OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Throughout this project my research skills have improve drastically. I chose to focus on a topic that is fairly new within the design industry and therefore the tutors were not fully aware of the practice of User Experience or User Experience Design. By working with a UX specialist (Lowri from Rental Cars) I was able to gain the knowledge I needed to be able to understand what I was writing about. I would therefore say that my primary research skills have improved massively as I would not have been as successful otherwise. I also feel that my website design skills have improved. During my placement at Numiko I was introduced into the professional practice of website design, using Photoshop and Axure Pro to make wireframes. By using these two programs I was able to create a professional outcome that was informed by prototypes. I therefore propose to continue to work in this way and avoid using other programs such as Illustrator to create websites.

What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they ­­

As I focussed on User Experience Design it was imperative that I change the way I think about design. As a UX Designer it can be difficult to detach your own personal design aesthetic choices, as the user is the most important aspect of the design. It is therefore very important to ensure that no matter what is produced, it must be usable. I am also more aware of the psychological aspects of UX Design and I was able to use some of the core human motivations to ensure that my website would have the basic outlines of a UX project.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

My strengths within this project would be research and design, I do feel that my writing has improved massively also as I have had difficulty in the past with essay writing. I think that I enjoyed this project more than CoP1 or CoP2 because I was able to focus my entire project around a topic that I am very interested in and hope to build a career around. I hope to be able to use the knowledge I have gained from this project to form a baseline for the rest of my time on the course and also past that time.

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

My weaknesses within this project lie within time management, I do feel that I could have left myself more time to design the final website and therefore would have been able to produce more pages. I would also have liked to learn how to animate my website using Adobe After Effects to properly showcase how a user would use the site. I did manage to create GIF files that show the site but I would have preferred to create something slightly more in depth. I also feel that my topic was not be suited for the tutors on the course. Unfortunately, due to the content of my dissertation I was unable to get the best feedback as user experience design is not a topic known by most of the tutors. I feel that I was given the best tutor for my topic but I would have felt more supported if I had been assigned a tutor with more web experience. However, I was given some guidance by Lowri which helped me to gain understanding and knowledge of how users react to certain features within a website. With this knowledge I was then able to make informed decisions regarding my website re-design.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1.     Leave more time for the final designs

2.     Set up my own user testing facility to test the final design

3.     Seek out more people within the industry to gain more appropriate information

4.     Take the time to animate the website in a professional manner

I would expect to gain more understanding UX as it is a large topic with a lot of factors. I would also expect my practical element to have more breadth to it and feedback to confirm that the site is usable and has a good UX.

How would you grade yourself in the following areas;
Attendance: 5
Punctuality: 5
Motivation: 4
Commitment: 4
Quantity of work: 5
Quality of work: 4

OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Design Boards

OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Synthesis

I have written my dissertation about the practice of User Experience and User Experience Design. I focussed on Human Motivations and the psychological factors of website design. I then wrote about website navigation with links to real-life navigation and the similarities and differences between the two, I chose to focus this area on websites with large content matter such as online grocery shopping.

The practical element of my CoP3 submission is a proposed re-design of the Morrisons online grocery website. I used some of the principles within my essay such as use of Faces to entice a user and grab their attention. I also used images of food which all human beings are hard wired to recognise. I also created features such as the trolley button that users can control themselves. Within my essay I wrote about how users which they could have the control over the website and the ways in which designers can cleverly convince them that they have it. By creating the trolley feature as a drop down or fold away button it allowed me to have control of the design aesthetic and also allowed the user to control what information they wish to see. I also used images within my navigation to ensure that users understood the language used by Morrisons.

Overall, I am very happy with the final outcome and feel that I have been able to turn over a new leaf within my creative practice and I found something to aim towards within the rest of my career.

OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Interactive Website

Each page:

Homepage:

OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Final Website

Homepage before Log In or Sign Up:

Homepage after Log In or Sign Up:

Drop down navigation:

Product Page:

Try something new:

OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Wireframes

Making the wireframes digital:

OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Image Content

OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Numiko User Test

Today I went back to Numiko to do some user testing for their latest project - goldsmiths university. Having worked at Media City as a note-taker for user tests I had some contextual knowledge about what to expect from the experience. 

This test included eye-tracking technology which was something I have not had any experience with.  I expected the test to include some heat sensitive glasses but the technology was based in a camera form. The website that Numiko have designed was very contemporary and sleek which was interesting for a university like Goldsmiths. The test was based on interactive wireframes but each page was not built which meant that the options and services I would have clicked on the were not visible. As my dissertation is based around UXD I would consider myself and bad candidate for user testing as I have too much knowledge to be objective about the site. One thing I particularly noticed was the information architecture of the site and also the hierarchy of information. I thought that some of the designs were perhaps in the wrong order as I would have wanted information lower down to be higher up in the scale. 

Overall I thought the site was very impressive and modern for the university. I would be happy to return to numiko for more user testing on this site. 

OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Smashing UX

Smashing UX Design

This book was incredibly helpful as it gave a step by step guide to partaking my own UX project. The key information I got from this book was about Waterfall and Agile design. 

