Executive summary ............................................................................................................................................
4
Introduction of the project ....................................................................................................................
5
Chapter 1 Introducing the Alecto DVM-70 ................................................................
7
1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Context of use ............................................................................................................................................................ 8 1.3 Functional description ....................................................................................................................................... 12 1.4 Intended use .................................................................................................................................................................. 16 1.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................................ 17
Chapter 2 User Test of the Original Baby Monitor ................................... 19 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 19 2.2 Method .................................................................................................................................................................................. 22 2.3 Results .................................................................................................................................................................................. 24 2.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................... 35
TABLE OF CONTENT
Chapter 3 Creating the Redesign Proposal ........................................................... 39 3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 39 3.2 Concept ............................................................................................................................................................................... 39 3.3 Final redesign proposal ....................................................................................................................................... 46 3.4 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 47
Chapter 4 User Test of the Redesign ............................................................................................ 49 4.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................................................... 49 4.2 Method .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 50 4.3 Result .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 52 4.4 Comparison of user tests result ............................................................................................................................. 69 4.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................................... 72
Chapter 5 Final Redesign .................................................................................................................................... 75 5.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................................................... 75 5.2 Concept ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 76
Chapter 6 Conclusion, Discussion and Recommendations .................
87
6.1 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................................................. 87 6.2 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................................................... 87 6.2 Recommendations .............................................................................................................................................................. 88
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report focuses on the analysis and redesigning of the Alecto DVM 70 baby monitor. The Alecto DVM 70 is a baby monitor consisting of a parent unit and a baby unit of which the main goals are for the parent to be able to see and hear their baby even when they are not in the same room and when it’s dark. Next to that, users will be able to adjust certain settings like sound sensitivity, screen brightness, alarms. It is also possible to play a song for the baby and to talk to the baby via the parent unit. The Alecto DVM 70 was analysed and tested in the homes of users. The main issues found were: It is difficult to place the parent unit in such a way that the camera faces to the baby, because the unit can only be placed on a flat surface and the camera cannot be angled very far. Both words and icons are confusing and keep people from choosing the right function. Lack of feedback while using the parent unit and at the same time too much harsh feedback sounds. Inconsistency between the menu structure and the navigation button. These issues cause the interaction experience between the Alecto DVM 70 and its users to be confusing and annoying, and doesn’t give the user confidence during monitoring their child.
By coming up with new solutions we solved these problems and created the Alecto B3 baby monitor, which can be seen in the image below. This Alecto B3 is intended to let the user interact with the device in smooth, logical and effortless way and makes them feel guided and confident in monitoring their baby.
INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT The aim of this project was to optimize the user interaction and user experience of the Alecto DVM 70 and redesign this baby monitor into a more user friendly baby monitor. To do this, firstly the original Alecto DVM-70 was analysed, by means of looking at reviews, comparing similar products and a hands on experience by the team. This gave focus and an idea of possible usability problems with the Alecto monitor. During a user test the Alecto monitor was even further assessed. The outcome of the user test gave a clear list of usability problems that users experienced and resulted in the design brief. With this in mind a redesign was made and tested again with users in context. From this a few improvements were implemented which resulted in the final design: Alecto B3. Recommendations for further steps in the future will be given at the end.
CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
INTRODUCING THE ALECTO DVM 70 1.1 Introduction The Alecto DVM 70 is a baby monitor priced at â‚Ź140 euros. It consist of two units; one for in the baby room and one for the parents. The parent unit has a screen on which the parents can see their child through the camera. The main function of this Alecto monitor is providing the opportunity to monitor a baby or a young child by monitoring sound and movement. The Alecto DVM 70 is described in detail to provide a base for the analysis of the product, to be able to consistently describe the product and its parts in reporting and to thoroughly select aspects of the product that should be tested. The product will be described based on its physical parts, the structure of its user interface (UI), the perspective of the user and how it is packaged. Parent unit
Baby unit Figure 1 - Alecto DVM-70 baby monitor
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CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
1.2 Context of use The Alecto monitor is a product that is used in a specific environment and by specific users. In this chapter, the user and the environment of the Alecto monitor are described.
Goal of users When users are using this Alecto monitor, their first goal is to take care of their child. Besides this they look forward to an easy and clear interface, which can create a smooth interaction process so they don’t get stuck during use. They want to feel confident while using the Alecto monitor so users can be free from worry when taking care of their babies. The functions, the form and the content of the baby monitor play an important role in this.
Apart from parents there is a sub group that uses a baby monitor. Grandparents, relatives, siblings of baby, babysitters and close friends of the parents are also probable users of the Alecto monitor. It frequently happens that parents are busy and unable to stay home with their child. In these cases the mentioned users are called upon to jump in. These are usually people within the parent’s circle of trust who are close to the baby. In addition, they understand how to take care of a baby. However these people will only use the Alecto monitor occasionally. In this project, we will focus on the main users, which are the parents. They use the monitor most often and are the ones who buy it. We will focus on both the man and the woman, since both the father and the mother are involved in the inner circle of the child.
User context As shown in Figure 2, six groups of users are possibly involved in the use of the Alecto monitor. They are parents, grandparents, relatives of baby, siblings of baby, close friends of parents and babysitter. Within these six groups, the parents will be the main users of the product, since they are closer to the baby. The parents’ age is estimated to be between 20 and 40 years old. It can be expected that many users will be first time parents, since they tend to be more protective and careful when looking after their babies. Since it is more common for mothers to stay home with their baby as opposed to fathers, women are expected to use the product most frequently.
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CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
Figure 2 - User Context of Alecto DVM-70 baby monitor
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CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
Environment Because the function of the baby unit is to supervise the baby, it will be placed close to the baby or in a place where the baby can be seen from the screen of the parent unit. An example can be a baby room or parent’s bedroom. Under this circumstance the baby is unaccompanied in the room and is likely asleep. Parents are likely to use the parent unit in another context, where the baby or child is not present. They are likely occupied with other tasks (preparing a meal, cleaning). The parents will keep the parent unit with them, so even when they’re in another room they are able to supervise the baby.
Another specific context might be night time use. Some parents and their babies sleep in separate rooms. In this situation, the environment where the baby unit, or both units, are located will be dark, which is likely to have some influence on the use of the baby monitor. In certain contexts, the placement of the baby monitor will be important as well. Due to the fact that both units need to stand firmly on a surface, people are likely to use for example a kitchen counter, books or a desk to put the units on. The baby unit also comes equipped with a hole in the bottom to put a tripod in and make the unit stand firmly.
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CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
Figure 3 - Examples of environment of baby unit: baby room or parents' room
Figure 4 - Examples of environment of parent unit: living room or anywhere parents are working in the house
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CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
1.3 Functional description To get insights into the purpose and function of the Alecto monitor from both units perspective, a list of functions and their purpose is made for each unit and is shown in Figure 5. In Figure 6 the digital interfaces of the different functions are visible.
