HCI 2 Blog: 2007

A principle of UCD is to evaluate designs involving the users, we demonstrated this by using our persona’s to complete a questionnaire regarding our prototype:

http://hci2phone.blogspot.com/2007/03/prototype-questionnaire.html

Participate in analysis and design work in HCI:

Analysis of research into users:

Analysis of feedback on prototype design

http://hci2phone.blogspot.com/2007/03/summary-of-personas-views.html

Design of product from initial ideas to revised prototype:

Demonstrate appreciation of the research literature in one subfield of HCI.

Persona’s from Microsoft (Pruitt & Grudin)

http://hci2phone.blogspot.com/2007/02/catherine-gipson-personna.html

Heuristic Evaluation (Jakob Nielsen)

http://hci2phone.blogspot.com/2007/03/heuristic-evaluation-heuristics-after.html

Conclusion

We have successfully carried out a User Centered Design to design a useful piece of technology to support our target audience, the elderly (approximately over 65).

This involved looking at the users needs and views through various methods, such as questionnaires, observing their environment, general research and the use of persona's. We involved the users in the evaluation of our prototype design, to help us design a more suitable product. As well as following the process of a User Centered Design we have applied various aspects of HCI such as using creativity tools, developing persona's and using Heuristic evaluation.

The result is that we have designed a mobile phone suitable for the elderly, that they will find easy to use, and not be afraid to try using it as new technology, yet still have the features they require.

Summary of Persona’s Views on Prototype

1. All three of the persona’s liked the user friendliness of the phone and how easy it was for them to come a call, and find a contact in their phone.

2. Another bonus was the ability to just have one phone, instead of a house phone and a mobile. It was nice to be able to take the phone where they were in the house or garden without having to worry about missing a call.

3. All three of the persona’s felt that the phone was quite difficult to open.

4. The personas like the fact that the phone could be used with their current phone.

5. Ronald felt that there was a need to display text messages as he often finds that he gets messages from his family when on holiday

6. Deirdre felt that there was a bit of confusion when dealing with a call when both her and her husband tried to answer the phone at the same time.

7. Ronald also felt that there was a need to have a neck strap so that he can access the phone easily if he was doing something that meant his hands got dirty or wet.

8. Catherine and Deirdre felt that the phone sometimes falls out of the holder in the base unit.

Heuristic Evaluation

Using Nielsen's ten heuristic project evaluation techniques: http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html

We created our own set of heuristics to test the effectiveness of the system around the user.

Heuristics: After first prototype -

1. Visibility of system status

2. Match between system and the real world

3. Consistency and standards

4. Recognition rather than recall

5. Aesthetic and minimalist design

6. Help and documentation

Visibility of system status

Function	Issue	Severity	Recommendation
Making a call	Navigating through the numbers on the phone book is arduous.	Low	Hold down the button and time duration increases its scrolling rate.
Reading a text message	No capability	High	Create this functionality in software by, enabling voice retrieval of text message by using 1471 function of BT.
Miss call	Retrieval of miss call	Medium	User will be asked do you want to call back number? . Miss calls can be reviewed using the base unit showing the time and date of any calls made to and from the phone.

Language

Function	Issue	Severity	Recommendation
SMS	No understanding of acronym	Medium	Change to text message.
Phone textual responses	Short hand phone explanation of functions	Low	Leave as general understanding can be adopted over the readability of smaller text.
Multi Language usage	Not yet developed	Low	If design is required to be distributed to a wider market i.e. Europe install the language packages necessary.

Consistency and standards

Function	Issue	Severity	Recommendation
Networks	Home/Mobile differences	Medium	Try to create consistency by letting BT handle network transfer from Mobile to House phone etc, and allow the function to operate as normal creating a transparency.

Recognition rather than recall

Function	Issue	Severity	Recommendation
Volume	Not knowing to increase the volume with the scroll wheel	Medium	Write the function on the phone so its usability is clear.
Internal functions of phone (opening phone required to handle these)	Not knowing to open the phone to access or carry out these functions	Low	General understanding of phone is demonstrated by installer and will be adopted with usage.

Aesthetic and minimalist design

Function	Issue	Severity	Recommendation
Colour of phone	Visibility	Low	Allow a range of medium visibility colours. (Not to brash).
Opening the phone	Grip	Medium	Add rubber-grooved strips.
Opening the phone	Ease of opening	Mediim	Spring installed to allow the last action of its opening to become assisted.

Help and documentation

Function	Issue	Severity	Recommendation
User manual	Length and degree of complexity	Medium	Ensure that there is a user guide (simple functionality for everyday usage) and a user manual (more in-depth functions explained and error awareness and limitations).

Photos of Meeting Regarding Re-Design

Here the main points that were agreed during our meeting regarding results of our first evaluation.

Wednesday 28 March 2007

Summary of First Design Features

Phone:

The 3 Buttons: The idea behind these was for simplicity. Each button is big and easy to press. The big circular middle one has a phone symbol on it; the main use of this button is to begin a phone call, when a number is selected on the screen using the other two buttons. It is also used to turn the phone on when it has been switched off due to loss of battery. The other two buttons are either side the middle one and are labeled with <> arrows, their main functionality is to browse the phone book on the phone. Occasionally the screen will ask the user questions and the buttons dictate the answers to these questions, with the '>' arrowed button meaning no and the '<' arrowed button meaning yes.

