Input Device: Speech Recognition

I've just purchased a new mobile phone, namely the Nokia E65. I have always wanted to keep an up to date phone, with modern features. I can remember around 5 years ago I had mobile that had voice dialling. It was reasonably poor, allowing only 10 names to be stored with voice tags, with each tag having to be saved by the user first. After taking time to attempt to match the sound just spoken with the one saved would invariably return an error.

Upon closer inspection of my new phone, I found the speech recognition feature when accidentally pressing one of the smaller buttons on the side. It presented the message "speak now", so I said the name of a friend in the room. The phone then proceeded to call that friends phone. Amazed, I looked up the information regarding speech recognition in the handbook. The software allows me to say the name of anybody in my phone book, and call the corresponding number with around a 80-90% accuracy. It can also be used to open other features on the phone such as Blue-tooth and conference calling. The thing that surprised me the most about this capability is that it is speaker independent. This means not only can it process anybodies voice, it also requires no 'training' or previous input.

This got me thinking about how this kind of technology could be used in our product. If this software is capable of recognizing any kind of name in a phonebook, why shouldn't we use it in our virtual shopping experience. At the very least, even just simple commands could be used, for example "show shopping list" or "go to checkout". At a more advanced level, it could be used to specify individual products, for example "show all brown bread".

Since the technology already seems reasonably advanced and already in use, it would seem to be a good design decision to include some kind of voice recognition. The underlying concept of our product is to make a familiar and accessible shopping experience, and technology like this would surely benefit elderly users.

User Support: Use of Video

It is generally accepted that a good design heuristic is that a user should be able to recognise, rather than recall how to operate something. The ability within elderly people to recall information is typically limited, thus enforcing the importance of following this heuristic. Therefore, a design goal should be to ensure that no prior knowledge should be needed to use the system. However, it is difficult for a user to adopt something they have no understanding of. How a user is given instructions and taught new information should be considered carefully.

Snippets of video will be used in the initial prototype to convey important information to the user. For example, if the user has completely forgotten how to use the system, they can watch a tutorial with a familiar face giving instructions. The use of video gives a warmer feel to the system and television is certainly something that our personas are use to. However, these video sequences cannot be too engaging or lengthy as we do not what to bestow too much information on the user; only instructions relevant to the interaction the user wants to make will be presented.

Output Device: VR Goggles

Since we are bringing the shopping experience home, the form of interaction is very important. We felt that we should make use of current conventions by making the experience feel as similar as possible to being in a real supermarket, but without the drawbacks of traveling, lifting heavy shopping, being confused by choices etc.

In a real supermarket the user benefits from distributed cognition, whereby an individual is constantly bombarded by information about products and choices, enabling them to go shopping without a list because the environment triggers off memories for them. For this reason and the purposes of using established mental models, the system will heavily make use of a visual representation similar to a real store - unlike online shopping, which is list based.


The visual output
To this end, we decided a virtual reality (VR) helmet would be a good choice, providing an immersing environment.


However, our personas generally may feel that VR helmets in their current form are large and cumbersome. Using one requires carefully placing it on the head and tightening straps, some users may also find it heavy. Being unfamiliar with such devices and technology in general, the audience may find it intruding and scary.


Our (re-)design

Equipped with some knowledge of our audience, we set out to improve the design to be more user friendly. Our prototype (above) was more compact, lightweight and less intruding. It was designed to appear similar to sunglasses in design and feel, making the audience feel more comfortable and hence more likely to explore.

We made assumptions that such a technology would be possible in the future, be wireless and cheap to purchase. Other aspects of our prototype will be discussed in subsequent posts.

Scenario: Margaret Baxter "I’ll see you when you get there, if you ever get there"

Margaret wakes up today, the same as any other day. She has a few aches and pains but today is a fairly good day compared on the whole. It’s Saturday and the time has come to Margaret to do the weekly shop again. As she feels fine she doesn’t have any second thoughts, she gets ready and starts her 10 minute walk to the bus stop.

So far everything’s going well for Margaret. She catches the bus and gets to the super market in good time.

When Margaret arrives at the store she finds that it is very busy indeed as it is a bank holiday coming up. This does not worry her to much at first and she continues on.
She now goes to fetch a trolley and to her dismay realises that she does have the right change for a push trolley. Never mind she thinks, making do with basket instead which is still big enough as she has only to buy food for herself.

Half way round the shopping trip, Margaret’s basket is starting to fill up. With this extra strain she starts to get unforeseen pains in her joints. She slows down and continues on.

As the shop goes on Margaret’s pains grow slowly worse until it gets to the point when she’s had enough and heads for the checkouts. Due to the amount of people who have fled to the supermarket this day, Margaret is left waiting for an extra 10 minutes which does nothing but worsen her situation, she is not looking forward to the rattley bus at all.