Figure 5 - Functions provided in both units
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CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
Language
Brightness
Lullaby
Vibration
Alert tone
Eco mode
Figure 6 - The interface of eight functions provided in the parent unit of Alecto DVM 70
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Sensitivity
Temperature
CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
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CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
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CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
1.4 Intended use The flow diagram in Figure 7 shows the intended use of the Alecto monitor. Basic actions that users can perform with the Alecto monitor such as activation, syncing, changing settings, placement, operating and charging are represented here. All actions are arranged in a
sequential manner and are separated into several units. In the unit ‘operating’ are the tasks shown that users could do with the physical buttons and the menu pages. In appendix A, the flow chart of the menu pages can be found.
Figure 7 - The flow of intended use of Alecto monitor
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CH 1. INTRODUCING THE ALETO DVM-70
1.6 Conclusion The Alecto DVM 70 baby monitor has many interesting functions. In further research it is assessed which of these functions are regarded as the most important ones in order to create a sort of hierarchy of functions. This will be helpful to find a logical way of structuring the graphical user interface and the physical buttons on the devices. Besides this a user test will be done to discover the most important functions, but also to see where users find difficulties in using this baby monitor and finally redesign the Alecto DVM 70. The description of the parts and functions of the product that are give in this chapter, will be referred to in further reporting in order to consistently describe the Alecto DVM 70 and its functions.
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR 2.1 Introduction Goal
Focus
The goal of this chapter is to show how usage issues of Alecto baby monitor were discovered. In order to discover the ways where the interaction between users and Alecto monitor could be improved, it was essential to not only do an analysis ourselves but also conduct a user test to discover the current experience users had and to identify the issues of the Alecto monitor. From the analysis, the possible problems could be found and were used to give a clear focus for the research questions of user test. Therefore, a well-structured user test setup was also required. Planning the intended materials and procedures of the tests in advance would improve the quality of the test, which is beneficial when collecting the outcomes and useful information. Before we started user tests, a pilot study was conducted in order to check and refine the test setup.
In order to get a deeper understanding of the Alecto baby monitor and develop a focus for the first user test, three approaches were applied: 1. Hands on first experience 2. Online Review Analysis 3. Analysis of Similar Products These approaches were used to answer the following two research questions: 1. What usability problems does the Alecto monitor seem to have? 2. What kind of existing solutions are possible for these problems? The detailed information can be checked in appendix B, C, D. The results of this initial product analysis can be found in the following figures:
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Figure 8 - Final problems of the parent unit
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Figure 9 - Final problems of the baby unit
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Preliminery design goals
2.2 Method
The initial research concerning the weaknesses of the Alecto monitor have led us towards formulating three preliminary design goals. These goals are based on the main preliminary problems we have identified.
Participants Participants that matched the following criteria were recruited for the user test:
Make the product interface more intuitive.
Has experience with using a baby monitor and is currently using one or will start using one in the coming year .
Make setting-up of the product more adaptable. Make the product exterior more user appropriate and aesthetically pleasing.
Has children between 0 and 3 years old (to make sure the participant knows what it’s like to use a baby monitor)
Through the various methods discussed in this chapter we managed to scratch the surface and discover the general strengths and weaknesses of the Alecto monitor. We summarised our findings into an initial problem definition stating the main problems and design goals. This served as a cornerstone for a more in depth analysis of the product by means of the user test.
Does not have extensive knowledge on either baby monitors or usability testing. Six participants from 19 to 32 years old were recruited. Half of them were fathers and half were mothers. All participants were using a baby monitor at the moment of testing. Two of them owned and used the Alecto DVM 70, while one was was anticipating on using one in the coming months. None of them had extensive knowledge on baby monitors and usability testing. To see more participants' information, check appendix E.
Research Questions In order to achieve the three design goals mentioned in the last paragraph, we would like to set the following research questions and conduct user tests to answer these questions. The questions were shown below:
Materials In spite of the Alecto DVM 70 and the recording devices, ranking cards and system usability scale (SUS) were also used. The cards contained all the functions provided by Alecto monitor. Participants arranged these cards in a sequence to show what were the most and the least important functions for them. The SUS (Bangor et. al., 2008) was adopted to evaluate the usability of Alecto monitor(appendix G). It included ten questions and participants answered their agreement by 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
1. How is the installation of the baby unit experienced? 2. How is the navigation through the menu of the parent unit currently experienced? 3. Which functions are most useful for the users?
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Procedures Figure 12 shows the procedures of the tests. Check appendix K to see more elaboration.
Figure 10 - Examples of ranking cards (check the complete ranking cards in appendix F.)
Setting The tests were conducted in participants’ homes. The setting of tests was illustrated in Figure 11. The more detailed information about setting can be checked in appendix H, I, J.
Figure 12 - Procedures of user test
Figure 11 - Setting of user test
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
2.3 Result Introduction In this section the data from different parts of our tests are shown and summarised. In order to redesign the Alecto baby monitor, it is important to see where users find difficulities in using this baby monitor, which includes the installation of both units and the navigation through the menu of parent unit and. Also, to discover the most important functions for the users is essential. These raw data will eventually serve as input for the problem definitions and design brief. Figure 13 shows the general structure of data analysis and summarizes how the collected data can direct to the design.
Figure 13 - General structure of data analysis
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Interaction between Users & Alecto DVM-70 Goal
General
In this section there will be looked at the results from the user test in order to show what problems occurred and more importantly what the cause of these problems is. The focus lies on answering the first two research questions. However, participant 3's result was not included here due to her confusion and difficult communication during the user test.
In general the participants thought that the Alecto DVM 70 is a nice product to use, although they had quite some remarks on it too. Some functions were understandable, others were not at all and some aspects of the product were not liked so much. P1: "You can figure out quickly how everything works. There are not a lot of difficulties. Some of the buttons I don’t understand, like the one with the rectangle, but everything is logical, I think." "You can see the brightness changing when you navigate up and down." "But also there is no possibility to hang the baby unit, now it is just a coincident that it has a ridge which helps to hook it behind the painting." P4: "I would make the menu easier, with regard to navigation further into the menu, I think." P2: "And when I accidentally push the wrong button, then you hear the sound and that is also annoying, especially when she sleeps, because it is pretty loud. " In the task review on the next page you can see that the most important things that made the experience while using the baby monitor less pleasant and more confusing were: the limited options to place the baby unit, the warning sound when pressing the wrong button or when other problems occurred, icons that were unclear and changing the sound sensitivity.
Figure 14 - Conducting test with P2
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Task Review Task 1: Participants were asked to set up the baby unit in the baby room and start using the parent unit.
task completed
Task 2: Participants were asked to play a song on the baby unit that will start playing in the baby room.
struggle
task completed
All participants encountered some problem somewhere along the way of achieving this goal. There were problems with finding a suitable place for the baby unit but also with connecting it to a power outlet and to the parent unit. This caused annoyance for some participants.
This task was not a problem for participants.
Task 3: Participants were asked to turn off the lullaby they started earlier.
P1: "There is no possibility to hang the camera unit, I can put it down, but with a camera you want to see how your little one is doing" task completed
task not completed
Turning off the lullaby was not a big problem for most participants. Only participant 6 failed. He did not enter the songs to check the on/ off function. He thought it was weird not to see turning on/off in a very obvious placement. P6: "Where do I need to look for it?..This is too confusing. there is a problem!"