Under the main button there is the following text: On. [new line] Press and hold to turn on

Under the '<' button there is the following text: No

Under the > button there is the following text: No

The Inside Screen:

The screen is located on the top part of the phone it is slight inward of the phones sides so that the buttons can stick up more and so that the screen is more protected.

When the user presses one of the arrow buttons it displays the a contact name in alphabetical order, if the user presses the left had arrow button it will show the last alphabetical name in the list (e.g. Zara) however if the user presses the right arrowed button it will show the first alphabetical name in the contacts list (eg Adam). When in the contact name view, at the bottom of the screen in the corners are the words next (on the bottom right) and previous on the bottom left. If the user goes past the last contact in the list (right or left) then the normal screen is presented.

In the normal screen there is a battery bar which goes up the side of the screen. At the top of the screen there is a description of the current signal strength. So in a Strong signal area the phone displays the words Excellent Signal. However when in a low signal area it will display the words; Low signal. In the top right hand corner of the screen the current time is displayed and in the bottom middle the date is shown.

When the phone is open and the user scrolls on the volume control, a volume chart is displayed showing the current volume level. Scrolling up will add more bars to the chart (until the maximum is reached) and down will take them away.

When the user has missed a call the phone will display a message saying:

n Missed Call(s) (the s is added if n>1)

Name of contact on phone

Time of call

Call Don’t Call

n represents the number of missed calls, the missed calls are added on top of the previous so the last missed call is the one represented first. If the user selects don’t call then that missed call is deleted from the list and all the other missed calls from that contact are also deleted, the next missed call is then displayed. If the user selects Call, all of the missed calls in the list from that contact are removed from the list and when the call has finished the next missed call is displayed on the screen.

The Outside Screen:

When the user has missed a call, the words: Missed Call is displayed.

When the use has an incoming call the name of the contact is displayed on the screen.

When phone has none of the other information then a clock is displayed.

Volume Scroll

When the volume scroll is used with the phone shut, it does nothing. However when it is open the volume is increased when the scroll is moved upwards and it is decreased when it is moved downwards.

The Main Unit

The key unit has the following buttons: a standard 12 button phone keypad with slight larger than normal buttons, so 0-9 + # and *. On the bottom left of the keypad is a button for clearing the last entered number, is red with a c in the middle of it, it has the words cancel/clear underneath it. At the top of the buttons there are 4 quick call buttons each can be edited using the assign quick call button on the left of the main keypad. In this section there are 4 buttons in total and they read: Assign quick call button, add new number, delete number, and phone book. The buttons * and # are also labelled with the arrows <, > respectively. These are used to scroll though the contacts in the phone book, after this button has been selected.

When the phone book button is selected, the main screen for the unit displays the first name of the contact list in bold at the top of the screen with the number of the contact underneath it. If at this point the delete button is pressed the screen will show the following message: do you wish to delete this contact? If so press the * key if not press the # key. This prevents the user from accidentally deleting a contact from their phone. If the assign quick call button is used when a contact is on screen the software will display the following message on the screen: “Do you wish to add this as a quick call? Press the * for yes, # for no” followed by the next message if yes is selected: “Please select a quick call button to assign this number to”.

If the Add new number button is selected then the screen will first ask the user to put in the name of the new contact, this is done by entering each letter using the keypad, where 2 has the letters abc associated to it, so entering Adam would require one press of 2 then 3, 2, 6.

When a call is made the screen shows the current call in progress with a phone symbol and the name of the person being called.

The phone sits in a grove to the left of the keypad.

Technical Hardware

If the phone is to be successful then it will need to be part of the BT home fusion service so that it can reach the masses, for this to be successful the phone must use the same technologies currently offered by phones on the BT fusion service. These hardware abilities include: Wifi and Bluetooth. By using these technologies the phone can offer cheaper rates when in BT Wifi zones, in their house or when the user is around a friend’s house that also uses the same service. However this does mean that the rate for mobile calls not in these areas will be larger.

Monday 12 March 2007

Deirdre Questionnaire response

1. How easy was it to open the phone: [b] - comfortable

2. On opening the phone how easy was it to read the contact names: [a] - easy

3. When operating the key pad how easy was it to press the buttons: [a] - easy

4. How easy was it to maneuver through the list of contacts to find the one you wanted: [b] - comfortable

5. How easy was the phone to hold, to your ear, when making a call: [a] - easy

6. After pressing the middle button to make the call how easy was it to hear the person on the other end: [b] - audible

7. How easy was it to close the phone to finish a call: [a] - easy

· Adding a new number from contact card:

1. How did you find adding a contact to your phone: [b] – comfortable

· Dealing with a miss call:

1. How did you find handling with a miss call: [b] – comfortable

· Using the volume button:

1. How easy was it to locate the volume wheel: [b] – comfortable

2. How easy was it to use the volume wheel: [b] – comfortable

These are questions for the base’s functionality:

· Recharging the phone:

