This document summarizes a presentation about designing user experiences for connected home technologies. It discusses four key UX challenges: 1) Making the home feel personal rather than like an engineered system, 2) Managing the social consequences of visible data, 3) Avoiding demanding too much user attention with mundane tasks, and 4) Overcoming users' lack of understanding of home technologies. It provides examples of both poor and promising approaches to these challenges. The presentation argues for a user-centered "service design" approach that considers the full customer experience across devices, services, and touchpoints.
ow do you design experiences that transcend a single device, or even a family of devices? How do you create experiences that exist simultaneously in your hand and in the cloud?
Using plentiful examples drawn from cutting edge products and the history of technology, this workshop describes underlying trends, shows the latest developments and asks some broader questions.
With 2017 just around the corner; what are we looking forward to? Will self-driving cars be a thing? Would we finally get AI’s? Join Brian Pichman from the Evolve Project as he takes you on a journey of what the future of technology may be.
The slides for the Rapid Cross-channel Prototyping Workshop I facilitated at the ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit in Vancouver, BC, March 23 2017
Here are the slides from my closing plenary at WebExpo in Prague, Czech Republic on 22 September 2012. A few rants, a few truths, a few goofy opinions, but backed up with a little experience, too.
Giant 2015: CTRL Z, A Practitioner's Support GroupDavid Farkas
A discussion in how we can better ask and offer support within our teams when projects and situations occur that are unexpected or non-ideal. This presentation was paired with a live-demo and discussion.
ow do you design experiences that transcend a single device, or even a family of devices? How do you create experiences that exist simultaneously in your hand and in the cloud?
Using plentiful examples drawn from cutting edge products and the history of technology, this workshop describes underlying trends, shows the latest developments and asks some broader questions.
With 2017 just around the corner; what are we looking forward to? Will self-driving cars be a thing? Would we finally get AI’s? Join Brian Pichman from the Evolve Project as he takes you on a journey of what the future of technology may be.
The slides for the Rapid Cross-channel Prototyping Workshop I facilitated at the ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit in Vancouver, BC, March 23 2017
Here are the slides from my closing plenary at WebExpo in Prague, Czech Republic on 22 September 2012. A few rants, a few truths, a few goofy opinions, but backed up with a little experience, too.
Giant 2015: CTRL Z, A Practitioner's Support GroupDavid Farkas
A discussion in how we can better ask and offer support within our teams when projects and situations occur that are unexpected or non-ideal. This presentation was paired with a live-demo and discussion.
**This version of our presentation is for World Information Architecture Day, Feb 9 2013 in Ann Arbor** Chris and Farris expose the differences between how user experience designers and analytics practitioners think. While UXD weave best practices and user research into their designs, digital analysts spend their time confirming or refuting hypotheses in a data-driven way. One approach is decidedly qualitative, the other decidedly quantitative. In this presentation you will learn through their conversations how it is possible to leverage both enlightened design and deep data to continuously optimize user experiences. If you work on either side of this debate, this is how to better state your case… and get along with the other side.
Building a Sense of Place across Channels - Part IIAndrea Resmini
Part II of the deck of slides from my workshop at UX Australia 2013 on place-making in cross-channel user experiences, previously a slightly different workshop at UX Lisbon 2012.
Practicing What We Preach: designing usage centered deliverablesAviva Rosenstein
Slides and worksheets from a workshop presented at the IA Summit, 2011
During any product development process, interaction designers and researchers must communicate with internal and external team members and decision makers. All too often we talk the UX talk but we forget to walk the UX walk: we send out deliverables without thinking about our needs, the needs of the recipients and what we want to achieve.
Creating design deliverables that address the needs, goals and constraints of those team members will enhance your credibility as a design expert while improving the overall effectiveness of your organization.
This presentation includes a lean framework for understanding users' needs and goals that can help you design the right deliverable (or interface) at the right time for any working environment.
In this talk, you will learn about five sketching secrets of Leonardo Da Vinci, four rules for generating ideas, and four rules for refining ideas. I call these lessons from Leonardo. You might find a few stories about Leonardo Da Vinci that you did not know.
Listen to audio at:
https://soundcloud.com/officialsxsw/design-like-davinci-leonardos
The slides from my intro to the workshop I facilitated together with Luca Rosati at the VIII Italian IA Summit in Bologna, Nov 2014. The slides deal with the general principles and the little story that was used as a catalyst for the exercise. I added a few notes for clarity.
Blended spaces, cross-channel ecosystems, and the myth that is serviceAndrea Resmini
Slide deck from paper presented at ServDes 2016, Copenhagen.
Full paper available in conference proceedings: http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/article.asp?issue=125&article=050
Rapid User Research - a talk from Agile 2013 by Aviva RosensteinAviva Rosenstein
Doing user research before and during development helps inform your choices about strategy (what to build) as well as tactics (how to build it)-- and it doesn't have to slow down your development process . In fact some rapidly executed research can speed up your time to market by reducing the need to refactor late in a project.
This presentation includes practical information to help product owners and developers quickly get inside the heads of their users, validate product ideas and improve the usability of their software at warp speed. The talk included tips and techniques for recruiting research participants, shadowing and interviewing users effectively, getting valuable feedback on product concepts and information architecture, and rapidly iterating on the user interface to improve usability. They discussed remote testing tools that help teams evaluate if users can successfully achieve their goals with their designs, and reviewed best practices collecting feedback from users after launch.
My plenary speech at the inaugural UX Live London conference on October 26, 2017.
Eric Reiss
CEO and Author
4.30pm-5.15pm
Innovation vs. Best Practice – Conflict or Opportunity?
“Best practice” implies doing things in the best possible manner, based on past experience. But we like to think of ourselves as innovators in a dynamic industry – we want to go where no one has gone before. Thus, “best practice” and “innovation” are like oil and water – they don’t easily mix.
