User Experience Design

Originally published on https://vinaikumar.wordpress.com.  30 May 2020

We live in a man-made world which is used by human users every single moment. The constituents of a man-made world include objects (such as a pen, a washbasin, a knife, a car, a chair, an aeroplane, or anything that has a tangible characteristics), services (such as a food delivery service, a medical care service, or an educational service), and systems (such as a road transport system, a waste management system, or a banking system).

What do the human users expect?

All human users expect the promised user value in a product, service or system to be delivered to them without any dilution in specifications and quality. For example, when you buy a waist belt, you expect it to be made of good quality materials and accessories, designed for ease of buckling and unbuckling, and with an appropriately pleasing appearance and style. If any of these expectations are not met, you will not feel good about buying and using this belt, and therefore, will not be satisfied or happy about this experience.

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Different users will look for different functions and features in a simple product like a leather belt. This leads to innumerable interpretations and manifestations belts available to consumers.

Take another example of a complex consumer product. In the early years of the mass production of people’s cars pioneered by Henry Ford, a car that could work technologically well was what provided customer satisfaction and, maybe, delight. However, as more people started using their cars more frequently and for longer distances, the need for physical safety, comfort and ease of use started assuming importance in satisfying and delighting them. And since a car evolved to be a personal and/or family possession, users wanted it to look nice, stylish and luxurious in its appearance. 

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UX Design of cars has come a long way since the time Ford’s Model T (on the left). The future cars will have a large range of functions based on microchips, AI, automation and internet-based services and systems with ease of use and safety features, combined with innovative appearance and styling.

The discipline of User Experience Design is based on the thinking about making the users feel good – physically and psychologically – about the products, services and systems that they use in the course of their living and working. UX Design is at the core of product development and management today. The past experience of designing and marketing products is not a dependable knowledge base to visualise and develop new complex products. Particularly, with the wide-spread use of ICT (Information Communication Technology), the rapid new developments of new products, services and systems is the future of the manmade systems.

It is, therefore, necessary to understand this fast developing discipline so that an appropriate deployment of this knowledge can be done in business, governance and social sector.

Understanding the discipline of UX Design

The discipline of UX Design studies the nature of user experience, underlying theories and frameworks, and the related problem solving and design practices. UX Design is a relatively recent area of design. Artists, craftspersons, and designers since the 19th century have been designing with the user delight in mind by employing the knowledge, skills and insights gained from the fine arts, semiotics and traditional crafts. They usually served an elite and wealthy class of people. However, with the increased momentum of mass production since the Industrial Age, the challenge to deliver user experience to the masses at an affordable cost emerged as a business reality.

UX Design of a mobile phone is critical as this is used by a wide range of users with varying physical and cognitive capabilities for a large range of tasks including simple to complex and critical tasks. So a mobile phone has to be designed with physical as well as cognitive ergonomics as core inputs in the design and design management processes.

The discipline of UX Design got a major boost in the 1990s after the commoditisation of computers for common people at all levels of social and economic strata. Today a mobile phone is a product that is used by a diverse range of people for different purposes and a variety of contexts. It is imperative that a mobile phone user experiences ease of understanding, interaction and performing the tasks of their interest efficiently, safely and conveniently.

Our day-to-day products such as a microwave oven, a universal remote and internet products require UX Design for making them likeable and saleable. UX Design is today and will be in future the most important tool for the new product development and marketing functions of business management.

UX Design and Business

It is now a reality that all our products, services and systems will be embedded with microelectronics, microchips, robotics, artificial intelligence and many other new technological developments. So UX Design is an underlying skill and and an ecosystem that is required for an extremely large range of manmade products and systems. UX Design combined with Human-Centred Systems Thinking is the most critical set of tools for NPD (New Product Development), innovative technological applications, and new business development and design management in the rapidly emerging foggy amd challenging future scenarios of business and governance.

Vinai Kumar

Tools That Do the Job

Originally posted on https://vinaikumar.wordpress.com.  17 Aug 2020

The stone age humans made stone tools to make their job of hunting animals and gathering easier and efficient. These tools enhanced their confidence to deal with their challenges for survival and growth. If these tools worked reliably and consistently every time they needed them, it would be a case of positive experience of these early tool users. With further development of such tools, the early humans found more appropriate stones and improved on the carving of the piercing wedges and cutting edges. They also created spears and machets by tying the stone tools with wooden sticks. This gave the hunter-gatherers more functionalities to make thei tasks easier, safer and repeatable.

