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Designing smart call forwarding: creating a new type of product

Karabeleski, Sebastian LU and Sigurdsson, Oscar LU (2019) MAMM01 20182
Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology
Abstract
One of the difficulties in designing new products is the absence of already tried metaphors, designs or ways to talk about the system. This thesis focuses on methods and practises one could potentially use when designing something new - and if there are any challenges one need to aware of as a designer of such a system.

In order to devise, and test, these practices and methods, an example system was designed. The system forwards calls based on data in a spreadsheet. The data in the spreadsheet is put there by an administrator. That way, forwarding calls based on their incoming number is made reachable. When designing this system, the authors investigated customer needs, investigated how the users described their needs, designed a... (More)
One of the difficulties in designing new products is the absence of already tried metaphors, designs or ways to talk about the system. This thesis focuses on methods and practises one could potentially use when designing something new - and if there are any challenges one need to aware of as a designer of such a system.

In order to devise, and test, these practices and methods, an example system was designed. The system forwards calls based on data in a spreadsheet. The data in the spreadsheet is put there by an administrator. That way, forwarding calls based on their incoming number is made reachable. When designing this system, the authors investigated customer needs, investigated how the users described their needs, designed a mock-up and implemented a functioning prototype. During this process the design was evaluated through inspections and user tests.

The biggest challenge during the project was to communicate the product to the user which sets up the system. It was to communicate what the product does and the benefits with the product. Ultimately, it was hard finding an appropriate metaphor to use and to have terminology and labels which describe the system to the user well. To contest this difficulty, a new technique was developed and tested by the authors. The new technique, which was called a search test, let potential users search for a solution to the problem on the internet - while their choice of search-terms and comments were noted.

This paper also reviews designing with a third party as part of the user experience and the challenges that introduces. It was found that the users found it very surprising when the third party app was opened. Thus, it is very important to frequently and clearly inform the user of future behaviour. Another thing of importance was that using a third party disallowed the designers the use of constraints when the user was working in the third party application, this was found to be a severe hindrance and something to be mindful of when choosing which third party to use. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Nya system skapar svårigheter då man inte kan använda redan etablerade metaforer, designer eller sätt att beskriva och prata om systemet. Detta arbetet ämnar att underlätta arbetet med sådana system genom att erbjuda designprinciper och metodiker för att jobba med dem och undersöka vilka svårigheter man behöver vara medveten om.

För att forma och testa nya designprinciper och metodiker så genomfördes ett projekt där ett system designades. Det som designades var ett molnbaserat växelsystem, som automatisk kopplar en ringare baserat på data i ett kalkylark. Datan matas in av en administratör som på så sätt enklare kan sätta upp och styra hur samtal ska vidarekopplas. När detta systemet designades så undersöktes kundernas behov och hur de... (More)
Nya system skapar svårigheter då man inte kan använda redan etablerade metaforer, designer eller sätt att beskriva och prata om systemet. Detta arbetet ämnar att underlätta arbetet med sådana system genom att erbjuda designprinciper och metodiker för att jobba med dem och undersöka vilka svårigheter man behöver vara medveten om.

För att forma och testa nya designprinciper och metodiker så genomfördes ett projekt där ett system designades. Det som designades var ett molnbaserat växelsystem, som automatisk kopplar en ringare baserat på data i ett kalkylark. Datan matas in av en administratör som på så sätt enklare kan sätta upp och styra hur samtal ska vidarekopplas. När detta systemet designades så undersöktes kundernas behov och hur de beskrev sina behov samt så designades en mock-up och en fungerande prototyp implementerades. Under denna process så utvärderades designen av inspektioner och användartester.

Den största utmaningen under projektets gång var att få användaren att förstå produkten, vad produkten gör och nyttan med den. Detta var till stora delar på grund av svårigheterna i att hitta en bra metafor att använda samt att komma på termer och språk att beskriva systemet i. För att åtgärda detta så utvecklades och testades en ny metodik som kallades söktest. Det innebar att man låter användare söka på internet efter en lösning på ditt problem, medan man antecknar deras söktermer och tankar.

Det här arbetet utvärderar även hur det är att designa ett system med en tredjepartsprodukt som en del av användarupplevelsen. Framförallt så tyckte användarna att det var överraskande att byta från det egna systemet till tredje parten, detta orsakade förvirring och osäkerhet hos användarna. Därför så fann man att det var viktigt att tydligt och ofta informera användaren om framtida handlingar. En annan erfarenhet av vikt var att användandet av en tredje part gjorde det svårt att använda ”constraints”. Detta var till stort besvär för designen av användarupplevelsen och är något man bör tänka på när man väljer vilken tredje part man ska använda. (Less)
Popular Abstract
Making something new is always different to doing something tried and tested, this is also true for designers. To find design principles for designing new types of digital online products, we tested some on a project of our own.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Karabeleski, Sebastian LU and Sigurdsson, Oscar LU
supervisor
organization
course
MAMM01 20182
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
user centered design, creating a new type of product, new type of product, new, designing, smart call forwarding, call forwarding, UCD, designing product, search test
language
English
id
8967413
date added to LUP
2019-01-22 14:12:13
date last changed
2019-01-22 14:12:13
@misc{8967413,
  abstract     = {{One of the difficulties in designing new products is the absence of already tried metaphors, designs or ways to talk about the system. This thesis focuses on methods and practises one could potentially use when designing something new - and if there are any challenges one need to aware of as a designer of such a system.

In order to devise, and test, these practices and methods, an example system was designed. The system forwards calls based on data in a spreadsheet. The data in the spreadsheet is put there by an administrator. That way, forwarding calls based on their incoming number is made reachable. When designing this system, the authors investigated customer needs, investigated how the users described their needs, designed a mock-up and implemented a functioning prototype. During this process the design was evaluated through inspections and user tests.

The biggest challenge during the project was to communicate the product to the user which sets up the system. It was to communicate what the product does and the benefits with the product. Ultimately, it was hard finding an appropriate metaphor to use and to have terminology and labels which describe the system to the user well. To contest this difficulty, a new technique was developed and tested by the authors. The new technique, which was called a search test, let potential users search for a solution to the problem on the internet - while their choice of search-terms and comments were noted.

This paper also reviews designing with a third party as part of the user experience and the challenges that introduces. It was found that the users found it very surprising when the third party app was opened. Thus, it is very important to frequently and clearly inform the user of future behaviour. Another thing of importance was that using a third party disallowed the designers the use of constraints when the user was working in the third party application, this was found to be a severe hindrance and something to be mindful of when choosing which third party to use.}},
  author       = {{Karabeleski, Sebastian and Sigurdsson, Oscar}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Designing smart call forwarding: creating a new type of product}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}