactive demonstration to the child to illustrate how to pick up the console to take a picture and to ensure the child and parent have the ability to grasp this feature effectively. This feature has also been implemented for the drawing exercise where it shows the child to draw onto the console using the stylus.
Additionally the console will comprise of a memory limit where each application will have a certain amount of memory. This will cause problems and confusion for the child when they have reached the memory limit in the camera application as they will not be aware of what is happening. Also the current camera application does not show any indication of what to do next.
Furthermore when the drawing application is loaded and the child selects the colour in which they wish to use, there is no indication in the current drawing application of the colour they are using unless they draw onto the console.
When the user selects an application by moving the slider, it accomplishes the effect the action has. We have designed a very simple application where children and parents can find it very intuitive to use and can adapt to this application very easily. We implemented a slider to correspond to this, where the user can move the slider to an application and have direct access to this without the user being located elsewhere. This has a very unlikely chance for the user to be directed to an application that is not selected.
The stylus indicates an example of effectiveness for the given action. This feature acts as a pen which allows the user to draw and select applications. At the top of the pen we have placed an eraser to assist during the colouring and drawing application to allow the user to delete and erase mistakes.
The console currently does not include an application where parents can update the console with different applications and control options associated with the application. A proposed idea put forward from us to the parents during the focus group session was to initiate a parental control device which is accessible by parents only where the different applications can be managed independently. The parents were enthusiastic on this feature so will be updated during our re-design and re-evaluation process.
B - Will users be able to notice that the correct action is available?
The physical appliances such as stylus, backward and forward buttons and the slider are all examples of tools that are obvious to the child to use.
However there are some things that the child will need to explore before understanding how it works properly. These things include the applications and how to use the touch screen to make the applications work.
C - Once users find the correct action at the interface, will they know that it is the right one for the effect they are trying to produce?
The slider proves to show that the correct action at the interface will produce what they are trying to use. For example, it is impossible for the child and parent to move the slider to an application such as drawing and end up at the colouring application. This also applies for the forward and backward buttons. This proves that the child can not be mislead into any other application.
However, when the child selects the stories and nursery rhymes application they are unaware of the length of the book and how far through the book they have gone. Hence the child does not have the ability to check their progress.
D - After the action is taken, will users understand the feedback they get?
All of the applications on the console do not have sub menus within themselves to acquire the application they want hence does not cause any complications for the user. The camera is positioned at the back of the console which can create a possibility for confusion for the child however we have incorporated an interactive demonstration to the child to illustrate how to pick up the console to take a picture and to ensure the child and parent have the ability to grasp this feature effectively. This feature has also been implemented for the drawing exercise where it shows the child to draw onto the console using the stylus.
Additionally the console will comprise of a memory limit where each application will have a certain amount of memory. This will cause problems and confusion for the child when they have reached the memory limit in the camera application as they will not be aware of what is happening. Also the current camera application does not show any indication of what to do next.
Furthermore when the drawing application is loaded and the child selects the colour in which they wish to use, there is no indication in the current drawing application of the colour they are using unless they draw onto the console.
Saturday 24 March 2007
8 - Heuristic Evaluation
1. Visibility of system status: Our system constantly keeps the user informed about where they are in the system as the slider will be in the position of the application they are currently using. We specifically used the slider in this way so that a child has a physical representation of where they are on the console.
The stories and nursery rhyme section does not do a very good job of keeping the user informed about the current page they are on. I would be useful for the application to give some sort of indication of where they are in the story and how long there is to go.
The drawing application does not indicate what colour is currently selected. If the child forgets the last colour they selected then the only way they can tell which colour is currently selected is by drawing.
The music section gives no idea to the user where they are in the particular track.
When using the camera section the screen is constantly updated with the camera’s view so the user knows it is working and what they are about to take a picture of. The device makes a click noise to let the user know they have pressed the photo button and taken a picture.
The gallery doesn’t give any indication of where you are. There could be hundreds of pages of photos but the user would have no idea.
2. Match between system and the real world: The slider includes a picture which represents each application. For example the stories section has a picture of a book so the user can easily where they need to go to get a story. The off button has the standard power symbol which the user may not be immediately familiar with. However, this will be consistent with any remote controls for TVs or other devices they have used. It won’t be long before they learn what the symbol represents.
