project work

Advanced HCI Theory & Methods

Advanced HCI Theory & Methods

The Advanced Human-Computer Interaction module is part of the Masters course and refreshes and develops upon qualitative and quantitative research methods.

There were five assignments in total. The first four assignments involved creating a presentation and/or a report within a team.

  1. Here a study was conducted which gathered data about the perceptual accuracy of throwing different weighted objects at targets while both blindfolded and not blindfolded.
  2. Interviews about people’s daily physical activities were conducted and subsequently analysed and coded.
  3. Research and presentation about diary studies.
  4. Contextual inquiry and work models – this study was conducted within a bakery and one of it’s employees.

Final Project: This was an individual project with the requirement of examining transport and technology. I decided to conduct a study on the acceptance of technology in casual cycling. The study was composed of a short semi-structured interview and a cooperative design approach. This user-centered design approach involved sitting down with the user and giving them the tools to create their desired imaginary bicycle. These tools included a sheet showing a human body and a bicycle, some technology cards and tokens. The user was given the freedom to explore the design space and verbally explain their reasoning for their choices.

Afterwards the recorded videos and images were analysed, with the technologies created by the users being coded into ten themes. The top themes to emerge from the study included Safety, Comfort and Convenience.

Technologies coded into themes

Table of codes from final report

IoT Design – Masters Thesis

IoT Design – Masters Thesis

My Master’s thesis involved the creation of an Internet of Things interface, which I entitled “HomeNodes”. The HomeNodes interface was projected on to to objects. Users could connect objects together using a touch enabled wall interface and by tapping their smartphone on different objects.

The following is a short summary of my project:

  1.  Conduct low-fidelity prototyping sessions with users to explore the IoT design space.
  2. Research existing interactive systems
  3. Construct a prototype
  4. Test with users and use observation and video analysis
  5. Build a list of topics from this analysis that outlines the important design considerations and feedback for my IoT interface.

Video of the system in action:

The following images are version 1 and 2 of my systems. The green elements in the second image are technologies that I added to make the system more scalable. The thesis can be read and downloaded in full at this link. The code will be available on my GitHub.

Version 1

 

Final System (HomeNodes)

Evaluating Experience around Public Interfaces

Evaluating Experience around Public Interfaces

This was the second semester project and involved the creation and evaluation of an interactive public interface. The interface could be controlled using a person’s movement. The project was led by two students and one Research Associate from the Urban HCI Lab. Two quantitative studies were completed with 60 people.

The final version made use of Processing, a gesture control program made by Wout Standaert and a projector. Images and the summary poster PDF can be found below.

FULL PROJECT DESCRIPTION (PDF – 2.2 MB)

Early version

System overview

Leaflet for advertising the user study

Industrial Design 2 – First Year (Semester 2)

Industrial Design 2 – First Year (Semester 2)

Introduction

The purpose of this module was to practice design techniques, gain practical experience in representing our own designs on a page aswell as developing our presentation skills. This was done via classes and project work which had to be collated and reviewed at the end of each project aswell as the end of the year.

Rendering/Sketching

Rendering and sketching allows for detailed representations of concepts. It can help to show a products shape, texture and material without the need for a finished model. Storyboarding was also practiced during these classes.

Rendering example

Comparison between a real product and an in-progress render.

Project Work

1) Festival Chair

The objective of this project was to create a chair out of cardboard that could be used at a music festival. It invloves the processes of research, concept generation, development and detailing.

concepts

Concept Sketches

Image

Prototype model of final design (final model was larger and functioned as a chair)

2) Coffee To Go

The objective of this project was to develop an easier/hassle-free way for a person to purchase a coffee. The processes were roughly the same as those outlined above. The final result, entitled ‘Smart Tray’, is displayed below. It allowed the user to pay for their food in advance of the till aswell as carry heavy items.

Image

Smart Tray

3) Product Autopsy

The objective of this project was to take apart an existing product and take account of each part on a manifest.

Image

UPDATE: Recently I attempted to reproduce a concept drawing using a digital notepad/ graphics tablet. The result is below.