Figure 15 - P1 put the baby unit in the gap between the painting and the wall
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Figure 17 - P4 still pressed "up" even though the volume was already at maximun.
Figure 16 - P6 was stuck in the song list and did not enter any song to check the turning on/off function.
Task 4: Increase the volume of the parent unit.
task completed
Task 5: Participants were asked to use the baby monitor to talk to the baby remotely.
task not completed
task completed
For two participants, the way of setting the highest volume was a bit confusing. They didn't know what was the extreme value and kept pressing "up" several times even though it was already at maximun. In addition, the fact that the sound from the parent unit could feedback through the baby unit startled one of the participants.
struggle
task not completed
When Pariticpant 4 discovered the talk button, he got annoyed by the high pitch echo. Also, the ‘talk’ button needed to be consistently pressed which not every participant understood. Especially, participant 5 pressed the button too soft so that she failed.
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Task 6: Participants were asked to report the temperature of the baby room.
task completed
This was clear to each of the participants. No problems occurred.
Figure 18 - the wording"eco-mode" is not understandable.
Task 7: Participants were asked to turn on the eco mode to save battery life.
task completed
Task 8: Turn on the alarm tone of temperature
struggle
task completed
Only one participant succeeded the task. Others did not realize the meaning of �eco mode�. Some even went to other functions to finish this task; for example, participant 2 and 4 reduced the brightness of the screen. In their mindset, it was also a way to save the energy.
struggle
task not completed
Most people struggled to accomplish it and even one totally failed. Participant 1 bumped into wrong tab and got startled by the warning alarm of going too far beyond. Participant 4 even went to the tab of alert tone and chose the alarm of losing connetion, which was a totally different function. Although participant 6 succeeded, he was very hesitant and doubtful during the process.
P2: "I feel a bit confused about the function of an ecomode."
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Task 9: Participants were asked to set up the sensitivity to hear the softer sounds
task completed
struggle
task not completed
Most particiants struggled to finish it. It was vague for them to know how high or low of each sensitivity value was. There was also one who didn't realize the meaning of the wording "sensitivity" since he thought the term sensivitiy was too general.
Figure 19 - Alert of temperature was actually in the tab of temperature rather than the tab of alert tone
P4: "Now I don’t know if level 1 is very sensitive, or that level is 5 is very sensitive." P6: "When you check out the menu, it just says sensitivty level, and doesn't tell you for what."
Figure 20 - Alert of temperature was actually in the tab of temperature rather than the tab of alert tone
Figure 21 - Different levels of sensitivity
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Task 11: Turn the screen on/off
struggle
Result showed that all people struggled to finish the task. They failed to identify the screen button. Instead, they pressed the switch button. For them, the switch button was very obvious and they would think this button can also serve as turning on/off the screen. The current screen button was only a button with rectangular icon. They would likely ignore it.
Figure 22 - P6 was uncertained about the what sensitivty is used for
Task 10: Participants were asked to make the screen brighter.
task completed
task not completed
P1: "It's not clear what this button is for." P5: "What is this button (rectangle button) for anyway?."
struggle
This task was not a big challenge for them. However, they did not know how many levels the brightness had so it was highly possible for them to go too far beyond the options, which created the annoying alarm sound.
Figure 23 - P5 questioned about the function of screen button
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Task 12: Participants were asked to turn on the vibration function.
task completed
struggle
Task 13: Participants were asked to switch devices off
task not completed
task completed
The task made participants feel confused on choosing the right function. First functions they selected were eco-mode, alert tone, sensitivity and volume, which were all related to sound. However, it was hard for them to direclty link this task to the vibration.
task not completed
With a easy understandable icon of the button, almost all people succeeded on the task. Nevertheless one participant did not realize she had to press the button longer. Rather, she pressed it too short to turn off the camera unit.
Figure 24 - P6 showed a uncertained face on vibration setting
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Importance of Functions The importance of functions are determined from the ranking of cards and the interview. Figure 25 shows the top eight functions that participants put in the ‘important’ group. Appendix L provides the complete data per participant.
being able to play lullabies and talk back to the child. Lullabies however are in some cases also indicated as not being useful at all. Sound settings like sensitivity and volume also quite often indicated as desirable functions.
As can be expected for a baby monitor, the functions that are related to the observation of the child seem to be most important for parents. These functions include hearing and seeing the baby and also seeing the baby when it’s dark. Next to these core functions, there are a few other things most of our participants seem to value in a baby monitor:
Other functions that are not directly related to the observation of the child such as vibration, temperature, eco-mode and tripod mount are otherwise ranked low.
Figure 25 - Top eight functions that participants think are important.
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Weaknesses of Alecto DVM-70 This section introduces the weaknesses of Aleco DVM 70 which are concluded from the outcome of qualitative analysis of how the participants interacted with Alecto DVM-70 from the interview.
Figure 26 - Weaknesses of Alecto DVM-70 baby monitor
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
General Usability Evaluation In order to make a quick assessment of the usability of the Alecto DVM 70 as perceived by the participants, the System Usability Scale (SUS) was implemented in the user test (Lewis, 1996). The results are shown in Figure 27. The overall scores range from 50 to 97,5 on a scale of 1-100. The average of the 5 scores is 79,19 with a median of 85. The scores can be split up into two components: the ‘usable’ and the ‘learnable’ component (Lewis, 1996).
Figure 27 - Result of the system usability scale
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
2.4 Conclusion From the analysed data retrieved from the user tests, a design brief was drawn up. This clearly defines the most severe problems of the Alecto monitor and subsequently represents the attributes and qualities desired for our redesign.
Inconsistency between the menu structure and the navigation buttons
Design Brief
Words that are used in the menu of the parent unit are often confusing
Problem Statement
The words used in the menu are often unclear and participants do not know what a function does or where to find a function due to the wording.
A persistent mistake made was the pressing of the right arrow button instead of “M” to enter a function.
Proper observation of the child is obstructed by a poor physical design of the baby unit
Sounds that the parent and baby unit produce cause discomfort
Many of the participants indicated they had trouble finding a suitable place for the baby unit. This causes an obstruction in the main functionality of hearing and seeing the child.
The loud beep that the device gives as feedback, was described by participants as loud and harsh. The same discomfort was experienced when setting up the baby unit too close to the parent unit.
Icons that are used to identify buttons and menu items are often confusing
Other problems mentioned by participants Some users would like to control the device from their phones to make it easier to monitor when leaving the house.
Many participants struggled to find the right button for a task they wanted to complete using the parent unit, especially for turning the screen on/off and navigating through the menu.
Another user preferred using a touchscreen to make navigating to a function easier.
Users don’t receive proper feedback about the state of the parent unit
Some participants mentioned the desire to include more functionality to a function.
Participants were uncertain about the state of settings and their position in the menu. They were often unaware if a tab was selected when intending to navigate within a tab. Participants were also unsure about how hard or long the buttons were to be pressed.
A technical issue mentioned by participants was a short battery duration.
