Human(e) machine interaction? A reflection on the development of products

Human(e) machine interaction? A reflection on the A reflection on the development of productsdevelopment of products

Lucienne Blessing

Engineering Design and Methodology

University of LuxembourgUniversity of Luxembourg

21 avril 2009

Product development is all about predictionA process, that starts with and idea or need and ends with a completeA process, that starts with and idea or need and ends with a completeproduct description, thinking ahead into all life phases.

Planning UseProductionProductionTestingRecyclingRecycling/Disposal

DevelopmentDevelopment

Truly new things only come into existence in the product developmentprocess: what no one has seen, known or thought of, because it did not exist, is generated here, through mental effort, for the first time. Leyerexist, is generated here, through mental effort, for the first time. Leyer

View on product developers

„conservative and insufficiently concernedabout the environment, disconnected fromcommunity and social impact of their decisions“

product-oriented user development

Product development and user



Up till now Taking the user into account: market prediction analysis of user needs Taking the user into account: market prediction, analysis of user needs,

no concrete guidelines on how to do this

User orientation: many methods and guidelines for dealing with userrequirements and for usability testing

Change from seller to buyer market: competitiveness increasingly basedon product quality as perceived by the user users are becoming moreon product quality as perceived by the user, users are becoming moreactive and demanding.

Importance has been identified, but is user-centred sufficient?

What are the problems?t

Planning UseProductionProductionTestingRecyclingRecycling/Di l


t

Time and collaboration gap

g gDisposal

p

Time and collaboration gap Time between needs analysis, testing and use can be large

Transformation from the voice of the customer into technical requirements isnot effective.

Usability tests expensive, relatively late and not always sufficientlyinformativeinformative.

Knowledge and understanding gapKnowledge and understanding gap Designer tries to empathise and to understand, but is hardly in contact with

the user and/or is not a user his or herself

Knowledge and understanding of users

Focus mainly on primary users, less on Secondary users: additional users, involved during the product‘s life

Tertiary users: persons that are influenced by the product, unintentionally, now or in the future

Other stakeholders: all people having an interest in the product within or

Diversity of users is not considered:

Other stakeholders: all people having an interest in the product, within oroutside the company

Diversity of users is not considered: Knowledge and experience

Physical abilityy y

Culture

Age

Gender

Information is lackingInformation is lacking

Age

Special devices for the elderly? Danger of “over-accommodation”g

Parallel technology, increasing dependence on the product

L t b ld l l (S h h 2005) Low acceptance by elderly people (Schuh 2005)

Often inflexible

Often deficit-orientedOften deficit oriented

Gender: seat belt clip

Information determines solution

Dynamic Concept

Adaptive to the user (user models): passive or active, within one modality or( ) p , y

through different modalities

different users, i.e. user perspectives:

ll f i i t i t i i t allow for increasing competence or maintaining competence

context

intentionintention

Dynamic user models, adaptive customised interfaces, raisingissues of acceptance (and product liability)issues of acceptance (and product liability)

Do we know our users well enough?

Everyday technology

Challenges regarding user, process and context Users difficult to define (large variety) No control over operation No control over operation No control over context User oft customer (functionality is not the only argument) Strongly increased functionality (no simple products) Product use often assumes some experience User not or hardly trained ( Manual? What manual?“) User not or hardly trained („Manual? What manual? ) Product understanding might be limited Safety risks caused by wrong operation or panik reactions

Basic design principles: simplicity, clarity and safety

SO f ff

Usability aims:EN ISO 9241-11 Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs) - Part 11: Guidance on usability

EffectivenessRelates to the goals (or sub-goals) of the user to the accuracy and g ( g ) ycompleteness with which the goals can be achieved.

EfficiencyEfficiencyEfficiency relates the level of effectiveness to the expenditure of resources.

SatisfactionSatisfaction relates to the lack of discomfort experienced and to the extent of users’ attitudes towards the use of the productextent of users attitudes towards the use of the product

Dialogue principles

Ergonomics of human-system interaction –EN ISO 9241-11 Part 110: Dialogue principles (term “software” replaced by “product”)

1 A product is for solving tasks1. A product is for solving tasks

2. A product must speak the language of users

3. Users should be in control of the productp

4. The product should present familiar things in a familiar manner

5. Users have a right to err

6. Users are different

7. A product should qualify

Usability and Intuitiveness

Everyone wants to haveEveryone wants to have „intuitive“ User Interfaces.