She eventually reaches the bus stop in a fair amount of pain. As she expects the bus journey is very uncomfortable, every time the bus hits a bump in the road or turns a corner to sharply pain shoots through her body.

At the end of Margaret’s journey she is in to much pain to walk the 10 mintues home with her shopping. Luckily a passing neighbour notices her sitting at the bus stop and asks if she wished to have a lift back home much to her appreciation.

Design Considerations: Disabled Users

As our product is aimed at an elderly market, it is likely that many of the proposed users of the system will have a disability in one form or another. For this reason it is important to base our design around any disabilities that they may have.

Visually Disabled Users
Visually disabled users ranging from colour blind to fully blind have problems with images that do not provide a text description of what they show. Without a text description a user who can't see an image has no way of knowing what it is or what it represents.
These users also have problems understanding sites that are not logically built when "viewed" using a non-visual browser such as a screen reader. A screen reader is a Web Browser that reads Web sites out loud so as to make them accessible to visually disabled users. Often a Web site that looks nice visually will be a complete mess when it is listened to through a screen reader.

Hearing Disabilities
In a similar way to visually disabled users not having any way of understanding an image, users with hearing disabilities have no way of understanding information that is communicated with sound, unless an alternative is provided that does not use sound, such as a text description or an image.

Physical Disabilities
If you are not physically disabled, have you tried using a Web site without your mouse? Unless you were lucky with the site you chose then you probably found it very difficult. Physically disabled users are often incapable of using a mouse. Unless these users needs are taken into account when creating Web site navigation and input methods physically disabled users will sometimes find a Web site completely inaccessible.

Cognitive and Neurological Disabilities
Web sites can be complex, and finding the information we want can be difficult for the most able of us. This is not helped by sites that use an overly complex design, navigation that works differently on different pages (inconsistent) and distracting repetitive animation. All of these problems are compounded for users with Cognitive and Neurological Disabilities and this makes some sites completely inaccessible for them.

The following need to be taken into account when designing our system.

Text Equivalent: Always provide a text equivalent to any information you present with graphics, videos, applets, etc. Use the text to describe the content and/or function, not merely to describe the graphic. If you include a chart that illustrates how company sales rose 300% in only a year, use that descriptive text in your ALT tag ('Sales Up 300% in FY2000!') instead of merely labelling it 'sales chart graphic.'

Alternate Navigation: Always provide a text links somewhere on your page if you rely mainly on image maps for site navigation.

Colour: Don't use colour as a primary means to impart information. If you display sale items in red text, try to group them together under a text section header that says: "Sale-Priced Items!" Choose colours and colour combinations carefully too: as many as 1 in 12 white males have some sort of colour blindness.

Buttons: Clearly labelled buttons as well as a description of the destination. Be particularly careful with this if you're using an image as an important link. A graphic of a shopping cart should clearly indicate that it links to the shopping cart page: 'View the contents of your shopping cart' and not merely 'Shopping Cart.'

Information taken from:
http://www.miswebdesign.com/resources/articles/accessibility-intro.html
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol3/design_no17.htm

Design considerations for older people

After reading an article about a study into usability for older audiences, we decided it would be best to have the following considerations when designing the visual part of our prototype:

• High contrast in colours
• No scrollbars
• Allow them to make writing bigger
• Make it obvious that they have clicked on a button (i.e. fade/change colour)

The general principles involve making transitions between states of the system obvious and intuitive as possible. Other ways in which good usability could be achieved include:

• Being very clear on what functions are available and their purpose
• Making the user feel aware of the purpose of their context and its position in the system as a whole to make navigation simple
• Making use of established mental models (such as having a items organised on shelves, unlike current methods of online shopping)
• Simplicity through a limited set of controls with obvious functions
• Allowing users to recognise as much as possible, rather than recall (using images of products for example)
  

These will be in addition to more general design heuristics, some of which were discussed in previous posts.

Scenario: Joyce Barrington "My bags are too heavy"

Joyce Barrington is having the family over for sunday roast, here's the scenario!
It is Friday afternoon and Joyce needs to prepare for Sunday's family dinner.
She takes the bus to the supermarket.
She browses around the supermarket choosing food and drink, putting them in her trolley.
Joyce takes her selections to the checkout feeling tired after having walked and pushed the trolley for over an hour.
An assisstant helps her to pack her shopping bags.
Joyce pays for her shopping and leaves the supermarket.
She carries the bags to the bus-stop.
She gets the bus back to near her house, and walks the rest of the distance, now very tired from carrying so many heavy bags.
She gets home and has a rest before unpacking the shopping.

