Understanding users, their activities, the contexts in which their tasks are carried out, and their experiences and attitudes is crucial to designing good products and technologies. However, there is no one single way to understand users. Each situation is different, each user group is different, and each project is different. In addition, resources such as time and budget may also play a role in determining which methods to use for understanding users. Typically, designers use a variety of methods to understand users, and almost always use more than one method for any given project. Using multiple methods to help understand users is called triangulation. The designers at IDEO have come up with a set of 51 different methods across four different areas that they use to understand users. These areas are: Look at what they do Learn from the facts you gather Ask them how to help Try it yourself To help designers remember all of these ideas, they created a set of Method Cards, modeled after a deck of playing cards (with the four method areas each being a suit). Thus, users can scan through the deck of cards for ideas on which methods might be useful in any given situation. Familiarize yourself with IDEOs 51 method cards (. IDEO (2003) IDEO Method Cards: 51 Ways to Inspire Design. William Stout Architectural Books, San Francisco. Course text item 6. Each card lists what to do, why to do it, and an example of when it was useful for IDEO in a real design project. Think about how the 51 methods could be applied to a design problem. Thinking hypothetically, choose 1 method from each of the four categories that would be appropriate for each the following design questions. 1. How can a new system support communication for emergency room nurses? 2. How can a mobile system help long-distance bicyclists to find restaurants and amenities? 3. How can a video game help educate kids in Grades 1-5 on healthy eating? 4. Which of these methods would you apply to your project? -> our project is attached for reference For each of the above design scenarios, list the four methods you would choose to help understand the potential users and the design problem. There is always confusion about this assignment. Remember choose four methods for each of the four scenarios. Choose one Look card, one Learn card, one Ask card and one Try card for each of the four scenarios. Please also remember to label the card you are using. For each method you list, write a short paragraph about why you think that given method would work in this situation given the potential users and the context of the problem. An example of the first page of the assignment is attached.Show more