1. How easy is it to place the phone onto the base: [a] – easy

2. How clear is the beep that signals a connection with the base when the phone is placed on its holder: [a] – clear

· Adding/deleting a new contact:

3. How easy is it to use the buttons on the base to type in a new name and number: [a] – easy

4. How easy is it to read the text displayed on the screen of the base: [b] – comfortable

5. How easy is it to add a new contact to the phone: [b] – comfortable

7. How easy was it to pick up the phone from the base:[b] – comfortable

Any other comments:

The phone itself looks very modern and I have never encountered a flip phone before so this was a completely new concept for me to grasp. The phone was a little bit tricky to open as especially when receiving a call i could get it half way, but then i sometimes lost my grip and the phone shut, ending the call and not leaving any evidence of who has called. Once i got used to it the phone got a lot easier to use. The address book is really good as it means that I don't have to remember peoples numbers, and makes my life easier. Entering the numbers on the base is a very good idea as it means that I don't have to mess around with menus on the phone itself. The base is very good and will be a good replacement for our current cordless house phone, however i'm glad that we can still use our old phone as it has taken me long enough to get used to it! As I didn't have a mobile phone before, I didn't think that I would benefit from having one, but now when i go to the hairdressers I can give my husband a call when I have finished, which saves him waiting around. It also enables me to get in touch with him when he is out walking the dog, and my piece of mind has increased as a result. I think that the phone is a great idea and taking it out is mainly just for emergencies at the moment, but as the phone doubles as a house phone it has encouraged me to just keep it in my pocket all of the time. Having one for me and one for my husband is quite tricky as when someone calls and we both try to answer, I didn't know whether he was going to pick it up as well. Calling out doesn't have the same problem though with multiple outgoing calls being possible, and I think that this is a great feature.

Cath's Prototype Questionnaire

· Making a call/ Answering a call:

1. How easy was it to open the phone: [c] - difficult

2. On opening the phone how easy was it to read the contact names: [b] - comfortable

3. When operating the key pad how easy was it to press the buttons: [a] - easy

4. How easy was it to manoeuvre through the list of contacts to find the one you wanted:[b] - comfortable

5. How easy was the phone to hold, to your ear, when making a call: [b] - comfortable

6. After pressing the middle button to make the call how easy was it to hear the person on the other end: [a] - clear

7. How easy was it to close the phone to finish a call: [b] - comfortable
· Adding a new number from contact card:

1. How did you find adding a contact to your phone: [b] – comfortable

· Dealing with a miss call:

1. How did you find handling with a miss call: [a] – easy

· Using the volume button:

1. How easy was it to locate the volume wheel: [b] – comfortable

2. How easy was it to use the volume wheel: [b] – comfortable

These are questions for the base’s functionality:

· Recharging the phone:

1. How easy is it to place the phone onto the base: [a] – easy

2. How clear is the beep that signals a connection with the base when the phone is placed on its holder: [b] - audible

· Adding/deleting a new contact:

3. How easy is it to use the buttons on the base to type in a new name and number: [b] – comfortable

4. How easy is it to read the text displayed on the screen of the base: [b] – comfortable

5. How easy is it to add a new contact to the phone: [b] – comfortable

7. How easy was it to pick up the phone from the base: [a] – easy

Any other comments:

(The following was received by post)

Dear Matthew,

Thanking you for letting me take part in this free trial, my friend and I spent a good hour setting the phone up, It looks very swish! I currently have a Nokia mobile phone and I find it a bit confusing, it takes me a couple of minutes to make a call and text messaging seems way beyond me.

So it was nice to a simple phone that I could use around the house and take out with me when shopping in town. I do keep every thing in my hand bag and sometimes I struggle to find it as the insides of my bag are black and I often miss the call. However the ring back option is rather useful and it helps me a great deal.

The fact that is acts like a house phone when I'm at home is marvellous as I don't need to rush to get to the phone and Its good to feel secure that if I have fallen over I can contact my family with ease without needing to do much movement.

I do find at times the phone seems to slip out of the holder on the base unit and fall on the floor! no worries it still works fine!

Yours Sincerely,

Catherine Turner

Ronald's questionnaire

Prototype Questionnaire (Ronald):

These are questions for the phone’s functionality:

· Making a call/ Answering a call:

1. How easy was it to open the phone: [b] - comfortable

2. On opening the phone how easy was it to read the contact names: [a] - easy

3. When operating the key pad how easy was it to press the buttons: [a] - easy

4. How easy was it to maneuver through the list of contacts to find the one you wanted: [a] - easy

5. How easy was the phone to hold, to your ear, when making a call: [b] - comfortable

6. After pressing the middle button to make the call how easy was it to hear the person on the other end: [a] - clear

7. How easy was it to close the phone to finish a call:[b] - comfortable

· Adding a new number from contact card:

1. How did you find adding a contact to your phone: [b] – comfortable

· Dealing with a miss call:

1. How did you find handling with a miss call: [a] – easy

· Using the volume button:

1. How easy was it to locate the volume wheel: [b] – comfortable

2. How easy was it to use the volume wheel: [a] – easy

These are questions for the base’s functionality:

· Recharging the phone:

1. How easy is it to place the phone onto the base:[b] – comfortable

2. How clear is the beep that signals a connection with the base when the phone is placed on its holder: [a] – clear

· Adding/deleting a new contact:

3. How easy is it to use the buttons on the base to type in a new name and number: [b] – comfortable

4. How easy is it to read the text displayed on the screen of the base: [a] – easy

5. How easy is it to add a new contact to the phone: [b] – comfortable

7. How easy was it to pick up the phone from the base: [b] – comfortable

Any other comments:

(the following was left on the answer phone)

Hello Matthew,

I was just finishing my crossword when Jen, our lovely postlady (must remember to ask her how her new born is doing) delivered your phone. The first thing to say about it is the base unit seems to extremely large compared to our current phone. However it still fits on our trusty table near the front door.

