Context-of-use and the design of user-product interactions: exploring causal relationships

Nine causal relationships that explain the cause and effect relationships between aspects of human experience, context-of-use and particular aspects of product usability have been previously identified in a study that focussed on investigating the aspects of human experience that influence people’s understanding of a product’s use. This paper reports on a work-in-progress – a pilot study experiment with practising designers - that aims to further explore these causal relationships and to investigate how they can be employed in the conceptualisation stage of a design task that emphasises product usability. Data collection includes sketches and annotations produced during the design task, retrospective verbal reports of the designers’ interpretation of their initial design concepts, and opinions about the use of causal relationships during the design process. Indicative outcomes of the pilot study illustrate that awareness of causal relationships can assist designers in generating novel ways to enhance product usability. Keywords: Context-Of-Use, Human Experience, User-Product Interaction, Product Usability, Product Design</p

Visual representation of concepts : exploring users’ and designers’ concepts of everyday products

To address the question on how to enhance the design of user-artefact interaction at the initial stages of the design process, this study focuses on exploring the differences between designers and users in regard to their concepts of an artefact usage. It also considers that human experience determines people’s knowledge and concepts of the artefacts they interact with, and broadens or limits their concept of context of use. In this exploratory study visual representation of concepts is used to elicit information from designers and users, and to explore how these concepts are influenced by their individual experience. Observation, concurrent verbal and retrospective protocols and thematic interviews are employed to access more in depth information about users’ and designers’ concepts. The experiment was conducted with designers and users who were asked about their concepts of an everyday product. Three types of data were produced in each session: sketches, transcriptions from retrospectives verbal reports and observations. Through an iterative process, references about context, use and experience were identified in the data collected; this led to the definition of a coding system of categories that was applied for the interpretation of visuals and texts. The methodology was tested through preliminary studies. Their initial outcomes indicate that the main differences between designers’ and users’ concepts come from their knowledge domain, while main similarities are related to human experience as source that drives concept formulation. Cultural background has been found to influence concepts about product usability and its context of use. The use of visual representation of concepts with retrospective reports and interviews allowed access to insightful information on how human experience influence people’s knowledge about product usability and its context of use. It is expected that this knowledge contributes to the enhancement of the design of product usability

Anticipating user eXperience with a desired product: The AUX framework

Positive user experience (UX) has become a key factor in designing interactive products. It acts as a differentiator which can determine a product’s success on the mature market. However, current UX frameworks and methods do not fully support the early stages of product design and development. During these phases, assessment of UX is challenging as no actual user-product interaction can be tested. This qualitative study investigated anticipated user experience (AUX) to address this problem. Using the co-discovery method, participants were asked to imagine a desired product, anticipate experiences with it, and discuss their views with another participant. Fourteen sub-categories emerged from the data, and relationships among them were defined through co-occurrence analysis. These data formed the basis of the AUX framework which consists of two networks which elucidate 1) how users imagine a desired product and 2) how they anticipate positive experiences with that product. Through this AUX framework, important factors in the process of imagining future products and experiences were learnt, including the way in which these factors interrelate. Focusing on and exploring each component of the two networks in the framework will allow designers to obtain a deeper understanding of the required pragmatic and hedonic qualities of product, intended uses of product, user characteristics, potential contexts of experience, and anticipated emotions embedded within the experience. This understanding, in turn, will help designers to better foresee users’ underlying needs and to focus on the most important aspects of their positive experience. Therefore, the use of the AUX framework in the early stages of product development will contribute to the design for pleasurable UX

General characteristics of anticipated user experience (AUX) with interactive products

Providing a positive user experience (UX) has become the key differentiator for products to win a competition in mature markets. To ensure that a product will support enjoyable experiences for its users, assessment of UX should be conducted early during the design and development process. However, most UX frameworks and evaluation techniques focus on understanding and assessing user’s experience with functional prototypes or existing products. This situation delays UX assessment until the late phases of product development which may result in costly design modifications and less desirable products. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate anticipated user experience (AUX) to address this issue. Twenty pairs of participants were asked to imagine an interactive product, draw their product concept, and anticipate their interactions and experiences with it. The data was analyzed to identify general characteristics of AUX. We found that while positive AUX was mostly related to an imagined/desired product, negative AUX was mainly associated with existing products. It was evident that the pragmatic quality of product was fundamental, and significantly influenced user’s anticipated experiences. Furthermore, the hedonic quality of product received more focus in positive than negative AUX. The results also showed that context, user profile, experiential knowledge, and anticipated emotion could be reflected in AUX. The understanding of AUX will help product designers to better foresee the users’ underlying needs and to focus on the most important aspects of their positive experiences, which in turn facilitates the designers to ensure pleasurable UX from the start of the design process

