OverTheAir 2009, 25th September 2009

Many paths to the top of the mountainExploring constraints in iterative design

mobile

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Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Participative

Iterative design

Fast paced

May cause dizziness

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Change gets faster

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Mobile means variety

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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To design for devices before they exist,

and to accommodate variances in form factor...

...for an intimate medium, hard to theorise about, and

caught between the worlds of telco and internet.

Why take a different approach?

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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screen size processor slow input connectivity

Mobile offers some unique constraints

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Identify yourselves!

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Iteration 1:

1. Design a product, for one persona & one device (15 minutes)

2. Usability test our prototypes (5 minutes)

3. Demo to next-door team (10 minutes)

Iteration 2:

1. Revisit our designs (15 minutes)

2. Demo to next-door team (10 minutes)

Your mission

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Jeremy, 34 y.o. civil engineer

Married, 2 children

Technically aware but utilitarian mobilist

Extremely busy, manages a 10-man engineering team

Works from small office, on-site, frequent traveller

Dyslexic, uses email a little but prefers face-to-face

Target persona

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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privacy?How tokeep up to date?

how to

Visualise?

Your goal

“As a hardy mountaineer, I want my phone to help

me enjoy the great outdoors and share the experience

with my friends and family”

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Go!

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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User testing

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Demo & questions

Some constraints

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Rinse & repeat

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Ask each group to write up what they’ve learned on a giant post-it, then present.

What have you learned?

How did changes affect your design?

What were the difficulties?

What surprised you?

Thursday 27th August 2009Many paths to the top of the mountainmobile

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Conclusions from last few times we ran this

- Working on a small screen lends focus

- Time is always short (even when it is)

- Under pressure it’s easy to forget the user

- ...but user testing always helps

- A clear vision helps you deal with change

- Cross-platform consistency is tough

- ...but changes between platforms weren’t so great

Thank you.

tomhume.orgwww.futureplatforms.com

Tom.Hume@futureplatforms.com