Sunny schedule
Interview
1) Preparation
​The most important step to starting our collaboration with the participant was getting their consent for participating in the project. Based on WHO guidelines, we constructed an Informed Consent Form that the participant received multiple days prior to the interview. This gave them enough time to read the document carefully and potentially ask questions.
Another task was establishing goals of the interview. By knowing what answers we needed, we could ask the right questions and plan activities around them. That's how six visual thinking templates were created, regarding the topic of the participant's and her child's identity, culture differences, household dynamics, daily routine and the participant's struggles and pleasures. These templates would be later used to engage the participant, make the interview feel more like collaboration that an investigation. ​
After preparing a list of questions and assigning roles, we were ready and excited to start our collaboration with th case owner.
2) Meeting
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The interview took place online, using Teams, as the participant was not feeling well and no other dates were available. At first we thought that would be an issue, as the templates were meant to be physically filled out together with the case owner. As a solution to that, all templates were combined on one page and shared on screen during the meeting. One of our group members then filled them out as the participant was speaking.
Combining the templates turned out to be a great solution, as the templates were not looked at one after another. The participant gave answers to certain questions before they were asked and having all templates visible at once made it easier to write in the right spots and keep information organised.
3) Conclusions
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To have a better overview of the information obtained during the interview, a visual summary was made. It includes all information we found relevant for the project.
Based on that information, we found two directions we could go for further in the design process; household chores and mother-daughter time. Both themes were then researched and ideated on.
What we also found out was, our participant lives a very busy life. We started worrying that collaboration in tis case will be difficult, but with good communication and appropriate planning, we overcame this issue and were able to achieve more than we planned initially.
Co-Design
First meeting
1) Preparation
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For the first meeting, we only had half an hour. With this little time, we needed a clear plan and defined goals.
The first and most important goal was deciding, which of the two directions the participant wants to choose. With that followed the goal of together finding a concept that the case owner wants.
Around these goals we planned activities, such as free writing and brain writing - quick sketching with swapping the papers. We also wanted to show the participant the ideation we did so far and get her opinion on the categories we got when grouping our sketches. For that, their visual representation was made. ​​​
2) Meeting
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Even though we were afraid there wouldn't be enough time, we managed to achieve the pre-set goals.
First, the participant communicated her hierarchy of the categories we showed her.
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Task management - this category landed on top, without proper task management, there is no time for the other categories.
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Cooking & Activities together - this is the most enjoyable category, but it is not as crucial as task management
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Potty training - this category was put aside completely. The case owner said it's a very complex and difficult to understand process, which requires lots of research. We were told to stay away from it.
Next came free writing. Everyone wrote down their associations with task management. An interesting finding was that the participant had a very different definition of what task management was compared to us. We thought of it as of planning the mother's day and splitting chores, while she actually meant managing the child's routine, giving her daughter independence and an understanding of what her daily routine really is.
The last activity was brain writing. Each person quickly sketched an idea for task management, then swapped papers in a circle until everyone put their sketch on every piece of paper. Then, we asker the case owner, which idea she liked the most and she chose her own - a clear overview of the daily activities with an option to add/subtract some activities form it. It was important that the product showed the flow of tasks instead of being a detailed, timed plan.
3) Conclusions
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After this meeting, we had a clear concept direction - a way to show the participant's daughter an overview of her daily routine with the routine being customisable every day.
Based on this direction and other information extracted form the meeting, we made an initial list of requirements, which guided us in the making of our first defined concepts.
Second meeting
1) Preparation
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For the second meeting, we had our six concepts ready. The main goal was to get the case owner's opinion on these concepts and define the desirable qualities of the final concept. We also wanted to finalise the list of requirements, as well as get the participant's categorization of the requirements based on their importance, which will later be used for a MoSCoW evaluation of the concept. The last goal was finding an aesthetic fitting in to the liking of the participant.
To reach these goals, suitable activities were planned. For the list of requirements, we wrote the requirements down on sticky notes, as well as left some blank to write new requirements on. To evaluate the six concepts, we printed many copies of them in both full and low opacity to sketch over, write and cut them up. To find the aesthetic, we printed pictures of various kids' toys in different styles.
3) Meeting
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We started with the list of requirements activity, as it was a good foundation for the other activities. We spread the sticky notes on the table and made three columns on the board - one for Must, one for Should and one for Could. The participant first categorised the existing requirements, after which she added her own to the list and put them in the right spots on the board. She also mentioned that the list we had so far was very good in her opinio and didn't remove any of the requirements.
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The next activity was evaluation of the concepts we made. We showed her the print-outs and gave short explanations of all concepts. She liked all of them, but said some were too complex for the cognitive capabilities of her daughter. We found out for example that the child doesn't understand a circular visualisation of a cycle, unless there is some indication of where in the cycle she is and which direction she will be moving.
The qualities we should take with us to the final concept are:
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portability, but only around the house - no need to take the product outside
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interchangeability of the activities
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visual guidance of intended use - the child should be able to understand what's going on and how to use the product without constantly being given instructions
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checkmarks from the chalkboard concept - these are great, clear indicators of task completion
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thread to follow - it helps guide the user through tasks in the right order
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interactions between the child and product - such as pressing or inserting
Qualities to avoid are:​
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3D visualisation of the routine - this surpasses the child's cognitive capabilities
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numbers
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tasks scattered all over the place - this is contrary to the goal of showing the flow of activities throughout the day
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too much detail in the tasks - this can overwhelm the user​
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The last activity was making a style collage. The participant grouped the images, with the ones she liked being on her left and the ones she disliked - on her right. Key learning points from this exercise are:
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the shape doesn't really matter, but geometric forms can be easier to understand compared to organic
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the colours should stay in the primary range
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it's nice to use different lightness levels of one colour, especially to indicate the parts that belong together
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use as little plastic as possible
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prevent hyper stimulation by colour
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using different textures would be great
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3) Conclusions
With the acquired feedback we could improve our list of requirements and create a final concept. The main change compared to the initial concepts was making the product portable, as most designs were meant to stay in place. We had to figure out how to make the product small and light enough that a three year old can carry it around, but big enough to display the whole routine.
Prototype evaluation
An important part of the design process is evaluation. We have not yet had an evaluation session with our case owner, but it is planned to happen soon. What we want to achieve in such meeting is get the participant's and her daughter's feedback on the design, as well as test how the child responds to the prototype. Based acquired that way information, proper changes will be proposed and, if we had more time for this project, implemented into the product.
For now, a user testing session was conducted with an external participant. The details of this meeting can be found here.