Bombs Away: visual thinking and students' engagement in design studios contexts

In design studio, sketching or visual thinking is part of processes that assist students to achieve final design solutions. At QUT’s First and Third Year industrial design studio classes we engage in a variety of teaching pedagogies from which we identify ‘Concept Bombs’ as an instrumental in the development of students’ visual thinking and reflective design process, and also as a vehicle to foster positive student engagement. Our ‘formula’: Concept Bombs are 20 minute design tasks focusing on rapid development of initial concept designs and free-hand sketching. Our experience and surveys tell us that students value intensive studio activities especially when combined with timely assessment and feedback. While conventional longer-duration design projects are essential for allowing students to engage with the full depth and complexity of the design process, short and intensive design activities introduce variety to the learning experience and enhance student engagement. This paper presents a comparative analysis of First and Third Year students’ Concept Bomb sketches to describe the types of design knowledge embedded in them, a discussion of limitations and opportunities of this pedagogical technique, as well as considerations for future development of studio based tasks of this kind as design pedagogies in the midst of current university education trends

Global Design Studio: Advancing Cross-Disciplinary Experiential Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID pandemic forced universities worldwide to shift to remote and online formats of teaching delivery. In design education, this shift has impacted Experiential Education (EE) pedagogical approach to studio teaching, an approach that gives students an opportunity to apply theory to a concrete experience in a reflective manner and provides cross-disciplinary learning opportunities.&nbsp;This paper discusses Global Design Studio (GDS), a collaborative cross-disciplinary teaching initiative between three design disciplines&nbsp;across&nbsp;three continents: Industrial Design in Australia, Interaction Design in Canada, and&nbsp;User Experience Design in Germany.&nbsp;The objective was to develop a support framework during emergency situations to facilitate cross-disciplinary EE to design students. This paper discusses the three teaching experiences as case studies that offer opportunity for deep analysis and reflection of challenges and enablers to EE education in the shift from traditional design studio to remote and online delivery. While navigating COVID-19 barriers to EE education, GDS aimed to achieve these objectives by sharing resources, ideas, and expertise across the three universities. Each unit dedicated the entire academic term to a first exploration of GDS through a semester-long project ‘Interactive Mannikin for children to learn CPR techniques’. This article discusses the context and outcomes of EE teaching and learning experiences at each unit. This paper also reviews the lessons design educators learned about: inter disciplinarity, inter-intra-cultural issues, group working, timing, remote collaboration, and proposing a GDS model for cross-disciplinary EE.&nbsp

Viable futures through design: community engagement experiences in the creative industries

Community engagement projects for social innovation are increasingly happening across the globe and show a trend that involves communities in participatory approaches for the resolution of a variety of social needs. However, little has been discussed about how this type of projects could possibly lead to the production of viable futures as design innovations, and how social and cultural factors influence people’s engagement and participation in community-based projects. We argue that making viable futures by design requires a bottom up approach where ideas depart from the community itself, where the co-production of knowledge takes place through a process that is collaborative, participatory and engaging. From this perspective, in this paper we discuss insights gained through a study tour project in which we explored the various aspects of the concept of engagement as a key component of design innovations in people’s everyday activities. The study tour project took place at a Faculty of Creative Industries in Australia and comprised two different design creative explorations: Mutant Piggy student project involving students from Australia, China and Peru; and the InstaBooth research project involving Brisbane’s, Australia community. From our experiences we establish the concept of viable futures by design as the enabling of new endeavours that are made possible within particular contexts and within local people’s knowledge. Finally, we propose that the making of viable futures by design is an engagement process that requires co-production of knowledge and suitable tools to facilitate democratic and true participation; and that this process can prompt social change as a by-product of these community-engagement experiences. Santrauka Bendruomenės telkimosi projektai, skirti socialinėms inovacijoms, vis dažniau vykdomi visame pasaulyje, atskleidžia tendenciją bendru sutarimu įtraukti bendruomenes, kad jos dalyvautų socialinių poreikių įvairovėje. Vis dėlto nedaug diskutuojama apie tai, kaip šio tipo projektai galėtų atverti perspektyvią ateitį kuriant dizaino inovacijas, bei apie tai, kokią įtaką žmonių telkimuisi ir bendruomenę įtraukiantiems projektams turi socialiniai ir kultūriniai veiksniai. Tvirtiname, kad perspektyviai ateičiai kurti pasitelkiant dizainą reikia metodo „iš apačios į viršų“, kurio atveju idėjos kyla iš pačios bendruomenės, o žinios generuojamos bendradarbiavimo, dalyvavimo ir telkimosi proceso metu. Žvelgiant iš šios perspektyvos, straipsnyje aptariame įžvalgas, įgytas studijų turnė projekto metu, kai buvo tyrinėjami įvairūs telkimosi, kaip pagrindinio dizaino inovacijų komponento žmonių kasdienėje veikloje, koncepcijos aspektai. Studijų turnė projektas vyko Kūrybinių industrijų fakulteteAustralijoje, o jį sudarė du skirtingi kūrybiniai dizaino tyrimai – studentų projektas Kiaulytė mutantė, kuriame dalyvavo studentai iš Australijos, Kinijos ir Peru, bei tyrimų projektas InstaBooth, įtraukęs Brisbeno (Australija) bendruomenę. Remdamiesi mūsų patirtimis, pateikiame perspektyvios ateities pasitelkiant dizainą koncepciją, sudarančią galimybes imtis naujų veiklų. Perspektyvios ateities pasitelkiant dizainą kūrimas – tai telkimosi procesas, reikalaujantis bendrai generuojamų žinių ir tinkamų priemonių, siekiant palengvinti demokratišką ir nuoširdų dalyvavimą bei tai, kad šis procesas gali paskatinti socialinius pokyčius kaip šių bendruomenės telkimosi patirčių šalutinį produktą. Reikšminiai žodžiai: bendruomenės dalyvavimas, kūrybinės industrijos, dizainas, dalyvavimo dizainas, socialinė inovacija, perspektyvi ateitis

