#hcde

[swish84]

UX workflow #uxdesigner #ux #designlife #gradschool #hcde #interactiondesign #workflow #tech #apple #herschel #spotify #sundayvibes @ux_store @fieldnotesbrand (at Fremont, Seattle) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3kpqHKASss/?igshid=zuuygcj21b9t

[dogzipy]

why you should care about design

To most people, the ideas of design and engineering seem like some magic that happens behind closed doors, performed only by people with high educations and high salaries

However, here we’ll learn a little bit about how we’ve gone from this

to this

First, let’s talk about a little bit of background information:

Lets assume products are designed to help people (in a perfect world), and to help people, you must understand, well, PEOPLE. In short

PROBLEM = DESIGN OPPORTUNITY

DESIGN OPPORTUNITY = PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Thats it. Thats the whole basis of product engineering, build something to achieve a goal. And make it efficient!

Okay, so now that we know the goal, how do we get from acknowledging a problem to creating a fully designed and functional product that people use?

Well, it takes a lot of gathering information and reflecting before anything can happen. Were gonna talk about some fancy words for a minute but bear with me:

Usability- the degree to which something is able or fit to be used

We can test how easy or difficult a product is to use by testing many people’s experience with it. This is called usability testing. In fact, some people’s careers are just testing usability and quality of products for companies. One of the ways we test usability is through user research.

User Research-  understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through observation techniques, task analysis, and other feedback methodologies.

Basically, the process of collecting data about possible users. Sometimes this looks like one on one research, such as a usability test, or looking at masses of data to analyze peoples needs thought things like surveys, censuses, and experiments. 

This helps us to learn a little bit about the overall experience of the product, the broader environmental contexts, user struggle areas, and efficiency. 

Last word to learn: 

Ideation- to generate and communicate ideas about products through visual representations (usually drawing/ prototyping)

this is the part where you start to draw out ideas for products that solve the problem at hand. 

Heres an ideated image of a wheelchair that has many different amenities like an X-box screen and subwoofers. While not everything in this drawing is perfect and planned out, it achieves some goal the designer had, and communicates their ideas. 

From here, countless rounds of product testing, ideation, and prototyping will be done until a product is manufactured and available to users. 

Finally, here is a small list of some guidelines of design to keep in mind:

Accessibility: Is my product accessible to a wide range of users?

Constraints: Are there parts of my design that are physically impossible to accomplish given the technology and resources available?

Privacy- Am I respecting my users privacy in the development and the execution of my product?

This process is not simply a one and done deal. The way that we got from hard to use, ancient wheelchairs to modern wheelchairs is through constant design improvement! Because we are always learning more about people’s needs, and we are constantly coming up with better ideas improve products!

The future could hold something greater! 

You are impacted by every single product that you use in your everyday life. We know this because as users, we HATE it when a product is difficult to use. 

Question design choices made about the products you use, and your ideas, too, can contribute to future of design! We never know what it could hold...

[ilovehcde-blog]

[ilovehcde-blog]

The Ins and Outs of HCDE

“HCDE? What does that stand for?”

“So are you, like, an engineer or a designer??”

“Human centered design? It can’t be that hard to design products for people!”

I’m sure everyone in the field of HCDE has heard these questions. Often more than once. With HCDE being such a small program within the deep dark labyrinth of the UW College of Engineering, it has not gained much recognition outside of the program itself. Even when I explain my projects from HCDE 210 to my peers at UW, I am met with confused looks. They seem perplexed about the purpose and methods of my assignments, even referring to my work as “fake,” (as a joke, but nevertheless it shows their lack of exposure to user specific design). So here is a simple guide to the ins and outs of human centered design engineering.

To begin, the main idea behind human centered design engineering is in the name: human centered. The goal of designers is to create products that are best fit for their specific user groups. For example, products for children would likely need to be simpler and consist mostly of fun colors and images in order to make said product more engaging for its users. User groups can be broad or very specific. Anywhere from public transport users to blind seventy-five-year-old Russian scuba divers. No matter how broad the user group, as long as their needs are deeply considered during every stage of product design, then that practice falls into the realm of HCDE.

So what does it mean to “consider one’s users?” From my experience in HCDE 210, I have learned that it’s more than just designing products for people. Human centered designers must accommodate for the needs of every user they are designing for as well as consider the ethics behind their creations. Will the product negatively impact or overall worsen the livelihood of any group? Will the product damage the environment? Will it cause emotional trauma? These are all questions that designers must ask themselves during the creative process.

This brings us to the two main goals of human centered designers: to create user-specific products capably and responsibly. Being capable is a matter of whether or not a theoretical design is actually able to be designed. Some limiting factors include insufficient technology, resource scarcity, and human limitations. Designers must first brainstorm with little to no regard for capability, but when narrowing down their ideas, they must be practical in choosing a capable design. Being responsible means that designers must consider the consequences and ethical dilemmas that might be spawned by their products. In addition to considerations, it is the responsibility of a designer to ensure that their product does not harm its users, other people, and the environment. For example, creating a product that would be useful, but construct bad habits or cause emotional damage in its users is unethical of the designer. Overall, throughout the design process it is critical to consider the practicality and ethics of one’s creations. Specifically under the field of HCDE, it is also critical to take into account and accommodate for the needs of a product’s users.