It seemed very easy to setup, and i was most pleased with the healthy sized screen, i didn't need to take my glasses off to read to it! (Most impressed). One thing that we are not so sure on is whether our other house phones can work along side this device there was no mention of it in your letter.

Once running we seemed to be getting on alright, we did the first test with me at the end of the garden, Shelia's voice was so clear. This phone will be ideal for when we out in the garden, as we can never hear our current phone and we don't like to think that we have missed important phone calls. We also felt that we would like to be able to have the phone around our neck, so that if we are in the garden that we do not forget it in a rush, say if it was starting to rain and having to go inside quickly, or so that we get to it in time before the call is ended, as i can see this happening if it is in one of our pockets. (That blasted squirrel is back again, hang on.........).

I had no trouble opening the phone but alas my wife could open it but not with great ease she could not get a proper grip under the top side of the phone to get it open and often ends up moving the volume wheel (not sure if this does any changes, I always make sure that she rolls it back just in case).

I not sure if the phone allows for text messages, but i often get these from the family when they are on holiday! I admit that I hate texting relatives and prefer to call them so sending them is not really an option! I was just wondering whether if the phone allows for me to read text messages that I get sent? this was not mentioned in the manual and would be something i would miss from a normal mobile phone.

Overall I think the phone is very useful as I no longer get in trouble for not leaving in time to pick up Shelia when she is doing one of her many guide meetings and I can keep in touch when out walking or shopping without getting confused with all the buttons on these new mobile phones!

Hope to hear from you soon

Tuesday 6 March 2007

Prototype Questionnaire:

The design of the phone is now complete so to test the phone’s functionality and ergonomics we have devised a questionnaire to give to the end user. We will evaluate the feed back and make modifications to our prototype.

Under the demonstration that the installer gives to the user and their helpers (children or friend) 5 simple tasks they need for the phones general use also shown to the user.

1. Open phone to start any communication.
2. When phone is open to make a call, press '<' & '>' keys' to find the number you want to call then press the middle button to make the call.
3. To stop all processes close the phone.
4. To recharge the phone place it closed on its holder and wait for the beep.
5. To answer a call, open the phone.

These are questions for the phone’s functionality:

· Making a call/ Answering a call:

1. How easy was it to open the phone: [a] - easy [b] - comfortable [c] - difficult

2. On opening the phone how easy was it to read the contact names: [a] - easy [b] - comfortable [c] - difficult

3. When operating the key pad how easy was it to press the buttons: [a] - easy [b] - comfortable [c] – difficult

4. How easy was it to maneuver through the list of contacts to find the one you wanted: [a] - easy [b] - comfortable [c] - difficult

5. How easy was the phone to hold, to your ear, when making a call: [a] - easy [b] - comfortable [c] - difficult

6. After pressing the middle button to make the call how easy was it to hear the person on the other end: [a] - clear [b] - audible [c] - unclear

7. How easy was it to close the phone to finish a call: easy [b] - comfortable [c] - difficult

· Adding a new number from contact card:

1. How did you find adding a contact to your phone: [a] – easy [b] – comfortable [c] - difficult

2. If difficult what part of adding the contact did you not understand: [a] – The fact that a person had sent you a new number and name to add to the phone contacts, [b] – The operations needed to add the contact to the phones contacts, [c] – another reason

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………..............................................................................

· Dealing with a miss call:

1. How did you find handling with a miss call: [a] – easy [b] – comfortable [c] – difficult

2. If difficult what part of handling with a miss call did you not understand: [a] – the fact that you did not understand that someone had tried to call you [b] – the operations needed to reply to the person who you missed or cancel the operation, [c] – another reason

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………..............................................................................

· Using the volume button:

1. How easy was it to locate the volume wheel: [a] – easy [b] – comfortable [c] – difficult

2. How easy was it to use the volume wheel: [a] – easy [b] – comfortable [c] – difficult

3. If difficult, what part of using the wheel did you find difficult: [a] – the concept of turning on the function by clicking up the wheel then altering the volume, [b] – the size of the wheel is too small, [c] – another reason

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………........................................................................................