How can we, as UX professionals, balance the need for consistency that “best practice” provides, with our on-going mission to improve the quality of our products? How can we create genuine improvements – and when have we been seduced by the evil twins, Fad and Fashion?
“Innovation vs. Best Practice” explores the elements that make up these two ends of the UX spectrum. We’ll take a closer look at the popular definitions of both innovation and best practice – and discover why these are frequently inadequate, misleading, or both. Why is a “standard” not always a “best practice”? And if “invention” can be spontaneous, why is “innovation” always planned?
We’ll also examine some of the worst reasons to innovate, which are also some of the most common, plus the Japanese concept of “chindogu” – “useless innovation.” Perhaps most important of all, we’ll see how User Driven Design helps us avoid harmful innovation in comparison to the more common User Centered Design methodology.
Thirteen years ago Gayle Curtis likened a “Big Information Architect” to “an orchestra conductor or film director, conceiving a vision and moving the team forward.” In the meantime, different-sized IAs gave way to UX designers, but in some shops there is another central role: product manager.
What you may be surprised to learn is that a substantial part of a product manager’s job is…information architecture. Describing a landscape, ecosystem, or roadmap and communicating a set of goals and priorities requires the exact meaning-mapping skills that IA is all about.
This panel features three people trained in IA and UX who are now filling a product role, to discover whether this parallel between “big” IA and product holds in other contexts, to discuss potential career paths, and to take questions from an audience that might be intrigued by the relationship.
Labs.Redweb - Agency Briefing: The Internet Of Things David Burton
The good, the bad, & the ugly of the Internet of Things
An agency briefing on the latest area of investigation for Redweb Labs: The Internet of Things
Our view from the starting blocks and the questions and issues we've lined up to be investigated further over the coming months
**This version of our presentation is for World Information Architecture Day, Feb 9 2013 in Ann Arbor** Chris and Farris expose the differences between how user experience designers and analytics practitioners think. While UXD weave best practices and user research into their designs, digital analysts spend their time confirming or refuting hypotheses in a data-driven way. One approach is decidedly qualitative, the other decidedly quantitative. In this presentation you will learn through their conversations how it is possible to leverage both enlightened design and deep data to continuously optimize user experiences. If you work on either side of this debate, this is how to better state your case… and get along with the other side.
Building a Sense of Place across Channels - Part IIAndrea Resmini
Part II of the deck of slides from my workshop at UX Australia 2013 on place-making in cross-channel user experiences, previously a slightly different workshop at UX Lisbon 2012.
Practicing What We Preach: designing usage centered deliverablesAviva Rosenstein
Slides and worksheets from a workshop presented at the IA Summit, 2011
During any product development process, interaction designers and researchers must communicate with internal and external team members and decision makers. All too often we talk the UX talk but we forget to walk the UX walk: we send out deliverables without thinking about our needs, the needs of the recipients and what we want to achieve.
Creating design deliverables that address the needs, goals and constraints of those team members will enhance your credibility as a design expert while improving the overall effectiveness of your organization.
This presentation includes a lean framework for understanding users' needs and goals that can help you design the right deliverable (or interface) at the right time for any working environment.
In this talk, you will learn about five sketching secrets of Leonardo Da Vinci, four rules for generating ideas, and four rules for refining ideas. I call these lessons from Leonardo. You might find a few stories about Leonardo Da Vinci that you did not know.
Listen to audio at:
https://soundcloud.com/officialsxsw/design-like-davinci-leonardos
The slides from my intro to the workshop I facilitated together with Luca Rosati at the VIII Italian IA Summit in Bologna, Nov 2014. The slides deal with the general principles and the little story that was used as a catalyst for the exercise. I added a few notes for clarity.
Blended spaces, cross-channel ecosystems, and the myth that is serviceAndrea Resmini
Slide deck from paper presented at ServDes 2016, Copenhagen.
Full paper available in conference proceedings: http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/article.asp?issue=125&article=050
Rapid User Research - a talk from Agile 2013 by Aviva RosensteinAviva Rosenstein
Doing user research before and during development helps inform your choices about strategy (what to build) as well as tactics (how to build it)-- and it doesn't have to slow down your development process . In fact some rapidly executed research can speed up your time to market by reducing the need to refactor late in a project.
This presentation includes practical information to help product owners and developers quickly get inside the heads of their users, validate product ideas and improve the usability of their software at warp speed. The talk included tips and techniques for recruiting research participants, shadowing and interviewing users effectively, getting valuable feedback on product concepts and information architecture, and rapidly iterating on the user interface to improve usability. They discussed remote testing tools that help teams evaluate if users can successfully achieve their goals with their designs, and reviewed best practices collecting feedback from users after launch.
My plenary speech at the inaugural UX Live London conference on October 26, 2017.
Eric Reiss
CEO and Author
4.30pm-5.15pm
Innovation vs. Best Practice – Conflict or Opportunity?
“Best practice” implies doing things in the best possible manner, based on past experience. But we like to think of ourselves as innovators in a dynamic industry – we want to go where no one has gone before. Thus, “best practice” and “innovation” are like oil and water – they don’t easily mix.
How can we, as UX professionals, balance the need for consistency that “best practice” provides, with our on-going mission to improve the quality of our products? How can we create genuine improvements – and when have we been seduced by the evil twins, Fad and Fashion?
“Innovation vs. Best Practice” explores the elements that make up these two ends of the UX spectrum. We’ll take a closer look at the popular definitions of both innovation and best practice – and discover why these are frequently inadequate, misleading, or both. Why is a “standard” not always a “best practice”? And if “invention” can be spontaneous, why is “innovation” always planned?
We’ll also examine some of the worst reasons to innovate, which are also some of the most common, plus the Japanese concept of “chindogu” – “useless innovation.” Perhaps most important of all, we’ll see how User Driven Design helps us avoid harmful innovation in comparison to the more common User Centered Design methodology.
