Presented at SXSW Interactive - March 2012 by RJ Owen “Throw away your joysticks, kids,” began the 1989 article of “Design News” praising that year’s must-have Christmas accessory: the Power Glove. At the time it seemed as if traditional video game controllers would soon be a thing of the past. But the Power Glove was anything but a success. While it was a design and technology coup, coolness is unfortunately a poor metric for product success. What the Power Glove lacked was customer insight. During the technology and design crunch nobody stopped to ask, “How is this device for playing games? Do people want to use it?” Thus, the teams rushed blindly into building the wrong thing.Customer insight is the most critical piece of the application and software creation process. You can build something sweet, but if nobody uses it you’re left with little more than a colossal waste of time, effort and money. On the flip side, customer insight applied to the process can result in more customers, increased market share and a better ROI.

1. RJ Owen
SXSWi 2012
Don’t Build a Power Glove @rjowen
#SXNoPwrGlv
Talk to Your Users
Thursday, March 15, 12

2. About me
RJ Owen
Experience Planner
EffectiveUI
@rjowen
rj.owen@effectiveui.com
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3. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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4. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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5. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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6. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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7. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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8. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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9. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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10. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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11. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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12. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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13. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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14. what happened?
7th worst video game controller of all time (IGN)
sold $88M US (that’s a failure)
Japanese producer declared bankruptcy
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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15. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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16. product development process
• NASA technology, VPL data glove -> consumer device
• Huge engineering and design challenges
• "This was a total fire drill," says Gentile of the AGE team. "We
were doing design concepts, software, and hardware design—all
parallel."
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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17. perspectives
technology
business users
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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18. perspectives: most companies
how
technology
why business users who
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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19. perspectives: the Power Glove
why
technology
who business users how
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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20. perspectives
how
technology
who business users why
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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21. Every project starts with people.
@rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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22. Generate and Evaluate
the two sides of new product development
Finding the Right Problem Solving the Problem in the
1 to Solve 2 Right Way
Who is it for? How should it work?
What do they need? Does it solve the need?
Why do they need it? Is it useful?
How does it work today? Is it usable?
What should it do? Is it desirable?
Explore Refine
Question Answer
Generate Evaluate
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23. Finding the right problem.
@rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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24. My study.
@rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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25. Guerrilla Research
• small sample sizes (5-7)
• qualitative, not quantitative
• get the designer out of her / his head
• Three activities:
• Observed playing games
• Controller discussion - which games good for which?
• Family conversation
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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26. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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27. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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28. @rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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29. Findings.
@rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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30. motion and gaming
massive overhand
golf-swing
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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31. physical context
couches
basement
laying down
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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32. cords
physical context
basement
storage room
tv precariously
perched
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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33. social context
• direct manipulation is better
with friends
• kids more willing to move
with others present
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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34. distractions
vengeful Jedi
Also: babies,
little sisters
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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35. where would the glove be valuable?
• throwing
• punching
• pushing
• picking up
• “forcing things”
• all hand motions
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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36. where are other controllers better?
• racing games (joystick, thumbsticks, tilt-controllers)
• complicated games - users want more buttons (multi-button
controller)
• sports games that focus on feet (multi-button controller)
• shooting games (gun controller)
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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37. wall-mounted
revisiting Lucas Barton TV? In 1989?
sun room?
empty room;
no furniture
drinking 1-player
fountain?
no
distractions
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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38. the right problem in 1989
• direct manipulation is great, but boil it down to 1 action
• provide good constraint, margin for errors
• clear link between action and game
• make it a social activity
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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39. fixing Lucas: location
• put him in a
comfortable space,
where real people
play video games.
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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40. fixing Lucas: friends
• Friends are player 2
practicing Super
Glove Ball, which is
now multiplayer player 1
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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41. fixing Lucas: the game
• Lucas shows off
with a game that
demonstrates
punching, like
Punch Out
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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42. getting it right
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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43. the right problem in 2012
• taking cartridges and disks out of the equation
• owning the casual multi-player game space
• owning online game reputations for casual gaming
• re-inventing wearable controllers
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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44. Don’t build a Power Glove.
Talk to your users!
@rjowen #SXNoPwrGlv
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45. take the next step
books
Guerrilla UX Research Methods, Unger and Warfel
Sketching User Experiences, Buxton
Design Research: Methods and Perspectives, Laurel
Lean UX, Gothelf
training
1-2 day workshops
Customer Insight / Research talks at SXSWi
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
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46. Thanks!
Any Questions?
Thanks to my
RJ Owen Research Assistants:
Experience Planner Kelly Downing
Angela Craven
EffectiveUI Brad Umbaugh
@rjowen Julia Houck-Whitaker
rj.owen@effectiveui.com Tricia Leahy Meyer
@rjowen #NoPwrGlv
Thursday, March 15, 12