In the User Experience framework, this example relates to the Usefulness aspect of user experience.

In modern context, a Swiss Army Knife can be thought of as a multifunction tool that can help one perform a number of mechanical tasks reliably. In outdoor expeditions, it’s a useful product to keep on your person. It’s not great in terms of the ergonomic interface when compared to more dedicated tool for the job on hand. Nevertheless, a Swiss Army Knife is an immensely useful multifunction tool for unforeseen and emergency situations.

Usefulness as a part of the User Experience framework is the first essential component of an integrated UX design of a product. This may seem obvious but quite often we find that there are products that look great and are easy to use, but, because of the inappropriate enabling technology application, engineering design and inferior quality of manufacturing, the overall user experience while using these products is below the desired performance.

It is the responsibility of designers to excel in the visualisation of the target user needs, appropriate application of enabling technologies, and delivering value propositions that are true to their intended and designed specifications. Usefulness is at the core of the holistic user experience in the use of a product or service.

Vinai Kumar

Modelling User Experience (UX)

Originally published on https://vinaikumar.wordpress.com/.   11 July 2020

On 23rd June 2020, I conducted a webinar on UX Design Education for a design school in Bengaluru. As a part of this webinar, I prepared a comprehensive structural model of User Experience (UX) which enables one to analyse UX issues and/or problems holistically and systematically.

The graphic representation of the UX Model is given below.

The block on the left in the above diagram consists of three categories of the characteristics of a product, service or system – Usefulness, Usability and Emotional Connection. Each of these three categories can be further detailed to the extent required for professional UX solutions in a given context.

UX: Design, Engineering and Management

UX issues and problems are not the concerns only for the design professionals (this is generally assumed). On closely examining the above three categories of the UX issues, we can clearly see that they can be addressed collaboratively through the other professional domains – engineering, manufacturing, marketing, business practices, governance, and consumer education. I think the profession of design is the only profession that considers the end users and other related humans in their interaction with a manmade product and system (in varying degrees). Why other professions – particularly engineering and business management – have, in general, not recognised the importance of human-centricity and user experience in developing and implementing manmade products and systems is something that demands our attention and discourse. Since these two professions are the key professions that lead industry and business, there is an urgent need to introduce human-centric problem solving in their education and practices.

Left: The jump clip is a good engineering solution. However, its interaction with fingers and hand is not comfortable and safe. Right: The dresser drawer units of the kind shown here are dangerous products that can injure or kill people. A multnational company sold a similar product, which resulted in serious injuries to their users, for a long time

Even though the design profession considers the users in their design process, it has traditionally been intuitive and subjective in practice. Most of the times designers tend to test their design ideas and prototypes with people who are readily available to them in their vicinity. The information acquired through this superficial research may not be sufficiently insightful for designing for the target users and their contexts. In some cases it may even make the resulting designs less user-centric leading to poor user experience. Designers mostly tend to focus on aesthetics, form and style for creating artefacts that stand out from the crowd and noise, and relate well with their environments at a sensorial level. Such artefacts will appear attractive at a visceral level. However, their usability may decline as the look and feel takes precedence. For example, quite often we see that nice-looking textual design may in fact be difficult to read. Below is a case of font selection for examining legibility and readability. If the decisions are backed by usability parameters and systematic research, the resulting textual designs will be more user-friendly.

Different fonts and the selection of their variants can impact the legibility and readability of a piece of text. The one on the top-left is a font known as Giddyup Std, which looks interesting visually, but not easily readable. The one on the bottom-left is Calibri (san-serif) whose readabiliy is better. However, some readers may find the one on right with serif more readable. The top-right text is in all caps making it difficult to read. We need more systematic and holistic approach to design for improving user experience (UX)

Case Study: AC Remote UX

Below is an example of the lack of user-centricity in engineering design and business management. The product is an AC remote control where I highlight a few user experience issues out of many. If I need to change the temperature setting at night when the ambient lighting is extremely low, I cannot see the display on the remote until I switch the LCD light on by sliding the cover on the remote, find the button for the display light, and put it on, and see the temperature setting on LCD panel. In this case I first need an external lighting to find the LCD light button. That does not make sense.

