Project Three Provisional Teams and Tasks

Hi Class:

Good work zeroing in on a concept today. There are lots of unanswered questions about our staring contest, but there's also lots of room for growth.

You have volunteered to be part of (or have been assigned to) a provisional team.

Documentation: Katie, Brad, Lindsay, Josh
Promotion: Sarah, Cathy, Jay, Humrya
Virtual Logistics: Justine, Desiree, Tarz
Physical Logistics: Stephen, Joe, Cole, Laila
Temporal Logistics: Alan, Charles, Nicole

In your teams, your tasks for this week are as follows.

1) Develop a fully specified variant on the staring contest concept. Be prepared to present this variant to the class next week, both as a storyboard and through role-playing. Your storyboards and role-plays should be more polished than they were during the individual ideation stage of the Project. Post your new storyboard to the blog, bring a hard copy to class next week, and come to class prepared to role-play your variant. Bring any props you may need for the role-playing, including any necessary A/V equipment.

Contemplate the project in terms of the five phases of a compelling experience that we went over in class: Attraction, Entry, Engagement, Exit and Extension. You should be able to describe how you plan to deal with each of these phases in the context of your variant.



2) Develop a detailed strategy for how to tackle your team's prescribed issue:

Documentation: a proposal for the document (presumably multi-media) you will all take away as a prospective portfolio piece at the end of the Project;
Promotion: a proposal for how to promote the project before, during and after the Activate event, without posters;
Virtual Logistics: a proposal for how to virtually present the project before, during and after the Activate event, through video projection and other means;
Physical Logistics: a proposal for how to physically arrange the project within the bounds of the Activate site, and
Temporal Logistics: a proposal for how to temporally sequence the project requirements during the weeks, days and hours leading up to, during and subsequent to the Activate event.

I look forward to developing this experience together. See you next week.

-Jesse

ps. I found a link to Immersion, video of kids playing video games from the perspective of the screen. Check it out.

Project Three Storyboards

In the second stage, you will each develop one experience for presentation to the class. This presentation will take the form of a user scenario storyboard: a graphical narrative of the experience through the senses of one or more specific persona(s).

"In a sense, scenarios are prototypes built of words. Scenarios are, at their heart, simply stories - stories about what it will be like to use the product or service once it has been made. The protagonists of these stories are the personas. Using a scenario, designers can place their personas into a context and further bring them to life. Indeed, scenarios are one of the factors that make personas worth having. Running through the same scenario using different personas is an excellent technique for uncovering what needs to be included in the final product. . . . Once a scenario and sketches have been created to show what a product or service could be like, designers can create a storyboard (figure 5.10) to help illustrate the product or service in use. Storyboarding is a technique drawn from filmmaking and advertising. Combining a narrative with accompanying images, designers can powerfully tell a story about a product or service, displaying its features in a context." (from Designing for Interaction 89-119)


For next class, propose an experience that would be appropriate for Project Three. Storyboard the user scenario experience: a graphical narrative of the experience through the senses of one or more specific persona(s). You may use the personas we began to develop in Class 8, or you may develop your own. Your graphics may be hand or computer drawn. It is likely though not essential that your storyboard include text; like a cartoon or graphic novel, your storyboard must narrate itself.

Post your storyboard, as well as any necessary supporting information (sketches, personas) to the blog by 08:30 on Monday, March 16, and bring a hard copy of your storyboard to class. We will be reviewing each of your storyboards as a springboard to our collective development of a single proposition.

Your individual storyboards will form a significant proportion of your mark for Project 3.

Project Three: Activate

Click here to download Project Three.

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Project Three
Activate!
Experiments in Experience Design


OVERVIEW

Your goal is to design and implement a compelling interactive experience that enriches the school during an event known as Activate: Experiments in Experience Design, which will take place on Friday, April 3. This collaborative class project will synthesize the design skills you have developed in this course, and includes individual, team, class and multi-class components.



BREAKDOWN

In the first stage, you will become familiar with a variety of relevant precedents, covering a spectrum of scale, skill, discipline, material and intent. A specific theme - Urban Interventions - will be emphasized.

In the second stage, you will each develop one experience for presentation to the class. This presentation will take the form of a user scenario storyboard: a graphical narrative of the experience through the senses of one or more specific persona(s).

