uselog.com | the product usability weblog

Realizing the UCD Method Exploration Tool (help needed)

2011-11-18T16:11:00.001+01:00

We'd like to ask your help to make the UCD Method Exploration Tool a reality. This tool is an online platform where user-centered design professionals can explore and compare UCD methods, developed by Tristan Weevers within the Design for Usability research project. It is one of the 24 nominees for TU Delft's Innovation Award, and to get to into the final round of this competition it needs your vote (nr. 21, bottom of page).

UPDATE: Voting is closed

The UCD Method Exploration Tool has been developed through a practitioner-centered approach: the selection procedure and the way information about methods is presented has been developed through involvement of practitioners. Currently the design is mature to the extent that we can actually start implementing, but we need funding for that. In TU Delft's Innovation Award two projects can win a budget for prototyping/development, and that's what were after. Out of the 24 nominated projects, 6 finalists will be selected, one of which by online audience vote. This is where you come in. If you are a UCD professional and would to help us in developing this project further, please vote. And spread the word! Twitter, blog, email (you can even use Google+ if you need to), but get as many UCD professionals as possible to help us!

MORE INFORMATION
If you're interested, below you'll find some more information about the UCD Method Exploration Tool

Problem statement
In user-centered design (UCD) a crucial challenge is to find and select the right method. UCD methods are intended to help designers in planning and executing their UCD projects. Product development practice is extremely hectic and messy, often leaving practitioners with very little time to explore and select methods for UCD; they need to quickly find the appropriate method, assess its qualities, and learn how to apply it. However, there are more than 200 UCD methods available. As a consequence, designers often stick to what they know, leaving many potentially beneficial methods unused, which is also a barrier for the dissemination into practice of new methods developed by fellow practitioners and through academic research.

The tool
This is why we developed the UCD Method Exploration Tool; an online resource for exploring and selecting methods for user-centered design. It allows practitioners (as well as students) to quickly explore and select appropriate methods. The selection procedure underlying the tool is based on a set of criteria, categorized in a sequence that matches the practitioner’s knowledge about a project:

The product category that is being worked on.
Goal of applying the method: i) learning about users and their context, ii) synthesizing solutions, iii) simulating a solution iv) evaluating a solution.
Limiting factors and available resources (e.g., timespan and staff).
Optional criteria (e.g., desired study location and participant details

See the short demo in the YouTube movie below.

You can also try the experimental online prototype: http://bit.ly/DfUexplore2. Please note that this is an experiment, built in the Microsoft Silverlight PivotViewer platform. The final design will differ considerably in terms of UI design, and somewhat in therms of selection procedure. (See contact details below if you have feedback)

Benefits
The UCD Method Exploration Tool is innovative both in how it presents the methods as well as selection procedure. In existing method collections, descriptions of methods are often incomplete and at times considered ‘too academic’ by practitioners. But most importantly existing method collections provide little or ineffective guidance for selecting the appropriate method. Some do offer a categorization of methods, but user research among practitioners showed that the categorizations are not in line with the preferences, background knowledge and working environment of practitioners. Limitations that current method collections exhibit in terms of content, content presentation and guidance for method selection are a barrier for the uptake of these collections. In contrast to existing method collections, the selection procedure underlying the UCD Method Exploration Tool and the description of the methods it contains were developed in close cooperation with practitioner and takes into account their way of working and preferences.

In addition to the design of the tool itself, we aim to pay attention to creating a community of practitioners and experts around it. Similar initiatives often ‘freeze’ after they have been implemented, thus only giving an overview of the methods available at the time the collection was created, and not reflecting any progress since then. We think it is important that such a tool receives backing from people and organizations in the field, which is why we intend to support the tool with a community of contributors and editors (to keep it up to date and ensure quality) and a foundation (to ensure continuity).

Design process
The design for the UCD Method Exploration Tool was created through a practitioner-centered design approach:

Based on literature as well as on exploratory interviews with practitioners a design brief was created and product requirements were identified;
With these requirements as input five polarizing concepts (differing both in terms of selection procedure and user interface design) were created, which were then evaluated with practitioners;
The chosen selection procedure was implemented in a first prototype of the tool and evaluated by 20 practitioners and researchers during a workshop at a conference;
Based on input from that workshop the selection procedure was refined and two detailed designs were created, which were once more evaluated, this time with practitioners, researchers and students;
In a final iteration, improvements were made to both the selection procedure and the interface design. This resulted in the final recommended design for further development.

