Oct 15 - Navigation Design

Consider your projects, and discuss some of the issues that may arise when designing a navigation structure for the interaction. 

My project is an interactive installation designed to involve users standing in a queue. It features a very simple concept requiring a relatively flat learning curve due to the short time available to learn the interface and enjoy a satisfying experience. 

As such:

That the piece is interactive needs to be readily inferable, interacting an attractive and enticing proposition, and the intent of the interactivity readily deducible from the layout and any exploratory interacting.

The availability of actions and options need to be constrained to a minimum, and those options and their outcomes made readily apparent or easily undoable.

The motions need to be simple and natural as there will be little time for new motor skill acquisition

Because it is possibly a one-time only experience, and it occurs in a public area with distractions and quite probably an audience, the cognitive load should be kept low, “terminal” mistakes should be prevented, choices made recoverable, and successful action made easily attainable.  Options should appear only as needed and vanish from the cognitive load afterwards. 

Also to be considered, though, is that many of the users frequent the Tim Hortons regularly if not frequently and therefore may have a number of repeat exposures to the piece. If there can be a level of meaning or outcomes revealed to those who come many times, that would add depth and perhaps longevity by defraying the sense of “I’ve seen all there is to see here”. 

In a smart home scenario, discuss some of the problems with designing help systems, and some potential solutions. 

Some general problems with designing smart home systems include:

Distracted users – the home is a busy place and users may not be paying attention either to input or feedback. 

- possible solutions here include alerts, utilizing sight-lines to locate affordances and feedback mechanisms, timing feedback to occur directly with input and direct the feedback at a sense that corresponds to the input (i.e. tactile such as vibration or force-feedback corresponding to manual input).

Users are frequently engaged in the task and it occupies some of their ability to give input or receive feedback – either with filled hands/mouth/eyes, inability to leave a location, cognitive load. Input/Feedback devices that were built into the tools or the location that correspond to the smart tools that the user desires to recruit could help with this. Additionally, the house could be “smart enough” that – through observation of the activities of the user could offer help. 

Misinterpreting signals – the smart home could misinterpret signals and act to implement actions the user did not wish to have happen. This could be prevented by having the house offer help and require the user to approve but I can imagine this being quite annoying if not done quickly and subtlely.

Security – a computer system produces its own set of insecurities which could be exploited by someone seeking to gain entry to the house, vandalize, or defraud. Most breaks in security systems are human failures – leaving locks unlocked, passwords besides keypads, etc. Designing the security system for human usability could help.

System failure/lockout – a failure in the system could lock users out of their media, appliances, or home. A failure could result in safety mechanisms not operating. Care would have to be made to design systems to announce their dysfunction as a failure-default mode (i.e. “no power” draws power from a batter to announce a power failure). Essential systems should have redundancy and software failure should return machines to “dumb” functionality so that, even if you can’t program the oven you can use it.

Some of the categories of things “smartened” in a Smart Home include:

Lighting – controlling which lights go on when and in response to what environmental or user conditions.

Home Theater/Music – controlling show recording or media acquisition (watching blogs or ratings lists for things the user likes), playback conditions (mode, zones, channels/media changing/playlists, volume).

Heat/AC – home environment temperature in response to weather conditions and occupancy

Cameras/security – monitoring the premises for intruders, alerting the occupants, triggering alarms or authorities

Fire/smoke/evacuation – monitoring for evidence of fires, alerting emergency response crews, highlighting exits, providing evacuation instruction, identifying the source and possibly cause. Preventative monitory – i.e. watching for “hot spots” or other problems and alerting the user before there is an emergency.

Kitchen – restocking and remote cooking

Irrigation systems – water plants in and out of doors

Maintenance and repairs – tracking maintenance, booking servicing, announcing possible problems. Seeking replacements. Monitoring upgrades.