In the third stage, you will collaborate in small groups to develop a further series of experiences for presentation to the class. The presentation will take the form of a role play: physically acting out what happens when users engage with your experience.

In the fourth stage, the class will decide on a single experience that will become our contribution to Activate. This experience will incorporate the positive qualities from the individual and group proposals.

In the fifth stage, the class will separate into task-specific teams and develop the experience in greater detail. The following issues will be addressed:

• Limited Budget: The cost of the experience will be shared equally by the class, and will not exceed $25 per person.
• Material Flows: The experience is not permitted to generate any waste. All materials used must be recycled in some way.
• Intuitive Functionality: The experience must be easily understood and engaged, without instruction.
• Temporal Sequencing: The experience design must account for the individual users’ time of interaction, and the collective time of interaction of entire event.
• Site Specificity: The experience will take place in one or more of the following locations: rhe Auditorium (room 190), the Lambert Lounge (room 187), the Mader/Caldwell Passageway (room 175B), the Main Lobby (room 175A) and Butterfield Park.

Our specific location will be determined in negotiation with the other sections of the course.

Other potential issues include advertising and promotion, aesthetics, durability, and portability. Given the undetermined nature of this project, further unknown challenges will emerge. It is critical that individuals and teams communicate and co-ordinate their activities with the entire class. The course blog will facilitate this.

The means to develop the experience will be determined by the class, and will include some combination of brainstorming, storyboarding, role-playing, task analyses, user testing, drawings, models and prototypes.

In the sixth stage, the class will make the experience a reality. Teams may change in this stage. This stage will culminate with the event itself - Activate - on April 3 (specific times TBA).

In the seventh stage, we will stage a group debrief session, where we will perform individual, team and class self-evaluation, and provide feedback to the other classes. We will also recycle our project, physically and conceptually.

Milestones:
Monday, March 9:
Precedent Presentations:
Previous Iterations
Urban Interventions

March 10 - March 15:
Individual Experience Ideation

Monday, March 16:
Individual Presentations
Group Experience Ideation and Presentations
Collective Decisions and Team Selections

March 17 – March 22:
Experience Refinement
(team meetings as required)

Monday, March 23:
Team Presentations
Final Experience Specifications

March 24 – March 29:
Experience Creation (team meetings as required)

Monday, March 30:
Final Class Meeting

March 31 - April 2:
Experience Creation (team meetings as required)

Friday, April 3:
Activate: Experiments in Experience Design

Monday, April 7:
Aftermath: Debrief, Feedback, Recycle


DELIVERABLES AND EVALUATION

This Project is worth 25% of your total grade in this course. A combination of faculty and peer evaluation will determine your mark. Specific deadlines will be established as the project progresses. Active participation in all phases is critical to the success of the Project and to your evaluation: your Participation mark, worth 10% of your total grade in this course, will also be largely determined by your engagement with this project.

Exercise Eight: OCAD Student Personas

As discussed today in class, your constructive feedback to your collegue's Project Two toy concepts should take the form of answers to the following questions:

How (or how not) is the prototype fun? Here, discuss design specifics of the toy - communication strategies, clever mapping, appropriate affordances, etc. - either in terms of design successes, or missed opportunities (and suggestions for improvement). Make reference to course material presentented to date where possible.

Why (or why not) is the prototype fun? Here, discuss your gut feelings about the toy's "fun-ness." This is a more subjective, synthetic and ultimately difficult question than the previous one. Make reference to our (or Donald Norman's) deconstruction of fun where possible.

Who (or who not) is the prototype fun for? This last question should be answered in terms of personas, summarized below. In short, list the which persona(s) the toy or game would appeal to. If none, posit a missing persona, or discuss why this toy or game is inappropriate for the target audience.

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"Personas (figure 5.8) are a documented set of archetypal people who are involved with a product or a service. . . . To create a persona, designers find a common set of behaviours or motivations among the people they have researched. This becomes the basis for the persona, which should be given a name, a picture, and a veneer of demographic data to make the persona seem like a real person."

(from Dan Saffer, Designing for Interaction, 89-119)

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The "veneer of demographic data" for your OCAD Student Personas will consist of, at a minimum, answers to the following questions:

What do they love?

What do they hate?

What do they wear?

What do they eat?