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Design Goal “Provide the first time parents a guided and confident experience while using baby monitor� The goal is to make the user experience more guided and confident. The device should interact with the users in an effortless, smooth and logical way. For novice parents, they can feel successful rather than depressed in the first time trying to use it. It is also expected that the positive experience of using baby monitor can make the parents feel secure to take care of their baby remotely. Under this goal, the functionality and specifications that many users seem quite satisfied with should still be accessible.
Figure 28 - Design goal and the intended qualities
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CH 2. USER TEST OF THE ORIGINAL BABY MONITOR
Requirement
Wishes
Installation
The parent unit should lay well in the hand. The appearance of the baby monitor should be parent and baby friendly.
Users are indicated the reason of losing connection of two units. The baby unit should allow different placements options.
The baby monitor should allow the users to use multiple functions to work properly.
Menu Structure
Some functions should have pre set modes.
The menu structure should be clear and organized.
The battery status of the monitor should be easily indicated.
The layout of menu structure and the physical arrangement of buttons must be consistent.
The voice sound through the baby unit speaker should be more real. The camera of the baby unit should be rotatable.
Users must be indicated which part of the menu they are browsing. Frequently used functions should be accessed more direclty.
Testable Targets Participants can perform faster on the tasks.
Visuals
Participants can succeed on all the tasks. Participants don’t press wrong buttons in each task.
The wording of each function must be immediately recognized by users.
Participants don’t go far beyond the selection of each function.
The icon and the button of each function must be simple and immediately recognized by users. The levels in sensitivity should be clear .
Participants don’t get stuck in each task. In each task, participants can go very smoothly without hesitation.
Technical Issues The alert tone should be friendly and reminding. The duration of press of each button should be unified.
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CH 3. CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL
CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL 3.1 Introduction
3.2 Concept
Stemming from the design brief, lots of ideas were developed through brainstorming. These ideas were inspected and the strengths and weaknesses of each idea were remarked. This provided a base to cluster and organize the design features that were beneficial for further iterations. Next, the design features were integrated and were shaped into three concepts. These concepts were evaluated by means of an Harris profile and a collaborative workshop to select the one that was the most potential. Finally, one concept of the baby monitor was assessed during an usage inspection and refined into the redesigned concept. The different phases leading to the final concept are explained in this chapter.
Ideating Based on the design brief, many sketches were made during the ideating phase. The complete list of ideating sketches can be found in appendix M. Only ideas and parts of ideas that met the requirements from chapter 2.4.
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CH 3. CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL
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CH 3. CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL
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CH 3. CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL
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CH 3. CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL
Harris Profile Since all 3 concepts differ from each other and differ in strengths and weaknesses, the Harris profile was used to compare the concepts and to choose the most feasible concept. The criteria in the design brief were used again and were ordered from most severe to least severe. Therefore the criteria on top are rated more important. Concept 3 had the highest total score. Although, the baby unit of concept 2 scored one point higher, but concept 3’s most severe criteria of the baby unit is rated higher. We decided to continue with concept 3. The chosen concept is after that revised during the co-design workshop where we discussed our concepts with several design students to get new insights and have fresh input.
Figure 29 - Harris profile comparison of three concepts
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CH 3. CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL
Baby unit From the feedback of the creative sessions with design students, it was clear that the baby unit did not look baby friendly, because of its camera and the length of the rod. They prefered the baby unit of concept 2, since the shape was rounder and less scary. Therefore, and because of the score of the Harris profile we have decided to revise our choice and choose the baby unit from concept 2.
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CH 3. CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL
Parent unit The round shape of the parent unit is appreciated based on the feedback of the design students, although some points of the appearance need to be revised. Also an important decision related to the scrolling wheel to navigate through the interface and select or use certain functions needs to be made based on the feedback. Interface wise small things need to be revised, such as the state when the function is selected. The whole redesigned interface task flow can be found in appendix N.
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CH 3. CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL
3.3 Final Redesign Proposal Usage Inspection In order to improve our chosen concept, we imagined ourselves being the users and distanced ourselves from design preferences and redesign ideas we had in mind and underwent the inspection by doing cognitive walkthrough (Wharton, Bradford, Jeffries, & Franzke, 1992).
Figure 30 - The process of usage inspection
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CH 3. CREATING THE REDESIGN PROPOSAL
Revision of the Redesign
3.4 Conclusion
There is no problem regarding the main navigation and structure of final concept. However, some small details still need to be modified after the usage inspection:
The usability problems we came across in the Alecto DVM 70 baby monitor are taken into account in the redesign of the baby monitor. The biggest changes in appearance are the flexibility of the baby unit and the hand fit round shape of the parent unit. The overall roundness is integrated in the navigation of the interface as well. The redesigned baby monitor will be tested with participants to confirm if it is really improved, both the interface and appearance.
Add wording beside the icon in the menu structure In spite of icons, wording should also be attached beside the icon so that the users can understand each functions better. Sensitivity should be written as “sound sensitivity�, which makes the users aware what the sensitivity really is for.
Change the graphic design The icon of settings is turned into a symbol of a gear. The level bars of adjusting the levels of sensitivity and the brightness are changed to a form that is more consistent with other forms used in the interface.
Figure 31 - The revision of digital interface
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USER TEST OF THE REDESIGN 4.1 Introduction Goal
Research questions
In this chapter, we will elaborate on the process of conducting the user test with the redesign and the analysis of the outcome. After having redesigned the Alecto DVM 70, a user test with a prototype of the redesign can indicate whether the redesign is an improvement of the original design. It can be indicated whether or not problems that occurred in the original product have been solved in the redesign, or whether people feel more satisfied with the redesign in terms of using it. The conclusion of the redesign will be presented to give an overall review of this chapter.
The research questions of the user test of the redesign will mainly focus on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the redesign. Two research questions are defined below : 1. How is the interaction between the users and the redesign? 2. How do users feel about the appearance of the redesign?
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4.2 Method Participants In order to avoid the learning effect, new particpants were recruited. They matched the same criteria of the first user test (see chapter 2.2). Five participants were recruited. To see more participant's information, check appendix O.
Materials Prototype The prototype that is used for the user test exists of three parts: the interface and a physical model of the parent unit and baby unit. The interface of the parent unit is simulated on a smartphone or tablet. Participants can feel the real shape, buttons and physical placement of the parent unit by holding the physical model. The prototype of the baby unit has the shape of the design and its flexible feet that should enable the user to place the baby unit anywhere they want. To let participants check whether they have placed the baby unit as they intended, it is equipped with a small webcam that is connected to a laptop. Participants can view the result of the placement on the laptop screen. Both physical prototypes were given to the participants from the beginning of the test.
Figure 32 - Prototypes used in second user test
Setting Figure 33 shows the setting used during the test. Two things changed compared to the setting of the first user test: now prototypes were used instead of a real baby monitor and particpants did not wear a GoPro anymore since we found out during the first user test that the quality of the footage from this device is low. Appendix P, Q, R, S show more details about settings.
Tools for data collection Data is collected with the help of recording equipment, including a voice recorder and a digital camera. These provide audio and video footage that are used in the analysis of the test. Footage is collected of the participants expressions, both verbal and facial, during the test. Footage of the digital prototype is also collected by a camera that films over the shoulder of the participant. This time the System Usability Scale(SUS) was also prepared(appendix O).
