Already in the beginning of the book, the importance of user
experience in any product that is being developed is emphasised. Therefore, the focus
of the remaining chapters is to describe how this can be achieved.
In Chapter 2, we get an introduction to designs (in general)
that will result in good user experience. It stresses the fact that change at an
early stage is better in contrast to when some code (from CS perspective) has
already been written. Before the design process starts, information about
current experience and how it can be improved should be gathered (this is
emphasised in chapter 10). It is suggested that teams should consist of people
from different fields in order to get as many perspectives as possible, which
helps to avoid errors. It is an advantage to design products that contain metaphors
or analogies, in order to tell the user how to use the product. For example, it’s
better to visualize the process of moving a file to another folder as to allow
the user to relate to the physical action. Moreover, it’s crucial to be
consistent and use repetition (all tasks should be executed in a similar way).
Finally, tasks should be visualized as objects (eg. moving a file) rather than
forcing to execute a command. Although commands give the user more power, it
takes longer time to learn in contrast to visual actions that are intuitive.
Once there is a design team, data can be gathered that will
be used to shape the new product. In chapter 7, three main techniques for data
collection are presented: interviews, questionnaires and observations. There
are three kinds of interviewing techniques: open, closed or semi-open. Each of
them servers a particular purpose. Open interviews are good to get a general
understanding the situation, and as a result, the responses will be unique (although
it is possible to extract a common theme). Moreover, it will be much harder to
analyse open interviews because of the nature of answers (qualitative data).
Closed interviews, however, are easier to analyse because closed questions are
used, thus they can be quantified. It is important to keep in mind that people might
say one thing but in reality do something else (this was mentioned during a
lecture also). In that case, it is better to use observations as tool to gain
information. Robson’s framework illustrates things to consider during observation
(see pp. 249-250).
Chapter 7 is concerned with interpretation of the gathered
data. There are three main frameworks that can be used: Grounded Theory,
Distributed Cognition and Activity Theory. Grounded theory emphasises the iterative aspect of the design process. First, data is collected, which is
later used to establish categories. Then, based on this analysis, more data is
gathered and so on. The loop continues until a theory is well defined. Distributed
cognition seems to look at detailed steps of a process, considering many
factors. Activity theory on the other hand, which is “a product of Soviet psychology”,
focuses on the analysis of concepts of an activity. The “eating with a spoon”
example on p. 309 shows how a basic action as holding a spoon turns into more simultaneous
actions such as holding it horizontally that functions as one action.
In chapter 10, the important conclusion is to adjust the
interface to the task. This can be achieved by for instance Persona driven
development, use cases, scenarios, et cetera. There is a great emphasis on
constructing requirements (from CS perspective, a UML diagram is one of them)
and to do that, many information gathering techniques have to be used.
Those described in chapter 7 (interview, questionnaires, observations) are just
some of the examples. In addition, research of similar products and the study
of documentation has to be performed. The main advantage of the latter is that
they don’t require active participation of the stackeholders.
.JPG)
