Evaluation: Heuristic Evaluation

Overview of system:
Publish
The system provides constant feedback to the user an example of when this feedback is provided is when the food is scanned it shows the name of the food and a picture of it and also it provides feedback in a "beep" in response to a complete scan. Having looked at the system maybe a list of all the screens they have gone through to get to the current one could be displayed as this would help the user know where abouts they are.

Language in the system tries to avoid any technical words and keeps the language relatively simple.

To keep the system consistent the colours and format of the different screen are consistent. The system also keep a main menu back and a next button on the bottom of the screen for all screens other than the main menu itself.

The ability to recognise what to do next is clear in most cases as constant feedback allow for the user to know what to do, but this really has to be put to the test in a user evaluation.

Our system is based on the principle of being able to correct mistakes made as we all make them. There is an undo button on the hardware and also a back button on the screen.

The system is relatively simple there are advanced functions that can be access as the system allows doctors, nutrition experts to view what a specific person has been eating. There are many many different forms which the user could possibly access so again it would be good if a user opinion could be obtained.

The system error recover built in occurs mainly in situations where a scan of the product hasn't been recognised. It prompts the user to scan the item again.

The documentation is mainly in the form of user prompts which allow the user to follow there process in the system and also alert them about what to do next.

The expert use needs to be improved or ignored as it maybe helpful to more technological minded elderly but, i would also say that the system is quite simple and relatively

Responses to Questionnaire

The responses to the questionnaire:
Harold Carter
Eilleen Stone
Raven Miur
Arthur Rawlings


1) Which size of screen do you think is suitable for the product to display relevant information back to the user?
A - The design of the product is aesthetically pleasing. The colours in the other design confuse me somewhat
B
B or C - I believe that both the design are quite similar and i'm not too fussed as long is it looks similar to either of them



2) Which device has buttons which you feel more comfortable with?Mobile Phone TV HI-FI
Microwave
TV - As i spend a lot of my time watching TV i feel very comfortable using 'most' button on my TV remote.
TV
TV - Although i'm familiar with a HI-FI i still prefer the TV remote.

3) How would you prefer the device to be powered?

Rechargeable batteries - I would like these as it would save me money and when your my age you need all the money you have to spend on other things.
Rechargeable batteries
Batteries - it seems easier to change the batteries when they run out.

4) Which is the heaviest weight you would be comfortable carrying?
An orange - I don't really understand what the question is getting at, but i would prefer a bag to carry the milk and sugar in.
Bottle of milk - I could only hold a bottle of milk for a limited period of time though.
N/A - I don't really understand what relevance this has but i could carry the weight of a bottle of milk.

5) Which style menus would you prefer?
N/A - I can't figure out what the difference between the two.
Horizontal sliding menu
Vertical Sliding - i like the look of the menu but i don't really understand the question.

6) Would you have a problem with force feedback?
Yes - A flashing screen would irritate my eyes. A rumble pack would be suitable if that involved some sort of vibration alert like a mobile.
Yes
No - I would love the feedback idea as it gives me an indication that the device is working.


7) Picture yourself scanning an object, would you need one hand or two hands to manoeuvre the device?
One hand.
One hand.
One hand.

8) Would you like extra functionality if it could be plugged into a computer?
No - I don't own a computer and wouldn't know where to start, so that would be pretty useless for me.
No
No - I don't understand how to work a computer.

9) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you didn’t like, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
No - Lifes to short.
No
No - If i don't like a food i will not eat it.

10) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you did not prefer, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?
Maybe - food is all about the mood
Yes
No

11) Would you be prepared to use the device daily so that it can store an accurate record of daily intake?
Maybe - but it does sounds like quite a bit of hassle
Yes
Yes

12) How useful do you think our product would be in the home environment?
I would use it for a week or so to test how useful it is.
I would try to use it daily in the hope that it might improve my diet.
I would try to use it daily in the hope that it might improve my diet.

General Comments
Sounds like a good idea but if the design is complicated i will not bother. I if gave alternative food ideas for cooking i would be very interested in purchasing the device.
N/A
I would really like a device like the one proposed as it would massively benefit my life and stop my family giving me hassle about eating healthily

Product Research

In order to begin the design process product research is vital to ensure that we can compare our features with other products where they have been implemented successfully. Viewing other similar products can also help in giving us inspiration for our own, ensuring that what we end up with is fully functioning and effective.