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Procedures The procedures for this user test were also the same as the one run during the first user test. The only difference was that there were no ranking cards for the participants to finish. More details can be checked in chapter 2.2.
Figure 33 - Setting of user test
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4.3 Result Introduction In this section, the data analysis of the result of second user test is reported. It will help us to answer the research questions we set before and reflect on our new design proposal. Furthermore, we can also see how people interact with the new design and identifiy the strengths, the weaknesses and the limitation of further design. The research questions are below: How is the interaction between users and the redesign? How do users feel about the appearance of the redesign?
Figure 34 - General structure of data analysis
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Interaction between Users & Redesign Goal
General
In the design brief the envisioned interaction qualities between the user and the product were described; smooth, logical and effortless. In this chapter the data from the user test will be reviewed and special attention will be paid to the interaction people have with the product compared with the qualities of the design brief.
In general the interaction between the participant and the device was very smooth. Here are a few quotes from 3 participants that decribe their overall experience:
P3: "I think it is quite intuitive. [navigating through the menu] At least how I understand it works from this[test], it is [quite intuitive]." P1: "It is easy to operate." "When I looked at the pictures I already understood the function, but when I saw the words next to it they only confirmed it." "It would give me joy to use this one." P4: "Yes, very clear to me. It looks very clear. The titles [in the menu] also make it clearer. I think the titles are necessary. "
Besides this overall positive experience, participants dĂd encounter some problems while using our new design. These tasks and problems will be described on the following pages.
Figure 35 - Conducting test with P2
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Task Review Task 1: Participants were asked to set up the baby unit in the baby room.
task completed
One participant had trouble placing the baby unit the way he wanted. He tried to wind the legs around the edge of the crib, but the baby unit didn’t keep this position, because the legs slipped. This probably is a prototype problem, since the legs were not made of rubber. The participant placed the baby unit on the headboard of the crib as an alternate solution. See Figure 37.
struggle
P3: "....It would be nice if these legs [From baby unit] are quite long so you can really hang it anywhere, even on the plumbing or whatever. But maybe thats just the prototype."
Overall the interaction between the participants and the baby unit during this task was very fluent and no real mistakes were made. Everyone was able to place the baby unit in such a way that they could see their child. 4 out of 5 participants liked the way of installing the baby unit with the flexible legs. P2: "I think it is very usefull that the legs can bend!." (see Figure 36)
Figure 37 -(left)Folding flexible legs around edge of the crib. (right) Aternate solution of placing the unit
P2: "Yes this went quite well! Easier then I expected. I expected it to be one box and that I had to put something under it to put in under and angle. The legs that were bendable were very usefull." Figure 36 -P2 was placing the baby unit with flexible legs
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Task 2 : Participants were asked to play a song from the parent unit that will start playing on the baby unit. They could choose one of 4 songs. Since this was their first task participants first had to figure out how to open the menu.
Playing lullaby
task completed
They were free to choose one of the 4 songs. Because this was their first task participants first had to figure out how to open the menu. This is an important part of this task.
Figure 38 -Overview of lullaby function
Everyone managed to play the lullaby without any problems.
Entering the menu 4/5 Participants choose the right button to enter the menu, but 3/5 hesitated before pressing this button. 1 out of the 5 participant didn’t realize that the middle button is pressable and pressed the backbutton multiple times to enter the menu. (see Figure 38 for buttons) Afterwards she tried to enter the menu by pressing the arrows. Eventually it was explained to her that she needed to press the middle button to enter the menu. The interaction overall that users had during this task was positive, but everyone experienced a certain level of uncertainty. The problems with entering the menu might have been caused by the prototype. In the digital prototype the emphasis on the buttons was different than in the physical prototype and both were not as they would look in the intentional design. Another cause might have been the icon on the menu button of the digital interface, because the icon was too ambigious.
Figure 39 -P1 is setting lullaby
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Task3 : Particpants were asked to turn off the lullaby (from parent unit)
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Everyone immedialty knew what to do. The interaction here was flawless. Figure 40 -Alarm settings
Task4 : People were asked to turn on the alert tone for a low battery to know when the battery is low and to not only see it in the status bar, but also hear when this happens.
task completed
We assume that the confusion on which tab to choose here is caused by the fact that there is a settings tab that could contain this kind of function. The settings tab was ment for settings that you change once during first use. Another cause might be the icon and wording that is used, that can be interpreted in multiple ways.
Task 5: Participants were asked to set the temperature alarm to a maximum of 25 degrees.
struggle
Three out of five participants went to the right menu tab, one of them scrolled through the menu a bit longer before selecting the tab. Two out of five participants first tried the settings tab, one of them scrolled through all the functions and tried eco mode, sensitivity and vibration following on trying the settings tab and found the alarm tab after that.
task completed
P5: "I would search at setting because for me it is setting. The alarm might be the noise the baby makes."
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Task 6: Participants were asked to increase the brightness of the screen.
Two out of five participants were slightly hesitant whether to press the arrow buttons in order to scroll towards on/off. This might be due to lack of feedback of the users position in the menu. One out of five pressed return instead of confirm and went back into the tab again. One participant was not sure whether she really set the maximum and went back into the tab to check. This problem could have occured due to lack of feedback in the prototype; once the user confirmed again and was send back to the main menu, the feedback in the statusbar disappeared. Another participant was hesitant to press the back button multiple times in order to get out of the menu. This might be caused by inconsistency in the menu, because in some functions confirming a setting takes you automatically to the main menu, and in this function this is not the case. The interaction during this task can be described as uncertain. Participants were not sure if they set the alarm. This also resulted in participants not being sure wether to go back themselves into the menu, wait or just completely close the menu.
task completed
struggle
Overall this went well and without any problems. One out of the five participants still had the temperature tab open while trying to scroll to brightness. So it seems that it is not always clear that someone is still positioned in the menu. One other participant pressed confirm once to many (with the intention to go into the next layer), which sent him back into the main menu. It also seems that the position in the menu is unclear. ‘Clicking’ the icon sends the user to the next layer, so if at this point the menu button is clicked, it is a confirmation.
Figure 41 -Temperature setting
Figure 42 -Brightness settings
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Task 7: participants were asked to change the sensitivity in so that the device could now not only hear loud sounds, but also smaller sounds.
task completed Figure 44 -P1 is changing the sensitivity
When it comes to understanding what low or high sensitivity meant on particpant said:
Task 8: participants were asked to save battery and they were supposed to turn on the eco mode for this. Even though participants sometimes did not exactly know what eco mode would do, they all found this function rather quick and had no problems turning this function on.
