Design Thingking (Rucha Tulaskar)

Not many years ago, technology and design were considered as distinct areas. But now, while technology makes lives simpler, design simplifies complex technology and explains it to the user.

My project idea attempts to simplify parents’ lives by introducing a platform where they can manage their events with the help of technology and design. Technically speaking, it is a calendar with the option of creating events and reminders, but with the unique design, it has become an intelligent, easy-to-use assistant.

For a busy parent, it is important that all data related to them or their children shows up quickly and accurately. This assistant not only indicates the busiest day of the user with the help of heat map, but also represents the events through icons. This visual assistant uses mobile gestures smartly to make it user friendly. It revolves around a parent’s life and reflects important events like PTA meetings, summer holidays, classes, car pools, exams and so on. The design is a reflection of Indian parents’ life and working methods. This journey of an idea which gets converted into a unique design is an experience of its own.

Transcript

1. Rucha Tulaskar, UXINDIA13 Conference Presentation
2. Design Thinking Design unfolds the process of user experience and technology. This journey turns a product into a unique creation. Rucha Tulaskar ruchatulaskar@yahoo.com
3. Abstract • In design thinking, an idea travels through a process that involves a contextual enquiry which shows what to empathize, an insight which tells how to define, a design process which helps to ideate with prototype and a UT which shows how much the idea is reflecting into the final output • In this process, design is a mode of thought. It is an expression to generate and develop ideas. It can be wisely use to reach to a vast number of target audiences across different cultures. • When a thought of creating an assistant for Indian parents (in the form of an app) came forward, a design based output is what was looked at. It is a journey of an idea through design which revolves around parents and their support systems. Stanford University Institute of Design
4. Introduction • The technology is giving everyone an opportunity to make their lives easy. A design can present a complex product easily. But the use of it is yet to widespread among each and every need. • Though India is the most promising and growing market for mobile phones and Internet, the needs of Parents and their support systems in India is one of the neglected segments. Not many apps are targeted towards them. • This may be because this group has a lot of inherent diversity. The needs of parents change according to cultural background and lifestyles. Singh Vineet and Copperbridge Media: on Shodh Research, visual.ly
5. Target audience • Indian parents, especially young working parents, who manage busy schedules, multitask, and have a high mobile usage • Support systems of Indian parents (grandparents, caretakers, friends and so on) Parents Friend Day care center caretaker Grandparents Personas Tulaskar Rucha
6. Contextual data: Needfinding • Parents manage schedules and events with the help of a calendar. • These events comprise personal work, work related to their children, and household things. • Generally print or digital calendars do not have the flexibility to accommodate various categorized events with unique identification for each type. • Illiterate or less-educated maids and day care center owners are not considered while designing a parent friendly app.
7. Insights • Calendars launched by foreign developers neither fit into Indian lifestyle, culture nor their way of growing kids. • Traditional calendars or apps don’t allow users to customize according to their needs • The communication between the support systems like caretakers, maids or grandparents and parents is overlooked by the developers. From http://tentotwenty.com
8. Parent Notice and Circulars Daycare center • Communicate for classes/ school timings, holidays • Daily routine instructions • Tiffin Grandparents • Communicate for daily routine • Doctor’s appointments, medicine reminders School teacher • Homework, holidays • Exams, competitions, projects, Annual gathering etc. • Special instructions Friends and PTA members • Attending meetings • Communicate for portion • Activities Activities and classes • Sending kid on time as per schedule • Class related materials as per instructions Fees, Circulars, Materials Emails, Phone calls Work • Attending meetings • Remembering work schedules Household work • Many routine things including grocery, cooking, cleaning etc. • Bill payments, work lists, managing maids Kid • Homework • Carpool • Projects • Holidays Spouse • Kid related communication • Holiday planning Role of a parent around kid related activities Flow model