Contact us
We're on the lookout for experienced practitioners and academics who would like to get involved in this project, for example by reviewing prototypes or contributing and evaluating method descriptions. And - as is probably clear - please also contact us if you have advice on how we could fund our project. If you'd like to know more or get involved, contact Tristan Weevers or Jasper van Kuijk. But most importantly... don't forget to vote.

Here's to the crazy ones

2011-10-06T08:16:00.002+02:00

Design for Usability Symposium 2011 - Putting research into practice

2011-09-23T09:49:00.000+02:00

On November 10, 2011 - World Usability Day - the third Design for Usability Symposium will take place at in Utrecht (The Netherlands). The symposium is organized by the Design for Usability Research project, within which I conduct my research. In this third edition tools and methods for usability developed by the project will be presented.

Audience and registration

The symposium is mostly targeted at product development and user-centered design professionals, and there are 200 seats available of which at the time of writing almost half were already taken. Register here.

Presentations

The morning program consists of three presentations. Two product development practitioners will reflect on how user-centered design has evolved in practice over the last years, and will describe their cooperation with the DfU project. Next, DfU project leader Daan van Eijk will present an overview of the project results:

Bert Ipema - Senior manager Product Research Centre, Philips Domestic Appliances & Coffee.
Willem Mees van der Bijl - Project manager at the industrial design agency Indes, who specializes in Child Restraint Systems and design methodologies in practice.
Daan van Eijk - Professor of Applied Ergonomics and Design at Industrial Design Engineering (TU Delft) and project manager of the Design for Usability project.

Workshops

In the afternoon workshops will be held in which you can experience the new tools and methods for design for usability:

The UCD Kick-off tool – Creating a plan of approach for your user-centred product development process
Improving usability decision-making – How to prevent unawareness in your design practice
Interaction between Product and User profiles – How to increase users’ satisfaction and avoid mistakes
Product Impact Tool – How can user behaviour be guided and changed through design?
Introducing the Design for Usability Method Selection Tool – How to find the best method for your project
The Envisioning Use workshop – A team technique for early stage development

DfU Methods and Tools book

The day will be closed with the presentation of setup of the design for usability 'Methods and Tools' book, which at a later date will be sent free of charge to all participants of the symposium.

What it's like to really blindly use an ATM

2011-09-14T12:40:00.002+02:00

"Find hole below? How far below? Is this a hole? No, that's not it. That doesn't feel like a hole at all! I'll just start sticking the plug anywhere..." In case you're wondering: it takes eleven minutes, and that includes one unintentional almost-withdrawal of 40.000 dollars. Unfortunately this man would be referred to by many interaction designers as a 'corner' or 'edge case'.

via @ThijsNiks

Boeing 737's radical innovation: new button to call flight attendant

2011-09-08T10:24:00.000+02:00

The Economist reports that Boeing is moving away its 'call flight-attendant' button from the reading light in the new version of its 737 passenger jet, because passengers kept - unintentionally and to their great embarrassment - calling flight attendants instead of switching on the reading light. Boeing calls this step 'an innovation that is as radical as it is obvious'. I'd say it's indeed obvious, but instead of radical would rather call it long overdue fixing of a design that never should have existed to begin with. What I find interesting though with this example is the motivation Boeing provides for fixing this:

The countless pointless trips that flight attendants made to passengers. Time that they could have spent on providing services to other passengers.
The embarrassment that passengers feel when making the mistake of calling the flight attendant instead of switching on the reading light.

So what it comes down to is that Boeing is trying to improve the user experience of flying. Better late than never.

[Photo: Flickr/Therobbstory]

TEDxDelft; 'Creating History' on November 7

2011-09-05T10:09:00.001+02:00

On November 7 the TEDxDelft event will take place in the Aula of Delft University of Technology. I have the honor of being the host and thus to introduce an exciting list of speakers such as the first Dutch-born astronaut (for the Dutch readers among you: not Wubbo Ockels for a change), Louis Vermeersch (former head of design at Pininfarina).