P1: "I found it very logicall to set the sensitivity to HIGH to hear low sounds." P2: "I would just try it out a little bit, to know exactly how much sound the device can catch when set to high."
task completed
Two out of five participants hesitated whether Eco mode is the right function, but still chose it. Apparently other functions didn’t have as much potential to be right one. One out of five participants scrolled too fast and went one step past the function, then she went back and still chose the right one. Figure 43 -Brightness settings
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One participant remarked about knowing if the function is really on: P3: "Yes, it's on now because there is a little leaf here which stands for green and environmentally friendly etc. And here [in the icon] there is also that icon." (Figure 55)
Figure 46 -Vibration settings
Task10 : participants had to set the time to 22:07. Figure 45 -Eco mode setting
Task9 : Participants were asked to turn on the vibration. task completed
task completed
struggle
One out of five participants hesitated whether the time was set after she tried to set it and redid the task. This is most likely also because of the feedback in the digitial prototype that dissapears once you are back in the main menu. One out of five participants pressed return instead of confirm, which ment the time was not set and redid the task because he noticed this. One out of five participants found it difficult to set the time, he pressed down instead of up to change the time from 21 to 22 and also didn’t know how to confirm. This seems to be
struggle
Two out of five participants first went into the settings tab to find the vibration function. One out of the five participants first scrolled past the function, then went back and completed the task without any problems. These problems occured in earlier tasks as well. 59
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physical and the digital prototype for a moment and therefore forgot that the button she pushed on the physical prototype prompted the menu in the digital prototype. Another participant also mentioned that he would use the menu button to turn the screen on again.
a prototype problem, since the menu structure will move with the real scroll wheel at all times, it should be more logical to scroll downwards. The other participants had no trouble at all setting the time.
Task 12: Participants had to change the volume of the parent unit.
task completed
All five of the participants completed this task without any problems.
Figure 47 -Time setting
Task 11: Participants had to turn the screen on and off during this task (and not switch the it completely off).
task completed
Task 13: Participants were asked to mimic how they would talk to their baby through the parent unit.
struggle
task completed
Two out of five participants couldn’t find the right button. This seemed to be caused by the double function of the on/off button that was not recognized. Two out of five tried the menu button to turn off the screen. For one participant this seemed to be a prototype problem, since she told that she didn’t make the connection between the
All five of the participants completed this task without any problems.
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Analysis of Appearance The participants were satisfied with the overall appearance of the redesigned baby monitor. They mentioned the baby monitor looks cute, because of its bendable legs. Also, the baby monitor looks modern and luxurious because of its white colour, and therefore it was mentioned that it will fit well in their baby room.
Task 14: The final task was to switch the parent unit off.
task completed
P4: “I think it looks really nice! The baby unit also looks nice. I think it would fit in my child's room.”
task not completed
Two out of five participant didn’t know to long press this button in order to turn the device off. These are the same participants that didn’t know how to use this button to turn of the screen. One participant already got an explanation during task 11 how the button worked and therefore it was assumed that she wouldn’t have longpressed the on/ off button to turn the device off, because she didn’t realize the button had a double function.
While the participants were content with the appearance of the baby monitor, they have suggested physical changes.
Parent unit 1. Flexible antenna, to avoid breakage 2. Clip on parent unit, ability to be carried around 3. Joystick, instead of menu/enter button 4. More grip on texture, to avoid slip and dropping the unit
Baby unit 1. Various colours, to match the interior of the baby room 2. Place all the buttons in front of the baby unit 3. Charging dock to charge the baby unit, rather than plug with the cord
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Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths Figure 48 shows the overview of strengths of the redesign, which came from the outcome of qualitative analysis of how the paricipants interacted with the new design as well as the interview. Figure 49 to 51 illustrate some examples of the strenghs.
Figure 48 -Strenghs of redesigned baby monitor
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Figure 49 - Scrolling wheel of new parent unit
Figure 50 - Logical interface structure of redesigned parent unit
Figure 51 - Flexible legs of new baby unit
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Weaknesses Figure 52 shows the overview of weaknesses of the redesign. Figure 53 to 56 illustrate some examples of the weaknesses.
Figure 52 -Weaknesses of redesigned baby monitor
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Figure 53 - Menu and return buttons were not clear
Figure 54 - Limited feedbacks on the confirmation(use lullaby function as an example)
Figure 55 - Unclear eco mode function
Figure 56 - Inconvinent time setting function
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More detailedly, the usability issues in each group of weaknesses were also identified. Based on the method of Nielsen Norman, they were rated in terms of the severity which depends on frequency, impact and persistence of the problems. The issues with the highest frequency and most combinations of all the three variables were considered to be the most severe. Figure 58 shows top seven serious issues and the factors they include. For more detailed information, check appendix T.
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Figure 57 - Top seven serious issues
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General Usability Evaluation To present the level appreciation towards the redesign, the SUS has been used once again during the second user test. The results of the SUS questionnaire are shown in Figure 58. The overall scores range between 85 and 97,5 on a scale of 1-100. The average of the 5 scores is 90,5 with a median of 90. None of the participants seem to have given significantly lower scores for either of the usable component or the learnable component.
Figure 58 - Results of system usability scale
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4.4 Comparison To see if our design really improved the user experience, results form the first and second user test have been compared. It is good to look at task times, amount of problems and the overall experience of the participants.
Task Time First we look at the task times. For each task that was in test 1 and in test 2 the average time of all the participants was calculated. In Figure 59 the comparison can be seen.
On average participants were 30,5 seconds faster per task. The maximum task time for the first test was 1 minute and 40 seconds It can be seen that all tasks, except for the task 2 ‘play a song’, are completed quicker with the redesign. We assume that the problem with task 2 has to do with the fact that this task consists of opening the menu ĂĄnd playing a song. For most of the participant playing a lullaby took less time than opening the menu since opening the menu is just one click, while playing a song takes participants a few layers into the interface. See Figure 60.
Figure 60 - Task time of the task "play a sond" for per participant in second user test
Figure 59 - Task time
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Task Completion To quickly show whether more participants were able to complete a task with the Alecto DVM 70 or with the redesign, images are placed together for each task(Figure 61). Each block stands for one participant. Green means that they completed the task without any problems. Orange means that they completed the task, but with slight problems and red means that they were not able to complete the task at all. The explanation of why participants did or did not complete a certain task can be found in the previous chapters. For ten of the tasks, the redesign does better than the original product and for two of the tasks the original product scores better. Two task were not comparable since one of the tests did not include this task. Concluding from this it can be said the redesign is a definite improvement on the original DVM 70. Almost all task times for the redesign were shorter and for almost all task more people completed the task on the redesign than on the DVM 70. The points where the redesign did not score higher (turning the device off, opening the menu and playing a lullaby) will be improved in the final design of the redesign.
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Setting up the baby unit: redesign monitor scores best
Entering the menu: original monitor scores best
Stop the lullaby: redesign monitor scores best
Set the alert for maximum temperature: redesign monitor scores best
Brighten the screen: redesign monitor scores best
Change the sensitivity: redesign monitor scores best
Turn on eco mode: redesign monitor scores best
Turn on vibration: redesign monitor scores best
Talk function: redesign monitor scores best
Turn the device off: original monitor scores best
Trun the screen off: redesign monitor scores best
Change the volume to maximum: redesign monitor scores best
Figure 61 - The comparison of task completion
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4.5 Conclusion Results from the user test provided us with insights on two aspects of the design. They showed us how the new design was an improvement on the original product, but also which aspects of the redesign still left room for improvement.