However with our proposed system, the shopping process will be completely different. Fatigue from pushing around a supermarket trolley will not be an issue, since the user will be able to select any products from the comfort of their own armchair. Similarly, the system will rely on home delivery to get the shopping to the user.

Counting Calories

The government white paper Choosing Health sets out plans to ensure companies adopt a consistent and clear standard for presenting nutritional information on foods. They argue that people need to understand what’s inside the product they’re purchasing in order to make better food choices regarding health.

The Food Agency Standard have put forward their recommendation for a consistent approach to front of pack labelling that will provide ‘at a glance’ information on labels about the nutritional content of foods. It seems their signposting idea of ‘traffic light labelling’ has been widely adopted in most major supermarkets as much research suggests that it’s the best aid for consumers to pick the healthy option:

However, some of the UK’s biggest food firms have introduced their own standard for signposting and argue that GDA is clearer and much more useful to the consumer. This evidently causes conflict with the government’s proposal to standardise food packaging and thus resulting in multiple signposting for consumers to make decisions with.

How on earth do elderly people feel about this? What nutritional information is important to them?

We mentioned before that avoiding information overload was an important design consideration when designing for elderly people. Bob who recently had a stroke needs to ensure he enjoys food which keeps his blood-pressure low, so it’s important that the information is put across. Therefore, our design should enable the viewing of nutritional information in a form which elderly people prefer and understand so they can make well-informed decisions upon.

Reading
Food colour coding 'best option', BBC, Link
Food firms 'go own way on labels', BBC, Link
Choosing Health: White Paper, Department of Health, Link

Scenario: Bob Todd "I don't know what's good for me!"

Since Bob had a stroke, he's been told by his doctor to take life at a slower pace as well as take care with what he eats. The doctor made a diet plan for him, but since his wife passed away he's found that taking care of himself is more difficult with everyday tasks such as cleaning and cooking seeming challenging.

When it comes to food shopping he's bemused by the vast array of choices, and all the people rushing back and forth past him are annoying. He feels somewhat out of place in this strange environment. When looking at the shelves to pick even a can of beans, he gets confused, not knowing what all the variations mean or how one compared with another in terms of value, quality, health and taste but being used to having people do things for him and coming from a high managerial position, he's gained a sense of pride and stubbornness.

After walking around the long and tiresome supermarket (whose layout he finds highly illogical) and "wasting time" trying to decide what brand is good, what GI means and whether protein is a good or bad thing, he gets frustrated and just buys the usual food his doctor advised him against, choosing brands he recognises from what his wife used to buy. Often he'll pick anything that’s easy to make, because he wouldn't know where to start with cooking.

In addition to all this, the stroke affected his memory, but being a well organised man - he makes a list of everything he needs. However, while browsing aisles he forgets what he's bought and has to repeatedly check through the goods in his trolley, if something isn’t there he'll backtrack, eventually find the aisle and recall that he chose not to pick up the item, which results in him feeling more frustrated and tired.

Transporting the shopping home isn’t that much trouble since he has a car, he does have difficulty in loading and unloading everything (although he'd never admit it). The main issues for Bob are:

• Not knowing what to choose (what's healthy, quality, brand etc)
• Remembering what he's bought and needs to get
• Finding his way around the supermarket to quickly get what he wants
• Feeling discouraged to try new things or cook as he dosnt have access to the information

Use Cases

From our initial idea, personas and fact-finding mission, we elicited key use cases that our technology should provide to satisfy our target users:

• To add a product to the shopping basket
• To view and keep a record of the products in the shopping basket
• To remove a product from the shopping basket
• To limit amount spent on shopping using a budget
• To check out and purchase the contents of a shopping basket
• To show offers & discounts on products in the supermarket
• To navigate through a supermarket
• To view details about a particular product
• To browse through products in the supermarket
• To enable/disable a shopping assistant
• To compare products
• To search for a particular product
• To generate recipes based on the contents of the shopping basket
• To view and experience the quality of a product
• To pack shopping after purchase
• To invoke the home delivery of shopping

Next, we will develop key scenarios. They will help us identify what aspects of the task our technology will add benefit the most.

Task analysis of food shopping

Before we begin investigating our personas any further or developing use cases for the shopping trolley idea, it is important to understand how the task of food shopping is currently done. In order to do this we produced a task analysis (TA), doing so has given us many insights into problems with the current methods for our audience - which you'll see on this blog soon.


The top level of the TA is composed of six main tasks:
(click on the images for a larger version)



1. Consider choices (of what to purchase):
2. Go to supermarket
3. Select foods
4. Take to checkout
We felt this was pretty obvious and not worth elaborating further.