Thirteen years ago Gayle Curtis likened a “Big Information Architect” to “an orchestra conductor or film director, conceiving a vision and moving the team forward.” In the meantime, different-sized IAs gave way to UX designers, but in some shops there is another central role: product manager.
What you may be surprised to learn is that a substantial part of a product manager’s job is…information architecture. Describing a landscape, ecosystem, or roadmap and communicating a set of goals and priorities requires the exact meaning-mapping skills that IA is all about.
This panel features three people trained in IA and UX who are now filling a product role, to discover whether this parallel between “big” IA and product holds in other contexts, to discuss potential career paths, and to take questions from an audience that might be intrigued by the relationship.
Labs.Redweb - Agency Briefing: The Internet Of Things David Burton
The good, the bad, & the ugly of the Internet of Things
An agency briefing on the latest area of investigation for Redweb Labs: The Internet of Things
Our view from the starting blocks and the questions and issues we've lined up to be investigated further over the coming months
The Internet of Things, an Agency Briefing 2014Redweb Ltd
An Agency Briefing about the Internet of Things. Detailing our early thoughts on the good, the bad, and the ugly of smart, connected, or wearable objects
Talk : Innovation Games : Perfecting Your Brainstorming Technique for Killer...Ben Sykes
“It is an exciting time to be alive. We seem to be on the edge of limitless technology.
I wonder if we are
trying to solve the right problems?
How many people want to see another Instagram or uber clone?”
The world needs you to be fearless in your innovation.
Session slides from Future Insights Live, Vegas 2015:
https://futureinsightslive.com/las-vegas-2015/
Have you ever seen an innovative product or feature and think “Why didn't I think of that?” It's not always easy to coming up with innovative features or products. What if “thinking outside the box” is a skill rather than a talent? The good news is: Skills can be learned! In this talk you'll have the opportunity to craft an original feature & product concept using multiple design gaming techniques. This talk will be fast moving and group oriented. Attendees will learn how to tap their own creativity under pressure; how to motivate a team in another direction; find a creative solution to user or real world problems; design game techniques that help break through stuck thinking. This talk is ideal for anyone interested in learning a few pragmatic techniques that drive creative ideas and product innovation.
Testing in the Age of Distraction: Flow, Focus, and Defocus in TestingTechWell
We live in interesting times. Knowledge is available at our fingertips, no matter where we are. Social networks enable communication around the world. However, along with these marvels of the information age come weapons of mass distraction. With so many things competing for our attention—and so little time to focus on real work—it’s a wonder we get anything done at all. What does this mean for testers? A common belief is that only focused concentration leads to productive work—and conversely, that distraction causes procrastination and stifles creativity. While it is important that testers find flow and maintain focus, Zeger Van Hese believes that a state of defocus—guilt-free play—can also be helpful in testing. Zeger shares tips, tricks, and tools that have helped him focus and defocus while testing. He explains not only how to benefit from distraction but also how to return to flow and focus when needed. Learn to make the most of these techniques in your testing.
E-Commerce is becoming more and more pervasive, multi-channel, multi-device and must be able to maintain contact with consumers on different media. Blomming is a solution that allows everybody, people and companies, to become a social retailer
Done by Group : Diamond
School Name : Umm Hakeem Independent Secondary School for Girls.
Smart Sensors Module : Gives knowledge about smart sensors and the PVDF films through activities, experiments and projects which depend on smart sensors.
the product Idea is : The smart blind glasses have an infrared sensor , it will be used by blind people which will allow them to walk freely like any other normal person, or let’s say that they are going to walk like they actually can see.
Software Above the Level of a Single DeviceTim O'Reilly
My talk at the O'Reilly Solid Conference on May 22, 2014. I mostly talk about UI implications of the Internet of Things, but also about the need for interoperability.
Ben Tyson, Head of Strategy at BORN SOCIAL, breaks down ten of the most important trends for social media in 2014.
Spotted trends that we've missed? Tweet us @bebornsocial and let us know where we went wrong!
Similar to "Siri, did I leave the oven on?" UX for the connected home (updated for IA Summit 2013) (20)
Key questions to ask when designing for connected products/hardware-enabled services:
Is it a product, or a service?
How does your product work……and how can it fail?
Is your business model a good fit for user expectations?
How do we design not just for individual UIs but for distributed UX?
How often do devices connect? How responsive are they?
How do we give users transparency and control?
Design for failure in the IoT: what could possibly go wrong?Claire Rowland
We’re putting computing power, machine learning, sensing, actuation, and connectivity into more and more objects, services, and systems in the physical world. This enables new ways for things to work better. But it also creates new possibilities for failure, not least when software problems produce real-world consequences. Failures can damage the user experience, undermine the value of the product, and sometimes present danger.
When you develop a connected product, you must identify everything that could go wrong—from power failures to cessation of user support—and ensure that each potential problem can be adequately mitigated. If the value of your product is marginal but the consequences of it going wrong could be catastrophic, it’s time to rethink your plans.
----
Talk from O'Reilly online conference Designing for the Internet of Things, 15th September 2016. A short version of this talk was given at Thingmonk on 13th September.
The network as a design material: Interaction 16 workshopClaire Rowland
Exploring the UX challenges which the properties of networks and connectivity patterns pose to connected products/the internet of things: latency, reliability, intermittent connectivity
Direct manipulation is broken: O'Reilly Design Conference Jan 2016Claire Rowland
Why connected products/the internet of things asks consumers to think like programmers, and the UX challenges this creates. With acknowledgement to Alan Blackwell of Cambridge University
Workshop on designing for consumer IoT, covering value, designing the system UX/interusability, and handling network issues such as latency/reliability and intermittent connections.