These are questions for the base’s functionality:

· Recharging the phone:

1. How easy is it to place the phone onto the base: [a] – easy [b] – comfortable [c] – difficult.

2. How clear is the beep that signals a connection with the base when the phone is placed on its holder: [a] – clear [b] - audible [c] – unclear

· Adding/deleting a new contact:

3. How easy is it to use the buttons on the base to type in a new name and number: [a] – easy [b] – comfortable [c] – difficult

4. How easy is it to read the text displayed on the screen of the base: [a] – easy [b] – comfortable [c] – difficult

5. How easy is it to add a new contact to the phone: [a] – easy [b] – comfortable [c] – difficult

6. If difficult, what part of the process did you find difficult: [a] – the process in which a number is added, [b] – the ability to add a name using the keys, [c] – any other difficulty

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………..............................................................................

7. How easy was it to pick up the phone from the base: [a] – easy [b] – comfortable [c] – difficult
Any other comments:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Monday 5 March 2007

Interface Ideas

Hi guys,

Just thought I would post some ideas to outline the behaviour of the interface, let me know what you think. Matt I have built on your points specified in the hardware section of the blog.

Sunday 4 March 2007

BT's current home mobile service

Current BT phone options

BT have a service called BT Fusion which was launched in June 2005, which was then offered to businesses in September of that year. The service offers customers a phone contract that works as a house phone and a mobile phone, when the phone is in the house it works off the house's land line, but when the phone is outside the house it works off the mobile network. In order to do this the phone uses two technologies, first blue tooth, this is installed to the customers house so that the phone will connect to the blue tooth signal when in range. This allows for cheaper calls as it does not need to connect to the mobile network and therefore reducing the price of calls for the customer. The second is the mobile network, which works the same as any normal mobile phone. However as BT do own any mobile masts it has to pay for the use of them to the big mobile companies, this has lead to the price for a call when using the mobile network (Global System for Mobile Communications) to greater than it would using a normal mobile phone contract.

In December 2006, BT released Wifi with its BT Fusion service meaning that any calls made in a BT OpenZone (a area that has Wireless Access controlled by BT) will be cheaper meaning that their phone contracts are more appealing to customers. This access to Wifi also allows the phone to access the internet, and as the service is Wifi is this cheaper than that of the 3G service currently offered by the big mobile companies.

The current BT Fusion hub also allows friends (who have the same service at home) to use as well, providing a pin is inserted, they can get cheaper minutes whilst at a friends address. The current phones being offered by BT for this service are: Nokia 6136, Motorola A910, Samsung P200(coming soon). All phones support Wifi, a 1.3m camera and have a mp3 player.

Wednesday 28 February 2007

3D Models of Prototype

Here are some 3D models of our initial prototype, to make it easier to design and to show other people our design.

The phone features the 3 main buttons on it, with the wheel button on the side for volume.

There is a screen on the front of the phone as well.

The main base unit, features a slot for docking the phone for charging, and updating. It has buttons and an extra large display to allow users to enter new numbers to the phone book on the phone and delete numbers.

Note regarding origin of work:
These models were downloaded from http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ a 3D-model sharing service, and then adapted to our needs, therefore they are not the complete work of ourselves.

Summary of Results for Questionnaire on Phone Usage

Here is the summary of the results obtained from the questionnaire we gave out to elderly people on their mobile phone usage (including on our persona's).

They use their mobile phones infrequently:

Ranging from once a every couple of days to never.

75% generally don't take the mobile phone out with them
100% tried to use it and the battery was flat
100% have difficulties using their mobile phone.
100% have difficulty remembering how to do things on the phone
100% have difficulty remembering what button does what
75% have difficulty seeing writing on the screen or buttons
100% had the phone bought for them
100% consider a mobile phone useful to them in different situations, including an emergency
When struggling with new technology:

50% ask a friend/relative for help
25% give up
25% consult the manual

These results will be useful in designing our phone to try and tackle the areas where elderly people have problems using mobile phones currently.

Final Meeting To Discuss Prototype

These are the pictures that have been taken during our final meeting to discuss our prototype. As you will see, this is the final idea that we have come up with.

It is a combination of a house and mobile phone that is specifically designed for elderly people. The specification of the handset will be disccussed in a future post.

Some Ideas for Specification on the Prototype

Ideas for Phone

Guys, just thought I would list down some ideas for our phone project and things that we will have to consider on the specification side of things. I think that is important to consider these as we will need to come up with a model that is as realistic as possible. These are only scratching the surface and ideas, so its something to talk about when we next meet.

SPECIFICATION:

• If we are going to look at something for current generation of old people and perhaps not straight away the next generation of old people, need to look at a time scale of a product being able to last in the region of above ten years.
• Old people will not replace phones as rapidly as a younger generation.
• Make new technology “invisible” to old people, but useful to others.
• Expansion in market is rapid so need to have a good footing within market to begin with.