To begin the research i have looked into the top handheld devices out at the moment, extracting the dimensions from specifications and tabulating the results, allowing for us to decide what the most appropriate size of our product should be.

In the table above i have included two different types of handheld devices, 3 are PDA's and the other two are handheld gaming devices. The reason i have included the second two is that they are intended to be held with two hands and so give an indication of boundaries where a device becomes too large to use with only one hand. We must also keep in mind that we are dealing with elderly people who are going to have decreasing mobility, strength aswell as eyesight so keeping the screen as large as possible while the whole device as light as possible will certainly be high in the specifications.

Dietry Websites Market Research

Diet Planners work on your suggested weight range, BMI and suggested calorie intakes, however, this varies massively from person to person which is why they are not too successful and can only be used as a guidline. Another problem is the time consuming manual input required in order to track the daily intake of food, especially as the age group we are aiming at are the elder generation who havent grown up with modern toys(internet, computers,PDA etc.). These packages also incure a monthly subscription ontop of the cost of the internet, which may not appear too appealing. http://www.startyourdiet.com/howitworks.htm

Instead of telling you what to eat with strict diets, some websites try to educate the users by offering alternatives, with recipes and indicating how much you should eat to what you do eat. These can actually lead to saving money as buying ingredients tends to be cheaper than buying processed or frozen food. http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/index.aspx

There are a lot of theories about what to eat and which diets are the best, however, not many of them take into cosideration of allergy or health problems, which is vitally important with elderly people. Medication can also make a difference to the diet as some foods don't compliment your medication and can lead to making the client feel worse or have undesired side effects. http://www.freedclinic.co.uk/

With these sites come forum where expert advice is readily available, this obviously is included in the price however offers a valuable service that would be hard to implement in our device. Possibly a website for those who do know how to use the internet could be included, or a phone directory to important organisations that offer dietry advice may be a useful tool to include.

Meeting 13th March

Aims

- To encourage more posting on the blogs
- To make sure that the questionnaire is complete by persona's
- To discuss the next step in our user-centred design process

It has been a while since anything has been posted, i know we have a lot to do but we are now behind in our project. It has been noted that we should all be posting at least a couple of times a week only relevant material though.

The questionnaire has now been on the blog for well over a week, we discussed the need to complete this and I will analysis the data after putting it into graphs. We discussed the questions themselves and i still felt that the question on weight was a bit hazy but the others couldn't think of any other question to ask about the weight of the device. We decided that everyone should fill in the questionnaire by Wednesday evening latest and that it shouldn't be posted on the blog as it is useless information.

Finally we discussed where to go next in the design process. It was a case of discussing doing a case analysis using our persona's, also Dave said that he would be willing to try and create a prototype using Netbeans mobile device program. Shaun is going to come up with a design of our prototypes hardware as his previous designs using a CAD package were excellent. Simon will continue doing market research to see if that can aid our final prototype design, especially focusing on the graphical user interface side. Tris is going to start the case analysis of the persona and finally I'm going to analyse the data from the questionnaires and see if there are any similarities or a large contrast in answers.

Questionnaire

Here is our questionnaire that we presented to our users after we had designed the prototype. From here we could recieve feedback so we could go away again and refine our requirements. Unfortunately blogger.com isn't particularly friendly with layout so heres the word file, that we actually presented to the user. Below is the contents, just not particularly formatted well of that file.

Questionnaire




1) Which size of screen do you think is suitable for the product to display relevant information back to the user?

A B C D

Additional Comments:


2) Which device has buttons which you feel more comfortable with?

Mobile Phone TV HI-FI Microwave


3) How would you prefer the device to be powered?

Batteries Chargeable Battery (mobile) Solar Power (calculator)


4) Which is the heaviest weight you would be comfortable carrying?

An Orange Bottle of Milk A Bag of Sugar

Additional Comments:


5) Which style menus would you prefer?

Horizontal sliding (iPod) (1) Vertical Sliding (Mobile Device) (2)


6) Would you have a problem with force feedback? (rumble pack, loud beep, flashing screen)

Yes No

Additional Comments


7) Picture yourself scanning an object, would you need one hand or two hands to manoeuvre the device?