In order to understand the needs of highly mobile workers, Fjord interviewed a small but highly influential group of Nomads to understand their lifestyles, goals and technology needs. We also wanted to understand how the physical and social costs of this highly demanding mobile existence compared with the benefits. Also available at http://www.fjordnet.com/fjord-insights/fjords-digital-nomads-report-highlights-new-mobility
Psychology Of Creativity - London IA 30.03.10Claire Rowland
A basic and pragmatic introduction to the psychology of creativity, from empirical research. PDF with notes: full academic references included in the notes.
Dive into the innovative world of smart garages with our insightful presentation, "Exploring the Future of Smart Garages." This comprehensive guide covers the latest advancements in garage technology, including automated systems, smart security features, energy efficiency solutions, and seamless integration with smart home ecosystems. Learn how these technologies are transforming traditional garages into high-tech, efficient spaces that enhance convenience, safety, and sustainability.
Ideal for homeowners, tech enthusiasts, and industry professionals, this presentation provides valuable insights into the trends, benefits, and future developments in smart garage technology. Stay ahead of the curve with our expert analysis and practical tips on implementing smart garage solutions.
Can AI do good? at 'offtheCanvas' India HCI preludeAlan Dix
Invited talk at 'offtheCanvas' IndiaHCI prelude, 29th June 2024.
https://www.alandix.com/academic/talks/offtheCanvas-IndiaHCI2024/
The world is being changed fundamentally by AI and we are constantly faced with newspaper headlines about its harmful effects. However, there is also the potential to both ameliorate theses harms and use the new abilities of AI to transform society for the good. Can you make the difference?
Hello everyone! I am thrilled to present my latest portfolio on LinkedIn, marking the culmination of my architectural journey thus far. Over the span of five years, I've been fortunate to acquire a wealth of knowledge under the guidance of esteemed professors and industry mentors. From rigorous academic pursuits to practical engagements, each experience has contributed to my growth and refinement as an architecture student. This portfolio not only showcases my projects but also underscores my attention to detail and to innovative architecture as a profession.
Transforming Brand Perception and Boosting Profitabilityaaryangarg12
In today's digital era, the dynamics of brand perception, consumer behavior, and profitability have been profoundly reshaped by the synergy of branding, social media, and website design. This research paper investigates the transformative power of these elements in influencing how individuals perceive brands and products and how this transformation can be harnessed to drive sales and profitability for businesses.
Through an exploration of brand psychology and consumer behavior, this study sheds light on the intricate ways in which effective branding strategies, strategic social media engagement, and user-centric website design contribute to altering consumers' perceptions. We delve into the principles that underlie successful brand transformations, examining how visual identity, messaging, and storytelling can captivate and resonate with target audiences.
Methodologically, this research employs a comprehensive approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses. Real-world case studies illustrate the impact of branding, social media campaigns, and website redesigns on consumer perception, sales figures, and profitability. We assess the various metrics, including brand awareness, customer engagement, conversion rates, and revenue growth, to measure the effectiveness of these strategies.
The results underscore the pivotal role of cohesive branding, social media influence, and website usability in shaping positive brand perceptions, influencing consumer decisions, and ultimately bolstering sales and profitability. This paper provides actionable insights and strategic recommendations for businesses seeking to leverage branding, social media, and website design as potent tools to enhance their market position and financial success.
Book Formatting: Quality Control Checks for DesignersConfidence Ago
This presentation was made to help designers who work in publishing houses or format books for printing ensure quality.
Quality control is vital to every industry. This is why every department in a company need create a method they use in ensuring quality. This, perhaps, will not only improve the quality of products and bring errors to the barest minimum, but take it to a near perfect finish.
It is beyond a moot point that a good book will somewhat be judged by its cover, but the content of the book remains king. No matter how beautiful the cover, if the quality of writing or presentation is off, that will be a reason for readers not to come back to the book or recommend it.
So, this presentation points designers to some important things that may be missed by an editor that they could eventually discover and call the attention of the editor.
White wonder, Work developed by Eva TschoppMansi Shah
White Wonder by Eva Tschopp
A tale about our culture around the use of fertilizers and pesticides visiting small farms around Ahmedabad in Matar and Shilaj.
You could be a professional graphic designer and still make mistakes. There is always the possibility of human error. On the other hand if you’re not a designer, the chances of making some common graphic design mistakes are even higher. Because you don’t know what you don’t know. That’s where this blog comes in. To make your job easier and help you create better designs, we have put together a list of common graphic design mistakes that you need to avoid.
"Siri, did I leave the oven on?" UX for the connected home (updated for IA Summit 2013)
1. “Siri, did I leave the oven on?”
Mundane UX for the connected home
@clurr #connectedhome
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Weʼve become accustomed to using technology like the web and mobiles to keep us in touch with the people and activities
that are important in our lives. Still one thing thatʼs relatively unconnected - home - big dumb box of mostly dumb things that
donʼt talk to us, or each other. But thatʼs changing.
This talk is about the challenge of making new technologies make sense to the mass market.
3. Wiredʼs number 1
London startup 2012
@alertmesays
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
You probably havenʼt heard of AlertMe. Last year we were nominated Wiredʼs number 1 startup in London.
4. Tuesday, 4 June 2013
One reason you might not have heard of us because we are mostly B2B: we create hardware and services that other
companies sell on to their end customers. Currently, you can get our products and services from British Gas, Loweʼs and
Essent. We cover areas like heating, energy monitoring, home controls and monitoring, and data analytics. Weʼll find out a bit
more about some of this later.
5. Opinions are entirely my own :)
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
And I canʼt take credit for many of interfaces I will be able to show today.
7. Embedded computing in everyday objects...
...connected up to the internet
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Sensors and controllers around the home, embedded computing in everyday objects, and connecting it all up to the internet
so you can access and control it via web and phone. Lots of things you can do here...
8. Understand energy
use...
Energy clamp
In-home display
Smart plug
Web and mobile interfaces
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
For sake of time, Iʼll show some AlertMe examples to give you a flavour of the kind of thing I do.