Typical things to look at:
• Network access:
o Current standard of GSM acceptable currently for just calls, but for OTT (over the air transmission) upgrades not an option as data transmission is too slow.
o 3G/HSDPA/EDGE all technologies that provide a much faster data transmission rate that is ideal of OTT, but in early stages of roll out for expansive coverage within the UK. But need to look at alternatives to GSM because of the possibility of the network being phased out.
o WiFi/WiMax not to be ruled out in case networks switch to using IP structure instead of a cell structure. Also useful for OTT.
o Making it QUAD Band to run on all GSM network frequencies would be easier for a mass roll out to all countries.
• Connectivity
o Don’t know if we will require anything like Bluetooth in there, but might be an option to but in due to the new law coming in about 3 points on driving licences if caught using a phone. Some old people will drive new cars, for example having access to mobility allowance, and newer cars are now coming with integrated handsfree sets that connect via this option. Just a thought about this.
o Backup to wireless connectivity to upgrade the phone? Such as mini-USB, pop port is another example although we couldn’t use it in this case because registered to Nokia.
• Optimisation of battery life
o If we are not having a screen, then battery life will go through the roof! Need to look at ways to extend this to a maximal level, i.e. turning off transmission modes when not in suitable areas, wireless will take a lot of power.

Also, we have mentioned tracking in the last meeting and the idea came to me a few days that this will be quite simple. This year you will find that the latest thing to have in a mobile telephone will be GPS equipped phones, with Nokia launching there N95 in April to kick things off. If we can incorporate GPS in the phone, then we can always find that persons phone from anywhere.

Few things to be thinking about guys.

Scott

Meeting To Discuss Prototype

At our first meeting to discuss our prototype model we came up with many good ideas, although our finally specification on it has not yet come into place. Below are the photos from our meeting sessions:

There are pictures from two meetings, with the second being held to draw up some of the ideas that we had from the first meeting.

Tuesday 20 February 2007

Grand Parents result

This is my granddads questionairre:

This is my grandmas questionairre:

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire results from my grandparent.

Deirdre Questionnaire Results

Here are the results of the questionnaire for Deirdre's persona.

Hopefully the photos are legible.

Ian

Monday 19 February 2007

More on what Old people use currently

Just thought i'd post a couple of pics up as to what my grandparents currently use regarding communications equipment, firstly the house phone:

As you can see, really basic, everything easy to use, very straightforward.

The Mobile Phone:

The phone was given to them as it was someone elses, and they do struggle on how to use it. buttons quite small, only advantage is that it has a larger button to answer calls. Other than that, it is quite tricker for the older user.

Thursday 15 February 2007

Existing phones on the market

Done a quick search for existing mobile phones that are aimed at elderly people, to give us some idea of what has been done, and a bit of inspiration for the design of ours.

This is the Silverphone.

A very neat and simple design, but lacks basic functionality, like any simple method to change the preset numbers stored. Also holding the green button for 5 seconds calls 999, and there appears to be no keypad lock feature. More info here.

Believe it or not this is a mobile phone from a Czech company that has received orders of over 100,000 of them. It's basically looks and functions like a house phone with mobile capabilities inside it. More info here, here.

This is a Japanese mobile aimed at the elderly, with no screen, and no pre-entered numbers, you just press the green button then dial your number, just like you would on a house phone. More info here.

Also worth a read is here, where a phone for blind people has been made that uses a speech synthesiser to read everything that would normally appear on the screen. Obviously great for the blind, but might be a bit tiresome for elderly who can still see.

I think the Japanese one is the best, it combines the best of both worlds, simplicity and familiarity of a house phone, with portability and convenience of a mobile phone. The other two fail to do this. The first is portable but has lost functionality, the second has plenty of functionality but is hardly portable.

This is all I could find really, so there is clearly a need for a decent mobile phone for the elderly.

Tuesday 13 February 2007

1st Draft of Questionnaire

It was agreed during the meeting I would produce a 1st draft for the questionnaire, so here it is.
Comments positive/negative welcome!

____________________________________________________________________

1 .Do you own a mobile phone?
Yes
No

If you answered No to the previous question go to question 10.

2. In general how often do you use your mobile phone?
More than once a day
Once a day
Once every couple of days
Once a week
Once a fortnight
Once a month
Less than once a month
Never

3. How long do you use your mobile phone for each time?
Less than a minute
Between 1-3 minutes
Between 3-10 minutes
More than 10 minutes

4. Do you generally take your mobile phone out with you?
Most the time I take it
Most the time I don't take it
Evenly take it and leave it

5. Is your mobile phone switched on when you are out?
Most the time it is on
Most the time it is off
Equally On and Off

6. Have you ever tried to use your mobile phone and the battery is flat?
Yes
No

7. Do you have any difficulties using your mobile phone?
Yes
No

If you answered No to the previous question, go to question 9.

8. Tick the areas you have difficulty with:
Difficulty seeing writing on the screen or buttons
Difficulty hearing people on a call
Difficulty remembering how to do things on the phone
Difficulty remembering what button does what

9. Did you buy your mobile phone, or was it bought for you?
I bought it
It was bought for me

10. Can you think of situations when you are out when having a mobile phone would be useful to you?
Yes
No

11. Do you a mobile phone would be useful to you in an emergency?
Yes
No
____________________________________________________________________

The questions are trying to cover a range of issues, such as:

Do elderly people consider a mobile phone having any benefit to them
What the problems with their current phone are
What the problems with the usage of the phone are such as, leaving it off, not charging it, not taking it with them.
How frequently they use their phone

Lots of the questions are geared towards their attitudes towards mobile phones (technology in general), as well as the difficulties they have using them. As I feel that their attitude towards technology is just as important as any health issues that prevent them using a mobile phone as successfully as the younger generation.