One Hand Two Hands


8) Would you like extra functionality if it could be plugged into a computer?

Yes No


9) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you didn’t like, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?

Yes No


10) Would you follow the advice given if you had to eat food which you did not prefer, to keep in touch with your dietary needs?

Yes No


11) Would you be prepared to use the device daily so that it can store an accurate record of daily intake?

Yes No


12) How useful do you think our product would be in the home environment?

I would use it daily and it could help improve my diet a lot.
I would try to use it daily in the hope that it might improve my diet.
I would use it for a week or so to test how useful it is.
I don’t think I’d use it much in the home.


Additional Comments on the Device:

Meeting 27/2/07

Aims
- Discuss questionnaire design
- Discuss prototype AGAIN!
- Discuss personas (after Monday's lecture)

The meeting today was rather short in comparison to other meetings this is mainly down to the fact that different people are undergoing different tasks which meant that there was much discussion. The discussion started off with the personas coming up again in discussion this was due to Russell showing us his personas on Monday. In general it was felt that a little more work all round should be done to help improve our personas and thus be able to do a very detailed user analysis of our system as well as the questionnaire.
Tris this week designed a questionnaire which we all had our opinions on most of the questions were relevant to the project. One question on his original questionnaire was:

What weight would you be comfortable in holding for a period of time?

250g 1Kg 3.5 Kg

As we are aiming the questionnaire at the elderly it was felt that the measurements given in metric should also be shown in imperial measurements. Then Someone suggested changing the question to include real world object like a bag of sugar as people will find this easier to think about.

The other main issue this week was the prototype design again! This is an on going process with new ideas added. Last week Shaun was asked to find examples of handles that could be used on the device. The ideas he came up with / found were not too bad but we are still in discussion about the actual size of the device and until this in finalised the decision isn't going to be made.

Goals For Next Week
- Finalise Questionnaire
- Re-evaluate personas
- Market research (Simon)
- Research into HCI techniques to make sure we doing the right things

Software Requirements

Hardware Specifications

After analysing each of our prototypes we have produced a list of the hardware requirements that takes what we feel are the best parts of each design.

Tris - With the combination of all of our designs, we could refine our specification a tad more for the hardware side of our device. After discussing it as a group i soon realised why an all-in-one device had so many advantages. One of the only advantages of having the gun was that it would be easier to hold rather than the PDA. I also feel the need for force feedback to play with the senses was an important point bought up. Some points were left out as we felt that didn't satisfy the user-centered design approach and were consistent with other age groups too. I was also pretty keen on the doctor interface, although a bit sceptical at first about it. It could help doctors identify what parts of a diet a client lacks, without them actually realising themselves. I also still feel there is room for the state of the art scales that simon mentioned in his post. Even if its not entirely necessary, its nice to step out of the realms of technology for the product.

Simon - i can see the usefulness of force feedback, like used in the phone, rumble pack or something, however if theyre using the actualy device theye gonna see a box pop up, they dont have to feel the thing rumble to see it. However, if we included a reminder or something in the device then it could work well, for example people with diabetes need to have food at certain time intervals or people who take medication need to have it at a certain time and if the device was kept in the pocket then the rumble would make them aware of the programmed reminder. The scales could be an add on which makes a huge difference in the functionality of the device as saying your eating cabbage could vary in amounts, however, indicating how much your eating would allow analysis of just how much nutrition your actually getting.

Prototype V - Sofware

Note: About the button design elderly people "in today's society" generally will grasp the concept of clicking buttons from similar device like TV remotes, they are probably not used to fancy menus using combo boxes etc.

Comments on design:

The back button on the the screen is a good idea as the user will generally want to go back a step if they did something incorrect.
Generally there will be quite a lot of feedback so the user knows what to do next even if they have forgot from previous times it also shows the user what the system is actually doing at the current moment in time.
This is only a prototype so the colours haven't been finalised but i thought the food group colours were ideal other than fibre as it is hard to see the text.

