Moving forward with this project I decided to engage with a different age groups. As when I thought about this project I wanted to look at different target groups and their experience with UX Design. I decided to go ahead with a more familiar group, being students. My intial idea was to engage with students from UAL itself, and their thoughts on interfaces not being inclusive. I happen to see the UAL studen union was conducting an exhibit featuring works from students which have worked on during their study, I decided to submit a poster about the non-inclusivity in user experience design, and attached along a QR code on it with the link to a survey.
I was a little optimistic when submitting this poster for the exhibition after having a prior successful submission to an Arts SU exhibition. My optimism was a little missguided, due high amounts of submission for this exhibit, and very less availability, I was unfortunately rejected. As I still wanted to go ahead with this intervention, I decided to look at another place where I could conduct it, I thought about where I lived, I am currently staying in a student accommodation and there are many students from various different universities staying there. Thus I decided to put my poster there, along with a little incentive of candies, It has been a day and I am yet to recieve any reponses, I am hopeful though 😛
After my second tutorial with Jasminka, she suggested that while both my interventions are addressing the two parts of my research question, they are not in sync together, thus I should do a 3rd Intervention where I bring concepts from both of them together. As to get more incite into how to go ahead I decided to do a survey session with the participants of both my interventions.
The way I structured this was to show the participants various interface designs, make them choose 1 from 4, choose the elements of art which applied to those designs, and give reasoning as to why they feel that particular design is fits those elements better. The main aim I had with this intervention was to connect both the themes of the interventions, and for the participants to think about interfaces while keeping elements of art in mind. This survey was structured as a questionnaire, thus it became easy to draw results from it, as to which element of art did the participants respond the best to.
While this feedback session felt like an optimal way of blending the first and second intervention, I do feel I would’ve benefitted more from a more participatory intervention, and It felt that an online intervention in my case personally, made the participants engage a little less with the subject matter, I also kept it in mind that to keep it short as possible to not let the participants get distracted.
As I started to look more into how I can incorporate Klondike Solitaire into my interventions, I came across “card sorting”. Card sorting is a UX research method which is a qualititative process. Study participants group individual labels written on notecards according to criteria that make sense to them. Thus I decided to go ahead with that, In UX card is mostly used to create information architecture with the participants labelling items to be put into various categories to help understand what goes under what.
This intervention had 4 participants, as I was not able to track down everyone for an in person intervention. I decided to change it up a little, as not everyone is aware of UX Design terms, I decided to create 35 cards with different interface terms and their definitions to make it easier for the participants to understand, and made 5 categories ranging from “least important” to “most important”, this was my approach to a more technical intervention after my more casual elements of art intervention. This activity in my opinion is very user centred, and teached the participants about UX terms while still being a fun activity, it also made me nail down and see which concepts of design where important for the users, and way that they catergorize these terms, it also proved a way to incorporate Klondike Solitaire principles into my intervention, as the main basis of the game is to sort cards.
As I started to think more about where I could see more about my research question I thought about the word “Digital Literacy”, when I first started out with this project I was focused on another group itself, which was the illterate, and I feel throughout the progress of this project, the aim remains the same, which is focused around digital literacy, to know more about this I decided to look at artworks based around the same topic.
Studio A: Sydney-based Studio A supports professional development pathways for artists living with intellectual disability. In 2022, 2 of Studio A’s artists – Thom Roberts, and Catherine McGuiness – were finalists in Australia’s most prestigious portrait prize, the Archibald. As a champion of “digital fluency”, Studio A in collaboration with Meeum is determined to remove the “geekery superiority” associated with technology – and has a clear message for other arts organisations looking to replicate Studio A’s success. “The Digital Strategist-in-Residence program proves that tech and digital is for everyone.”
Thom Roberts with his painting A Portriff of Adam (Shane Simpson AM) hanging in the 2021 Archibald Prize. Photo: Studio A, which aims to make people look through a different lense, and look at digital literacy witth a different lense.
Another work which I looked at was not an artwork but an experiment, Teaching Digital Literacy in the Context of AI Text-to-Art Generators by Neil Dixon, AI text-to-art generators democratize the creation of images and art. To generate an image, the user simply enters a text string that describes the content of the image, along with the style, resolution, and features. Softwares include, DALL E, Midjourney, Stable diffusion. To be better-informed about the role of AI text-to-art generators in society, digital literacy can promote consideration of the technology’s risks, capabilities, and limitations. Digital literacy means a person has sufficient knowledge and education to operate in the digital world, These technologies and their relationships are so complex that the way they function is outside most people’s understanding—we can only evaluate AI on the outputs it creates. Providing time to experiment with the technology is another way to develop or enhance digital literacy. We can improve our understanding of the capabilities and limitations, which means we can see the technology from the perspectives of artists, legislators, or developers.