What do they listen to?

Where do they live?

In groups of four, generate two detailed personas, that consist of a name, an image and answers to the above questions, along with any other details that would help make the persona seem like a real person. Post your personas to the blog. Remember to include the names of all the members of your group in your post.

Exercise Eight is due at 11:30 on Monday, February 9.

Project Two: Design for Fun

Click here to download Project Two.

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Project Two
Design for Fun
A Positive User Experience


OVERVIEW

You are to apply your design skills to create a positive user experience. This experience, which will take the form of a toy, will reflect your emerging command of:

• Ethnographic observation, analysis and interpretation
• Strategies for establishing structure
• Human perception and strategies for conveying information
• Basic principles of experience design
• Narrative and metaphorical strategies
• Personas, scenario-planning and user-specificity
• The nature of positive user experiences


BREAKDOWN

1. As with any design project, begin with research and brainstorming. The aim at this stage is to develop an understanding of our experiences with toys. Collect as many different toys as possible. Observe and analyze how each design succeeds or fails to create a positive user experience. Compile and interpret these analyses, and attempt to establish structure: what is fun? (This portion of the project will be completed in the following Exercise: “Deconstruct a Toy: What is Fun?") Also, begin to generate concepts for your own toys in your sketchbook.

2. Expand your “fun research” to include games. Play several games, and deconstruct the experiences. How are games different from toys? How can narrative and metaphor be employed to contribute to a positive user experience? How can these strategies be incorporated into the design of a toy? (This portion of the project will be completed in the following Exercises: “Photoshop Tennis” and “A Meeting in a Supermarket.”)

3. Develop and present five concepts for a toy. Solicit feedback on your concepts from your partner from Exercise Six, and deliver feedback to them in return. Your feedback should consider how each concept responds to our notions of what constitutes fun, and how the course material presented to date can be employed to improve the concept. Your five concepts must be posted to the blog by 08:30 on Wednesday, February 11, and your feedback must be posted to the blog by 18:00 on Friday, February 13.

4. Narrow your concepts down to one, and produce a working prototype. The prototype need not be exquisitely constructed, but should be robust enough to survive user testing. You will not be permitted to explain your toy, so any required instructions should also be prepared in prototype form. You must bring your prototype to class at 08:30 on Monday, February 23 for user testing by your colleagues.

5. Create a formal proposal that details your final concept. Your proposal should include visual representation of your concept, as well as a written description of why your toy or game is fun and how it employs the course concepts presented to date. You should incorporate improvements derived from user testing. Your proposal must be posted to the blog by 08:30 on Monday, March 2.


DELIVERABLES

08:30 on February 9: Five toy concepts, posted to the blog

18:00 on February 13: Constructive feedback on your partner's five
toy concepts, posted to the blog as a comment on their original post.

08:30 on February 23: A mock-up of your final concept for
user-testing

08:30 on March 2: A formal proposal of your revised final concept,
posted to the blog.


EVALUATION

Five concepts in sketch form, posted to the blog: /5
Feedback to your partner, posted to the blog: /5
Mock-up (robustness, use-ability, “fun-ness”): /8
Formal Proposal (proposal quality, clarity and
convincingness; synthesis of course material to date): /7
TOTAL: /25

Project One Edited Ethnographic Video Example

Project One Blog Post Example

Below is an excellent example of the blog post component of Project One that was prepared by a group of my students from last year.

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Project One - Opening a Pop Can

Our interaction

For this assignment we studied the process of opening a pop can and some possible problems that occur.
Map of the pop can opening











The interaction of opening a pop can is necessary in the context of a consumer society, in which people often drink out of cans for convenience. Without the opening, the product has no purpose.


What are the steps of interaction?
The steps of this interaction where designed to be quick and simple.


a. The first step is putting your finger (either middle or index) on the small space between the lever and the end of the pop can as seen in image one.

b. The second step is to lift the lever, by putting your finger underneath it and pulling backwards

c. The third step is to pull all the way to the other side of the rim so as to puncture the opening with the pressure.

d. The final step is to bring the lever back to it's original location so that the drinking whole is not obstructed.


Where does this interaction start and finish?
For our study, we specified our research on the opening of the pop can. Therefore, in the case of our project, the interaction would end when the opening would be punctured and the lever returned to it's original position. But on a larger scale, the interaction of using a pop can is in fact completed when the beverage is finished and the consumer is ready to dispose of it.