Improvement
Persisting Problems
The redesign seems to have solved some of the most important problems of the original design. The structure of the menu that is used to navigate through settings and functions seems to enable the participants to navigate in a much smoother fashion than was the case with the original design. Most tasks required much less searching through the menu. When trial and error did occur, the frustration that this often caused in the original design seemed to have been reduced. Participants were often more certain about the function they needed to reach their goals than they were in the original design. The revised icon design and labeling of functions seemed to have its anticipated effect.
The user test has also indicated which aspects of the product still need refinement to improve the user experience and interaction even more. A reocurring issue with the revised interface was opening the menu for the first time. This required some searching for most participants. Even though this does not seem to be a very persistent problem - the double function of the ‘confirm/menu’ button was quite learnable - it may prove to be easily solved by a revision of this button. Another problem that several participants encountered concerned the understanding of the settings folder in the menu. One of the participants mentioned that everything in the menu was essentially a setting, which may well be why this confused some of the participants. Different ways of changing these settings may be explored to find a more logical position for this functionality.
Placement of the baby unit, which was quite cumbersome in the original design caused fewer problems when participants use the new design. The addition of flexible legs was appreciated by most participants. Only one of the participants did not succeed in placing the baby unit in his first attempt, because the legs of the prototype were less rubbery than he had expected. We should make sure that this is not the case in the final design.
Finally many participants at some point showed some hesitation when it came to confirming a certain setting. It was not always clear whether one should press ‘confirm’ or ‘return’ to finalise changing a function or setting. To overcome this, feedback in the graphical interface or labels of the relevant buttons could be reconsidered.
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Test Limitations The limitations of the user test that was performed are mostly related to the limitations of the prototypes that were used. The digital prototype that was used to test participants’ perception of the menu structure used buttons that were different from the actual design in order to simplify the prototype. Participants mostly seemed to understand the link between the menu structure and the original design, but the advantage of using a turning knob has not been investigated because of this limitation. In the physical part of the prototype of the parent unit, the goals participants were asked to reach all had to do with the buttons on the prototype. The pact that whey were asked to switch to the physical prototype may well have allready moved their focus to physical buttons. The prototype of the baby unit quite adequately mimicked the intended behaviour of this part of the design, but some participants were hesitant to handle it as they would with an actual product because of its fragile look. Finally, all participants seemed to be well aware of the relation between the researchers or moderators and the design. It might be that some of the participants were a bit carefull in their critiques towards the design. 73
CH 5. FINAL REDESIGN
FINAL REDESIGN 5.1 Introduction After the analysis of the second user test a final redesign was achieved: the Alecto B3. The redesigned baby monitor will be presented in this chapter. The main improvements and design qualities will be highlighted and explained.
Parent unit Figure 62 - The final redesign: Alecto B3
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5.2 Concept The Alecto B3 is the final redesign of the Alecto DVM-70. It provides a variety of improvements on an experiential and functional level. These improvements are translations of problems discovered during the execution of two cycles of user tests. The improvements resulting from User test 2 that can be found in the final redesign will be addressed in the following paragraph.
Features Baby unit Flexible legs The baby unit has flexible legs under the main body, for an easy installation in any context. The legs can be balanced or fastened around any rod, edge or hook. The legs allow for a simple adjustment of the camera angle.
Figure 63 - Flexible legs of the baby unit of Alecto B3
Camera & Microphone The Camera and microphone, placed centrally in the device register the child’s sound and movement, which is then transmitted to the parent unit.
Button placement For easy access, all buttons are placed at the top of the device. The power button is used most frequently, and therefore made most apparent in size and colour. The play/pause allows for the user to play a lullaby directly from the baby unit. The device volume can be adjusted with the volume buttons.
Infrared Light The Infrared light, strategically placed around the camera, allows for users to see their child at night or in a dark environment. 76
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Parent unit Scrolling Wheel In combination with the menu structure the scrolling wheel provides an intuitive means of navigating through the product menu’s. By rotating the wheel with the thumb, the user can navigate between functions and settings.
Button Placement
Figure 64 - Button placement of the baby unit of Alecto B3
Antenna The function of the antenna is increasing the connection range with the parent unit and measuring the temperature in the baby room.
Speaker The baby unit has a speaker at the front side of the device. This allows for the transmission of sound from the parent unit.
Appearance The baby unit has a friendly, animal-like appearance due to the body and placement of legs. The colours and shades used for the exterior are calm and friendly. White was chosen to make the product adaptable to any environment. In terms of design a relation was kept between the baby and parent unit.
Figure 65 - Button placement of the parent unit of Alecto B3
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Confirmation Button
Volume Buttons
The confirmation button is used to enter a function or for confirming a setting. It is placed at the heart of the scrolling wheel to make navigating and confirming one consequent, intuitive interaction.
The volume buttons are situated in clear sight at the top of the parent unit. Since they are bound to be used less frequently, they are placed separate from the main navigational wheel and buttons on the front of the device.
Return Button
Standard/ Clip
The return button is used to return to a previous level in a menu function. It is integrated as a click button into the scrolling wheel. The button is located on the right to achieve a consistency between the layered interface (which opens from left to right) and the physical product.
The parent unit has a standard at the back of the device. This allows for stable placement on any flat surface, providing the opportunity for hands-free monitoring. The standard is orientated in a horizontal direction, providing an additional function: clipping the the device to a pants pocket or other type of garment. This allows for the product to be carried around effortlessly.
Menu Button
Antenna
The menu button is used to enter the device menu. Since it is used less frequently than the scrolling wheel, and confirmation and return button, it separated from this button family. However it is still an important aspect of the navigating experience, which is why it is situated in this location.
The device sports an antenna at the back, to increase the connection range with the baby unit.
Appearance The shape consists of both rounded and straight forms which symbolizes the unisex appeal of the product. It was given a white exterior to fit any context and appeal to many consumers.
Power/ Standby Slider The Power/ Standby slider is used to turn the device on/ off or set it to standby mode. Since these are highly important functions the slider is placed at the top of the device.
Talk Button By keeping the talk button pressed, sound picked up by the parent unit is transmitted directly to the baby unit. This allows for the user to communicate with the monitored child. The button placement allows for the user to reach it with the same hand used for controlling the device. 78
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Interface
Menu Ring The AlectoB3 has 8 menu functions, situated in a hypothetical ring around the scrolling wheel. The ring should trigger an intuitive response to scroll the wheel in order to turn the ring and navigate between functions. Functions within the menu are presented by an icon and title. This makes the specification of a function easy to understand.
Status Bar The status bar displays information concerning status and settings of the device. In all cases the bar shows: the connection quality, battery status, time, and temperature by means of an icon. For some settings an icon will appear to show the implementation of this setting.
Monitoring Screen In default, the parent unit will display a main screen, with status bar and video image of the monitored child. The simplicity of the screen limits distraction from the main focus of the user, the child.
Figure 66 - The interface of monitoring screen
Figure 67 - The functions provided in both units
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Scrolling Animation
Menu Structure
When the scrolling wheel is turned by the user, the rings on the interface will turn in an aligned fashion. This is meant to add to the consistency and intuitiveness of the scrolling navigation.