This is AlertMeʼs current energy service. Itʼs made up of sensors, displays, smartphone and web apps.
(We make apps because they are a better experience for a control system right now.)
9. Control your
heating...
Thermostat
Web and mobile interfaces
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
This is AlertMeʼs current remote heating controller. Stuff magazine gadget of the year.
10. Camera
Contact sensor
Key fobs
Motion sensor
...secure your home...
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
AlertMe home security.
Thereʼs more... lighting, switches, locks, appliances, catflaps...
11. ...on a combined platform
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
This is the web UI for the Iris system we make for Loweʼs. I canʼt take any credit for this UI, which is a custom version for
Loweʼs and was well developed before I joined AlertMe.
13. Connected
home
technology has
existed since at
least as far
back as 1975...
This is X10 Powerhouse for the
Commodore 64, from 1986.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
It let you schedule lights and appliances to turn on and off, control a burglar alarm and thermostat, and could be operated
remotely by telephone. Those are pretty much the things Iʼm working on right now. Except the telephoneʼs got a bit smaller
and now we have the internet.
16. “Little bits of smartness”
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Things are changing... getting cheaper, wireless... better designed...
Big smart home concept isnʼt with us yet but you can already buy a range of everyday things like bathroom scales, baby
monitors and electrical sockets with connectivity and even intelligence built in.
17. We have a metaphor for the
“remote control for your life”
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Donʼt underestimate how powerful this is. Mobile is central control platform: whether youʼre out and about, or on the sofa.
whatʼs the point of embedding connectivity and smartness around your home only to have to sit down at a desk to use it
on your Commodore 64?
18. Interconnectivity is still a challenge...
but so is understanding and
delivering what the mass
market actually needs
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
NB: big UX
opportunity.
19. 4 key UX challenges
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
There are many, here are 4 of the big, general ones for designing interoperable systems for the mass
market.
20. UX challenge 1:
Make it feel like home
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Home is a very personal context.
23. Home Automation Ltd
(yes, really)
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Bit unfair to pick on these guys, they are a relatively small outfit. But this screen sums up a lot of what I
think is wrong with home automation.
26. •System has users and peripheral devices
•Users have access permissions and are IN or OUT
•Their goal is to program the home for optimal
efficiency
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Um, yeah.
27. ʻRomantikʼ mode
an engineering solution to a human non-problem
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Modes are a common smart home feature. But they require a lot of planning and advance configuration. Which isnʼt very
sexy.
28. Real life is too
messy to program
•People are generally a bit disorganised and bad at
predicting their future needs
•Life is full of contradictions and exceptions
•Devices are shared, and lent
•Whoʼs allowed to do what is negotiated and flexible,
not completely codified
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
e.g. Little Jack isnʼt normally allowed to watch that much TV, but today heʼs ill so youʼre feeling sorry for him
e.g. The sheets ought to be washed but everyoneʼs busy so theyʼll do for a bit longer
29. “My teenagers skulk in their
bedrooms. Theyʼre not out, but
theyʼre not really in either...”
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
30. We already have a perfectly
good metaphor for the
home:
Itʼs the
home
This one happens to be my home. I donʼt
want to log into it, become a super user, or
worry that itʼs going to crash or need
debugging.
sudo open-window
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Last place in the world I want to feel out of control... and we all know how people often feel out of control of computers
when they are too hard to use or do things we donʼt understand.
31. This is not a mass
market solution
New systems like WeMo are neat but
basically better-designed early adopter
kit
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
You define your own problem and configure the algorithms to execute it.
Iʼm prepared to be proven wrong, but I donʼt think this is the mass market solution
33. •There is often more than
one person in a house
•They have interpersonal
dynamics
•They may want different
things
•Relationships are
smoothed by not
necessarily knowing
everything about each
other
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
The home is a complex social context
34. Connected home technology surfaces information
about what is happening in the home
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
These are the unknown measures from my Withings scales: the ones it wasnʼt able to recognise as a known user.
This data is anonymous but based on time of use and estimates of mass I can infer two things from this
35. My cat sits on the scales
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
36. My cleaner is watching her weight
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
and neither of them have any idea that I know this.
37. •Itʼs often possible to work out
who is in, out, turning the
heating up all the time, or on
the Xbox at 4am
•When parties have different
ideas about how things should
be, that surfaces tensions
21 °C 19 °C
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Thatʼs all pretty innocuous, but add in other simple data like when the burglar alarm was set, and energy monitoring, and you
can figure out...
Itʼs a healthy and necessary part of most relationships to have the right to some private space, and to ignore or pretend not
to notice some of the other personʼs behaviours. Technology makes this harder.
38. Tension between the person
who uses the energy monitor
and the people who use the
appliances is common
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Tumble dryers are a particular source of angst.
39. Who came in at what time?
(Did they look drunk? Was anyone with
them??!)
How long did the cleaner
really stay?
If this information is up on
the internet, who might get
access to it?
Presence surfaces trust and privacy
issues
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
40. UX challenge 3:
The mundane should
not demand too
much attention
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
41. •A lot of what goes on in the
home is actually pretty
unremarkable and
mundane
•We develop routines to
help us stay on top of the
boring stuff without too
much conscious effort
•This allows us to save our
attention for important or
interesting things
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
42. My washing machine is
as needy as a burglar alarm
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
It thinks washing is most important and interesting thing in my life. It beeps when itʼs finished a load. Itʼs a bit aggressive, but I
could let that go. But it doesnʼt stop beeping until you empty it. It expects you to drop everything and come running, right now,
because the washing must come out IMMEDIATELY. This is appropriate behaviour from a burglar alarm, but not a washing
machine.
43. What if you had a whole home full
of attention seeking devices?...
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
one device, irritating, but we accept it.
a whole home full of devices with no manners.... developing some new and interesting ways to break down?
44. This is attention seeking
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Too much work for most people.
