Palm Pilot Redesign
In Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) methods course we talked about the tools, techniques, and sources of information about Human-Computer Interaction. It increased my awareness of good and bad design through observation of existing technology.
During the term, my group used a systematic approach to redesign the Palm Pilot interface. We have utilized analytic and empirical evaluation methods, namely the Contextual inquiry/Design, Heuristic Evaluation, Cognitive Walkthrough and Think Aloud.
Usability Aspect Reports were produced in each of the activities. They were grouped and analyzed using Affinity Diagram. A final report was produced to detail the redesign ideas to the system. A retrospective of the usability techniques are provided at the end to compare the competitiveness of each.
Redesign Report Executive Summary
A team of four Masters Students in Human Computer Interaction comprised of diverse backgrounds in Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Psychology, Computer Engineering, and Design, carefully analyzed the Palm Pilot to understand where the problems lie. The analysis techniques of Contextual Inquiry (CI), Contextual Design (CD), Heuristic Evaluation (HE), Cognitive Walkthrough (CW), and Think Aloud (TA) illuminated both the problems with the Palm’s interface and the primary needs of users. Using an affinity diagram and prioritizing issues by importance or severity, we consolidated all of our Usability Aspect Reports (UARs) and Contextual Design breakdowns to generate design ideas. Two themes emerged from this consolidation. The first major theme centers on the Date Book; it is a crucial application, but it is designed so poorly that users express frustration and anger towards it. Effectively satisfying the scheduling needs of busy people is a difficult task to accomplish and the Palm Pilot unsatisfactorily supports these needs. Our redesign of the Date Book alleviates these problems and frustrations by modifying where salient information is located and how this information is interacted with. The second major theme is that users want to know what applications are open so that they know what the system is doing and can easily switch between them. Users would switch back and forth between applications but needed to go through an unnecessary step each time. We are removing this step and at the same time bringing the interactions with the Palm Pilot closer to what is familiar to a computer user. The following pages will more thoroughly explore these two major themes and the redesign suggestions we are proposing as they relate to use case scenarios.
Redesign Report Content:
Redesign ideas and Retrospective
Appendix A: Design Ideas & Support