As I started to look more into how I can incorporate Klondike Solitaire into my interventions, I came across “card sorting”. Card sorting is a UX research method which is a qualititative process. Study participants group individual labels written on notecards according to criteria that make sense to them.
This method uncovers how the target audience’s domain knowledge is structured. It also can be a quantitative process as The main quantitative data output from a card sort is a set of similarity scores that measures the similarity of how users grouped their sets of information. If all users sorted two cards into the same pile, then the two items represented by the cards would have 100% similarity. If half the users placed two cards together and half placed them in separate piles, those two items would have a 50% similarity score.
In short in Klondike Solitaire, you aim to sort a deck of cards by using attention, strategy, and memory: Seven piles of cards are in the middle of the table, the tableau, with each top card revealed. The goal is to assemble 13 cards of a suit, in ascending sequence from ace through king, on top of a pile.
In both cases, there’s an element of organizing cards. In Klondike solitaire, you organize cards into piles based on suits and ranks. In card sorting, participants organize cards into categories based on their own criteria. Solitaire often requires recognizing patterns and sequences to move cards effectively. Similarly, card sorting involves participants recognizing patterns and relationships between items to group them logically.
I had heard the term Silver Surfers, but I was too brainwashed by marvel that I forgot about it and started thinking about the Fantastic 4 Villian/Hero Silver Surfer. “Silver surfers” is a term commonly used to refer to older adults, typically aged 50 and above, who are active users of the internet, particularly for browsing, communication, and various online activities. The term is often used to highlight the contrast between the traditional image of surfers as young individuals riding waves on the ocean and the older generation embracing technology and the digital age.
As I researched more about designing for this age range, I came across A 2017 Forbes article states that 96% of baby boomers (aged 56-74 years) use search engines regularly, with 92% using the internet to buy products and services online rather than in-store. Making up a third of the population in the UK, the over 50s are a huge market for businesses. Whilst Google remains the dominant player in the search engine sector, Bing is often overlooked by business owners who predominantly focus on Google. Bing accounts for 10% of all UK searches and this statistic has continually grown over recent years. The over 50s age category is extremely valuable for businesses. Whilst they shouldn’t be overlooked, there are a few trends to consider when planning marketing for this age group 1) Use of Bing. 2) Eliminate bias in customer personas. 3) Site Security is essential. 4) Change writing in ecommerce pages for over 50s.
Another Article I looked at was “Silver Surfers & eTourism: Web Usability and Testing Methods for the Generation 50+” by the Management Center Innsbruck, Austria. The thing that interested me most about this article was that, they has used very out of the ordinary testing methods, almost like MAAI interventions, instead of using extremely technical methods. Such as “Thinking Aloud” and “Retrospective Review”. For the method of “Thinking Aloud” test-subjects are urged to speak their thoughts out loud, which allows for insights into the personal thoughts of a person, and therefore insights into their thinking processes. The “Retrospective Review” or “Retrospective Think Aloud” is a method that collects the thoughts on the task of the user after this task is over. According to Nielsen (2000) a Usability Test does not need more than five participants to give accurate results. Hence a tester user-group consisting og ten Silver Surfers is adequate when it comes to usability testing.
Articles Mentioned:
Five Things You Need To Know About Marketing To Baby Boomers:
The elements of art are fundamental components that artists use to create visual works. These elements include line, shape, form, color, value, texture, and space. The elements of art and principles of art are fundamental concepts in design that can greatly enhance the user experience and aesthetics of digital products.