[hajmal05-blog]

[somenormalthoughts]

Human Centered Design in Healthcare

Hello!

This last quarter, I decided to branch out from my pre-nursing courses and took a Human Centered Design and Engineering class. I was expecting it to be heavy on engineering, and we would build devices or prototype a lot. It was totally different than I expected! Although we did do some prototyping and physical computing, the class was heavy on design and the importance of human values within design. Before taking the class, I didn’t realize how many different ways human centered design could be incorporated into our daily lives.

With my interest in healthcare, I wanted to learn more about human centered design and engineering within medicine. I found it particularly interesting how design could be used to make patients more comfortable talking about their personal information, such as finances, in healthcare settings. Many people are uneasy disclosing how they’re unable to afford certain medical procedures and other care. One of our guest Lecturers, Catherine Lim who works at Kaiser Permanente, explained how her team was able to find ways to make patients more comfortable talking about finances of cancer care with their healthcare providers.

Both the guest lecturer and our professor talked about the importance of instilling human values into our designs. Some of these included trust, informed consent, privacy, etc. All of these were used to design better conversations between healthcare providers and their patients. In their research, Lim’s team went into patient homes to better understand the users. They took photos but was always sure to give them informed consent before doing so. This meant they made sure they knew the purpose of the research and the reason the photos were being taken. They made sure not to capture their faces as well to respect their privacy. They continued to respect their privacy when not disclosing their personal data, such as their finances and medical information, to the world. They made sure to gain the patients’ trust when researching as well. This is important because without their trust, the patients would not be honest about their finances and how they felt when it comes to medical  treatment.  

I found it crazy how human-centered design could be incorporated into something like conversations. I didn’t realize human centered designers could design ways companies and offices operate. I always pictured design and engineering to be physical rather than vocal. This class really showed me how important human values are in design as well. It’s essential to respect the privacy and trust of users to keep having them use your product or design. Overall, this course was fun and definitely broadened my idea of design, and let my creative side shine.

[dylychill]

CompSci was too hard and it turns out there’s an ‘E’ in HCDE.

Apparently, an intro course can be a 200-level class, and no, I don’t know how levels work, I just go here, okay? I’m here for a good time and a long time. Human-Centered Design and Engineering 210 started as the art students whose parents wanted a STEM graduate, but for some reason everyone in the department are besties and drink tea together on Wednesdays. I guess Sieg Hall (where the department is based) puts something in the water. Turns out that cold, unfeeling computers are created and maintained by warm-blooded, semi-feeling humans. Who knew?

I think of HCDE as an approach, a toolkit to be ethical and responsible when interacting with the world in anyway. Sketches during the ideation process are more like dada impressionism then renaissance art. In a nutshell, it’s a consequential approach to interactions. It’s a question of inclusivity, accessibility, and ethical considerations. Who is impacted by a product, and for the people who aren’t affected, why not? Is it necessary or useful? Designing and engineering new products with the user in mind.  

Research is a lot of staring at people while thinking really hard, ideation is staring at walls while thinking really hard, and evaluation is staring at your product while thinking really hard. The cycle, generally, is as follows: research, ideate, prototype, evaluate, and produce.

Research takes on many forms: people watching, functionality testing, and accosting strangers to answer surveys. Usability testing was a personal favorite. Our class assignment had us pulling busy students in the library try to turn on a frankly, ridiculously unintuitive camera for 5 minutes. What’s going on in the world before my product came into it, and how did my product change that flow?

Ideation was hours of dreaming and sketching spaceships for dogs. Staring at a wall and thinking, okay, what’s crazy? Ideation as a way to form new ideas throws out the impossible and wacky. Find the impossible and run with it. Why isn’t it feasible, and how can we make it possible?

Evaluation is the necessary evil that takes years to perfect despite not belonging to HCDE entirely. Constructive criticism. How do I tell someone that their product sucks without being mean? And how do I get people to tell me that my product sucks? This step can jump into producing a final product, or back into any of the previous stages. Further research may be needed to identify problems, new ideas can be integrated, and improved prototypes can give more accurate feedback.

I was asked today (by Peter Capaldi, no less!) what I was studying. The term ‘HCDE’ commonly results in a blank-face or faked smile and nod, so I have taken to following my intentions with this statement. “I’m gonna do tech stuff, but I’m gonna care so hard about those users!” It’s a bit premature to make sweeping conclusions about an entire field, a relatively young one at that, but that’s pretty much it. Being empathetic and caring about people. It’s aptly named, I’ll give ‘em that.

[swish84]

This weekend our usability testing for the REI project went really well. We were fortunate to have great participants who gave valuable feedback. It’s been a long but rewarding weekend spent on campus. Looking forward to getting the final deliverables finished up and ending the quarter on a high note. #uw #gradschool #hcde #usability #ux #userresearch #rei #weekend #grind #teamnosleep (at University of Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuSQNQwAp7t/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=z2ou59gua1zi