Week 1: Orientation

Reflections

This week we became familiar with the course and had a proper introduction to the world of UX Design. Our learning material covered the history of UX as well as how it can be defined. Exploring the origins of UX from times before the personal computer was an effective way of reiterating the physical aspects as well as the digital. This reminded me of people’s preconceived ideas about a product, followed by their thoughts/feelings while touching or interacting with it and then the opinions they hold after finalising their experience.

After reviewing some examples of good and bad UX, I rediscovered my motivations for enrolling on the course and was excited to learn of the various facets that a UX practitioner might explore throughout their career. One example showcased the redesign of an MRI scanner in a children’s hospital ward. Understandably, children were very scared to use the machine as it was very big and loud. A UX Designer had re-vamped the experience by re-decorating the room and using vinyl stickers to make the scanner look like a pirate ship. The hospital staff were also to wear pirate-themed costumes to add to the experience. I was amazed to hear that 77% fewer children were then admitted for sedation prior to entering the scanner. It really hones in on the experiential elements of a process and, for me, is the essence of UX design. I hope to make this sort of accomplishment in the future.

To support our work, various software were suggested, including Adobe XD, Figma and Miro. I briefly explored these in our last module, Development Practice, and have chosen to focus on Figma and Miro for the time being. I’ve found the online learning content for these to be really helpful and look forward to utilising them throughout the process of creating my artefact for the assignment. For this module, we’re to create an interactive prototype and I’ll be using Figma, Miro and Trello throughout the various research and design stages.

See below for my reflections on this week’s Challenge Activity…

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Weekly Tasks

Spark Forum

Think about what user experience (UX) means to you. Try remembering about your recent experiences of using any products or services – how could those experiences help you define user experience (UX)?

After pondering the above and scrolling through my recent emails and photos to jog my memory, I considered my recent experience of buying a new car battery. The retailer I chose had a helpful tool on their website allowing me to enter details about my car to receive the recommended battery type. From being guided through the battery selection to selecting a home-fitting appointment, the process was easy to follow and certainly had the user in mind throughout. The retailer communicated with me by email, text and phone throughout, and overall I was very impressed with the service and the end result.

I feel that this is an excellent example of a well-planned user experience where they’ve accounted for users with different levels of knowledge, geographical locations and vehicle types. As such, I feel that UX needs to consider all aspects of a user’s journey and account for the characteristics of individual users.

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Challenge Activity

Use the design thinking process – Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test – to redesign one of your classmates’ desk spaces.

Problem Statement

The user spends around 40 hours at the desk each week. There are no external windows meaning airflow and sufficient lighting can be a challenge and the space feels cramped which can affect the user’s mood. The desk has all the required equipment, but the user cited space as a concern, alongside the desk’s dark and cluttered appearance.

Amar's existing desk space:

Suggestions

As this is a temporary space/setup, I would suggest moving the unused TV and infrequently used printer from the desk. These could go under the bed while the printer could still be connected up as the desk is close by. Doing so would instantly free up more space on the desk. If cable length is an issue, longer cables are inexpensive online and will pay off in the long run due to the extra space gained. A wireless keyboard/mouse would further reduce clutter, as well as an adhesive hook to be installed at the end of the desk to store headphones. Cable clips could also be used to keep the necessary cables in one place and hidden away.

I’d also suggest changing the lampshade and the lightbulb. The bulb would be a remote-controlled LED bulb, allowing for different colours and levels of brightness. Due to the lack of daylight, this will help differentiate between activities or times of day, for example, morning time, evening time, a meeting, daily work tasks, using the room for non-work purposes. The lampshade is a plain colour which would help evenly distribute the light, making the room feel more spacious. By also applying a light grey film to the tabletop, the light would be reflected off it, thus further brightening up the space.

To ensure comfort, the user already has an ergonomic swivel chair and a laptop desk stand to bring the screen up to the correct height. The existing fan was identified as insufficient, therefore it may be advantageous to replace this with a new, more powerful fan or air conditioning unit.

Suggested Items

Reflections on Challenge Activity

I was paired with Amar who lives in Canada where the time zone is 5 hours behind mine. This made it challenging to agree on a suitable time we could both speak, but he had some spare time during working hours and we spoke then.

Having read the “do’s and don’ts of interviewing”, I managed to incorporate lots of open-ended questions and kept the conversation going while also asking follow-up questions. Near the end of the interview, we’d already covered some of my remaining questions which I could have avoided by better planning what I would ask.

It was nice to speak with Amar to understand the issues he faced first-hand and while he was sitting in the environment in question (contextual inquiry). I felt like somewhat of an intruder by asking about his personal space, but he was open to discussing it which helped. We touched on his mental health when speaking about the lack of light in the room and the effect this has on his mood. I empathised with this as my desk space has a similar problem, but it was challenging to respond when I wasn’t expecting his answer. He also mentioned feelings of anxiety when using noise-cancelling headphones as well as being in-between homes at present, so I empathised with this and took notes to help with my redesign.

It was challenging to think of solutions for his desk space as, again, I felt like an intruder and didn’t feel it was my place to be suggesting how he lives his life or has his desk set up. When looking at solutions, I had lots of ideas but kept reminding myself that it wasn’t for me and to consider all the aspects that Amar (the user) was struggling with. I finalised my solution after revisiting my interview notes multiple times ensuring I’d met his needs and considered his circumstances.

For future interviews/research, I would spend more time planning my questions to eliminate crossovers where possible. I was a little nervous in conducting my first user interview and could have made better use of silence to draw out further information from the user. Furthermore, although the time difference limited when we could speak, I’d have felt more confident about the process if I’d known Amar had free time to speak with me and there wasn’t the potential for negative repercussions from him being at work/on the clock.

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References

ROMERO, Daniel. 2020. IPhone 12 Pro IOS 14 Setup. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/73tFTwOrKPg [accessed 26 Jan 2022].