How does the design direct the interaction?
The design and the location of the opening instantly triggers automatic hand placement of the consumer. The signal-noise-ratio is well executed in pop can openings because there is never any sort of distraction from this interaction on the actual product. Presumably, this is why there usually are no advertisements on the top of the can.

Take a look how it's done:




Unfortunately, the design does not take into consideration manual malfunctions. The lever is very closely located to the base of the top of the can, which makes it difficult for some consumers to lift. Thus defeating the concept of convenience because of external tools (such as keys, knives, other the like) are needed. 75% of people interviewed expressed some sort of difficulty when opening the can. 95% of them where male.

Elements that are most commonly problematic

Our Design Proposal
After ethnographic research, our team concluded that in most instances, the goal of opening the pop can to drink the beverage within it is usually met, by one mean or another.

However, the percentage of people who struggled was too large to ignore. This is why in our redesign proposal, we decided to elevate the lever and make it and it's attachment out of a thicker concentration of metal.

It is a minor change which could not be too costly and hard to get used to, and would facilitate the opening of the pop can for many of those who have difficulties.
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Remember, every interactive experience will require a unique format - don't assume that this format will work for your deconstruction.

Project One Release Form

Click here to download the Project One release form.

Project One: Deconstruct an Interaction

Click here to download Project One.

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Project One
Deconstruct an Interaction

OVERVIEW

In teams of about four students, you are to document a common interaction between people and their environment, deconstruct this interaction, and suggest reasoned improvements to the interactive experience.

As discussed in class, there are many possible interactions worthy of deconstruction: be creative and find an interaction that interests you.

The purpose of this project is to employ the techniques and concepts presented in the first three classes, including:

• Mental Models
• Usability Research and Ethnography
• Perception and Cognition
• Establishing Structure
• Maps and Diagramming
• Conveying Information
• Fundamental Principles of Experience Design

OCAD equipment access is limited. You can check out digital still and video cameras overnight from the A/V offices located throughout the school. If you have access to your own equipment, please use it.


BREAKDOWN

1. Brainstorm a minimum of ten interactions, and choose one to deconstruct. Study the interaction through ethnographic observation. You are encouraged to establish as large a sample population as possible, but you must obtain the informed consent of your subjects, using the release form provided. Your participation in the interaction should be limited to shooting stills and video, making observations and taking notes.

2. Review your ethnographic material and uncover the structure of the interaction. Things to consider will vary depending on your chosen interaction, but may include:

• Why is this interaction necessary?
• What are the items of interaction?
• Where and when does the interaction start and finish?
• What are the tasks performed in the interaction? Which ones are critical?
• How does design direct the interaction?
• What are the goals of the people in the interaction? How are those goals met or not met by the system?

3. Make an annotated map or diagram of the structure. Things to present in will vary depending on your chosen interaction; there may be several interlocking maps or diagrams. Some or all of the considerations above are likely to appear in your maps or diagrams.

4. Using your maps or diagrams, along with any less tangible observations and gut feelings, identify opportunities for making the interaction a better experience. With your team, brainstorm alternatives of task, timeline, form, function and appearance that would substantially improve the interactive experience. Present a coherent vision for changes to the system. Feel free to identify both near-term and far-term possibilities for an improved design.

5. Create an electronic presentation that synthesizes your ethnographic observation, your deconstruction, mapping and diagramming of the interactive experience, and your suggested improvements. There is no specific format for the presentation, though PDF, Powerpoint/Keynote and Quicktime are suggested mediums. Your presentation is an experience in itself, and should be clear, creative and compelling.


DELIVERABLES

1. Your electronic presentation, delivered to the class on Monday, January 26. You are to speak for no more than 10 minutes, and you are to make use of my computer: come prepared with your presentation burned to a CD or on a USB device.

2. An abridged version of your presentation, posted to the course blog by 08:30 on Monday, January 26.


EVALUATION

Quality and Extent of Ethnographic Observation: /6
Use of Course Concepts to Deconstruct the Interaction: /5
Appropriateness of the Suggested Improvements: /3
Clarity and Impact of the Presentation and Posting: /6
TOTAL: /20