Prototype V - Hardware

Figure 1 - Sketch of Prototype

The basic functionality of the Hardware is as follows:

Display

• The display is one of the most important features of our design as this is the area where the program will be run. The design of the whole system can be seen in figure 1, there are also existing barcode scanner PDAs which are show in figure 2 and 3 they wouldn't be ideally suited for the elderly but still my design uses some ideas.
  


• The design of the display should combine a 'large' display so that the elderly can see the menu items etc. and an overall size which mean that the device is still portable.
  


• It must be waterproof and be easy to maintain (i.e. when food get on it, easy to wipe off). This is kind of obvious as our product is going to be used primarily in the kitchen and outdoors.
  

Device in General

• Must be durable as with product people tend to drop them which is a big problem for electrical devices. With an increase in dexterity amongst the elderly durability has to be a key feature.
  


• In my prototype idea the design is for an "all-in-one" system which allows the barcode scanner to be attached. In my initial design sketch it is located on the top. The reason for having an all in one system that is simplifies a complex design and stops components getting lost.
  


• The scanner itself although it is attached to the PDA it can be extended by means of a wire which would allow the user "to scan even the trickiest of barcodes" this design would use an idea similar to the vacuum plug, you can pull it out and press a button to retract it.
  


• Size of device should be slightly bigger than a PDA as there average size is roughly
  75mm x 130mm x 15mm (http://www.palmbyal.com/). This would allow for a larger screen but again it can't be too much bigger as it will lose its portability factor.

Buttons

• Generally should be used over other methods such as a scrolling button, touchpad or other form of new interaction mainly because the majority of elderly people don't understand how they work and will just lose faith/patience in the product.
  


• Another very important feature in the design the button generally should be arranged in a logical way some research should be done into TV remotes and other forms of remote control the elderly use.
  


• The buttons should also be limited in number as the common phrase goes "less is more".
  


• The buttons should also be large and have a happy medium of sensitivity when pressed. This is because the elderly general have poor eye sight and general movement so making the buttons large allows for the person to comfortably press the button.
  

Barcode Scanner

• This has been chosen over any other input device because it seems the most logical you can scan in food and it will tell what food automatically and combined with the system can enter amount with ease.
  


• The device should have a button on it as it can be extended with a wire thus the person will want to press a button to scan.

Figure 2 & Figure 3

Prototype IV

Just some sketch ideas for a prototype with some writing and points included on each.

Prototype III

So far the proposed products are all made from existing technologies, however, our project outline does not mention such a restriction. We are not required to create this product, but only approach it in a HCI aspect and so using futuristic technologies could aid in designing a product that

benefits the end user most.

I propose a device that has scales in which the user places the food into, allowing an exact measurement to be taken. The packaging can be intact as i believe it to be negligable. This is a quick and easy way for the computer to measure how much of the food is going to be consumed in the meal - offering advice to whether you need such a big amount/small amount. Kitchen scales can be found in most homes and are very easy to use, so there is no new technology for the user to learn. However, being able to weight the food tells the computer nothing about the nutrition content of the food. This is where scanner comes into it.

The scanner will be able to detect exactly what is in the food, so it could be a home baked cake and an accurate measurement of what the cake contains can be extracted. This would then be able to calculate down to the carb/calorie what your intake should be. A bit out of the realm of science at the moment but such an invention would prove invaluable to such a device.

The information is then retrieved and processed in the digital display, whereby the user can view how much they have eaten that day and what they need to eat more/less of. The display has to be clear and easy to use, possibly with a touchscreen so no external devices are needed to navigate round it. This will save on space, but will mean that no skills needed to use a mouse/keyboard are required.

There are several other opportunities for addons that could be included. An example of such a thing, would be a handheld device which can be carried around on the person and used to scan what food is eaten throughout the day. The weight will have to be entered and not measured, however, most packages hold such information on them.

Another idea is for another scanner to be included which scans your skin and detects its current state. It is widely believed that your diet is reflected on your weight and skin condition. By being able to detect the hydration and other characteristics of your skin, the computer will be able to reajust your diet to ensure you stay healthy, or even suggest contacting a doctor if certain conditions can be detected.

This design may stretch our imaginations a tad too far, however, i think it brings several ideas to the table that we should take into consideration. Something to discuss in our next meeting.