5. Purchase

6. Transport home

The Supermarket

Grocery shopping has become a task we all must do. It may be a weekly shop or for party preparations; our reason behind shopping and when we decide to do it varies. However, all our different goals and convenience needs seem to be satisfied by supermarkets in their current form. Or are they? What about Bob? What’s his typical supermarket experience like?

I managed to find the layout of my local supermarket back at home:

This layout is typical of most Sainsbury’s stores. Foods are grouped in specific areas and positioned based upon how the store can get their goods onto the shelves. For example, although bread is a basic and frequently bought product, its position is furthest from the entrance where the bakery is located. It could also be positioned in this way to intentionally draw attention away from the shopper’s main goal and towards other products, generating impulse buys.

Supermarkets deliver a variety of products in a reasonably compact way. This is to ensure they meet the needs of as many shoppers as possible. However, this results in a large number of aisles and possibly a large number of products which are irrelevant to that particular shop. Elderly people, like Bob may not be agile enough to dodge through and navigate these cramped aisles at busy times. Also, the large array of products may confuse and therefore create frustration during the whole shopping experience.

With these two points considered, it could be suggested that the organisation of Bob’s goals in a supermarket is not user-centric but rather organised based on the operation and marketing directive of the supermarket itself. There is compromise between what the user needs and what the supermarket wants. It is mainly based on the constraints of the technology supermarkets use to deliver their products to customers and the objective to capture as many of these customers as possible to remain competitive.

Persona: Margaret Baxter

Overview

Margaret Baxter is a 69 year old retired vet. She lives by herself in a small bungalow in the middle of a small village near Oxford. Margaret has been married but lost her husband to a heart attack 10 years ago and has lived by herself ever since.

Household & Leisure Activities

Margaret has always and very much enjoys being active. Within the last few months however, her arthritis has worsened and she now finds that she is unable to do many of the tasks she previously could.

Whereas before Margaret would take part in a fitness exercise class for over 70’s 3 times a week, now she can only go at most once depending on how much pain she is in.

Margaret is a keen bowls player. Up until a few months ago she was a key part to the Thame bowls team and played weekly matches against other teams from all over the country. She has now had to give up playing in matches as she cannot rely on being fit enough. She does still however play socially when she can with her friends.

Margaret enjoys shopping at her local shops for fruit, vegetables and meat. She is friendly with the shop keepers and makes an effort twice a week to visit them. The local shops are a short bus journey away from her house but the bus stop is 10 minutes walk away from her bungalow. Margaret cannot visit the large supermarkets anymore as she cannot drive and she finds the long journey on the bus along with carrying all of her bags to much to handle.

Goals, Fears & Aspirations

As Margaret has lived by herself for so long, she has learnt to cope very well by herself. She can still perform day to day activities and look after herself and the house.

Her recent deterioration in health is a worry to her . Margaret does not get pain all of the time and on good days she is able to be fairly active. On a bad day however she often finds it very difficult to get out of bed and most of the day is spent not doing much at all as she experiences great pain when she moves. Margaret fears that if she continues to get worse that she will not be able to look after herself properly.

Margaret’s main objectives on a day to day basis are to look after her health and makes sure she stays active. She doesn’t like staying at home and makes an effort to get out every day to visit friends or go for walks.

Computer Skills

Margaret has been taking computer lessons at a local college for over a year now. Before she started the course she had never used a computer before. She has learnt simple tasks such as sending email and writing letters which she really enjoys. She now likes to keep in contact with friends and family over the internet. Margaret has never used any form of internet shopping to date. She is aware of it but does not feel confident enough yet in her computing abilities. She does plan to explore this area once she has built up enough courage. Despite her skills being very limited, she is still a keen learner.

Persona: Dillon Mills

Overview
Dillon is 81 and lives with wife, Felicity (27) in a nicer part of Worcester. He was a soldier in WW2 where he fought many victorious battles in the British Army. When the war was over, he moved swiftly into the police force, rising to high positions of power and enjoying a generally successful career. He recently had a stroke, which has caused him to be house ridden.

Day in the Life
09:00 – awakes up. Dillon enjoys a warm breakfast in bed, cooked by his loving wife.
09:30 – reads what we can of the morning paper, only after managing to grab it off his Jack Russell Terrier.
10:00 – watches his favourite daily politics show on the box.
12:00 - takes a relaxing snooze as his wife hits the shops in the town centre.
12:30 - wakes. Logs onto his computer to have a casual surf.

Experience with Technology
Dillon loves using the Internet. He can perform a ‘Google’ search, send and read email, chat to his old war buddies via instant messenger and bid for gifts for his wife on eBay. He enjoys it because he feels as if he is still in control without getting out of his chair.

