As part of the Applied Theory in Design course, we were tasked with collaborating in groups to identify a problem and design a prototype of a solution. I collaborated with students in other majors to create a portable device manager for university students which we later called Scroll.
Our first task was to identify a problem that needed to be solved. Since our assigned theme was technology, we started asking students around our university, Savannah College of Art and Design, about the technological challenges they faced and what types of workarounds they were using. We collected this data by performing interviews and passing around a questionnaire about daily technology use and needs.
We then affinitized that feedback and found the following to be the primary pain points:
- Transferring files between devices.
- Transferring files to cloud storage.
In addition to addressing their problem, we also needed to address those problems in a way that corresponded with their values. While collecting feedback, we found that the students at SCAD valued the following aspects of their technology:
- Privacy
- Portability
- Multi-device
- Simplicity
- Compatibility
- Cross-Platform
We started designing the prototype of the final solution by sketching potential directions for the project to take. We focused on various aspects of technology from hardware to software that could be combined to form a solution that addressed the aforementioned needs and values. We took these sketches to SCAD students and had them evaluate them on their perception of the following criteria:
- User Experience
- Ease-of-Use
- Feasibility
- Portability
- Security
After collecting the feedback, we took each design that had the best scores from each field and combined them together. The result was the earliest version of Scroll: a portable device that allows users to place their device on the screen and manage their files between multiple devices and cloud services.
The next step was to test this design with our audience. What we did was we printed the UI onto large sheets of paper and had students emulate the actions they could take on the device. From there, we asked them various questions about their experience to determine what needed to be changed and also had them evaluate our design based on the criteria we previously established.
What we found from testing was that the reception to our design was generally positive and there was feedback that frequently came up. For example, students wanted a resizable on-screen keyboard, an adjustable widget for device navigation and a reduced widget chain with back arrows to deep navigation easier.
The final result took these changes into consideration and made the user interface for clear. We then presented that prototype as the final project of the course.
Overall, I learn a lot from this project about working in groups and the design process. Although I did most of the work in the group, having the experience of engaging in design research was valuable to me because it is something I can bring back to game development in order to create better experiences for players. The process of researching, prototyping, testing and iteration were valuable experiences to have because I can apply them to my future projects.
The next steps for this project would be to make an hardware prototype that could be tested with students at multiple universities. I do not intend to move forward with this project but should someone wish to expand upon the idea that would be a direction to pursue.