‘In waterfall development, activities flow from one stage to the next: from requirements to design to implementation to validation. Design is done up-front, and there is an emphasis on one stage being documented and signed off before the next stage proceeds. This fits in well with UX activities happening before development starts. UX deliverables, such as wireframe decks, can form part of the specification of the product.’ (Allen, J. and Chudley, J. 2012, P6)

‘Agile is a newer development methodology that was conceived as a response to the perceived failings of Waterfall development. These failings include the fact that poorly gathered or shifting requirements can mean that development time is wasted. Development realities often require changes when there is no available UX guidance. Proponents of Agile software development argue that initial design time should be sacrificed in the interests of developing a working produce that can be tested, built on, changed as necessary.’ (Allen, J. and Chudley, J. 2012, P6)

OUGD601: CoP3 - UX Testing Job (Media City, Salford)

I met Lowri Davies during my placement at Numiko. She introduced me to some very interesting UX conventions and also introduced me to some UX researchers at Simple Usability. Lowri asked me to assist her in taking User Testing notes. Lowri is the senior UX specialist at Rental Cars which is a global company based in Manchester. This was an excellent opportunity to gain some knowledge about the topic I am covering in my dissertation, as there aren't any tutors at college from this background.

The job was for 5 days and covered desktop and mobile sites. I was able to watch 12 user tests and also participate in one for myself. Lowri gave me a walk through of how testing is carried out which was incredibly insightful as I would have found it difficult to fully understand the process otherwise.

UX Testing process:

Each test is one hour long, it is completely voluntary so the user can leave if they want to. The first half an hour of the test was fairly user-directed. Lowri gave each user some tasks and set them on the Rental Cars website as well as some direct competitors. The use then carried out their tasks whilst Lowri, myself and some of the team members from Rental Cars observed from the observation room. The second half of the test was then a play back of the user using each website and Lowri had them explain why they clicked on certain features and focussed on difficult times within the test. My role was then to take notes of this section and time stamp any key things each user said. Lowri will then look back at the footage and create an archive of research to pass on to the design teams to help them to improve the rental cars website.


The testing took place at Space Interactive Media Labs in MediaCityUK (Salford) which is an amazing facility dedicated to user testing. I very much enjoyed this experience and I have taken a lot of knowledge away from it. I also met some of the people that work at Rental Cars and I was able to ask them about User Experience Design as it is a new design methodology that not many tutors know about.

Gaming testing room:

Notes:

Observation room:

User waiting room:

Testing room:

Testing in progress:

OUGD601: Context of Practice 3 - Interactive Design (Pratt and Nunes)

Interactive Design An Introduction to the Theory and Application of User-Centered Design

Key quotes:

‘User centered design (UCD) is a design philosophy that puts the user of a product, application, or experience, at the center of the design process.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.12)

‘In UCD a designer strives for a detailed understanding of the needs, wants and limitations of the people who will use the end product and then makes the design choices that incorporate this understanding.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.12)

‘UCD requires that designers not only analyze and forsee how users engage with a product, but they also test their designs in the real world with actual users’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.12)

‘Testing is an essential component of UCD, because it is often very difficult for designers to intuitively understand how users will perceive, understand, and use their designs.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.12)

‘Many other factors must be taken into account when designing an experience. These factors can include the business goals of the client, the limitations of the technology used to realize the design, the timeline for delivery of the finished product, and the budget.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.15)

‘UCD is also used to design many other things – from architecture and silverware to cell phones and street signs.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.14)

‘We use data and information to help us navigate the world, to be entertained, and to help us make decisions. Electronic devices feed us that data.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.16)

‘Poor design can be frustrating, preventative, and in extreme cases, deadly.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.16)

‘Your users are continuously redesigning your user interface in real time. Users become your co-designers because you cant imagine all the ways someone will actually use what you create.’ (Dana Chisnell in Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.18/9)

‘People create a mental model about an object or experience in an attempt to predict how the object will behave.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.23)

‘Design has never been a solitary pursuit. Architects work with teams of engineers, drafters, and other specialists, as well as builders and contractors to realize their designs. Print designers collaborate with content specialists, illustrators, photographers, and printers to bring their designs to life. Interactive design is no different.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.24)

‘A UX Designer will work closely with the following: Technical architects who are charged with designing the systems and code that will realize the design, Visual designers who are tasked with incorporating the brand personality into the design, Content strategists who are responsible for the content that the application will convey to the customers, Project managers who are responsible for making sure the design project is completed on time and budget.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.24)

‘Each member of an interactive team brings a unique perspective to a project – perspectives informed by their expertise and experience.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.28)

‘In order to juggle the various complicated aspects of interactive design, it is essential to collaborate.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.28)

‘You can’t design something for everyone.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.40)

‘Metrics can tell you what users like and dislike, but they cant tell you what they dream about.’ (Scott Gurksy in Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.44/5)

‘The most successful products and projects meet the needs and wants of real people. Those who come from different backgrounds, have different experiences and levels of expertise, and like and want different things.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.52)

‘Personas often include a photo, a name, a quote from the persona, a list of descriptors, such as where the person works, their marital status, and their interests, a list of their goals and needs, and a paragraph or two that explains in detail who the persona is, what they want, and what their frustrations are.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.59)

‘By understanding your users, including their needs and stories, you can design something that will be useful and valuable.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.62)

‘Users can be motivated in multiple ways – through rewards, through a clear understanding of what an application offers them, and through delivering what they want in the fastest, best way possible.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.123)

‘We will expect more, want more, and need more from the experiences with which we interact.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.217)

‘Future interactive experiences will be successful only if they continue to meet our needs and wants, in simple, easy-to-learn, easy-to-use ways.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.217)

‘In other words, if we designers continue to put real people at the center of our design process, if we work to understand who they are and what they want, then design applications will meet those needs in useful and exciting ways.’ (Pratt, A and Nunes, J. 2012, P.217)