The menu structure of the interface is made up of ring-layers. The deeper the user goes into a function menu, the more rings will appear. The allows users to know their location within a function and to review settings or options selected on a previous level.
Pre-Feedback Before every function there is a pre-feedback located in the inner ring of the menu. This shows the specifications of a previous setting, allowing the user to determine whether it is necessary to adjust this.
Figure 69 - An example of the menu structure
Confirmation Animation Whenever a setting is selected within the menu, an animation will underline this. In combination with a sound the function swiftly folds back into the menu.
Standby Mode The baby unit provides a standby mode. This mode is similar to the original eco mode function. Instead of being integrated into the menu it is now selected with a separate slider-button. Switching to standby mode results in a standby screen, showing the time and soundwaves picked up by the baby unit. Subsequently the screen will switch off entirely, only to turn back on when the baby’s transmitted sound is higher than the set sensitivity level.
Figure 68 - Examples of pre-feedback
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Icons The functions within the menu are displayed by means of icons. Typography For the interface a modern typography was chosen for the menu wording.
Figure 70 - The standby mode
Appearance Colour For the the interface a green/ blue theme was chosen to add to the simplicity and ease of the desired experience. Distinction was made between colours of selected and unselected options in the menu. Selected options have a darker background with white borders and letters, to draw focus to the selection. Unselected options have a brighter background to clarify the possibility to navigate towards them. Opacity An important intention of the interface design was to keep the focus on the monitored baby, even when navigating through the menu. By making the menu layers partially transparent the user has the opportunity to to view the baby’s movement through the menu.
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Improvements The final design came together after user test two, where it appeared that there were things that needed to be improved. These problems and the solutions we implemented in the ALecto B3 are listed below:
Problem 1: Feedback to confirm something - people did not always know if/when something was confirmed. Solution: Figure 72 - New power button design
Problem 3: The menu/confirm button had a double function that people did not get straight away. Solution: The double function has been split into two separate buttons. Figure 71 - The improvement of the feedback confirmation
Problem 2: Double function of the power button - the power button also stood for turning the screen on/off when pressing shortly. Solution: We replaced the power button with a slider (see figure 72) which can be set to on, off or standby (eco mode).
Figure 73 - The Front part of parent unit with buttons
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Problem 4: Back button - people did not always understand the back button.
Problem 7: Settings menu option - the menu option ‘Settings’ was obsolete.
Solution: The back icon will be next to the wheel where they can click the wheel. See Figure 73.
Solution: Two options (language and time) are put in the general menu and the option where people can change the temperature format is placed into the temperature option. See Figure 75.
Problem 5: Setting the time - people did not know where they were in this menu and/or which way to scroll.
Figure 75 - In the revised interface, two functions are put in the general menu
Problem 8: The baby unit buttons were not clearly defined. Solution: For the baby unit the following buttons are chosen:
Figure 74 - The interface of time setting
Problem 6: Eco mode - People did not understand what the eco mode did. Solution: the eco mode is removed of the menu and put it in the slider and is now called standby mode, which is what it actually does(Figure 72).
Figure 76 - Top view of baby unit with buttons
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Other Problems: Not everyone understood the alarm icon, so this icon is changed into the following icon: Figure 77.
Figure 77 - New alarm funcion icon (right) and old alarm function icon(right)
Some buttons on top of the parent unit are reorganized to make the 'talk' button easies to reach.
Figure 78 - Button arrangement on side parent unit
People mentioned that the clip on the parent unit was nice, but would be even better when it was turnable.
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CH 6. CONCLUSION, DISCUSSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
CONCLUSION DISCUSSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1 Conclusion
6.2 Discussions
The Alecto B3 seems to improved on the user experience of the Alecto DVM 70. User tests pointed out that many of the aspects of the product that were redesigned were understood well by the participants. Interviews and the SUS scale showed a positive attitude towards the product. The redesign therefore seems to be quite wellaligned with our initeded interaction: smooth, logical and effortless. Some recommendations for further research can be made based upon either limitations of this research and design process or problems with the original design that fell outside the scope of this project.
Since in the course of this design project two tests have been conducted, there are some aspects of those tests and their results that leave room for debate. These points are discussed here. Further along in this chapter they will be accompanied by recommendations for further research into the design.
Participants in the User Tests In selecting participants for the user tests, not all criteria that were listed before recruiting have been met for each participant. Most strikingly, three of the participants in the first user test owned the Alecto DVM 70, two of whom had already been using it. This may well have made their operation of the device a bit smoother. It did provide additional information because these participants were able to talk about their long-term experience with the device. Problems that the more experienced participants encountered also pointed in the direction of the most persistent problems. In the first user test, there was one participant with whom communication during the test was quite difficult. It was not clear whether she completely understood the goal of the test and her role 87
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as a participant. This made the results of this test quite different from those of the other participants which lead us to ignore some of her results. This problem may have occurred to a lesser in other tests where the participant could not speak his or her mother tongue.
interaction is quite different from using a touch screen to do this and might have influenced the task times. The prototype of the baby unit was able to fulfill the intended functionality, but its aesthetics cause some participants to be hesitant to use it to its full potential. The legs of the baby unit were not able to support the baby unit as well as they should have. This meant comments about the legs could either be actual issues with the design or issues with the quality of the prototype. Mostly however, it was possible to distinguish between the nature of these comment in analysis.
Test Procedure Due to the educative environment in which the user tests in the project took place, the moderators and observers were different for each participant. This was very beneficial to the learning experience of each team member. It may however have had its influence on the tests.
6.3 Recommendations
Prototypes in the Tests The user test that was conducted to test the qualities and shortcomings of the redesigned product involved the use of prototypes. These prototypes had their limitations, which may have influenced the results of the tests.
Before the redesign of the Alecto DVM 70 is completely ready for implementation, there are a few things that still might need some attention. Most importantly, the turning knob needs to be further investigated. This is the most important part of the redesign of which the qualities and shortcoming remain somewhat unclear. It is therefore important to validate that this kind of button offers the right experience.
An important issue with the prototypes was the lack of a way to test the turning knob that is used to control the parent unit in the redesign. This meant only the structure of the menu of the parent unit was tested in the interactive prototype. Participants were asked how they felt about a turning knob and they could feel such a knob in the physical part of the prototype, but they could not actually interact with it.
For the baby unit, some exploration regarding the legs might be in place. This should focus on use of material and the stiffness of the legs. It is important to find out how much the legs should resist bending to be used comfortably.
Another issue with the interactive prototype was the compatibility of the platform that was used to build it. Since the prototype worked only on Mac OS or iOS devices, it was not always possible to use the device we intended to (an iPhone). In two tests, this even meant participants used a trackpad on a laptop to click the buttons in the prototype. This
Even though there have been some minor issues in the way the menu structure was controlled by participants in the tests, the user test was able to show that the menu structure of the redesign is an improvement over the original design. Since some adjustments have 88
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been made according to the weaknesses of the redesign that were found, further testing of these adjustments would be in place before implementation. Since the design process was aimed mostly at improving the interface and experience of the device, some technical aspects of the device need to be addressed too. From the user test, a big problem in this category was the feedback of sound through the baby unit and the quality of the sound of notifications.
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