Experience with Online Shopping
Dillon uses online shopping very often. Dillon pops to the kitchen and writes down a list of all the things he needs/wants. He logs into Tesco’s website, pops in the items into the search box and off he goes. However, Dillon often gets frustrated when he is given too many choices in his search result. For example, he searches simply ‘bread’, but the results return a list of exotic foods (containing the word) which he has no interest in! Another thing he is unhappy about it white writing on coloured background; he can’t seem to read it!

Dillon doesn’t like spending too much time on the site because he thinks it costs him money! Hates scroll bars; completely confuses him! And is often confused by adverts, because he thinks the computer is actually telling him to do it, for example “click here!”

Persona: George Norman

George is a 65 year old, recently retired accountant. He lives in a quiet village with his wife, in the middle of dense countryside, 25 minutes drive from the nearest town. The village has 2 shops, a family owned butchers and a post office.

Now that he has retired, he leads a very busy social life, he is captain of the golf club and spends at least 2 evenings there a week. Other nights during the week are filled with bridge and dinner parties. Now that he has more time on his hands, he and his wife go on holiday a lot, especially during the winter to get sun. They prefer to go on relaxing cruises, as they have no time constraints, the exact time they go is not important.

Every weekend he likes to drive to town to look around and buy any items that he needs. He only every goes to shops he knows, new shops have opened up but he never visits. He knows that the shops he visits are more tailored to his needs and he does not like the hustle and bustle of the bigger high street chains. Due to this fact, if he ever needs to purchase a product out of the ordinary, he has little idea where to go to and therefore feels that he doesn’t get a good deal because he buys the only one he can find or goes without the item completely. If he buys an expensive item such as a new television or hi-fi, he will research it and only buy the product when he is certain that it is the one he wants and he knows he is getting it at the best price, for peace of mind. If he needs small items milk or bread during the week, the post office can provide these. His wife does all the food shopping for both of them so he does not need to worry about this.

When George does go shopping, he rarely takes a list. He’s starting to find that he often forgets to buy an item which means that he either has to wait till he next goes to town or a fairly long car journey back to town.

Due to his job, George used computers a lot and is fairly competent as long as he is not asked to perform a new task. He currently likes buying books online and searching for last minute holiday deals. He still doesn’t prefer this method as he does not completely trust it, he prefers to see what he’s buying before he has bought it. As he uses the system more however, he finds that he has to do far less physical searching, books buy his favorite authors are recommended to him, more information is available to him about the products and he trusts it more.

Persona: Joyce & Winston Barrington

Overview
Meet Joyce and Winston Barrington. They are 72 and 74 respectively, and live in a terraced house in North London. Joyce and Winston came to England in 1982 from Jamaica in search of well paid jobs and a modern lifestyle. Their extended family also came to England around the same time.
Joyce is now retired, but when she was in employment she worked in a hair and beauty salon, mostly applying synthetic nails for customers. Now that she is no longer in full time work, Joyce finds herself with a lot of time on her hands. Winston made a living in Jamaica as a jazz musician, however since coming to England he has done it only as a hobby.

Household & Leisure Activities
Joyce's household activities mainly include doing the housework and preparing the meals. Since they only live in a small house, it does not require much work to keep it clean and tidy. They also have a dog that Joyce takes for daily walks. Her other hobbies include embroidery and flower arranging. Winston is a keen gardener, however as he is getting older, he finds it harder to keep the garden in order. He enjoys doing Su Doku puzzles and keeping up to date with politics and current affairs. Winston also listens to a lot of jazz music, and having recently bought a Hi-Fi has started a collection of classic jazz.
Joyce and Winston have three daughters that also live in the London area, however since neither drive they must rely on public transport to get to see them.
Joyce is also a keen cook, specialising in Jamaican cuisine. She shops at a specialist Jamaican food shop, however this is also a bus ride away.

A Day in the Life
Since they retired, Joyce and Winston have enjoyed a relaxed lifestyle. A typical day in their house would involve getting up around 7:00 a.m. and eating breakfast together. In the mornings Joyce likes to run any errands that need doing, as well as take the dog for a walk. In the afternoon Joyce usually pursues one of her leisure activities, such as cooking or flower arranging. Winston often works on their garden in the mornings, and after lunch he enjoys watching TV and listening to music. Every night Joyce prepares the evening meal, leaving Winston to do the washing up. In the evenings the couple like to relax, either staying in watching television, or visiting one of their daughters.

Goals, Fears & Aspirations
Joyce's main fear in life is losing her independence and mobility. She tries to stay fit by walking the dog and despite her general health being very good, she is an feeling increasingly like an 'elderly' woman. Having had a fairly comfortable life in London, Joyce does not have any significant long term goals, other than to keep enjoying her life by remaining fit and active. One of her daughters has a baby, so Joyce would like to be see the child grow up. Joyce's other aspiration is to come up to date with modern times, for example her husband recently purchased her a mobile phone. Winston's ambition is also to keep active, especially in the garden. He hopes to grow a vegetable patch so that the couple can enjoy home grown vegetables. He would also like to play a more active role with household activities because Joyce is starting to struggle with her workload of shopping, cleaning and general chores.