45. User instructions:
1) Ignore it
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
We need to design things that need less attention, not more.
Wattbox - intelligent heating controller (prototype hardware shown).
Nest: works off motion, light, and settings you choose in first week or two. If you donʼt bother to turn the heat down when you
go to bed, or your heating controller sits somewhere people donʼt pass by, it might not learn correctly. Wattbox uses electrical
activity to infer whether anyone is in, and whether they are up and about. When we're in and awake we're usually using
electricity above baseload, itʼs a good proxy for occupancy and activity.
“Donʼt make me think” harder about my heating... HEATING IS BORING!!!
46. UX challenge 4:
We donʼt understand
how to use half the
stuff in our homes
anyway
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
47. Most of us
understand our
heating systems
about as well as
this guy does
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
This is a ring tailed lemur. Itʼs a native of Madagascar, and it knows about as much about domestic heating as the average
human. I am not being flippant here.
48. Ring-tailed lemurs in a
zoo in south west
England learned to turn
up the temperature on
their heating thermostat
when it got cold
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Smart-lemurs-learn-turn-thermostat-cold-snap/story-17929368-detail/
story.html#axzz2Nod8uQoU
49. “When itʼs cold
you need to turn
the thermostat
up.”
This mental model is
completely wrong
This is what many humans
do too:
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
A thermostat is an automatic switch.
Most people treat it like a valve: turn up dial, get more.
50. “My thermostat is
too confusing to
use so when I
want to turn the
heating up I put it
in the fridge.”
NB: this might sound silly but
itʼs far more logical:
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
51. Sometimes people just
have illogical habits or
beliefs that challenge our
assumptions about what
to design:
“I donʼt set my
burglar alarm
when Iʼm only
going out for a few
hours.”
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
People are sometimes going to use it in the ways you may consider irrational. Engineers find this baffling, but you have to
deal with it.
52. So how do we fix
this mess?
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Iʼve given this talk in the past and had the response ʻyeah, what are you actually doing about this?ʼ.
I am working on design concepts for a more humanistic connected home experience.
I canʼt show you most of that, but I can talk about some of the practical design experience Iʼve gained along the way.
Some of this is applicable to more general internet of things/ubicomp type UX design.
53. UI/visual design
screen layout, look and feel
Platform design
conceptual architecture spanning multiple
services, devices, common design
principles
CX design
customer lifecycle, customer services,
integration with non digital touchpoints
Productisation
audience, proposition, objectives,
functionality of a specific service
Industrial design
physical hardware: capabilities and
form factor
UX/interaction design
architecture and behaviours per
service, per device
Interusability
interactions spanning multiple
devices with different capabilities
Many layers of
connected home UX
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
[talk through]
I tend to use term ʻservice designʼ to encompass the lot.
A lot of my work is centred on the web and mobile UIs because these are the touchpoints users will interact directly with the
most. But if you just think of it as doing web and mobile UI design, you miss a lot and risk creating a lot of problems.
Hence why Iʼm called a service design manager.
Iʼm going to talk about 3 of these, reflecting specific challenges I deal with...
54. “People have to
understand it
before they can
want it”
Denise Wilton, BERG
UI/visual design
screen layout, look and feel
Platform design
conceptual architecture spanning multiple
services, devices, common design
principles
CX design
customer lifecycle, customer services,
integration with non digital touchpoints
Productisation
audience, proposition, objectives,
functionality of a specific service
Industrial design
physical hardware: capabilities and
form factor
UX/interaction design
architecture and behaviours per
service, per device
Interusability
interactions spanning multiple
devices with different capabilities
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
this is about making it make sense to end users.
55. Productisation is the extent to which
the supplier makes the user value
explicit
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
for some specific bits of hardware, like an energy monitor, thereʼs a close mapping between function
and value. it does one thing, hopefully well. itʼs easy for people to understand what they do.
56. This is not a contact sensor
this is a thing that tells you:
•when an intruder has forced your front door open
•when your child has opened her window in the middle of the night
•when someone is trying to steal your guns
This is hard to do for general purpose devices
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
57. In areas where they donʼt have expert knowledge
consumers tend to buy products, not
tools
Product Tool
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
A product says ʻHere is the valueʼ, and comes preconfigured to deliver it.
A tool provides functionality. You figure out the value, and how to get it. (Weʼre back to the computer
metaphor.)
Nothing wrong with making tools but they are less likely to go mass market
58. You can productise the box...
but you also need to productise the
service
• 1 SmartThings Hub
• 2 SmartSense Multi (Open/
Closed, Temperature, Vibration)
• 2 SmartSense Presence
• 1 SmartPower Outlet
• 1 SmartSense Motion Detector
• 1 SmartThings Hub
• 2 SmartSense Moisture
Detectors
• 1 SmartSense Motion
• 1 SmartSense Presence
• 3 SmartSense Multi (Open/
Closed, Temperature, Vibration)
• 1 SmartThings Hub
• 2 SmartSense Multi (Open/
Closed, Temperature,
Vibration)
• 4 SmartSense Presence
• 1 SmartSense Motion Detector
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Smart Things are trying to do this.
Most of the contents of these kits are pretty similar:
hub, open-closed/vibration/temperature multi-sensors, presence, motion.
Productising the box is a start. Iʼm very interested to see what the service UIs are like when you
connect this all up. Is it a generic UI for all 3? Or does it have customised functionality for each
service: so for home security you get specific instructions on setting up an alarm, for home watch you
get a flood alarm, temperature warnings, an earthquake alarm; and for family life you get the “oh crap
the dogʼs escaped” alarm?