The pen acts much like a real pencil. It draws on the screen and has a rubber on the back to rub out. The angle at which you draw with the pen also determines the thickness just like a real pencil.
The stories section reads out the stories and highlights the words as it goes it along. The user will be familiar with using a finger to guide them along words and this is effectively that. The menu which allows you to browse books is effectively the child’s book case and clicking on a book is like taking it off the shelf and opening it.
The colouring program acts just like a colouring book. It re-opens on the page you left it on just like having a heavy crease in a book. The colouring is also automatically saved. The left and right buttons change the page.
The alphabet, words and numbers section all use a green tick to indicate when they have got an answer right. This should be familiar to the user as any school work they have had marked would have probably included ticks. The console will also say “Well done!” to encourage the child. This should be a phrase they’re familiar with. Upon getting an answer wrong the device says “Try again!”. We didn’t want the device to be negative when the child gets something wrong which is why we haven’t included the obvious red cross.
The music section has piano keys just like a real piano. This way the child can relate anything they have learnt on this piano to a real world piano and vice versa.
The camera section has been split into a camera and gallery section. This then makes it just like a real digital camera which has a “record” and “play” mode. When a user takes a picture they have two on-screen buttons they can press. One is the classic green tick which represents “save” and the other is a dustbin which represents “discard”. The user will obviously be familiar with the dustbin having seen real world dustbins but if they have used the recycle bin on Microsoft Windows to delete anything it will become second nature.
The backward and forward buttons are much like many other everyday applications. A web browser has them to browse through history, Sky and cable remote controls have left and right buttons to scroll through programs or channels. The left and right buttons are used in nearly every application to scroll or change pages.
3. User control and freedom: The backwards and forwards buttons take you backwards and forwards in all applications so if you accidentally press the forward button, the backwards button can be pressed to get back. The current state of any application is auto saved so that if the user accidentally hits the slider to change mode they can put it back and end up exactly where they left off.
One problem is that if the user accidentally chooses a story they don’t want or get bored during a story and want to get back to the main menu of stories the only way they can do it is by flicking through all the pages to the end. This is a serious problem.
4. Consistency and standards: The forward and back buttons are consistent throughout all applications on the device. Each application works in a very similar way. Each application starts off where they left off. The only applications which are slightly different are the story and nursery rhyme section, the music section and the gallery section which all have a menu to select which story, piece of music, or photo they wish to use.
We have also consistently used the green tick to indicate correct answers.
5. Error prevention: Error prevention is not relevant in our system. The only time you can do something drastic by mistake is to accidentally press the bin when you have taken a photo to discard it. It could be an option to include a confirmation window here but we have intentionally left this out to keep the system as simple as possible.
6. Recognition rather than recall: The console’s slider features images which represent the various modes. These are easily recognisable images. For example a picture of a camera for the camera mode, a music note for the music mode and ‘abc’ for the alphabet mode. The user will quickly learn what each symbol represents.
The device will also speak to the user in each application to tell them what to do so for example if they forget they need to press a particular story to read it the device will say it, making recall easier.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use: There aren’t any “expert” shortcuts for this system but there is no real way of making it any easier to get where you need to go. Some subtleties have been included such as a slight difference in colour of the backgrounds between the stories and nursery rhymes when browsing. Younger and inexperienced users won’t notice this and that doesn’t really matter. Older or more experienced users may notice this pattern and so they will have this additional information when choosing their story or nursery rhyme.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design: The design is very minimalist and aesthetic. In fact this has often been the cause for many of the problems highlighted in this evaluation. For example, not prompting the user whether they are sure they want to discard a photo was intentional to avoid any extra dialogue.
The device also speaks directions to the user. This saves cluttering the screen with instructions with words the user may not even be able to read.
Additional instructions are presented as a welcome screen to the camera mode. This shows a picture of a child lifting up the console to demonstrate where the camera lies. The device also speaks instructions to explain this.
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors: No consideration is taken for error messages. A possible situation could be filling up the memory with photos and trying to take more. Another situation is the batteries running out. A suitable error message is required.
10. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors:Friday 23 March 2007
8 - Statistics
One of our team mate's mother has been very helpful in collecting these statistics for us. We did a survey with about 15 parents of our target audience. The age group ranged from 2 yrs to 6 yrs of kids at a play school. The facts those we collected were amazing and helped us a lot towards the confirmation of a good product design.