9. Goals • Creating a calendar app for Indian parents and their support systems. • Visually strong, easy to understand UI that can be used by even a less- educated person • Categorization according to their cultural events and lifestyle • Customizable for every person’s needs • Sharing through cross-platform for a better communication between users. App for parents in India Indianised Customization Communication between users Categorized events User friendly UI
10. Conceptual models: Use of heat map • Since the user is a busy person, it is essential that the app should provide the maximum information in a glance • This graphical representation of data where the individual values contained in a matrix are represented as colors • Heat map reflects the hectic schedule of the user. • Lightest colour reflects the busiest the day in the calendar whereas the darkest colour represents a not so busy day. Implications to design A busy day
11. • Events are categorized to reflect the culture and lifestyle of Indian parents. • Icons represent the things that a parent’s life revolves around: kids, household and office. • These specially designed icons not only connect with target audience, but also help a less educated person to understand the content. • Icons are designed to represent the categories such as Family, Kids, Education, Activities, Festivals, Health, Travel, Office, and so on. Implications to design Conceptual models: Icon based design
12. • To give users with a consistent, intuitive experience, gestures play important part in user interaction • Adding touch-based interaction to the app greatly increases its usefulness and appeal • Since the gestures may not be available to all users in all contexts, there are general options provided for low-end devices Implications to design Conceptual models: Gesture based UI
13. • Communication is of prime importance in an app for parents. • Sharing an event with others is made easy by cross-platform sharing through mail, SMS, Bluetooth, and so on. • A UI which will fit into all kind of OS versions and mobiles was designed precisely. Implications to design Conceptual models: Communication through sharing Bluetooth SMS .ics file Mail Mobile App Whatsapp, Facebook
14. • All main features reflect in the interface design. • Creating a UI design for different type of users is a challenge. • Customization option helps user to be comfortable with the interface • It is natural for users to get connected to their own culture-based interface. Implications to design UI integration: Customization and Heuristics
15. • As the technology is changing the world, it is essential to develop specialized products according to the different cultural and lifestyle needs. • Parents in India are one of the main target audiences for new wave products. This multi-prerequisite group has different demands as it involves other personas too • Indian, customizable, sharable and visually strong are the four keys of future products • There is a huge opportunity for designers and developers to create products around these four key aspects as they can be blend in many other products like household work related app, apps for kids, social networking etc. Conclusion and future work
16. Acknowledgments • I am grateful to Mr. Agnelo Marques for his incredible help in this project and the paper. • I sincerely thank Prof. Aniruddha Joshi for guiding through HCI process. • I am thankful to my team members without whom this project wouldn’t have been achieved • In particular I would like to thank Mrs. Sangeeta Augasine and Anjana Nagabhushana for their suggestions and help.
17. 1. Prof. Joshi Anirudha: Mobile Phones and Economic Sustainability– Perspectives from India [Conference] (EISE 2009); London; 2009 2. Prof. Joshi Anirudha: Human computer interaction [course material], 2013 3. Family Farshad: Connecting and Engaging with Digital Indian Consumers, Nielsen 2011 4. Klemmer Scott: Human-Computer Interaction [Lecture], 2.0 Needfinding, Stanford University Institute of Design 5. Sen Apurba: Indian online woman and moms [PPT], Trendsspotting.com 6. Nielson: Smartphones keep users in India plugged in, 2013 7. Singh Vineet and Copperbridge Media: What marketers need to know about mobile App Usage in India? (2012)[Infographics], Is your site speaking the language of the land? (2013); Shodh Research and visual.ly 8. Garrett Jesse James: The elements of user experience pp. 18-31, New Riders (2010) 9. Norman Donald: The Design of Everyday Things 7.0 pp.187-240, Basic Books (1988) 10. Wikipedia. org: Design thinking [Wikipage] 11. Beyer Hugh and Holtzblatt Karen: Contextual Design, Morgan Kaufmann (1998) 12. Ten To Twenty: Four Apps to Lessen the Gap Between Parents & Teens, Parenting technology; 2013 References
18. Thank you