Computer Skills
The only time Joyce has used a computer has been in the library to search for books. She has no experience of the Internet or PCs but is very willing to learn. Winston recently attended an 'Internet for the Elderly' course at his local meeting point, gaining basic knowledge of computer. He would like to further these skills so he can take full advantage of the services available on the Internet.

Technology Attitudes / Attributes
The Barrington’s home does not contain many technological appliances or gadgets. Winston has a CD player and a DVD player, which Joyce feels relatively comfortable using. Both are keen to get to grips with a wider range of modern technology. The couple have never had any of the latest gadgetry, but would like to update their lifestyles by introducing things like digital cameras. To keep in touch with their family, they currently almost solely rely on landline telephones. However now Joyce has a mobile phone she can call on the move, as well as text her extended family.

Market Size and Influence
In terms of modern technology and gadgetry, the potential market for a product like ours could be reasonably small. However with technology use on the increase across all age ranges with applications such as mobile phones and the internet, the market is constantly growing and attracting customers of all ages. In terms of the popularity of Internet shopping, elderly customers make up a very small percentage of users. Due to the inaccessibility of such services to the elderly however, our product offers solutions and alternatives to their current problems and solutions.

Persona: Bob Todd

Overview
Say hello to Bob Todd! He’s 66 years old and lives in a nice outer suburb of Solihull. He retired from working two years ago from a medium-sized finance firm where he enjoyed a successful career as a project manager. This signalled an abrupt change from commuting into Birmingham by car every morning to a more domestic lifestyle.

His wife sadly passed away seven years ago and since then he had thrown himself into his work. Now that his work has been taken from him, his life has become lonelier and disoriented. Both his son and daughter work as investment bankers in the city and only visit Bob on a rare occasion.

In terms of wealth, Bob is fairly well off. He receives a healthy company pension which put any financial worries aside. He isn’t able to spend without remorse, but he can afford to choose when he goes shopping for food and other consumer goods.

Household and Leisure Activities

Bob is particularly fond of classic cars, and has been rebuilding one in his garage, for which he regularly goes to auctions to buy parts for. Thus most of his time is spent in his garage with the frequent break of a cup of tea.

Getting in the shopping is the major household activity Bob has to perform. He doesn't particularly like shopping in the supermarket, he isn't fond of being surrounded by strangers who he isn't in charge of and is treated as just another pedestrian. He also doesn't appreciate the baffling array of choices available so tends to ignore most things and go straight to a few regular things to buy. He doesn't know how to cook, but he is still skilled with his hands, and would probably pick it up well if he had a source for ideas or more knowledge about food.

He also enjoys gardening and in doing so keeping his garden in an impeccable state. The back-garden is of a considerable size and requires much attention. The evenings are generally spent enjoying the company of the television with several cups of tea beside a warm fireplace. On the odd occasion he entertains members of the church to dinner.

Goals, Fears & Aspirations
Personal health is Bob’s biggest concern. He recently had a stroke (which is a significant part of the reason he had to retire.) His doctor has told him he has to slow down, and live life at a more sedate pace or risk dying from another one. It affected his brain function, and he has found his memory to be significantly lessoned, but he is normally too proud to admit to this, he has already lost enough of his status he thinks to himself.

He has been sustaining himself by shopping once a week and buying a lot of "healthy eating" ready meals, but this is not healthy enough and his doctor wants him to start cooking and eating more fresh and nutritious foods.

Computer Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

Bob is a keen and moderately skilled technology user. He is familiar with windows, and used to check his emails on the move with his blackberry PDA when he was still working. He keeps in touch with his son who lives in Canada via the internet using email, and instant messaging software which is connected to the webcam that his son set up when he came to visit a few years ago.

Whilst he can use software like windows and office, and general business tools, he is not proficient at searching the internet. He finds that his search queries always generate too many useless results and tends to give up out of frustration. He appreciates that the internet can be a powerful tool in the right hands, but he is unaware of how to get the most out of it for his needs.

Persona Specification

In the brainstorming stages the specification ‘ >= 60 years old’ proved very useful in ensuring our creativity was not stagnated, however now that we’ve refined our ideas down to the shopping trolley idea; we’ve begun to divide this up in more detail and focus in on a suitable subset.

So, to ensure we’re designing a product that meets the needs of our audience effectively enough we began producing personas. Initially these seemed untargeted and hence not entirely helpful, but even still provided a good stepping-stone.