59. UI/visual design
screen layout, look and feel
Platform design
conceptual architecture spanning multiple
services, devices, common design
principles
CX design
customer lifecycle, customer services,
integration with non digital touchpoints
Productisation
audience, proposition, objectives,
functionality of a specific service
Industrial design
physical hardware: capabilities and
form factor
UX/interaction design
architecture and behaviours per
service, per device
Interusability
interactions spanning multiple
devices with different capabilities
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
60. Interusability:
• composition
• consistency
• continuity
Cross-Platform Service User Experience: A Field Study and an Initial
Framework. Minna Wäljas, Katarina Segerståhl, Kaisa Väänänen-Vainio-
Mattila, Harri Oinas-Kukkonen MobileHCI'10
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Model I want to draw on here which I have found incredibly useful: interusability.
I know we like to kind of put usability in a box now and not use it as a catchall for broad UX, but bear with me and donʼt be put
off. I use the word “interusability” because the people who came up with it called it interusability. I like to think of it as really
talking about a type of cross-device digital service design.
Anyone who works in cross platform design should read the paper cited here, if you havenʼt already. The examples are a bit
out of date now but the principles are still highly valid.
Talks about 3 components: composition, consistency, continuity
61. Composition
• Figuring out which devices your service needs
• Figuring out what each device does
vs
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
As a designer of smart services, one of your first tasks is to think about composition: what devices will you have, and which
ones will do what.
Your decision will be influenced by whether any parts of the system need to have particular form factors/be used in certain
contexts, cost, whether any parts of the system need to work if they are offline, user expectations.
Displays and controls usually add to the cost, so itʼs often cheaper to handle user inputs and outputs on a remote mobile or
web UI.
http://www.tado.com/en/
example: tado thermostat has no UI, itʼs all on the phone. probable reasons: itʼs expensive to make a good thermostat UI,
(and no-one understands the bad ones), so just make a good phone UI, which is relatively cheap to do (and gets you round
some of the UI consistency challenges Iʼll talk about in a minute). Thereʼs a certain purist elegance to this decision but tiʼs a
brave move: if you donʼt have your phone to hand, or itʼs not working, or youʼre a guest in the house without access to the
phone UI, you canʼt adjust the heating.
AlertMe chose differently: we have a fairly standard thermostat with a conventionally bad UI but also the phone and web apps,
which offer a much better experience (the one you see here looks rather plain as itʼs our unbranded version). This means that
you, and your guests or other residents without smartphones, can still use it as a conventional thermostat. Itʼs less elegant
(you will at some point encounter a UI that has been compromised by the need to keep the thermostat price down), but itʼs
pragmatic.
62. Consistency
Adapting interfaces for different types of
device, but still making them feel like a family
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Nest wall stat: twiddly knob on the wall that clicks. Touchscreen: up and down arrow. (Twiddly knobs are inefficient and
inaccurate on touchscreens). BUT it still makes the same click :)
63. Continuity
Up to date data and
content across all
platforms. Fluent
cross platform
interactions.
Battery limitations
impose possible 2
minute delay!
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Perhaps the biggest challenge is continuity.
If I interact with the service on one device, all other devices reflect that change in state. e.g. if I turn the target heating temperature up on
my wall thermostat, youʼd expect the new temperature to be immediately reflected on the smartphone too.
But sometimes this isnʼt technically possible.
In the case of the AlertMe heating system, there can be a delay of up to two minutes before the smartphone app is updated. This is
because the wall thermostat runs off a battery (as is normal in the UK), and sending data to the network uses a lot of power so it only
does it every two minutes. If it sent it more frequently than that, it would run the battery down very fast. We could make mains powered
controllers, but engineers donʼt like those in the UK as they are more complicated to install. So for the time being, the UX is a
compromise, albeit a small one as the main use of the smartphone app is when you are not standing in front of the wall thermostat, and
2 minutes isnʼt a long delay in turning the heating on.
The important thing is to ensure that users are as informed as possible about whatʼs going on.
64. Thermostat > hub >
service > phone UI
but can be separate API calls
Boiler (furnace) >
thermostat > hub >
service > phone UI
3rd party weather
service > phone UI
A complex
service can
have many
potential
points of
failure
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
many points of potential connectivity failure: hub offline, thermostat offline, thermostat lost connection to boiler;
also individual API calls can fail like target temperature, current temp. and sometimes some are slower to load than others
and that can be outside our control.
so there are times when you effectively have missing parts of the service, or are waiting for things to respond, and you have to
deal with this in the UI.
itʼs not like many of the apps many of us work with, where cached data may still be useful. out of date data can be a big
problem. it can lead you to believe something is on when itʼs off, or ok when itʼs not ok. it's perhaps not a disaster if it's 5 mins
out of date for a heating app, but what if it's your burglar alarm,or an emergency alarm for an old person?
rule of thumb: donʼt show old data as this can be misleading, donʼt imply that a change has been made before it is
completed,
figure out which data can be missing without rendering the service useless (like weather)
previous app loaded screen and then filled it with data. [screenshot]
i think this feels mainframey, and wanted the screen not to load until the data was there. my interaction is with the service, not
interface plus data.
but sometimes that would mean that it didnʼt load at all for ages and that would be really frustrating. decided what we could
live with (E.g. weather not updated) and what was essential to service experience
then what happens if you change one setting, e.g. turn from off to auto? more than one thing may update (e.g. mode, and .
interface needs to update to reflect status change but dontʼ want to show this change until you know itʼs been applied. but
some data not available, so end up with some blank data. it's not great (see loading on RHC homescreen when changing
thermostat setting).
hardware constraints can be limiting...nest is mains powered so can use wifi and connect more instantaneously (file under
65. UI/visual design
screen layout, look and feel
Platform design
conceptual architecture spanning multiple
services, devices, common design
principles
CX design
customer lifecycle, customer services,
integration with non digital touchpoints
Productisation
audience, proposition, objectives,
functionality of a specific service
Industrial design
physical hardware: capabilities and
form factor
UX/interaction design
architecture and behaviours per
service, per device
Interusability
interactions spanning multiple
devices with different capabilities
aka the really big
IA challenge
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
66. If you’re just making a single service that supports
a limited set of devices, your platform can consist
of device control/data APIs available via web/
mobile interface
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
67. But remember, this can get complex
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
look at this again for a minute...
