Boy | Testing interaction and pubstation

The main focus of UX design is to facilitate an experience for the user, an interactive experience.

UX design is mostly not linear. It goes from A to B to C to A to C to B, etc.

A user experience can be physical or non physical. It does not have to be digital.

Examples of UX design:

Signage.
Museum exhibitions/experiences.
Product design.
Escape rooms.
Websites.
Apps.

Ux design needs to be tested.
You cannot think the user will use the design in only one certain way.
Once you need to label a certain part of a design it is usually a mistake that you're trying to fix with a label.

Ux design process:

Emphasise.
Define.
Ideate.
Prototype.
Test.

UX stands for User Experience.

Week 1_lesson 1 (Testing)

The Flowchart starts with the user wanting to see a route and ends with the user being at the tab "Route".
I noticed that at the start and the end, the user could not go both ways in every direction in the app, but in the middle part. The user could. This shows that an app is not linear but has a lot of bound and not bound directions you can go in. It is also always possible to go back to the "Home". The center.

A link between the app Strava and the Nature Routes for the international WDKA students I am researching with my group can be made, because it is both about finding routes and going through an interface which has to be understandable for a certain user group.

Week 2_lesson 1 (interaction station)

The workshop started with the Arduino device. I don't know anything about coding so it was hard for me to start, but eventually I got to experiment with the device and make some fun alterations.

It is really interesting to me that such a small device can pick up so much sensors. Sound, temperature and light. This whole device can do so much with such a simple index. This device helped me to think more about my idea for the design fase and what interaction is and what I can do with this interaction.

In class I made an individual Flowchart assignment about the existing mobile app Strava.

Week 2_lesson 2 (interaction station)

This workshop continued the workshop from the first lesson in the interaction station, but introduced the programming programme: Processing.

I experimented with the two combined programmes together to make some coding-art. I love how different these programmes are compared to the usual Adobe programmes. I create something in the moment and with movement, rather than calculated measurements and pre-thought out images.

Week 3_lesson 1 (Testing)

The test plan answers the questions on: What? Which? Where? Who? and How?

My main focus for the testing of the one page interface and route will be the accessibility in terms of language and symbols and
the understanding of this for the International WDKA student. I don't want the interface to have a language barrier and the route involved with the interface has to be as clear as the one page website itself. The one pager will be for computers only for a smoother and bigger experience and for the usage of a mouse instead of touch on a phone. I am planning to document the user test with people navigating through the website and routes and me screenrecording these experiences. I will also make a comment section where they can put notes and comments on the experience they had, navigating through the interface and the routes.

Week 2_lesson 2 (interaction station)

After the interaction station workshop. We had to make a concept for an interface the the Arduino device could be used for.

I chose to play around with the Arduino device and Adobe XD. I thought of the concept to make the Arduino device into an art maker. The program "Processing" that was used in the workshop gave me this idea, because I tried to make something by moving my mouse on the computer screen. Digital designers usually make designs with their mouse, but a mouse only has 1 main button. I tried to make a tool for designing that works with 4 buttons. The Arduino device can be pressed on all 4 buttons and works as a normal mouse, except it has 3 more dimensions. The Arduino mouse would not only be for one certain click, but would give the click a direction. A direction that can go in 4 different ways. This would give designers the ability to move an object, but in a certain way because of the specified direction button click.

Start testing interface

After making test renders for a 3D tree. I wanted to see if it was possible to make it rotatable.

Inspired by the Arduino concept. I went into the first stage of prototyping. My concept was to make a rotatable tree where the user can upload their artwork on the apples in the tree. The tree has to rotate to give the user more choices of upload apples than just from a tree that is only rendered from one angle.

I wanted to make a one page website that is fun to use, so a rotatable tree would fit with this concept. In this test I used a square shape that can be dragged left and right to rotate the tree. I discovered that a button on the right and a button on the left would be more obvious and easy to use than a drag-able shape. A drag movement takes more time and effort than a tab of a button.

Upon making and testing the prototype I had to make paths for different interactions in the one-page website. The most difficult interaction path was the falling apple from the tree.

If one apple falls, the other apple stays. If the other apple falls, two apples are on the ground. The user can choose between interactions, so these possibility's have to be made as well.

The rotatable 3D tree needed 25 artboards. Every 15 degree turn had to be captured and so all the interactions had to be linked to these artboards. To the user the website is only one page, but in reality it is 32 pages long.

User testing interface

I tested my interface on 5 international WDKA students, who are the defined user-group.

Test result Mateusz:
- Does not understand both
apples have to fall to water
the tree.

I made it like this, because the tree needs water after it loses all its apples.

Test result Eva:
- Apples with a stem are
difficult to find.

I understood this feedback. I wanted to initially animate all apples, but chose to animate 2 as an example of how it would work. The stems indicate these 2 apples, but the actual real website would have a tree only with apples with stems.

Test result Zuzia:
- Tried to click the map, but
got plant water instead.

I gave the route to the apple projector only away in coordinates. This to motivate the student to go on an adventure to the nature place. I understand however why someone would try to click this map. The plant water function is spread over the whole page, but should only work with the water button on the right.

Test result David:
- Has the suggestion to
change the switch to a click
for refreshing the website.

I understand a click instead of a switch would be more easy to understand as a gesture, but I used the switch to go to one point, stay there, and be able to go back. Or to hold the switch and go back immediately.

Test result Kinga:
- Could not navigate trought the website past rotating it.

I had to mention to the fact that only 2 apples are clickable in this prototype. The rotation has 25 turns with only 1 turn having clickable apples. This is why Kinga was not able to navigate through the website.

After the test results and feedback from both Maytal and Meghan. I decided to add a questions mark button. This button gives extra information about the website, the concept of the website, the link to the in real life apple shaped projector and the metaphor of the tree and the apples.

My conclusion about the user-testing is that the website is usable in its prototype state. The testers understood the general functionality of the website and only had some difficulties with some buttons and switches. I think this website could actually fully work if the link to the real life projector would be real.