CHI Sparks keynote online: User-Centered Design - A Reality Check

2011-08-01T16:08:00.003+02:00

The keynote presentation I gave the CHI Sparks 2011 conference on June 23 in Arnhem (The Netherlands) is now available online through the conference's proceedings page. The presentation is entitled 'User-Centered Design - A Reality Check'. In it I discuss the primary mechanisms of barriers and enablers for usability in practice, as identified through my PhD research.

In case you want to 'cut to the chase', here's the buildup and corresponding time codes of the presentation (sorry, Vimeo doesn't allow linking to time markers):

Introduction
Interaction, experience and usability (3:05)
Effects of (a lack of) usability (6:40)
Setup and outcomes of my PhD research (11:20)
Primary mechanisms of barriers and enablers (15:50)
Functionality and usability (16:05)
Concept versus details, design versus development (20:30)
Generating shared knowledge on usability issues (23:30)
Design freedom (29:30)
Don't innovate (31:30)
Team organization (32:26)
Don't let designers do their thing (33:50)
Conclusion (35:30)

'60% of time spent on paperwork' due to new ICT system at Dutch police

2011-06-27T11:16:00.003+02:00

The new nation-wide ICT system of the Dutch police force, implemented in 2009, increases rather than reduces the time police officers have to spend on paperwork. Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reports the following striking issues about the system's development and use:

An officer reports that with the new system he now spends 60% of his time on paperwork, whereas with the old system that was 30%. The system is so slow that according to an officer who kept track of it, at the end of the day his time spent waiting (so not being able to actually work with the system) amounted up to 1 hour.
An officer describes the system as: "instead of working for us, it is working against us."
A regional test implementation was stopped because the problems that arose were to big. Nonetheless, one year later the system was implemented nationally.
A unique selling point of the system is that officers allover the country use the same system, but the system only offers officers access to regional data.
Police officers were involved in the development of the system, but these were not the actual end-users of the system.
There are user-friendly upgrades available, but these cost extra, which only a few of the regional police organizations can afford (Makes an interesting business model though: "Oh, you want the usable version? Then you have to pay extra").

According to an interviewed officer none of the tasks in the system is logical:

"If I want to report a shoplifting incident, I can only report 'suspects' or 'witnesses'. There is no option to list someone as, for example, 'involved'. So if the suspect is a minor and I talked to his mother as well, I cannot enter her in the system. (....) It is not possible to report relations between incidents. If speeding is the start of a row between neighbors, I can't report that in one form."

Overall The Netherlands employs about 55.000 police officers (source). Let's make some conservative estimates and assume that only half of them use the system on a daily basis. And that, based on the report of the interviewed officer, the amount of time spent on paperwork with the new system is 45% (instead of 60% as he reported). So, we have:

27.500 police officers;
Spending 15% more time on paperwork;
Which means the Dutch police force just lost the equivalent of at least 4125 officers out in the street;
Whereas Dutch politicians are currently debating whether to hire 3000 more officers.

All in all, I'd say the Dutch police force and society did not really get a good deal, especially considering the fact that the knowledge on how to develop usable ICT systems is present in industry as well as in academia.

Source: Article by Joost de Vries in De Volkskrant (paid access), June 21

Earlier uselog post:
Unusable software slows down Dutch police

My Blackberry is not working!

2011-06-15T13:04:00.002+02:00

"I've got a problem with my Apple. I've tried to put a dongle in it and it won't fit." Fairly brilliant.

Swiping or dipping? Which is more secure?

2011-06-01T08:42:00.001+02:00

To increase the security of electronic payments in The Netherlands, a switch is in progress from bank cards with a magnetic strip to cards with a chip. For users the biggest change was that recently, instead of swiping their card with a magnetic strip along a slot, they have to 'dip' their card with a chip (see picture above). An unwanted side-effect, however, is that people have now started forgetting their bank card. Maybe they could have seen that one coming: when swiping you never let go of your card and you would really have to make an effort to forget it. However, dipping - or at least how it was implemented in these devices - requires you to leave the card in the machine while entering your code. So once again, technically speaking the product was improved while practically speaking it deteriorated. A solution? Require people to remove their card before they can enter their code.

