Quick Mechanic Paper Prototype (04/30/14)

While I was home this weekend I asked my father to test my Quick Mechanic App using the paper prototype I made. After a few technical difficulties-ran out of memory on camera and the camera was not compatible with my Mac, we got it done. The good news about the technical difficulties was that it  showed me some things that needed to be changed.

In Order to be sure that I reached my goals I wanted a list of questions to ask myself. I came across Atlassian Blogs, “Usability Testing with Paper Prototypes”. Richard Dunmayer and Gert Jan Bartelds, members of Testnet, the Dutch software tester’s association, wrote a guest blog.

Using the questions they provided in the blog, I did my test and recorded my results.

1. Are the end users doing what I want them to do?

Yes, the user did exactly what I wanted.

2. Are they doing what I expected them to do?

  They did not do  what I expected at first. I made some changes and improved the flow.

3. Did they become confused while trying to reach their goals?

No, he did not seem confused, and was able to reach his goal.

4. Did I really think through all possible paths through the application?

After one of the run throughs I recognized that some paths needed to be added. Once added, I believe the application has all the possible paths.

5. Did they have a preferred path?

The user did not have a preferred path. The application can be used in several ways and he seemed comfotable with all of them.

6. Are some paths unused?

All the paths were used.

7. Are some paths used in ways that weren’t intended?

After the modifications I  believe all the paths were used in the way in which I intended.

I think my test went well. I have posted it to YouTube.

Works Cited

Dunmayer, Richard, and Gert Jan Bartelds. “Usability Testing with Paper Prototypes.” Atlassian Blogs. N.p., 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. <http://blogs.atlassian.com/2011/11/usability-testing-with-paper-prototyping

Quick Mechanic UI Design (04/23/14)

Quick Mechanic App is coming along. The more I do it the more ideas I am getting. I keep thinking of my own car. It seems like everyday I find something needs to be fixed. Recently the light bulb for the blinker burnt out. It turns out that it is a relatively easy thing to fix yourself. That is one of the items that  I would have used the Quick Mechanic App for.

I revamped the IA and the wireframes. The nice thing about a tablet app vs a mobile app is that there is more room for graphics and for text. I decided that graphics of various car issues could be used. I think they make it easier for the viewer to identify the specific car problem.  Once the car issue is selected, a series of questions follow until the app finds the solution.

I like silver and maroon as my color scheme. I think they present an auto repair garage kind of feel.

  

  

What I had to keep in mind was the difference between designing a mobile apps, tablet apps and website applications. Part of my process before I start,  is to read. Reading articles and blogs helps me stay on target and to visualize what I want to achieve.

Although these articles did not change my designs, I did find them informative.  I came across the Android Design in Action on YouTube on “Responsive Design”, and found it interesting. With all the different platforms and sizes, designing for scale has become hugely variable. Ethan Marcole coined the name Responsive Design. He says responsive designs will “make them not only more flexible, but more adaptive to the media that renders them.” On Monday Gears and Gadgets had an article “Google’s Next Design Challenge: Unifying App Design Across Platforms”. This article is reporting on a rumor that Google is working on the project Google 2. It wants a single app design that is able to scale across iOS, Androids and wearables to desktops. It makes sense for the next step of apps, with so many different platforms on the market.

We will soon see if rumor is true.

Works Cited

gears and gadgets. ars technica, 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. <http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/04/googles-next-design-challenge-unify-app-design-across-platforms/>.

Responsive Design. YouTube. Android Design in Action, 9 Oct. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.

Info Arch and Wireframes (04/16/14)

I redid the personas for Quick Mechanic App.

I took myself out and substituted a persona named Luke. I included  more information to him and to my original persona Kelly than I had in my first set of personas. I developed these personas with the idea of them being likely users for the Quick Mechanic. I think these personas are much stronger and will be a better aide for me to use as a begin to design the IA’s and the wireframes.

Before I got to doing the IA and wireframes I did some reading on designing tablet apps. In the UXmatters colume “Designing Tablet Apps” columist Steven Hoober wrote,

“You need to think about how people use tablets. They aren’t little computers or big phones, but a different class of device. People use tablets when performing other tasks, slouching on the couch, or watching TV. They use them a lot more at home than their mobile handsets.”

I pictured users using Quick Mechanic, as they sat on their couch or in their bed. I also can picture more than one person looking at the app at the same time-discussing what may be wrong with their car.

I also read the UXmatters colume, Adopting a Professional Compass for Information Archetecture.  Nathaniel Davis uses a sort of acryonym to explain the compass he uses when developing his information archetecture. “Simplify How People Navigate and Use Information that Connects to the Web.”

