Week 3: Needfinding

A4894 UCD/AR, Spring 2020

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Agnes Chang + Ann Harakawa

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01 A1 makeups

02 A2 De-Teched

03 Lecture: Needfinding

04 Announcements

Pick an axis for A2:

Individual

Commons

Just-in-time

Evergreen

Purposeful

Serendipitous

Dabbler

Enthusiast

Aspirin

Vitamin

Needfinding

Defining the problem

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• Users are almost always right about what they need.

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• Users are almost always wrong about how they need it.

Defining the problem

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• “She needs a ladder.”

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• “She needs to grab all her items before leaving.”

Example User Research Questions

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• How do you do this task now?
• Can you walk me through a recent example?
• What’s frustrating about your current process?
• Do you use anything to solve your problem now?
• If you could wave a magic wand, what do you wish you had?

Defining the problem (via Amy Ko)

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• We want to make it easier to make dinner.

How to Define Problems

Defining the problem (via Amy Ko)

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• We want to make it easier to make dinner.

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• Few people have time to make a healthy dinner.
• We will make it easier to make a healthy dinner.

Defining the problem (via Amy Ko)

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• We want to make it easier to make dinner.

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• Few people have time to make a healthy dinner.
• We will make it easier to make a healthy dinner.

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• Millions of Americans get home from work with little time to cook a meal, let alone a fresh healthy meal. The result is that many Americans and their children eat unhealthy meals on most weeknights.
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Personas

Mozilla UX Blog

Mozilla UX, via OpenDesign Kit

User Framework

Case Study

Cooking

Constant process: Cooking research studies, by time

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What do users want from NYTimes?

… Guidance from experts they trust.

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What functionality do you absolutely need?

… Save recipes, search recipes.

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Where do new users get confused on the site?

… What’s a recipe box? Where do my saves go?

Observation

The steps at Paley are so low and easy that one is almost pulled to them. They become gathering places.

(via William Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, 1980)

Sidewalks and streets are great gathering places; wide sidewalks enable standing conversations with only modest inconvenience to those passing by.

Sidewalks and streets are great gathering places; wide sidewalks enable standing conversations with only modest inconvenience to those passing by.

Announcements

Announcements

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1. A1 Sparks posted (set your own reminders!)
2. Guest lectures confirmed for next few weeks
3. Poll 🙋‍♀️ "With advance notice, I am able to meet for field trips on these days:”
1. Weds 4-6pm / Thurs 4-6pm / Fridays 4-6pm
4. A3.1 assigned, plus Tuan & Gibson readings

Types of Information (via David Gibson)

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• Identification
• Directional
• Orientation
• Regulatory

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Are there new categories that your project can provide through emerging technologies?

Lots of opportunity for...

Redesign.

Nikki Sylianteng

How does spatial information...

Entro / OMA / Bruce Mau, Seattle Public Library

...create a sense of place?

Can it give comfort?

Kenya Hara, Umeda Hospital

Can it address the needs of specific users?

Kenya Hara

Experiential Space (via Yi-Fu Tuan)

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1. “The human body has… top and bottom, front and back, left and right. How are these… values extrapolated into circumambient space?”
2. “‘Space’ is more abstract than ‘place’. What begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value.”
3. “Experience can be direct and intimate, or it can be indirect and conceptual, mediated by symbols.”