This picture highlights the user experience issues when the user wishes to see the display at night when the ambient light is extremely low for reading text. The user will have to first use an external light to light up the remote to perform the operations shown above.

In another scenario, when I need to change the AC remote’s 2 AAA cells – which I may do once in two years – I need to figure out how to open the battery cover. There are written instructions in English that are engraved in the cover molding itself. This text is difficult ro read. There are no graphic instructions anywhere to indicate how to remove the battery cover. The sliding cover, at one point has to be yanked away from the body, creating an anxiety in the mind of the user.

In order to open the battery compartment, the user needs to read the text which is very difficult to see and read. There are no graphic instructions to aid intuitive sense making. Yanking the panel forcefully away is an anxiety-causing interaction which is not preferable.

Conclusion

As we dig deeper into the issue of holistic and integrated user experience (UX), we find that all relevant professions – design, engineering and management – involved in the supply chain are responsible for delivering the ‘promised’ and ‘expected’ user value to the target customers. So customer experience (CX), for which the core foundation is UX management, can only be brought about by a collaborative and human-centric professional approach. Though this sounds obvious and common sense, in reality, businesses and governments have to go a long way in meeting the UX-driven needs in products, services and systems. In the forthcoming articles I will discuss more issues and case studies to highlight the need for a new human-centric paradigm in professional problem solving.

Vinai Kumar

Roundabouts at the Road Intersections: 

Are They Appropriate for the Indian Context?

Originally posted on https://vinaikumar.wordpress.com/.   25 May 2020

The S G Road, which was on the outskirts of the Ahmedabad city 10 years back, in now a 6-lane intercity road. Probably, in order to facilitate the smooth movement of vehicles at the busy intersections, the planners had made quite a few large roundabouts on this road.

The roundabouts as traffic management device have worked well in the Europe, the US, and some other advanced countries.

An example of a roundabout

For the past 10 years, I have driven my car innumerable times between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar using the S G Road. I have had tense, frustrating and time-consuming moments navigating through these roundabouts. I found them terribly chaotic and life-draining to drive through. One of the roundabouts, named Iskon Circle, was removed about 6 years back and replaced with the regular intersection with traffic signals. This modification has worked noticeably effectively – saving time, and reducing frustration and fatigue.

This brings me to the issue of the frameworks and methods deployed in planning and designing road elements and systems in India. Road, as an artifact for transport and travel, is used by almost everybody. The user profiles and characteristics include a diverse range of age, gender, professions, skills, education, physical abilities, cognitive abilities, languages, motivations, intentions, behaviours and attitudes.

The purpose of a well-designed road systems is to provide efficient, safe, dependable and sustainable service to the target users. These target users and their environments vary widely from one country to another.

I am not discussing here what makes the roundabouts work in the US very well but not India. However, it is necessary to research these issues and develop a good information and insight base that can inform the design of road elements such as intersections and many others in the particular context or/and environment.

An illustration of a roundabout in use somewhere in India

In India, road user behaviours are drastically different from what we see in the advanced countries. It is then imperative that we conduct massive user and contextual research in the Indian context to understand what causes accidents (and near-accident situations which are many times the actual accidents – they are the accidents waiting to happen), lack of timely medical care, and other innumerable inconveniences.

There is a need to develop India-specific frameworks, processes and methods of design, management and continuous review of the effectiveness of the solutions.

Vinai Kumar

UX Design of a Wireless Mouse

Originally posted on https://vinaikumar.wordpress.com.  18 May 2020

I have been using an Amazon Basics mouse for the past three months. It is a battery powered wireless mouse. The mouse uses two AAA batteries. The indication for communicating its active status is located at the bottom.

I tend to leave the mouse ON very often because there is no visible indication of its state of being ON when seen from our usual viewpoints. If I remember to turn the mouse upside down and switch it OFF, it seems like an achievement in being alert and situation-aware.