After developing a definite problem definition and performing a task analysis etc we determined that our personas should encompass a mixture of the following attributes – which we feel represent a realistic cross section of our target audience.

Project Genesis

After much discussion, it was decided that we would develop the shopping trolley idea using the user-centred design process. We felt there was a more compelling need for such a technology and genuinely believe that we can design something useful which can solve this problem.

Initial Concept

Technology which currently provides people with the ability to shop is general purpose. The concept of a supermarket in particular was originally designed to suit the means that society had for delivering food and products to its people. Although, there has been a significant development in providing a much richer ‘shopping experience’ for consumers, there is a lack of focus on the needs of elderly people. This is due to the objectives of those trading goods and the diversification of needs within consumer groups. Therefore, the problem of providing a solution which will enrich the shopping experience for elderly people based on their own unique characteristics presents itself.

With these and more in mind, our aim is to perform further analysis and then design a piece of technology which attempts to solve this problem using the UCD process. Next we plan to develop personas in order to understand the problem, define what is required from a product to solve these problems and design something to fulfil those needs.

Enjoy! :)

Article #2 - Wii Remote

Description
It is is the cleverly designed wireless controller for the new Wii next generation console from nintendo. It has quite a few aspects to it that are clearly the result of good user-oriented design.
Past game controllers have been simple button pushing affairs, but the Wii remote has six degrees of movement detecting sensors.
It can detect translation and rotation on all three axes. This means that instead of just pressing buttons, the user of the console can just move their hand in order to convey information to the device. This in effect makes it like some kind of 3d super-mouse. The device also has an infrared sensor to be able to pick out detail of what is on the screen. It has an inbuilt speaker, force feedback motor, and an LED indicator from 1-4 dots to indicate which player's controller it is. It comes with a sensor bar, which is essentially an IR light source at a fixed distance used to calibrate the sensing IR remote pointing functionality to any TV.

Usage and add-ons
It can be used in several ways, as a motion
detector with buttons, as a remote like device for pointing, or on its side as a joypad type device. The Wii remote also has an expansion port at the bottom that can allow for adding several enhancements. These include so far, the "nunchuck", addition, which has a few extra buttons and an extra analog thumbstick, a "classical" style game controller, and a "zapper" light gun that the remote can be slotted into. There is also a steering wheel add-on that can be used, although this is just a passive shell housing.

Advantages of design
The Wii remote is symmetrical, allowing for ambidextrous usage.The strength of the Wii controller, comes in it's flexibility, and also it's simplicity at the same time. It can be used in many different ways to translate real world movements and actions into game controlling methods. This means the games can take a very instinctive control method for the particular "activity" that is being simulated in the game. The task oriented control method is something that ends up very usable even for inexperienced users.
The controller provides a direct logical mapping from real world actions in games such as steering, cutting with a blade, aiming, running with a baton and so on to the actions in game. This correlation between the action in the real world and the action in the game makes playing games very intuitive, fast to learn and accessible for people who normally would be put off by not remembering which button does what. It also brings more physical movement into the environment, making the game more participatory for the user and increasing the level of fun consequentially as well as immersing the player more fully in the environment.


Project Relevance
This is particularly relevant to our VR supermarket idea, that has been developing along a "interactive trolley handle controller" path in our brainstorming session. If we could make a device that has enough flexibility to meet the common tasks an elderly person would be whilst retaining simplicity we would have a great solution. If we can capture the direct analogy from a real life action to an on-screen action with out software/interface device combination, then the system could help to reassure users that they are capable of using this solution with the minimum of fuss and inspire confidence and recurring usage.

Article #1 - Fisher price toys

Motivation
We thought it would be a good idea to write a series of articles where a product or issue is explored and used as a focal point to discuss various aspects of HCI. Doing so, provides an interesting way to investigate good design further in and beyond the scope of the HCI2 module.


Why toys?
Children's toys provide a particularly good proxy for learning about good principles; the audience require simple and obvious interfaces due in part to their short attention span and limited cognitive ability.

In addition, the producers face challenges to provide functionality for several objectives such as being educational, promoting development and all whilst being fun.

The necessity for a balance in simplicity and functionality in such products ensure that we can derive some core design principles without being confused or overshadowed by other elements.

Product: Fisher-Price Musical Finger Paint

(audience: 9+ months)

Essentially the product is a 'pimped out' Etch-a-sketch, boasting more features, enhanced mental stimulation, colourful design and an intuitive (hand paint) user interface.

Surface
Immediately, the eye is drawn to the blue - water like surface, it consumes the majority of the space making it clear this is the point to start.

Even the least tactile of children will find it intuitive to touch it and upon doing so are given immediate feedback in the form of shapes and patterns where their hands have moved. In addition to providing visual stimulation, music is played to satisfy parents whom wish to promote the development of their offspring's brain.