Collected ideas from Research

From the persona's and the pictures taken from the houses that mine and Scott's grandparents live in, I have categorised some main points that will aid in the design of a prototype and also enable us to come up with a questionnaire to get feed back from the users what sort of phone would suit their needs. The points are as follows:

The phone will have to be carried around with the user in the house and when traveling to other destinations. Some sort of carrying mechanism must be introduced to facilitate this.
Arthritis and dexterity are a hindrance to this sector of society so there must be a control placed on the size of buttons used on the device.
Sight is also another factor which will mean if text is to be displayed digitally or on labels they must be of a god size.
With the addition of the following two points they must not make the phone to cumbersome for the user as it would become a nuisance and the phone would not be used.
The hearing of an individual may vary so testing must be done on to what range of volume output would suit the market we are looking at. This is when a blue tooth hearing aid may be used with the strength of the currently prescribed aid the user has.
The phone must be recharged somewhere and so setting up 'a cradle' must come with a good location and easy installation etc.
Will Aesthetics be important?

Specific Points to persona's:

Deidre: The phone would be useful when communicating with her husband when he takes the dog for a walk. She often goes shopping the phone would be useful if she had a fall and needed to contact someone (old people generally don't call the emergency services. They make do or maybe call their partner), or when if there was a complication when she needed to be picked up from the hairdressers .

Catherine: still to do after amendments

Ronald: still to do after amendments

All of these points give an idea of the specification the phone must have. the main features the phone would need to address are:

Communication
Easy of use
Reliable (signal, different locations)
Maintainable (Battery life, updating software, updating phone numbers)
Cheap

Thinking into market research of phones already available, they must have some of these features to be valuable for our phones design of prototype.

Monday 12 February 2007

Market Research

Browsing the web I came across a Retirement Exhibition with information on the exhibition and an overview of the ideas behind it. I believe these points are vital and allow us to think laterally our design geared to this sector of the society. The following points are taken from the pdf:

• Twenty million people in the UK - or one-third of the
population - are over 50.
• The over-50s control 80% of the UK’s wealth, have little or no
debt and huge spending power.
• The retired/semi-retired/aspire-to-retire don’t work, take
more holidays than younger people and indulge in a wide
variety of leisure pursuits.
• The over 50s are going to be the driving force in the UK
economy over the next 30 years as baby boomers move into
the next phase of their lives.
• By 2031, the number of people aged 80 and over will rise from
2.2 million to 4.9 million.
• More than 70% of current 50-somethings have no mortgage
to pay, leaving them with a 30% higher disposable income than
younger generations.
• The pot of assets and cash held by people over 50 is valued at
over UK£175 billion.

As we can see the vast wealth in this sector and the possible revenue pitching an idea at this group will provide. We have thought primarily about health and mobility related issues where as these other topics taken from the pdf will allow us to think of some more ideas that may have relevant to our designs:

GARDENING - A hobby, love and a tradition
HEALTH - A lot of ideas can come from this area, we have already come up with a few
FINANCE - Capital and investments to be maintained and used effectively
ANTIQUES - Getting some extra money for holidays and outings or just collecting for personal pleasure
SIMPLY DANCING - A hobby celebrated from the war era and taken up again in later life
PROPERTY - Current property and invested property assets with also a view to leaving it to their families in their will.
TRAVEL - possibly the biggest expenditure for this sector on such companies like SAGA

All of these areas have possible attruibutes linked to them weather it be hardware to aid the users in the activities or software to pursue and facilitate their ideas. I feel in the next team meeting we should take and brain storm some of these ideas for that purpose. Also if we extend Darrens persona's and then we may be able to make a final pitch for the design we wish to do.

Looking at the questionnaire I feel that if we try to develop task analysis' for the persona's and pitch questions aimed at the main points that we extrapolate from them. This should also be brought up in the meeting to get a good variety of opinions and allows us to screen the questions before their distribution.

Comments on Personas and the Next Phase

Guys,

Think we have some good ideas on the personas, but have some suggestions on how we can make these better.

Think that the two that Darren have put up need a bit more detail on the characteristic side of things. Think that the day-to-day side of them are fine, just need to come up with a few more details to make these people as real as possible. We need to build an accurate description that is helpful, does everyone agree with this?

As well, me and Matt discussed doing a questionaire to give to our grandparents to complete, thinking that this would be helpful. Do we have any more ideas for market research?

Friday 9 February 2007

Deidre Higgingbottom Persona

Background

Deirdre Higgingbottom is a 70 year old lady who lives with her husband in Northumberland. She suffers from arthritis, and her condition has worsoned over the last 5 years, and her mobility has been seriously affected as a result. Deirdre also suffered a nasty fall in 2005 which put her in hospital for 3 months as she needed knee surgery. The operation has restricted Deirdre from leading her every day life, and routine walks to the shops have been replaced by car journeys. The village she lives in is very small with a friendly population, however her house is located on the side of a steep hilltop, with the main village being at the bottom of the hill. Deidre has recently invested in a buggy to help her get around, but her independent attitude makes her not want to use it.Although Deirdre does rely on her husband to drive her to the shops, she still likes to go to the hairdressers and meet with friends without having to drag him around. She has 5 grandchildren and 3 children, and they frequently come to visit them, but they live at opposite ends of the country so Deirdre feels that it's her responsibility to provide hosptiality for them when they visit. Christmas is usually the busiest time for her as she cooks christmas dinner for the family, but her recent fall has made this increasingly more difficult as standing for long periods is no longer possible.