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From the point of view of holistic and human-centred design of products, this is an oversight of the designers of this product. Not only does it lead to more battery consumption and the wastage of energy, it is also a cause of unnecessary cognitive load on the memory and attention adding to its users’ anxiety and bringing about a sense of being irresponsible.

A tiny LED on top would be very valuable in this context. Further, the ON/OFF switch can also be integrated with the LED. I believe this is not a very difficult thing to do – given today’s technology and design capabilities available in the IT industry.

A good UX design should aim at empowering users and making them more confident when using complex technology-driven products.

Vinai Kumar

Complexity, uncertainty, change, and the sustainable future

Originally posted http://vinaikumar.wordpress.com  26 March 2020 

With the ever-increasing complexity, interdependence and uncertainty of the manmade world, which stakeholders are most vulnerable? I think it is the economically weaker sections all across the globe. And women and children, and of course, the nature’s ecosystems.

From the economic depression of 2008 to the recent US-China trade war to the current Covid-19 crisis, a large part of the humanity is now living in a continuous state of socio-economic instability.

The future is foggy and not sufficiently definable to enable meaningful goal setting, planning and managing the resources effectively. The planet’s health is at a turning point because of over consumption and too many people.

The professional education and practices in management, engineering, design, and governance are based on the decades old assumptions, understanding and ways of problem-solving. They are not a very good fit for making well-balanced decisions in the emerging situations.

We need new and actionable understanding of our environments, cultures, peoples’ expectations so that the people are appropriately empowered to lead a life of hope, fulfilment and social wellbeing. First time ever in the history of mankind, individuals, societies, nations and international communities are facing existential challenges of humongous magnitude.

This points towards the need for large scale innovations at all levels of our interactions with the natural and manmade environments. For that to be successful, the humanity has to develop novel and holistic knowledge and problem-solving attitudes while shedding the irrelevant mental models and practices of the past.

Vinai Kumar

Human-Centricity in Professional Problem-Solving

Human-Centred Systems Thinking  

26 March 2020

This article is also available on my WordPress.com blog

https://vinaikumar.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/human-centricity-in-professional-problem-solving/

Most products, services and systems have been designed and made with major inputs from the technologists and/or the marketing strategists. The conventional practice involved developing values propositions based on the competitors’ offerings. While such propositions could have high level of technological innovation, functionality and quality, the end users could encounter challenges in the form of ease of use, safety and convenience. In the rapidly emerging sustainability crisis, all material products must take into consideration the environmental and ecological issues of the earth.

A good example of this approach among B2C business, that most readers can relate to, is the personal computers before the arrival of the intuitive and iconic interface design of the Apple Mac in the 1980s (see the screenshots below – MS-DOS on IBM PC on the left, and Apple Macintosh 1984 on the right). In the recent times, the videoconferencing application Zoom has become rapidly popular owing to its intuitive and integrative features and user experience, which its competitors – Skype and Webex – could not match despite their competitive technology and marketing. In the transportation sector, Tesla electric cars have redefined the automobile market and business because of a radically bold approach for making cars for the masses.

Human-centricity is a concept that puts the human users at the centre of product development. We all want a product or service that is safe, easy to use and maintain, and in the emerging sustainability context, easy and safer to dispose of. The physical, psychological, social, cultural, emotional and economic aspects of the users and their contexts and environments are actively considered in a human-centric problem solving process.

            

Until the 1990s, the world trade wasn’t globalised to the extent it is now. Additionally, the technology development and innovation has exponentially increased in quantity and quality. This has translated into rapid new product development across various sectors. The time to reach the market has shortened. The costs of a product not performing well in terms of sales and acceptance are high because a rework on the design and engineering of the next version of the product will be expensive and the brand and reputation rebuilding may put additional pressure on the company’s resources.

Businesses and social organisations are increasingly finding it crucial to incorporate human-centricity in their management thoughts and their strategic and tactical product development ecosystems. There are many examples of companies and products that demonstrate their economic, competitive, and business growth prospects after adopting a human-centric approach. Some of these companies are Apple Inc., Dyson, Oxo, P&G, Haldiram’s, Tesla, Maruti Suzuki, Toyota and Amazon. I would like to leave more discussion on the particular companies for my future notes.

Vinai Kumar