From remembering to envisioning product use: an informal design technique

To be able to get insight in potential use experiences of design proposals, designers would ideally have continuous access to a diverse group of end-users who could give feedback. Since in practice this is not possible designers often have to rely on other sources to be able to reflect on the use issues of their design proposals. Previous research has shown that designers often apply informal techniques to reflect on use issues, in which personal knowledge and experience of previous projects serve as a frame of reference.. However, this knowledge often remains implicit. In this study we explore a technique in which members of a design team make all personal knowledge and assumptions about use in a certain product domain explicit. In this technique we distinguish remembering, imagining, experiencing and envisioning use. The information that is gathered in this way is captured in a matrix which structures use situation aspects and corresponding use issues. These issues concern user experience, usability as well as performance. In three workshops with different designers we explored the benefits and limitations of such a technique. Particularly iterating between remembering, imagining and experiencing worked very well to evoke experiences of the designer

Strategies to design for dynamic usability

Since usability is a property of the interaction between a product, a user and the task that he or she is trying to complete [6], a product’s usability can vary when it is used in varying use situations. We define this as dynamic usability. This study is aimed at exploring how practitioners currently deal with dynamic usability. From a retrospective case study research of three design projects different principles and strategies were formulated for dealing with dynamic use situations. In this paper we present solution principles that are applied to accommodate products to dynamic use situations and we discuss two design process issues with regard to dynamic usability, namely the information sources that are used to get insight in the use situations and the means by which designers try to get insight in the consequence of their design decisions with regard to future use situation

Designing for Social Infrastructures in Complex Service Systems: A Human-Centered and Social Systems Perspective on Service Design

Service design is one of the keys to improving how we target today’s complex societal problems. The predominant view of service sys- tems is mechanistic and linear. A service infrastructure—which includes solutions like service blueprints, scripts, and protocols—is, in some ways, designed to control the behavior of service professionals at the service in- terface. This view undermines the intrinsic motivation, expertise, and cre- ativity of service professionals. This article presents a different perspective on service design. Using theories of social systems and complex responsive processes, I define service organizations as ongoing iterated patterns of relationships between people, and identify them as complex social service systems. I go on to show how the human-centeredness of design practices contributes to designing for such service systems. In particular, I show how a deep understanding of the needs and aspirations of service professionals through phenomenological themes contributes to designing for social in- frastructures that support continuous improvement and adaptation of the practices executed by service professionals at the service interface

Participatory Scenario Generation: Communicating Usability Issues in Product Design through User Involvement in Scenario Generation\ud

Scenarios have proven to be a valuable tool in evaluating and communicating usability issues in consumer product design. Scenarios are explicit descriptions of hypothetical use situations. Realistic scenarios can serve as a valuable frame of reference to evaluate design solutions with regard to usability. To be able to achieve this required level of realism, involving users in scenario generation is essential. In this presentation we discuss how and where users can be involved in a scenario based product design process by means of examples of design projects that were executed by master students Industrial Design Engineering of the University of Twente. \ud \ud We distinguish direct and indirect scenario generation. In direct scenario generation the user is actively involved in a participatory scenario generation session: the scenarios are created together with users. Indirect scenario generation is an approach in which scenarios are created by designers based on common analysis techniques like observations and interviews. These scenarios are then offered to users for confirmation. Both types of user involvement in scenario generation can be aimed at either current use scenarios which describe the current situation or future use scenarios which include a new product design. \ud \ud The examples show that all strategies can be applied successfully to create realistic scenarios. Which strategy to choose depends among others upon risks and privacy issues, occurrence of infrequent events and availability of users. Furthermore, the variety of approaches shows that there is still a lot to explore with regard to benefits and limitations of the many techniques that can be applied in generating scenarios for consumer product design. We hope to contribute to this field by means of the research in our group and the work of students in the SBPD course\u

