Month: September 2017

W2: Day Four | Sept 28

Shruti

Each of the five groups presented their products, problems and proposed solutions using the research they did over the past week on personas, accessibility studies and user journeys.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Polaroid presented solutions such as a more evident shutter and on-off button, and centred view-finder and a wider range of colors to better engage their millenial target group.

Sparoom oil diffuser created a more compact solution and highlighted accessibility issues that they addressed in their presentation.

Photive Hydra waterproof, portable bluetooth speaker went through their user journeys highlighting the need for less texture on their product for people with low vision to be able to feel the symbols for the volume buttons.

Hamilton Beach blender went through their personas as being more family-oriented and an older audience, and created a product for easier wrist movement.

Razer gaming headphones opted for a wireless solution, with extruded braille parts to provide their users with a more expressive gaming experience.

Each five minute presentation was followed by feedback from the rest of the class on how to enhance the solutions they provided, as well as organise their presentations better.
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Exercise Two – Game

After completing the first exercise, students took out board games (that they were asked to bring after the previous class). Groups formed organically as students interacted with games, and the rest of the class period was used to play these games and understand how physical games work, so that they could begin thinking about creating a digital interface for the same games.

[Reading for Exercise Two: “The Elements of User Experience” by Jesse James Garrett]

W2: Day Three | Sept 26

Shruti

Students were asked to go over Part 3 of the first assignment individually, and came into class sharing the ideas they came up with and the sketches they created over the weekend. Each group moved forward with one persona based on a real person.

This class was a working class, where groups organised all their data into presentations for the next class. Each group worked differently to distil their individual information into the group presentation, based on the structure of assignment outline.

 

W1: Day Two | Sept 21

Shruti

Exercise One – Analog

Part One of the first exercise was to bring in analog/physical objects with an interface. Students walked around the classroom, observing and analysing each of the objects. These objects ranged from gramophones and watches to diffusers and cameras. Students were divided into groups of 4-5, based on their interest in working with a specific object.

  

The groups for the next few classes are:
Group One: The Polaroid Camera
Group Two: The Hand Blender
Group Three: The Diffuser
Group Four: The Gamer’s Headphones
Group Five: The Bluetooth Speaker

In Part Two of this exercise, students sat together in their groups and worked together to identify, observe, and analyse their object keeping in mind the following:

  • the product, brand, cost and target group
  • functions of the object interface
  • accessibility issues and empathy issues (common ones being low/no vision and deafness)
  • problems in the interface
  • potential solutions to improve the interface

  

All these tasks were documented on color-coded post-its, as students alternated between working individually, then in their group to discuss and brainstorm their ideas. Part Two ended with students individually sketching ideas for an improved interface. Although everyone worked within the same parameters of the exercise, it was interesting to see how differently each group organised their thoughts.

[Reading for Exercise One: “Simple and Usable” by Giles Clybourne]

W1: Day One | Sept 19

Shruti

After introducing ourselves, we dived into a presentation about the difference between UI and UX.

Here’s your cheat sheet:
UI or User Interface is what stands between you and the object performing some sort of function.
UX or User Experience is how the interaction makes you feel.

Our very first warm-up exercise was to analyse the analog objects on the table (a coffee grinder, a coffee maker, a label maker and a universal adapter), first individually, then as a group, and use post-its to identify their weaknesses and possible solutions.