A lot of facts were collected from this survey and helped us a lot in developing the final design of the product.
Facts:
-Unique Product and would like to see more products like these in the market
-New Idea of Colour Schemes
-Colouring on a touch screen was quite an amazing feature
-Camera for kids is seen as excellent fun and play
-Foreign Languages feature would be very liked, if available
-Idea of Mathematical and numbering exercises
- Idea of Parental Control and downloading updates from web
-Idea of creating and learning music on a technology based product rather than an instrument
-Idea of using templates, editing pictures and printing them from an external device.
A lot of facts were collected from this survey and helped us a lot in developing the final design of the product.
Facts:
-Unique Product and would like to see more products like these in the market
-New Idea of Colour Schemes
-Colouring on a touch screen was quite an amazing feature
-Camera for kids is seen as excellent fun and play
-Foreign Languages feature would be very liked, if available
-Idea of Mathematical and numbering exercises
- Idea of Parental Control and downloading updates from web
-Idea of creating and learning music on a technology based product rather than an instrument
-Idea of using templates, editing pictures and printing them from an external device.
Wednesday 21 March 2007
7 - "Test Design on Persona3(Parents of William Worthington)"
Our last target persona is William Worthington and this is what they had to say about our product:
Child's Age: 3 years 8 months
Child's Gender: Male
We had a great deal to learn from this survey and are thinking of evolving our product as follows:
Child's Age: 3 years 8 months
Child's Gender: Male
"The Design"
Considering the design, would your child be physically able to…
- Hold the console (in any way)? Yes
- Hold the console using the handles? Yes
- Use the pen? Yes
- Use the buttons? Yes
- Use the camera? Yes
- Use the touch screen? Yes
- Manipulate the slider? Yes
Considering the design would your child able to grasp how the following parts work…
- The pen? Immediately / After Exploration / No
- The eraser (on the back of the pen)? Immediately / After Exploration / No
- The buttons (forward and back)? Immediately / After Exploration/ No
- The camera? Immediately / After Exploration / No
- The touch screen? Immediately / After Exploration / No
- The slider? Immediately / After Exploration / No
Keeping in mind the product will be water resistant / proof, in terms of safety do you feel you would be comfortable letting your child use it? Yes / No
How do you rate the following aspects of the design, considering them from the perspective of your child…
- General appearance Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Size Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Shape Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Weight Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
We understand that children between 18 months and 4 years generally like bold bright colours, however, we have not been able to come up with a set colour scheme for the product yet.
Do you think that it would be best for the console to be a single set colour scheme, or a changeable / selectable one?
Set colour scheme / Changeable or Selectable
If you answered ‘Set colour scheme’, please tell us what you would like as the main colour, or describe in more detail how you would like the product to be coloured…
If you answered Changeable or Selectable, please circle which of the following you think would be the best…
- Product to come in a variety of set colours, so parents can pick the best for their child
- Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Product to have a variety of changeable colour cases
- Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Product colouration to digitally change to suit the different applications*
- Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
* This would involve the casing of the product to be transparent, with image projecting technology beneath, like that in a plasma screen monitor, which would be able to display images that would either relate directly to the application being run by showing images, or at least show different colours for different applications
"Stories and Nursery Rhymes"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Educational 1 2 3 4 5 Very Educational
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Educational 1 2 3 4 5 Very Educational
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Difficult 1 2 3 4 5 Easy
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- We think that reading stories should be a parent's job and not have a console take that personal touch and emotional value of it.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
"Drawing and Colouring"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- I like the fact that this helps save paper. On the other hand, the screen looks quite small and can be harmful when child is viewing it continuously.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
- More Colour choice would be a good idea for kids
"Alphabets, Words and Numbering"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Difficult 1 2 3 4 5 Easy
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- We like the fact that this product has actually got some educational value than others seen in the market.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
"Camera and Gallery"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Difficult 1 2 3 4 5 Easy
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- This seems like a good fun for kids.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
"Music and Compositions"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- We like the fact that it encourages the interest of a child in music. However, the only disadvantage could be that its not a real instrument.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
- None
"Overall Software"
Please tell us which of the applications you consider to be the most important to the product, and what you think your child would enjoy and use most, by ordering them from 1 to 5 below, 1 meaning the most important and 5 being the least important…
Most Important to you Child's Preference- Stories and Nursery Rhymes 5 5
- Drawing and Colouring In 2 4
- Alphabet, Words and Numbers 1 3
- Camera and Gallery 3 2
- Music 4 1
Do you think your child would be interested in the ability to print out pictures that the draw, colour in or take using the camera? Yes / No
Are there any other areas of your child’s education you would like to see tackled by this product? Yes, if it could have foreign languages option added to the system.