Interests

Prior to her fall, Deirdre enjoyed walking the dog through the woods behind her house, visiting national trust attractions, gardening, entertaining friends and family, bird watching, and baking amongst other interests. Now with the reduced mobility, she struggles to take part in these kind of activities. She spends a lot of time reading the newspapers as she gets three per day, and enters the telegraph crossword competitions every day. Cooking and baking is something that she manages to do every now and again, but not a frequently as previous years, leaving some of the resposibility to her husband. As the couple live in a quiet location, bird watching is still possible for Deirdre but she usually has to do this from the house rather then visiting other areas. She still manages to get out to national trust sites but has be pushed round in a wheelchair by her husband as most of the attractions involve nature trails, or just generally activities that involve a lot of walking or standing.

Daily life

A typical day for Deirdre usually follows a frequent routine. She will get up at about 8am and make some breakfast for herself and her husband. Her husband will then take the dog out for a walk which usually lasts for about half an hour, and when he comes back he will pick the papers up from the postbox at the bottom of the drive. While she is waiting she will usually clear up the breakfast plates and put the dishwasher on. She can then read the papers which will take her up to about lunchtime where the couple enjoy a cold lunch of rolls and cold meats. After lunch the couple drive down to the village to go to the co-op and just generally look around the shops. They usually run into friends and talk to them about the weather and their holidays. Deirdre may then go and get her hair cut and coloured at the local hairdresser which will take about an hour or so. Her husband returns then to pick her up at an agreed time and then the couple go back up the house.They can then settle down and do the crosswords/read the papers before they need to cook dinner. This is usually something quite simple like pork chops or chicken, but most of the cooking is done by her husband. She does lend a hand though as she doesn't like being waited on. They will then eat tea, clear up the dishes and then settle down infront of the fire with a glass of whiskey & water or brandy. They usually put on BBC news 24 and maybe read some magazines. Both of them usually fall asleep in their arm chairs around 8.30 and wake up every now and again to do some more reading. Deirdre will have a bath about ten o clock and then head off to bed.

Other Activities

Deirdre and her husband enjoy going on caravan holidays to france and italy. They have their own caravan and usually go about twice a year, with a third non-caravan holday to somewhere further afield. These holidays are usually for a few weeks and Deirdre's husband does all of the driving as she hasn't had a licence for about 20 years. These holidays are all funded from their pensions, as the pair both had very important jobs as doctor and midwife before they retired. This enables them to live quite comfortably and enjoy their retirements.

Thursday 8 February 2007

More on The Elderly Environment

Hi Guys,

Got some more pictures of the elderly environment for us to look at. They show just one view of a home of the age range that we are looking at:

The Bedroom
Shows a soft side in this persons life, caring, organized side that should and will not be forgotten.

The Hallway
Narrow but not too long in distance, sometimes a bit awkward to get through.

Another view of the hallway
Can just see the phone on the table there, simple setup leading to a spacious bedroom/utility room.

The Kitchen
Quite small but more than suitable for two people. Everything is to hand such as boiler, fridge and washing machine to name a few. All have simple controls to operate and occupants get on fine with them.

Stairway
Can see the two guide rails that are either side to help with accessibity to the outside. Strong secuirty to make occupants feel safe but concrete stairs can prove nasty for a fall.

Assistance for Elderly

Commenting on the last post, glad that we now have clarification on the direction in which we are taking.

Focusing on the market that we are aiming for and trying to develop our personas a bit further, I have taken some more photos of an example environment in which the elderly live in.

I know someone who has currently just been awarded some free accessibility equipment to help mobility around the household.

The first picture that I wish to share with you is a chair that assists with ironing:

The Chair in the bottom-right corner is so that the user does not have to stand as much/ not at all. It address' the fact that a user does not have the stamina to keep stood up throughout the entire process.

Second Item is a chair that is in such a position that it enables a user to get up easily:

The reason for production of such an item is that low down, soft furnitures are not exactly designed with old people in mind. The posture of this chair is such that getting up is made easier due to its tall build and is of a firmness so that you dont sink into it, although its not exactly the most comfortable either!

The next item is a basically a litter picker:

It is used to pick up objects off the ground without having the need to bend down. This makes it much more easy to move items without causing too much stress to backs, legs and other muscles that no longer have the energy to move around as freely. We need to remember that movement is greatly restricted within the age group we are concerned with, so need to make things simple and straightforward.

The final item I am going to share with everyone is something to help put your tights on. Its basically two slips in which each legging fits over and the flexible cord that is attached is pulled up until the tights are in the required position. Because the slips are not of full cyclinderical proportion and more of a half moon shape, the device then slips of quite easily.

Thats all I have for here, but I think that the more inside information that we have towards our audience the better. Any thoughts get back to me.

Thursday 29 March 2007