Here’s the final presentation that we gave to our User-centered Design class. We also presented a live-action demonstration of our ReadTV concept (Little Prince version).
We made a video of the highlights of our user testing. (For privacy reasons, this link is only available within ITP.)
Our User-centered Design class ideas for toy designs have been revised. Here’s a website with more information about the project. The links along the right side show our research, ideas and some user scenarios, including terrific artwork by Carlos Borges, my project partner.
1. Mommy Made It
A series of kits for adults to make children’s toys. For example, one moderate skill level kit would allow an adult to assemble a self-propelled wooden car using precut parts that needed to be sanded and painted before assembly. Children could help with the construction, but many steps would need to be done by the adult.
- interactive
- emotional attachment
- group activity
- developmental
2. Riding Vacuum
A self-propelled or pedal propelled riding toy with a built-in Dustbuster style vacuum. Children would clean the floor as they traveled over it, entertaining themselves while helping adults with a chore.
- helping activity
- group activity
- physical
- cute
3. Draw Tracks
A train that follows a specially drawn line on a large piece of butcher paper. The line includes switch points and various control symbols that are complex enough so that an adult needs to help. The adult would build skill with creating the tracks, while the children play.
- interactive
- emotional attachment
- group activity
- trains
4. Ball Puzzle
A pixel-type puzzle created out of differently colored superballs, perhaps 100 of them. The puzzle could be easy–making a picture out of solid color ball-pixels, and also have a more difficult mode where the balls (or one side of each ball) would need to be placed in a proper orientation.
- interactive
- group activity
- spheres
5. Grow-a-Meal
Box contains everything you need to grow a meal from seeds. After assembling the planter (see Mommy Made It above) seeds would be planted to grow the ingredients for a particular dish or baked good. After harvesting, the child and adult would prepare “their” meal together.
- interactive
- emotional attachment
- group activity
- developmental
6. Musical Play-a-Long
This musical instrument would be played by both parent and child. For example, the child could blow into it while the adult worked the valves.
- noise
- group activity
- developmental
7. Sack of Skipping Rocks
As an adult, I’ve become very good at skipping rocks across a pond and notice that children are fascinated by this. Unfortunately, there’s almost never enough good rocks that are easy to skip, so it’s very hard to teach this skill. The sack of skipping rocks would contain enough flat smooth stones so that an adult could learn this skill and teach it to their child. Perhaps the “rocks” could be baked in advance from a powder, like Shrinky-Dinks.
- physical
- group activity
- emotional attachment
8. ReadTV
Books that play on the living room television. One page comes up at a time with subtitled text. The adult reads the text while the child sits with them. Page turns are activated by remote control. The “book” device could be an inexpensive electronic module that plugs into the analog video input on the television monitor. Books could also be read remotely, over the phone by traveling parents or grandparents, with the page turns activated by touch-tone.
- emotional attachment
- developmental
- remote use or physical proximity
9. Make-a-Book
Perhaps part of the Mommy Made It line of parent-child activities, this product would provide all the physical materials for creating a children’s book. It would also feature expert guidance on creating a compelling story line in a step-by-step story structure process. Assistance with drawings would complete the package, using clip art and illustration tips. Children could assist with the process, which would require significant adult interaction.
- creative
- emotional attachment
- group activity
- developmental
10. My Little Treadmill
Children would exercise alongside their parents in a scaled-down version of adult exercise machines. A race component could be activated to scale the adult and child’s speed for a fair competition.
- physical activity
- group activity
- mental engagement
- cute
This is our presentation on Insights and Opportunities for User-centered Design class.
All three of our Playbooks came back fully completed! Here’s the full presentation on how it went.
Carlos put together these fantastic user diaries, for children to record their play sessions (with help from adults). We plan to test them with three kids this week, and incorporate the results into a second version. Parents will fill out a form on the left side of each page to record the parameters and quality of each play session. Children will participate by drawing a picture of the play session on the right side of the page. Every time they fill one out, they can take a balloon from inside the book. We’ve got high hopes that it will be a hit, and help us out with uncovering deep insights into childhood play.
Carlos Borges and I shadowed a father-daughter trip to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and made a report of our findings.
We also put together a draft research plan.
Here are my notes and a Flickr category of pictures from a Super Bowl party Kitchen Analysis project.
There was one major story from this Super Bowl party-making observation session. The kitchen lacked temporary storage space. While cabinets were plentiful (for New York) a combination of limited counter space and zero non-cabinet shelf space created a major obstacle to the party preparation task. Counter tops, the stove and every available surface turned into shelving for items that could not be put away, but were not being used at the moment. These included recipe books, coffee cups, task components, things that were going to be used in the near future and things that had just been used in completed tasks.
Other observations:
1. Everyone had a beverage that took up counter space. Perhaps everyone could use a cupholder.
2. Chopped items easily slid onto the floor. Some kind of gutter at the edge of the counter could help here, or even a small lip.
3. When something beeps, it’s unclear just what device is making the noise. Perhaps some kind of translator/decoder that listened to the beep and then displayed the name of the appliance and operation that was being indicated. Megan’s CO alarm had apparently sounded for quite a while before they took it apart. The next day, everyone in the building had their alarm go off, and the building noted that there was a CO leak in the heating system. The CO alarm was still on the floor…
4. Recipes are needed in the kitchen. But also procedures and definitions. How do you roll up a tamale? What exactly does “fluffy” mean, or look like?
5. Cabinets are opaque, which makes the kitchen look nice but also hides all the information about contents. Refrigerators have the same issue. You have to stand with the door open to see what’s inside. Couldn’t selectable transparency glass help here?
6. Electric plugs on the wall mean that cords have to drape across the counter to where the work is being done for mixing, etc. It would be nice to have plugs on the front edge of the counter as well, so the cord could hang out of the way.
7. Mixers, and other electric appliances can be hard on the hands. Weight and vibrations make for discomfort. Could these come down from the ceiling?
This Subway Map Analysis was performed as the initial class assignment for User-centered Design.
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