Category: Design and research projects

Posted on by

User interface and interaction design guide for Wacom Bamboo Dock and Apps

Research conducted in collaboration with WACOM (Krefeld, Germany)

How can we develop a software that enriches users’ experiences by integrating pen-oriented interactions? WACOM interaction guide was developed to support designers and developers to create interactions and user interface of Bamboo Apps that leverage the use of a stylus. The focus of the guide was to help them:

  1. understand a set of supported pen interactions and the associated usages,
  2. implement and maintain a cohesive and consistent visual communication for Bamboo Dock and Apps,
  3. evaluate an App in terms of the quality of user interface and interaction design, and
  4. promote an end-user to have a strong association with brand awareness.

The guide discusses the brand image of Bamboo and how the Bamboo Dock Apps were conceptualized to be in line with the brand expression of Bamboo: playful and creative. Through a series of demonstrations, it shows the supported pen-interaction types, the differentiated aspects of pen-based input methods, and the general recommendations for designing interactions. In addition, user interface templates were proposed to help designers and developers create Apps that maintain the consistent look. The templates include basic icons and common control components, screen transitions, and animation effects.

Posted on by

Design for interest: Exploratory study on a distinct positive emotion in human-product interaction

Research conducted at ID-StudioLab
Publication:

  • Yoon, J., Desmet, P. M. A., & van der Helm, A. (2012). Design for interest: Exploratory study on a distinct positive emotion in human-product interaction. International Journal of Design, 6(2), 67-80.
  • Yoon, J. (2010). Interest in human-product interactions. Delft: Delft University of Technology

Can we design interactions that evoke a distinct positive emotion? This project explored the possibilities to design interactions that elicit user interest. On the basis of appraisal theory, it was predicted that interest is evoked by a combined appraisal of novelty-complexity (a product must be appraised as novel and/or complex) and coping potential (one appraises oneself to have sufficient skills and resources to deal with an event). Three music players were developed to test this hypothesis. These were identical in terms of appearance, but different in terms of interaction qualities. The music player consists of a wooden container, a bar, a speaker, LEDs, and two electromagnets. The electronic components are housed inside the wooden container. The bar is for switching on/off, changing songs and controlling volume range. The setting of electromagnets and LEDs was programmed for manipulation of interaction qualities and behaviors of the music players. This project was featured in Dutch Ergonomics Society News.

Posted on by

Q-sight, A product-service system for collecting customer feedback  

Research conducted in collaboration with NetQ (Utrecht, the Netherlands)

NetQ is a Dutch company that provides Internet-based tools for gathering customer feedback. In this project, NetQ asked to propose a new business direction and design interventions that enable the company to expand their product portfolio. Interviews with the clients who used NetQ’s existing solutions were carried out to explore design opportunities with respect to gathering and synthesizing consumer feedback. The factors that influence respondents’ motivation to participate in research or survey were investigated through focus groups. The interaction vision of the solution was that the customers voluntarily express their opinions with concrete underlying reasons, finding this process beneficial for themselves. We developed Q-Sight, an indoor customer feedback system that tracks the flow of customers’ movements, and measures their emotional states towards their surroundings (e.g., art pieces in the museum, the layout of a supermarket, etc.). Q-sight was devised to let the customers have the opportunity to create a memory of their experience: they can give feedback and keep it in the form of a photo album or share it through social media. The envisioned benefits for the client were: they can see how customers experience the space by seeing the tracking data, and gain insights into how they could improve the space or the services based on the reported customers’ emotions.

Posted on by

Information system for the waiting room of the emergency department

Research conducted at Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology
Publication:

  • Yoon, J., & Sonneveld, M. (2010). Anxiety of patients in the waiting room of the emergency department (pp. 279–286). Presented at the 4th international conference on tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction (TEI), Cambridge, MA, USA: ACM.

Several studies have shown that although people in the waiting room of emergency department often feel numb, being afraid, or having no control, and hospital staffs often fail to notice these patients’ problems and to offer appropriate and timely patient care. This project aimed to understand the patients’ experiences in the waiting room and to develop a design intervention that enhances the waiting experience. I explored the context and interactions in the waiting room with a focus on the factors that cause anxiety of patients by observing them and their family members, and interviewing the head of the department. The main findings were distrust between patients and staffs of the hospital, the patients’ consistent focus on their status, and an uncertainty about the waiting time. To moderate these anxieties, an interactive information service that enables patients to gain sufficient information about the procedure and the waiting time was proposed. The solution creates an informative environment through an ambient visualization that embodies the patient profile and the order of waiting people in real-time on the basis of the result of patients’ triage tests and the operation policy of the department.

Posted on by

“Sorry… What?”, Redesigning the Alcatel-Lucent compact conference module 

Research conducted in collaboration with Alcatel-Lucent (Paris, France)

Conference calling is gaining popularity, especially video-based devices. Still audio-only conference call devices are often preferred for their privacy properties and low price compared to video. It has been shown that in audio-only devices, the insufficient non-verbal communication and context unawareness result in communication problems, which affects negotiations and user experience. This project focused on improving the usability of the Alcatel-Lucent 4125 Compact Conferencing Module concerning its function, aesthetics, and communication quality. Usability test of the model revealed that while using the conference module, inadequate product feedback resulted in communication issues related to focusing, understanding and being aware of all the members participating in the call. The product demanded an undesirable amount of attention during the conversation, which led to a clumsy and unclear user experience for the people involved. In the redesign, the enriched communication feedback was created by visualizing voice inputs and making the interactions more physically dynamic.