No-one knows exactly what it means.

Everyone has them.

Intuitive interface?

„Intuitive interface designed to make searching fast and easy“

http://www.hurricanesoft.com/hsearch.jsp

Design for Intuitivity

„Intuitive interface allows end users to use without help“

http://www.desktopdarkroom.com/upcr10l.html

Intuitive use the extent to which a product can be usedby subconsciously applying prior knowledge, resulting in an effective and satisfying interactionresulting in an effective and satisfying interaction using a minimum of cognitive resources.

Hurtienne

Intuitiveness and image schemata

GOODBAD

BADGOOD BADGOOD

Hurtienne

Non-intuitive Interaction

Interaction Problem

User

System

Task

Content Problem

Task

Intuitive Interaction

User

System

A fit between user, task and system

that enables usersthat enables users to fulfill their tasks

effectively, efficiently and to

Task

ytheir satisfaction

Task

Content Problem

What about satisfaction?Survey of 1255 British PC UsersSurvey of 1255 British PC-Users

almost a quarter of respondents saidalmost a quarter of respondents said they had to disrupt their work at least once a day because of a computer problemproblem

half of them complaint about time loss because of crashes and system errors

two fifth criticised computer jargon in two fifth criticised computer jargon in manuals and help texts

Users frequently reacted with i hitti lli th l t„swearing, hitting or pulling the plug to

intractable information technology“ at the work place

K (2000)Knauer (2000):

What is satisfaction?

Who is satisfied?

„And thanks to theelectronic surveillancewe only need a homehelper every half yearto adjust the generator“to adjust the generator

Is that all there is?

Usability takes into account effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a

specified context of use. ISO 9241 part 11

in line with a user-centred design approach in practice heavily focused on task fulfillment and objectivein practice, heavily focused on task fulfillment and objective

performance data

emotional involvement of the user has to be taken into account.

User experience takes into account non-instrumental qualities of a system q y and its emotional responses by the user

Conceptual User Experience Lifecycle Model

ContinUE [continuous user experience] model, illustrating the sequential phases of a user experience lifecycle and the associated aspects of appraisal formingassociated aspects of appraisal-forming

Pohlmeyer, Hecht, Blessing, 2009

New ISO standard on user experience

User experience incorporates “all aspects of the user’s experience when interacting with the product,

i i f ili I i f h iservice, environment or facility. It is a consequence of the presentation, functionality, system performance, interactive behaviour, and assistive capabilities of the interactive system. It includes all aspects of usability

d d i bilit f d t t i f th ’and desirability of a product, system or service from the user’s perspective’.

ISO CD 9241-210 Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Part 210: Human-centreddesign process for interactive systems. ISO, 2008

“Designing satisfying products and motivating potential users to interact with them is something different than the mere attempt to avoid a di ti f i l ti Thi i l d k f i hdissatisfying solution. This is already known from ergonomics where discomforting features are generally independent from comforting features.”

Pohlmeyer Hecht Blessing 2009Pohlmeyer, Hecht, Blessing, 2009

Emotional design

?

bilit f t d t i h th d i b dusability factors determine whether a device can be usedemotional factors determine whether a device will be used

adapted from Forlizzi et al., 2001

“Emotions must be generated by a product itself, not simply tacked on through advertising. People are willing to pay more for products with emotionally rich features.” Boatwright and Cagan, 2010

User involvementUser

User-centred design: No direct communication between user and

Marketing

on

No direct communication between user and product developer

User involvement only during phases of market analysis and prototyping

P d tEva

luat

iomarket analysis and prototyping Already shaped product limits user

imaginationU i t i l d i l ti fi di Product

Developer

E User is not involved in solution finding process

ProductProduct

User integration



A systematic procedure for integration of all users throughout thedevelopment process is necessary

„User were more often involved and invested more resources in thedevelopment of successful products, than of products that did not

lead to market success.“

In summary

User centred design is necessary but not sufficient User diversity and user experiences have to be taken into account User diversity and user experiences have to be taken into account Intuitiveness is key to usability and safety User integration is required to provide the necessary informationg q p y

Considerable research and development of methods is necessary.

But until then ……

from: www. Dilbert.com

Technology

Human(e) machine interaction? A reflection on the development of products