Future product ecosystems: Discovering the value of connections

Product Ecosystem Theory is an emerging approach to help understand the value networks that exist between products within a system. As products become increasingly interconnected, understanding the value that is gained from those connections becomes ever more important. This paper explores the concept of product ecosystems and how this concept can be employed in mapping current products’ evolution as well as that of new product conceptual development. Case studies using both hindsight from historical design and foresight from new product propositions reveal the different connections that take place or need to be considered in the emerging landscape of product ecosystems. This paper seeks to contribute to Product Ecosystem Theory through a discussion of the literature and analysis of emerging connections within a product ecosystem revealed in selected examples, as well as by proposing a conceptual tool to help map out products’ value networks

Self-efficacy and trust in consumers' use of health-technologies devices for sports

The commercial market for wearable health technology is growing but the value these technologies provide for consumers is debatable, as many technologies lack formal validation and are being abandoned at a high rate. The enabling of self-efficacy mechanisms in the design of health technologies, through the factors identified by self-determination theory and the Technology Acceptance Model, could increase the uptake and continued use of these devices. The aim of this research was to investigate how and why people use wearable health technology, and to evaluate their experiences from the perspective of perceptions of autonomy, safety, information security, information accuracy and willingness for continued use. Forty-eight sport enthusiasts or athletes, age range 18–65 and over, completed an online survey with 46 questions. A statistical analysis that included a Mann-Whitney U Test and a Person's Correlation analysis indicated that participants who were confident in their use of a health technology showed satisfaction with previous uses and a sense of autonomy leading to an overall positive experience. Issues around data and personal information security were identified, aligning with extant literature. Findings suggest that: (i) past experience play a role in people's perception of self-efficacy, (ii) the tracking of activities enables of autonomy and confidence, (iii) autonomy influences personal willingness to use health technologies, (iv) strong interest in personal health technologies motivates sustained engagement, and that (v) reliability and validity of data impacts on confidence in health technologies. A conceptual model is proposed for consideration when designing and evaluating health technologies, based on the factors supporting self-efficacy and trust in health technologies. Further research is required to develop this model with the aim of informing designers and developers about how to translate these factors into design features for the development of more effective personal health technology

The journey to work of young adults with mobility disability: A qualitative study on the digital technologies that support mobility

Mobility is essential in navigating familiar and unfamiliar environments. People with disability may experience vulnerability in navigating the external environment, when mobility is hindered by discomfort, commodification, or disorientation. Independent commute, choice, and control can be enhanced with appropriate aids, technology, and infrastructure. Self-determination can also be seen to enhance mobility through the realisation of strengths and limitations of the individual and the opportunity to act with self-regulation, in a way that responds to events in an empowered way. Utilising a critical incident technique, this qualitative study examines the enabling and disabling factors that impact self-determination of young adults with mobility disability in the context of their journey to work and explores the role digital technologies can play in this journey. Key findings related to the importance of mobility planning, transport options and communication in the journey to work are discussed. The importance of digital technologies is highlighted including the proposed features of digital enabling platforms