Source: De Volkskrant / Photo: RTV West

Writing reports is user-centered design

2011-02-28T10:43:00.000+01:00

This post does not contain useful information for those of you who only write and receive brilliant reports. For those of you who don't: continue reading. I recently enjoyed a presentation by my StudioLab colleague Prof. Pieter Jan Stappers on why writing reports and scientific articles is user-centred desig (pdf). Some of you may already know Stappers from his work on the contextmapping user research method. In the aforementioned presentation he argues why writing is user-centered design and how to apply UCD to writing. It may all seems very much common sense, and that is good: it shows that Stappers really applied his own principles. I especially enjoyed the distinction he makes between the document sequence, the reading sequence and the writing sequence.

Apple's history in tablet computers

2011-02-24T14:53:00.000+01:00

On the rumored eve of the launch of the iPad 2 it might be worthwhile to dwell a little on the iPad's predecessors. How long can it take from first idea to successful mass market product? In the case of Apple and the tablet computer about 30 years, as the first ideas of tablet computers at Apple date back to 1979, according to this story at LiquidPubs (which draws from Paul Kunkel's landmark book on the work of the Apple Industrial Design Group). 30 years. How's that for time to market?

Interaction Design Encyclopedia

2011-02-21T17:09:00.000+01:00

Interaction-design.org has launched a new encyclopedia on usability, interaction design and user experience. It takes a somewhat opposite approach to the currently popular web 2.0 or crowdsourcing-like solutions: all entries are written by leading figures who either invented or contributed significantly to each topic, such as Marc Hassenzahl and John M. Carroll. The chapter on user experience and experience design is written bij Marc Hassenzahl (see also the interview in the movie above), with commentaries by Don Norman, Eric Reiss, Mark Blythe, and Whitney Hess. You can sign up to be notified each time a new chapter is published.

'Useful information clutters my design'

2011-02-16T15:29:00.000+01:00

A fairly brilliant Dilbert cartoon about how some designers can prioritize aesthetics over functionality: "If I clutter the design with useful information it will look ugly and I won't be able to use it in my portfolio." See how it ends here.

[Tip: Tommes]

User Experience explanation/demarcation white paper

2011-02-07T11:05:00.000+01:00

As with the terms usability and interaction, there are quite a few perspectives on what user experience is. This is why in September 2010 a number of HCI, (user) experience, interaction and other experts - among which Nigel Bevan, Marc Hassenzahl, Kristina Höök, Kasper Hornbæk, Evangelos Karapanos, and Noam Tractinsky - convened in Schloss Dagstuhl in a seminar on demarcating user experience. The goal was to clarify the scope of the field of user experience, UX research, and practice. The result is a white paper on user experience, which can be downloaded at allaboutUX.org.

Apple's Magic Mouse hasn't got a clue

2011-02-02T10:43:00.002+01:00

If you need to put labels on it or if people need to read the manual: your design is no good. That's what we're often told. And we believe Apple is one of the most user-centred companies on earth. In the picture above you see the instructions for use for the Magic Mouse. The downside of the Magic Mouse's beautiful sleek monolithic styling is that it provides no clues (usecues, perceived affordances) as to what actions one can perform with it (pushing buttons, scrolling). In comparison with its predecessor, the Mighty Mouse, even the little scroll wheel has disappeared. However, the interaction, once you start using it, is fluent. So, which is more user-centred? A self-explanatory design, or a sleek design and novel interaction that requires some learning?

Let's also take a look at the packaging the Magic Mouse comes in. There is a little translucent plastic sticker on the container, ensuring it stays shut. And on the corner of that sticker is a little marker: peel here. And behind that marker there is no glue, allowing you to easily remove the sticker.

Why do I bring up these examples? Because I think it shows that the lack of use cues on the Mighty Mouse is neither accident nor ignorance. It seems to me a conscious choice has been made to prioritize a clean aesthetic and innovative interaction style over a self-explaining design. The little sticker on the Mighty Mouse packaging shows Apple's obsession with usage, once they decide to put usage first. I prefer to have it all: a self-explanatory design that's beautiful as well. But I can live with this.

Tron concept designer doesn't like reality

2011-01-05T10:35:00.002+01:00

In a Wired article about the movie Tron: Legacy, accompanying an image of the stunning design for the movie's light cycle (see picture above) I found this quote by its designer, Daniel Simon, who previously designed cars for Volkswagen and Bugatti. He found creating vehicles for Tron: Legacy a 'liberating experience':

"You have no idea how many limitations there are in real world car production, things like safety and marketing," he says. "On screen, you can make some magic happen -- you don't have to think about Tron airbags."