The intervention that I decided to do ahead from this was to make table worksheets, which has the elements of art lined up with the principles of art, and give the participants freedom to do whatever they want with it, as some of them might find it a little hard I gave them 2 references. I also mixed up a few elements from it, and put in some principles that are more inclined towards UX design. The methodology behind this activity was to get the participants who are older adults, do a fun activity while still keeping the element of art in mind, and letting them run their imagination wild. While not everyone understood this activity, it did not stop them from trying their best to do it. The main aim I had with this activity was to cultivate creativity, while I gave people vague instructions, it did not stop them from asking clear instructions on what to do. By understanding how artists use elements and principles in innovative ways, individuals can draw inspiration for their own creative endeavors. Elements and principles of art are often reflective of cultural values, norms, and beliefs, as I tested this activity with older adults in India, two of them began drawing Mehendi Patterns (Mehndi is a form of temporary skin decoration using a paste created with henna). for the activity, while still keeping the principles in mind,
Imposters – Neighbourhood kids wanted to join in the fun
On researching more about the apps that are used by the 55 – 70 age range, I stumbled upon Klondike Solitaire, and what makes it so special that a very huge population of this age range plays this particular video game. There have been various studies with this particular game in mind, as Solitaire can be used as an assessment tool for cognitive impairment, and digital biomarkers can be derived from the game play. By using ‘meaningful play’, games older adults already enjoy and play, adherence will be better compared to other serious games. This works as a neuropsychological tool, an unobtrusive way of monitoring the patient’s psyche, giving them better insight in their cognitive profile. As I started to think about the way that this information can be used in my question, I started looking at the different ways this game is being used to study older adults, with respect to interfaces.
I looked at a paper by the International Conference on Web-Based Learning, which talks about “Designing a User-Friendly Educational Game for Older Adults”. To identify the ergonomic requirements to be considered during the interface design process to ensure that the game be adapted to the characteristics of seniors. It shows a high degree of satisfaction with game navigation, the display mode and gameplay equipment. Recommendations are presented to guide the development of online educational games for seniors.
There were many findings from this study, that could be taken forward when thinking about the design of interfaces such as: 1) To make a game environment intuitive for seniors, designers should ensure that players can easily access all components (cards, navigation buttons, instructions/tutorials and score) needed for the game to run smoothly. 2) To facilitate navigation within the game, the game elements and question content should be limited to one screen page. 3) It is also important to minimize the use of superimposed windows during the course of a game. Because some older users are less likely to notice page changes, 4) Game equipment, such as a laptop, tablet, keyboard, or joystick, must be used with some constraints to make them comfortable for seniors, 5) integrated buttons with words and symbols to make it easier for seniors who were not born in the digital age. 6) Avoid player confusion, organize gameplay information into zones and reduce as much as possible the number of controls necessary to accomplish a task.
What do you feel is the role of accessibility in UX Design?
Preksha – UX being the user centered field it is, it definitely makes a huge change in the possibilities of solutions. Research can only reveal so much about the target group of a product. But when you have a community of designers from numerous fields to discuss the problem statements, new perspectives are discovered.
Poorva – Accessibility in UX can be in terms of assisting people with disabilities in using certain products/services. As a UX designer, it’s important to consider a broader demographic but keep in mind that niche audience while designing. Essentially, fit in all potential users in different contexts of use.
How do you feel about the current state of UX and UI in apps and webpages?
Preksha – These solutions are designed for the greater masses- a lot of who may not be from the same background. Just the way it needs to cater to users of such varied backgrounds only makes it more challenging and interesting a problem to solve. Some of the elements that spoil my experience of them would be- i) the flashy buttons, ii) the animated labels and just how information is all over the place and not structured in a way that is similar to how I may skim through the screen at first go iii) poor loading pages and their speed, iv) use of pixelated images in a lot of places v) the steps involved in completing tasks in certain scenarios vi) sometimes, if i enter information in some forms (multiple pages) on these sites and go back to the previous page, I end up losing information (which I dont with services like Google Forms). That makes me spend more time on the site for the same task.
Poorva – I dont feel that any of these sites were designed to also cater to people with mental disabilities or sensitivity to flashy or hyper animated web elements. Functionality wise, they’re solving it. But when a product looks better, you trust it more. It’s a psychological thing. Too much information is an added issue.
How do vou think we can make the UX better for such groups?
Preksha – A good start could be to categorize these groups well and begin researching how these various user groups approach the web services (what devices they use, what environment and distractions they have to handle while using these services, etc) and analyse their behavior patterns. Ofcourse the solution for each group may be wildly different from each other, but the key here should be to keep things as simple as possible.
Poorva – These groups need be: 1. Categorized, relevant and contextual information only, Need to know why they should be using the product altogether (come from a mindset of unawareness/not willing to deviate from the usual sources), 2. Assistance in steps (online assistant/ a live chat or conversation feature will help)