1. Focus on Simplicity

2. Explore How to organize and create useful relationships between information

3. Users are People first

4. Navigate: provide the primary pathways to information

5. Make information Useable

6. Master the way people Connect to the Web

With this in mind I developed my IA and then my wireframes.

Works Cited

Davis, Nathaniel. "Adopting a Professional Compass for Informational Architecture." uxmatters. N.p.,11 Feb. 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://uxmatters,com/mt/archives/2014/02/ adopting-professional-compass-informational-architecture>.

"Designing Tablet Apps." Ask UXmatters. UXmatters, 21 Jan. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.

   <http://uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2013/01/designing-tablet-apps>.

Quick Mechanic App Personas (04/09/14)

This  week I created personas for my Quick Mechanic tablet app. Before I began I went back into course materials and found the Persona project assignment sheet from this semester’s first week. I began to re-read the research sources to get a feel for what, why and how I should go about creating personas.

From Jeff Sauro I was reminded of the why. He wrote in his Measuring Usability Blog, “Personas are an archetypical user of a system, an example of the type of person who would interact with it.” He emphasised that although the persona is fictional it provides a real benefit. Sauro wrote that he was first introduced to personas in the 1990’s from Alan Cooper’s book The Inmates are Running the Asylum. I thought it was interesting that this process has been around for at least 20 years.

From there I combined ideas from the ux-lady and the The UX Review. The ux-lady approached creating personas with a recipe formula. It was easy to follow, and provided a format to plug in information. The UX Review also made sense of making the personas, with easy steps. The advice they provided was not to over do it. The persona should not be terribly in depth and minutiae details should be omitted.

The steps of how to create the person from the ux review:

1. Person’s goals

2. Person’s motivation for using

3. Person’ current pain points

4. Demographic data (age/location/sex)

5. A quote to capture their attributes

6. Short bio

7. Person’s technical ability/ devices they use

Combining the ux-lady and the steps from the UX Review I began to create my personas.

It was easy to use myself as a persona. When I developed my idea of the Quick Mechanic App I did it with myself in mind. I have an older car that I inherited from my grandfather and I know that this app would be something that I could use. Living in Hamden I do not have access to a mechanic that I know like I do at home. I also think there are a lot of people, especially people my age who would be interested or have a need for such an app.

My second persona I had to put more thought into. I wanted to show that the app is really appropriate and useful to all types of people. I wanted a totally different demographic. I came up with a middle age mother, who had concerns for her family driving a car. I think she would be likely to look something up on the app if she had a question about her car or the car her children were driving.

Works Cited

“DIY User Persona.” ux lady. N.p., 28 June 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. <http://ux-lady.com/diy-user-personas>.

Mears, Chris. “Personas-The Beginner’s Guide.” The UX Review. N.p., 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. <http://theuxreview.co.uk/personas-the beginners-guide>.

Sauro, Jeff. “7 Core Ideas About Personas and the User Experience.” Measuring Usability. N.p., 31 July 2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. <http://measuringusability.com/blog/personas-ux.php>.

Quick Mechanic App (04/02/14)

This app is for someone who has car trouble and has no experience with mechanics. Could be a 16 year old who just got his license or an old woman who has been driving for years, and everyone in between. This app has a very wide market.

Functions:

When car has issues you pull out your tablet and go to the app. There you will see some examples of problems. Such problems would include, "Red light on dashboard and I don’t know what it means," "Flat tire," "Brakes don't feel right," "Car making a funny noise," "Car is making a funny noise," etc. Once you pick one, a flowchart will be displayed to you for the different options of how to fix the problem. For example, if you picked "Car won't start," there will be a flow chart with questions such as, " Does it turn over, yes or no?" And below that will be options for both yes and no. Or if you pick, "Car is making a funny noise," you'll get, "What kind of sound," "Does it only do it when it's moving," and "Does it change with how fast you're going?"

There will also be a GPS to determine your location and find you a nearby garage. This way, if you don't have the tools or skills to fix your car yourself, you can locate your local garage and they'll fix it for you. You can also tell them what exactly is wrong with it according to the app, and save them the trouble of finding out themselves.

Research:
Michael was driving down the highway when suddenly his car was making a strange clunking sound. He doesn't know what's causing it, he had no one to call that could tell him and he didn't know where any nearby garages are. This app would have helped him find out what the problem was and where he could have gone to fix it.

John had a flat tire and didn't have a spare or knew where he could find one. This app would have helped him find a place to change tires and even got a spare one.