It made me smile. Here's one designer who really doesn't like the restrictions of designing for the real world, but wants to make 'dream designs'. I'd say in Hollywood he's in the right place.

Recommendations for usability in practice card set (pdf or hardcopy)

2010-12-13T09:08:00.001+01:00

Today I am defending my PhD thesis, and I thought this would be a good reason to share the card set of my recommendations for usability in product development practice with you. I developed these recommendations based on best practices I observed and was told about in the three case studies I conducted, as well as based on existing literature on usability in practice. There are 25 recommendations, distributed over 6 themes:

Usability 101: how to define usability and assess its consequences?
Team: how to assemble a team that can execute a user-centred product development process?
Process: what does a user-centred product development process look like, and what methods to apply and how?
Project: what are important issues for organizing and planning a user-centred design project?
Company: how to organize your company so that it facilitates user-centred product development?
Market: retail and marketing strategies for companies that make usable products?

By placing them on uselog.com I could feedback from product development professionals and researchers in two feedback rounds (one, two). This resulted in a final online version, which is now available in the form of a card set. You can download the PDF of the card set or receive a printed version free of charge by sending an email to info@designforusability.org with 'card set' in the subject header (and don't forget to include your postal address).

Thesis: Managing Product Usability

2010-12-06T16:30:00.000+01:00

I am thrilled to announce that on December 13, 2010 I will be defending my PhD thesis, entitled:

Managing Product Usability; how companies deal with usability in the development of electronic consumer products

Why is the usability of mobile phones so poor? Why am I not able to do something as simple as hooking up my DVD recorder? Why do they make these products so hard to use? And are they doing it on purpose? Based on three case studies it can be concluded that there are many - strong - mechanisms in product development practice that prevent the creation of usable electronic consumer products.

Problem statement
The usability of electronic consumer products - portable music players, washing machines, mobile phones - is under pressure. This is attributed to these products being equipped with more and more functions, becoming smaller, and being used in networks and in a large variety of usage contexts. To further complicate things development of these products takes place under enormous time pressure, at low budgets, and by globally distributed teams.

The gap between usability in theory and in practice
In the past years many methodologies and methods for user-centred product development have been developed, but consumers are still confronted with scores of unusable electronic consumer products. So what is going on? The problem seems to lie in product development practice. However, current literature on usability in product development practice does not study the product development process as a whole, contains few case studies, and only limited research is available on the electronic consumer products sector specifically.

Three case studies
To increase the insight into usability in the development of electronic consumer products I conducted three case studies. In the first case study I explored how usability is dealt with in four sectors adjacent to electronic consumer products: automotive, professional coffee equipment, copiers and fast moving consumer goods. The second case study was performed among five major international developers of electronic consumer products (i.e., mp3-players, navigation devices, mobile phones). In the final study I investigated the development history of three electronic consumer products in order to trace the origins of usability issues.

An integrated, practice-oriented approach
In each of the studies an integrated approach was taken: the focus was on the product development process as a whole (as opposed to design only), and not just on the usability specialist and interaction designer, but on six roles that were considered to have most influence on usability: the product manager, marketing specialist, industrial designer, interaction designer, usability specialist and development engineer. Interviews were conducted with 69 product developers across 10 product development groups.

Deep insight into practice
The results provide a description of how usability is dealt with in product development of electronic consumer products, an overview of mechanisms of barriers and enablers for usability, and two causal models of usability in product development. The main conclusion of this research is that to be able to create usable electronic consumer products companies should not only adjust their development process, but their whole organization, including team structures, departmental organizations, and even retail strategies. If they don’t, the usability of electronic consumer products is likely to decrease (even more).

Recommendations for usability in practice
Based on learnings from the case studies as well as on existing literature on usability in practice, I wrote 25 recommendations for industry that describe how I would organize product development if the goal is to make usable electronic consumer products. The recommendations were 'user tested' by product development researchers and practitioners by placing them on this weblog, and then improved based on their input. The recommendations are published as a card set alongside the thesis and shortly after the PhD defense a pdf-version of the card set will be published on uselog.