Meeting 20th Feb

Due to unforeseen circumstances the meeting yesterday was cancelled as Simon was ill and some of the other group members hadn't quite finished their prototype ideas.
Tris, Dave And myself decided to have a mini meeting still looking at some of the aims of the meeting and tried to address them. The prototype could not be discussed in great detail as we felt it necessary to have all group members present as we felt that finalising the prototype would take ideas from everyone. The questionnaire also couldn't really be started as it is going to be based on decided for the final prototype.
Although we did get around to allocating a few different tasks for this week with Dave actually finalising the problem definition, Tris will be doing the questionnaire when we have discussed the different prototypes of our product. I decided that i will create a more defined task analysis to help our product solve the tasks at hand.
We will meet tomorrow to discuss the different prototype design so that we can press on with finalising the product.

Rough Prototype Stuff

I've just done some quick drawing the graphics package that I said to one or two of you about. The product I did here was quite simple but it should give you an idea of what can be done on it. So not sure but was thinking when we decide on a final design I could do a full 3D modal, all I would need is some rough measurements.

Prototypes I

Meeting / Reminders

Hi Everyone this is just a message to remind people that we are going to have a meeting tomorrow at 2pm. The aims of the meeting are entirely based on the prototypes that we are supposed to have done this week so REMEMBER TO DO THEM.
Aims of Meeting 20th Feb 2007:

• Run through prototypes - discuss ideas
• Finalise Prototype - Get a final design prototype based on the different ideas
• Talk about questionnaire
• Posting on blogs - more comments / regular posts
• Extend Personas / Design Ideas
• Product Research
• Problem Definition - What is it that our product is going to solve.
  

(feel free to add to list if there is something you which to discuss)
Also just a reminded mainly for Dave that HCI lecture is today at 5pm.

Task Analysis - Food Nutrition Device

Wikipedia Defines Task Analysis as:
Task analysis is the analysis or a breakdown of exactly how a task is accomplished, such as what sub-tasks are required. This information can then be used for many purposes, such as improving the design of tools or procedures that aid in performing the task. These tools can be either physical implements or software.

The task analysis below is based on the product definition formed earlier in the blog. It has feature that could possible be extended but take a look.

HCI Meeting - 13/02/07

Aims of Meeting - 13 Feb 07

• To all agree on final product idea.
• To define a set of 'broad' requirements for chosen product.
• To create a questionnaire based on our final product choice which helps define more specific requirements.
• A review of the personnas.

Meeting:
Following on from a previous meeting a few weeks ago about the different product ideas. It is required that we chose a final product quickly because of the time restrictions. It is also necessary to start prototyping our idea this week so will be added as a goal for next week.

Having been actively posting on the blog it was decided that we would rule out the Remote Security System and the Interactive Soap (see Product Decision). There was a little bit of discussion on the rest of the ideas with myself in favour of the Interactive Walking Guide and the majority of the group in favour of the Barcode Scanner Food Intake Device but, instead of making the Food Nutrition Device a barcode reader we decided to take a step back and allow for it to be any hardware so that we could come up with the better solution.

Now requirements needed to be defined for this product idea but, these have to be broad as we decided that a goal for next week was for each member to come up with a refined set of requirements in the form of a prototype. This would allow us to merge ideas to create the best possible solutions to the problems that are encountered based on the 'broad' requirements. We wrote the requirement on the whiteboard so that a picture could be taken (see Requirements for Designated Product)

Another one of our aims was to create a questionnaire but after a lengthy discussion it was unanimously decided that we wouldn't create a questionnaire just yet as we have a list of broad requirements which will be expanded by us. After the expansion with addition of different features we felt would the best time to ask questions and change aspects of our design based on the general user opinion.

Our final point was about the personas. We have decided to each edit the persona based on the post - Thinking About Personas by dave. We have all decided to go away and add more specific information to our personas.

For next weeks meeting:

• Create prototypes of Food Nutrition Device.

Requirements for Designated Product

We have chosen to design a product around the barcode nutrition idea posted by Shaun. We have, however, decided that we are going to broaden the idea to consider other types of inputs rather than restricting ourselves to a barcode scanner. By broadening our scope for the product we are hoping to be able to propose better solutions, refining them to our final choice in the later stages of this project.