If you want to offer multiple, overlapping services, in which devices can do different things as part of different services and
users can have different sets of services, then you start to need some kind of underlying logic to tie it all together.
68. Empty space = more future devices?
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Nest looks like it may be the beginnings of a platform.
69. • services: intruder alarm, lighting, garden sprinkler, heating/cooling, gun cabinet,
smoke alarm, energy usage, window blinds, Grannyʼs alarm...
• devices: motion sensors, lighting, sprinkler, thermostat, cabinet sensor, smoke
detector, energy monitor, blind controls, panic button...
• controls:on/off, up/down, less/more, timer/schedule, hot/cold, set/unset
• notifications: alarm, message, status...
• presence: whoʼs in/out, nearby/far away, available/unavailable, authorised/not
authorised
• contacts: people who live in the house, have access permissions to the physical
property or the service UI
Across a range of home services
you will have constructs like:
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Within a service like this we have... [these things]
They are interrelated in potentially complex ways.
70. Add to: lighting controls?
security system?
both?
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
If you want to be smart in the ways that you offer services up...
... the more this conceptual model needs to be codified somewhere.
71. User tasks are heterogeneous and
overlapping
• device/device group based: turn up the TV, turn off all
the lights
• location based: set alarm downstairs, turn off outside lights,
lower blinds on west side of the house in afternoon
• time/state based: activate security lights when iʼm away
• optimisation: keep the house temperature comfortable, use
energy efficiently
• authorisation/presence based: lock the gun cabinet
when the adults are not at home
• person based: tell me if Granny hasnʼt got out of bed, tell me
when Jake gets home from school
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
There is no one hierarchy that supports all of this. You either force people to think in terms of your hierarchy... or you design
something that supports the way they think... without overloading them with options.
72. notificationsservices
controls
devices presence
contacts
user needs
The big IA challenge:
creating the UX logic
that bridges the two
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Creating the UX logic that allows you to support all these things, and create great UXes, for services that you have already and
those you donʼt have yet, is the big IA challenge
Itʼs not stretching it too much to call it the ontology/domain model of the home
Until we make some headway here, most people wonʼt consider it worth the pain of buying wholesale into the technology.
73. Interoperability beyond the walled garden
makes this an even bigger challenge
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Right now all these things are walled gardens... realistically, who wants their entire house to come from Samsung, AlertMe,
even Apple?
There isnʼt an open platform: there are some open network protocols for connecting devices, but Iʼm not aware of anything that
helps figure out how they work together.
But even with open services, something is going to have to happen to ensure you donʼt end up in a mess of different UIs and
metadata and control structures from different providers.
Thatʼs a really hard problem.
75. “People donʼt want more
control of their homes.
“They want more control of
their lives.”
Scott Davidoff, Min Kyung Lee, Charles Yiu, John Zimmerman, Anind K. Dey: Principles of Smart Home
Control (Ubicomp 2006)
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
76. Burnt pie by Jet Lim
X10 Powerhouse from commodore.ca
Internet fridge from fuckyeahinternetfridge.tumblr.com
Messy House by Elizabeth Table4Five
Trapped by Merina
Computer by Phil Gold
Crying child by eggonstilts
Army from hdwallpapers.com
Tea cosy by Brixton Makerhood
Teeth by ktpupp
Sleeping by Stan
Frustration by dieselbug2007
Washing machine firmware error by Adam Crickett
Houses by Peter O, Clive Darr, hollandhistory.net
Usabilty lab by Leanne Waldal
Burglar by homesecurityfocus.com
Mongkok advertising by Slices of Light
Posh house by Savant Toronto
Teenage bedroom by Wendizzle
HAL smarthome by james.lipsit.com
Jack Black from bradley.chattablogs.com
Holiday home: geograph.co.uk
Older woman: soylentgreen23
Ringtailed lemur by digidave
Ringtailed lemur 2 by Tropiquaria Zoo
Thanksfor
thephotos
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
77. S Intille, The goal: Smart people not smart homes (2006)
http://web.media.mit.edu/~intille/papers-files/IntilleICOST06.pdf
Minna Wäljas, Katarina Segerståhl, Kaisa Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila, Harri Oinas-
Kukkonen: Cross-Platform Service User Experience: A Field Study and an Initial
Framework (Nordichi 2010)
http://bugi.oulu.fi/~ksegerst/publications/p219-waljas.pdf
Colin Dixon, Ratul Mahajan, Sharad Agarwal, AJ Brush, Bongshin Lee, Stefan
Saroiu, and Victor Bahl, An Operating System for the Home (NSDI, USENIX, April
2012)
Pertti Huuskonen: Run to the Hills! Ubiquitous Computing Meltdown
(Advances in Ambient Intelligence, 2007)
Peter Tolmie, James Pycock, Tim Diggins. Allan Maclean, Alain Karsenty,
Unremarkable Computing (Ubiquity, 2002).
Genevieve Bell & Paul Dourish: Yesterdayʼs tomorrows: notes on ubiquitous
computingʼs dominant vision (Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 2006)
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~jpd/ubicomp/BellDourish-YesterdaysTomorrows.pdf
Scott Davidoff, Min Kyung Lee, Charles Yiu, John Zimmerman, and Anind K. Dey:
Principles of Smart Home Control (Ubicomp 2006)
T Saizmaa, A Holistic Understanding of HCI Perspectives on Smart Home,
Networked Computing and Advanced Information Management, 2008. NCM '08
Thanksforthe
research
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
78. Thank you
@clurr
claire@clairerowland.com
Thanks to: Alex von Feldmann, Fraser Hamilton, Martin Storey, Naintara Land and Anna
Kuriakose who have contributed insights, thinking and research to this presentation
Tuesday, 4 June 2013