The product usability weblog
During my PhD project I wrote on ‘uselog.com | the product usability weblog’ (which you are now reading), where I published examples of products with good and poor usability, usability studies, research on user-centred design, and news and events relating to usability. By the end of my research this weblog had nearly 10.000 hits per month. It proved a valuable tool for disseminating research, dialogue with industry and reflection on his research.

Bill Murray's rant about high-tech

2010-11-11T10:02:00.000+01:00

To celebrate World Usability Day let's watch Bill Murray's 1982 rant about high-tech. Yep, 1982, but still spot on.

[Via Bright]

Intuitive find and replace

2010-11-07T20:21:00.001+01:00

I'm wrapping up my PhD thesis, and I know it does not work like this, but at times you just give it a try and hope against all odds Word is this intuitive...

Product Impact Symposium on World Usability Day (Nov. 11)

2010-10-26T09:42:00.003+02:00

Product impact. Or social design. Or persuasive design. Or how products can change the way we behave and think. On November 11th, 2010 - World Usability Day - the Design for Usability research project organizes a symposium on product impact at the University of Twente.

Lectures
The product impact symposium will feature the following speakers and subjects:

Peter Paul Verbeek: Professor on philosophy of technology at the University of Twente and author of the book What Things Do. He will discuss mediation theory and libertarian paternalism.
Nynke Tromp: PhD candidate at IDE (TU Delft) on designing for social change. How can you increase the social cohesion in a (bad) neighborhood by means of design? She will discuss how designers can deal with the clash between individual and collective concerns in social design.
Dan Lockton: during his PhD studies Lockton investigated how you can 'design with intent'; how you can guide, steer or force user behavior. He will present his 'design with intent' toolkit'.
Steven Dorrestijn: within the DfU project Dorrestijn focuses on how designers can anticipate how their products may change future usage situations. He will discuss product impact in the Dutch OV-chipkaart.

See more on the speakers and their lectures here.

Workshop
The afternoon program consists of a workshop in which you can learn about tools and participate in interactive sessions about guiding and changing user behaviour by design.

Signing up
Entrance to the symposium is free of charge, but you have to register here.

Other uselog posts on product impact:
> Hooligans like a challenge: indestructible bus-stop destroyed
> When simplicity wins over features: Philips DirectLife
> Advertising through the UI: offering an inferior deal at a higher price
> What the iPhone can do to dinner with friends
> The 'buzzer': awaking a latent need
> 'Flowie' motivates seniors to move
> Sales over usability in hotel remote control
> Software that hacks your behavior

The fluorescent green toilet

2010-10-08T09:17:00.001+02:00

In the series horrible design choices for toilets and bathrooms I give you: "Let's paint the whole room fluorescent green." This was not a public toilet so the green was not meant to prevent intravenous drug use; it was actually backstage in a theater. A theater being a 'creative' environment was probably an excuse to go completely nuts on the color palette. I propose to sneak up on the architect and paint his office the same color.

The impossible-to-turn-off faucet, by Philippe Starck

2010-10-06T16:53:00.002+02:00

A friend of mine sent me this little gem: it's an Axor Faucet from Hans Grohe, designed by Philippe Starck. Looks wonderful doesn't it? My friend reports the following:

"Scenario: turn on the faucet, wet your hands, turn off faucet, put soap on your hands... and that's where things go wrong: with soap or gel on your hands, or even with just wet hands, there is no way you can turn off the faucet. It's just too slippery."

I guess Mr. Starck's reply would be similar as the one he - reportedly - gave when people were complaining that his Juicy Salif lemon juicer was nearly impossible to use: "My juicer is not meant to squeeze lemons; it is meant to start conversations."

Of course this water faucet never stood a chance, because Starck and water faucets are a dangerous combination to begin with. Faucets are products that - although thoroughly basic in their functionality - keep taking hits from enthusiastic designers and engineers trying out 'exciting new things'. And Philippe Starck doing interaction design, well, that's just not a very good plan as was demonstrated by his designs for this radio and this radio.

"Don't pull the towel, just touch it"

2010-10-04T13:23:00.006+02:00

Labels like these do make you wonder why a towel dispenser would need a sensor to begin with.