Dynamics and diversity in use: implications for aesthetics and usability

The ease of use or usability of a product depends not only on product characteristics, but on the user characteristics and environment in which a product is used as well. Products that are used in varying use situations therefore have to meet varying usability demands. In our research on dynamics and diversity in use we study the means by which designers deal with these demands. In the course humanproduct relations of the bachelor Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) of the University of Twente, students learn to view and explore the relations between humans and products. These relations can\ud consider aesthetics value, influence of behaviour and usability. When considering the dynamics or diversity of situations in which a product is used this does not only have implications for usability, it influences aesthetic relations as well. Our research on dynamic usability therefore allows for\ud exploration with regard to implications for aesthetic demands. In the course these topics were brought together in a half-day multidisciplinary workshop. The topics were explored by means of theory and exercises. This paper gives an overview of this theory and is illustrated by exercises executed during\ud the workshop and results of the design assignment (street furniture) in which students had to apply the theory. The collaboration in education between researchers in the fields of usability and aesthetics resulted in both interesting design education and inspiration for future research

A shared vision on user experiences, on mics, merves, Madonna and more

This workshop introduces the Envisioning Use technique which is aimed at generating a shared vision on user experiences in product development teams. This shared vision could support decision making with regard to user experiences and inspire solution generation by making team members more dedicated to designing experiences

Developing a systemic design practice to support an Australian government regulatory agency

Regulatory agencies are an important stakeholder in addressing complex societal problems and are beginning to recognise that these kinds of problems cannot be managed using traditional regulatory tools. In this paper we examine existing regulatory problem-solving theories and identify their limitations in addressing complex problems that are dynamic, unordered and exist within social systems. We build on these findings by describing the outcomes of a case study examining the problem-solving practice of an Australian Government regulatory agency. We propose numerous opportunities for the development of a systemic design practice within a regulatory context. The development of a systemic design practice would support regulators to navigate disjointed governance systems and establish a shared fra(Jonge, 2012)me of reference to problems, disrupt traditional thinking patterns, enable solutions to be co-designed and encourage practices to incorporate active reflection and iteration

From remembering to envisioning product use: an informal design technique

To be able to get insight in potential use experiences of design proposals, designers would ideally have continuous access to a diverse group of end-users who could give feedback. Since in practice this is not possible designers often have to rely on other sources to be able to reflect on the use issues of their design proposals. Previous research has shown that designers often apply informal techniques to reflect on use issues, in which personal knowledge and experience of previous projects serve as a frame of reference.. However, this knowledge often remains implicit. In this study we explore a technique in which members of a design team make all personal knowledge and assumptions about use in a certain product domain explicit. In this technique we distinguish remembering, imagining, experiencing and envisioning use. The information that is gathered in this way is captured in a matrix which structures use situation aspects and corresponding use issues. These issues concern user experience, usability as well as performance. In three workshops with different designers we explored the benefits and limitations of such a technique. Particularly iterating between remembering, imagining and experiencing worked very well to evoke experiences of the designers

Designing for Dynamic Usability: Development of a Design Method that Supports Designing Products for Dynamic Use situations

Ease of use or usability is gaining ground as a selling argument. However, designing usable consumer products still remains a complicated activity, particularly when products will be used in changing circumstances. The usability of a product is defined by ISO 9241 as the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use. From this definition can be concluded that a product’s usability depends on the situation in which it is used and that this situation should be specified. However, more and more products are used by varying users, for varying purposes and/ or in varying contexts of use, for instance a vending machine or a mobile phone. These types of products therefore have a varying or dynamic usability. This variation can take place on different levels: within a use session, between use sessions or between products. The means by which a product can be adjusted to this variation or ‘dynamic use situation’ depends on the variation level. Products with dynamic use situations are difficult to design with regard to usability because it is difficult - if not impossible - to predict all situations a product will meet. Moreover, requirements from different use situations can conflict. In this paper we will elaborate on the principle of dynamic use situations by means of an example. Furthermore we will discuss the need for the development of a design method that supports designers in dealing with dynamic use situations. For that purpose we propose criteria the method should meet. Besides aiming at creating solutions these criteria include the analysis and prioritizing of use situation aspects as well as an evaluation in which these aspects are integrated. We believe scenarios can be a valuable tool in this proces