"Parent Console Interaction"
Would you like to be able to fully control what difficulty levels of the applications would go onto the product? Yes / No
Would you prefer to manage what is on the console via a PC / Mac or on the console itself?
PC or Mac / On the Console
Would you feel comfortable downloading new media for the console from the internet (either through a computer or the console directly depending on your previous answer) or would you prefer it to be available via disc? Internet / Disc
How much would you value the ability to control what your child can do on the console via a remote control? This would allow you to turn the console off, control the volume and give you the ability to lock it within certain applications.
- Not Valuable 1 2 3 4 5 Very Valuable
"Conclusion"
- Not Educational 1 2 3 4 5 Very Educational
- How would you rate the usability of the product for children?
- Not Usable 1 2 3 4 5 Very Usable
- How would you rate the overall entertainment appeal of the product to your child?
- Not Entertaining 1 2 3 4 5 Very Entertaining
- What would you value more in this product, education for your child or entertainment for your child?
- Educational 1 2 3 4 5 Entertaining
- What would you consider a reasonable price for this product?
- Under £30 £30-40 £40 -50 £50-60 £60 -70 £70-80 Over £80
- How interested would you be in this product?
- Not Interested 1 2 3 4 5 Very Interested
- Any Further comments? Quite Impressive!
We had a great deal to learn from this survey and are thinking of evolving our product as follows:
- Foreign Languages option
- Parent Control Console
- Templates for Photo Gallery
- Zoom in Feature for Camera
- A colour pallete in advanced version of our software applications
7 - "Test Design on Persona 2(Parents of Dennis Smith)"
Our second persona is Dennis Smith and this is what they had to say about product:
Child's Age: 2 years and 6 months
Child's Gender: Male
Most Important to you Child's Preference
Dennis's parents quite appreciated various features that our product can offer for kids at the age group of their son. They were very impressed and thought that the hardware design was quite acceptable for their son to explore with. They think that Dennis would be able to pick up features like pen and the camera immediately and would be very keen to use them instantly. Although he may take some time in getting used to eraser, buttons, touch screen and the slider but he would absolutely love it once he gets to know about the details. They are quite comfortable in having such a well designed product and were happy to give us suggestions on minute modifications. They quite like the shape, size and weight of the product along with the software application our product had to offer them. They quite liked the fact that it had educational features like alphabets, reading along with unique feature of camera and music lessons. Overall they rated music lessons as their number 1 choice and were happy to download updates from the internet rather than having various discs. They were happy to have an additional parent control console or a section where they can actually monitor how their child is doing with great features to learn. We have learnt quite a lot from this survey and are looking forward to implement following things as a result:
Child's Age: 2 years and 6 months
Child's Gender: Male
"The Design"
Considering the design, would your child be physically able to…
- Hold the console (in any way)? Yes
- Hold the console using the handles? Yes
- Use the pen? Yes
- Use the buttons? Yes
- Use the camera?Yes
- Use the touch screen? Yes
- Manipulate the slider? Yes
Considering the design would your child able to grasp how the following parts work…
- The pen? Immediately / After Exploration / No
- The eraser (on the back of the pen)? Immediately / After Exploration / No
- The buttons (forward and back)? Immediately / After Exploration/ No
- The camera? Immediately / After Exploration / No
- The touch screen? Immediately / After Exploration / No
- The slider? Immediately / After Exploration / No
Keeping in mind the product will be water resistant / proof, in terms of safety do you feel you would be comfortable letting your child use it? Yes / No
How do you rate the following aspects of the design, considering them from the perspective of your child…
- General appearance Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Size Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Shape Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Weight Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
We understand that children between 18 months and 4 years generally like bold bright colours, however, we have not been able to come up with a set colour scheme for the product yet.
Do you think that it would be best for the console to be a single set colour scheme, or a changeable / selectable one?