The surface calls upon already established mental models in the child given that it holds many similarities to water -- massively reducing the learning curve.

Main controls
The controls are all large, a distinct colour from the rest of the toy to distinguish them and serve only one function for simplicity, some even share functions and are grouped together to indicate this.

Everything needed is in easy access, the features are well spaced out, obvious in their function and non cluttering.

The green sliding bar is particularly good as it allows the user to erase what they have done and start again - promoting children to explore without fear of making irreversible mistakes, however it isn't possible to simply undo a small mistake; illustrating a trade off between simplicity and functionality.

Secondary features

The secondary features are organised together making it clear they are similar, however the difference in colour and shape indicate some individual difference.

They are out of the way so the main feature isn't intruded upon, but close enough for when the user would like to explore. Furthermore, their usage is reasonably simple, younger children may require guidance but generally would quickly associate their usage with the blue surface, given their proximity.

Core principles we observed
Satisfying many objectives, being fun and all while not bombarding the user with too much information is a difficult task, however the designers have done well with this product.

Key to their sucess was utilising the established mental model of water and compounding this by giving instant feedback when they touch the screen. In addition, by combining several features (sound, instant feedback, colour stimulation) the user is mentally stimulated while simultaneously being reinforced to explore further - employing knowledge of human physiology to satisfy several requirements.

So as an outcome of our investigation, here's some principles to keep in mind:

• Main feature(s) should be sized and positioned for immediate access
• Constantly give feedback to the user so they know the result of their actions
• Provide positive feedback to promote exploration
• Make use of well established mental models
• Move secondary functions out of the way, but keep them accessible
• Cluster similar functions together
• Give each part only one or very few functions for simplicity
  
• If possible, make use of other senses to deliver information without overloading the user
• Allow them to reverse actions easily when mistakes are made so they can explore

Idea #3 - Robot Nanny

For this idea, we started by thinking about children's welfare. Parents are becoming increasingly wary about the safety of their children, even in the home. There are many baby monitoring products available on the market today, most of them taking the 'walkie talkie' style monitors. These have to be set up in each respective room, with the parent having to keep their monitor near them at all times.

There are a number of other products available to monitor a child's health. For example, touch-sensitive sheets that lay under the child's cot are used to monitor the baby's breathing.However, our proposed idea should take this to the next level. The basic functionality of the robot nanny would be for monitoring. This would entail a camera and microphone constantly watching and listening to the child. This would then relay information back to the parents' laptop or palm-top computer over a wireless network.


Further features of such an invention could include preparation of drinks and simple food. The nanny could also have input and output devices, such as a screen and keyboard. This could mean that not only could the parent(s) 'configure' the nanny to their own specific needs, but the child could have considerable interaction with the robot. Things like speech, interaction and personal skills could all be improved, while at the same time the robot is making sure the child is safe and that the parent can have direct access without being in the same room.

The important factor in this idea is getting a good balance of functionality, feasibility, ease of use and cost to ensure that it would provide an effective childcare tool.

Idea #2 - Interactive Shopping Trolley

The ability of an individual to purchase a product is essentially vital within what is widely considered a post-modern capitalist society.With this view in mind, it was decided that a piece of technology that eliminated any barrier to shopping would be considered useful. For example, older people are generally less mobile and something which removed the need to be mobile would be advantagous. Therefore, we developed the idea of a magical shopping trolley, a device which would give a much richer shopping experience:


It was agreed that the device should be familiar to the user. Thus, a shopping trolley was chosen. The user would interact with the device via its handle bar, an area where a lot of effort will be put into its design. Everyone in the team gave lots of input into the features that could make this idea a really useful piece of technology which will be incoporated into the design if we chose to develop it further.

Idea #1 - Evolutionary Computer Operating Environment

During our brainstorming sessions it was agreed that 'useful' technology is something that involves improving or simplifying a user’s every-day activities. The education of children is such an activity. Society encourages children from a very young age to learn so that one day they can contribute to an economy. After considering this, it was decided that a piece of technology geared towards aiding a child's learning and development of transferrable skills would be considered useful.

The proposed idea was to enable a child to develop desirable skills at various stages in life, whilst providing maximum enjoyment in the process. It was labelled an ‘evolutionary’ computer operating environment because as the child grows, the environment changes accordingly. For example, at a very young age creativity and language are encouraged but at slightly older, structured writing and mathem:

Bright Ideas!

After much talk we composed a wide range of ideas based on our findings from the brainstorming. Having such a varying array of ideas we proceeded by sorting good from bad, the good ideas were enhanced and in some cases combined. The end result of our efforts can be seen below.