Set colour scheme / Changeable or Selectable
If you answered ‘Set colour scheme’, please tell us what you would like as the main colour, or describe in more detail how you would like the product to be coloured…
If you answered Changeable or Selectable, please circle which of the following you think would be the best…
- Product to come in a variety of set colours, so parents can pick the best for their child
- Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Product to have a variety of changeable colour cases
- Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Product colouration to digitally change to suit the different applications*
- Bad 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
* This would involve the casing of the product to be transparent, with image projecting technology beneath, like that in a plasma screen monitor, which would be able to display images that would either relate directly to the application being run by showing images, or at least show different colours for different applications
"Stories and Nursery Rhymes"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Difficult 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- The fact that it enables kids to learn to read and keep them busy for the kind of attention span they have.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
- None
"Drawing and Colouring"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Difficult 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- It saves paper and buying a colouring book.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
- None
"Alphabets, Words and Numbering"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Difficult 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- It teaches them alphabets and words although it might get a bit tedious at times.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
- If you could try and make it more rewarding for kids.
"Camera and Gallery"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Difficult 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- Its highly entertaining and good fun.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
- None
"Music and Compositions"
- How do you rate the educational value of this application for your child?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How entertaining do you think your child would find this application?
- Not 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- How easy to use do you think your child would find this application?
- Difficult 1 2 3 4 5 Very
- Please specify if there is anything in particular you like/dislike about this application…
- It's impressive and great way to learn music.
- Are there any improvements / changes you think would be valuable to this application?
- None
"Overall Software"
Please tell us which of the applications you consider to be the most important to the product, and what you think your child would enjoy and use most, by ordering them from 1 to 5 below, 1 meaning the most important and 5 being the least important…
Most Important to you Child's PreferenceMost Important to you Child's Preference
- Stories and Nursery Rhymes 2 3
- Drawing and Colouring In 5 4
- Alphabet, Words and Numbers 3 5
- Camera and Gallery 4 1
- Music 1 2
Do you think your child would be interested in the ability to print out pictures that the draw, colour in or take using the camera? Yes / No
Are there any other areas of your child’s education you would like to see tackled by this product? Knowledge Games
"Parent Console Interaction"
Would you like to be able to fully control what difficulty levels of the applications would go onto the product? Yes / No
Would you prefer to manage what is on the console via a PC / Mac or on the console itself?
PC or Mac / On the Console
Would you feel comfortable downloading new media for the console from the internet (either through a computer or the console directly depending on your previous answer) or would you prefer it to be available via disc? Internet / Disc
How much would you value the ability to control what your child can do on the console via a remote control? This would allow you to turn the console off, control the volume and give you the ability to lock it within certain applications.
- Not Valuable 1 2 3 4 5 Very Valuable
"Conclusion"
- Not Educational 1 2 3 4 5 Very Educational
- How would you rate the usability of the product for children?
- Not Usable 1 2 3 4 5 Very Usable
- How would you rate the overall entertainment appeal of the product to your child?
- Not Entertaining 1 2 3 4 5 Very Entertaining
- What would you value more in this product, education for your child or entertainment for your child?
- Educational 1 2 3 4 5 Entertaining
- What would you consider a reasonable price for this product?
- Under £30 £30-40 £40 -50 £50-60 £60 -70 £70-80 Over £80
- How interested would you be in this product?
- Not Interested 1 2 3 4 5 Very Interested
- Any Further comments? Its overall a nice product, different from what is available.
Dennis's parents quite appreciated various features that our product can offer for kids at the age group of their son. They were very impressed and thought that the hardware design was quite acceptable for their son to explore with. They think that Dennis would be able to pick up features like pen and the camera immediately and would be very keen to use them instantly. Although he may take some time in getting used to eraser, buttons, touch screen and the slider but he would absolutely love it once he gets to know about the details. They are quite comfortable in having such a well designed product and were happy to give us suggestions on minute modifications. They quite like the shape, size and weight of the product along with the software application our product had to offer them. They quite liked the fact that it had educational features like alphabets, reading along with unique feature of camera and music lessons. Overall they rated music lessons as their number 1 choice and were happy to download updates from the internet rather than having various discs. They were happy to have an additional parent control console or a section where they can actually monitor how their child is doing with great features to learn. We have learnt quite a lot from this survey and are looking forward to implement following things as a result:
- Parent Console with a website to download updates
- Changeable/Selectable Colour Scheme
- More Knowledge games
- Make it more rewarding experience for kids
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)