User-Centred Design (UCD) was proposed in the 1980s and, since then, its philosophy has helped to solve design problems, regardless of the advances in technology over time. The standard ISO 9241:210 (2010), formerly ISO 13407, provides guidance in human-centred design principles and activities undertaken throughout the design lifecycle to further support UCD. In addition, since it was mentioned in ISO 9241:210, UCD has also utilised User Experience Design (UXD) in recent years. There are many approaches that support UCD to ensure it is more attainable when designing. In addition, large firms, such as HP, IBM and Microsoft, use anthropologists in their user research in order to make products more user-centred. However, the concept of UCD should, theoretically, be more widely used in all product design and it is intriguing as to why it is not as popular as it should be. As noticed in the real world, imperfect designs still frustrate us everywhere. The aims of this thesis were to investigate the difficulties of practicing a UCD approach in idea generation and to design solutions for idea generation that would encourage further practice of UCD/UXD. In the first part of the thesis, there is an exploration of the problems encountered when practicing UCD idea generation. When examining the process, a multitude of problems were found, with most blamed as being costly, time consuming and requiring complex skills. In addition, it was suggested that a systematic solution was required to overcome such difficulties. Therefore, later in this research, a systematic model is proposed and evaluated using participants (both designers and target users). Due to the fact that design practitioners are not usually researchers, further help to implement the model in the form of persona application software is needed. Hence, the concept of service design was employed to further assist with the use of the model. In the end, computer-aided development was introduced, together with the integration of the systematic UCD model. The UCD model and the software have been evaluated as effective from both the responses of product design practitioners and end-users. Future recommendations and the research limitations are also discussed in each chapter and the overall results are given in the last chapter. This thesis successfully provided the complete process during the exploration of the low usage problems of UCD, and solutions were presented to assist designers with their UCD/UXD in the future.

At large sporting events (LSEs), e.g. football matches and athletics events, the user experience has been shown to be highly variable (Nilsson, 2004; Nilsson et al. 2004). Reported problems include a lack of social interaction with fellow spectators, and insufficient relevant information on the events or the sporting action taking place (Nilsson, 2004; Nilsson et al. 2004; Esbjornsson et al. 2006; Jacucci et al. 2005). A possible solution is personalisation, making the mobile application adapt to the user, ensuring that only relevant information is retrieved and presented in a way that is suitable. This thesis is devoted to studying the user experience related to mobile personalization at LSEs. It aims to investigate how personalized mobile applications at LSEs can render the user experience more active and engaging in a contextually, socially and culturally relevant way. The thesis reviews different theoretical approaches to help to understand the concepts of interest e.g. personalization and user experience (Chapter 2). Research methods are also discussed including the challenge of adapting user-centred methods into the Chinese culture (Chapter 3). This thesis investigates the user experience of mobile personalization at LSEs by following the circle of user-centred research: It starts to consider user requirements and user experience at LSEs and derives the usage patterns that personalized mobile applications could usefully support (Chapter 4). Then it explores the relevant contextual factors at LSEs which could be used to prescribe the behaviour of a personalizable mobile application (Chapter 5). Next, it describes the user-centred process used to design personalizable interfaces for mobile applications used at LSEs. Four key elements of design are considered: content, conceptual, interaction and presentation design (Chapter 6). The final outputs of the design process were two personalized mobile prototypes for Chinese users at LSEs. These included versions based on either (1) user-initiated or (2) system-initiated personalisation. Finally it investigates the impact on user experience of mobile personalization at LSEs in two empirical studies (a field experiment and a lab-based experiment) with these prototypes (Chapters 7 and 8). Mobile personalization is shown to result in an enriched user experience across a range of activities that a spectator would undertake at a large sporting event. The thesis discusses primarily the effective design of mobile personalization, the design implications at LSEs, user experience design, and research methods for Chinese users (Chapter 9). In conclusion (Chapter 10), specific contributions and avenues for future work are highlighted.

Mobile handset technology has improved greatly in recent decades. Improvements in hardware and software conduce the importance of the handset as a computer. Whilst the mobile phone industry and researchers emphasise understanding users from sociological aspects, such as services, usage habits, functionalities and so forth; this research aims to seek the variables that impact upon users’ interactions with the phone from the root-individual differences. For the purpose of placing mobile phone users at the core of the interface design process, the individual differences of gender, cognitive style and user experience were applied as the main variables in this research. Accordingly, to examine individuals’ differences and their operational behaviour with phone interfaces, the effects of cognitive style and user experience present stronger impact on the user performance than gender. The two factors were then investigated with regard to individuals’ operational behaviour with phone interfaces. This research then developed categories to link the theoretical attributes of cognitive style and phone users’ practical operational behaviour. Furthermore, the impact of cognitive style on the users’ operational behaviour was also connected to individuals’ problem solving ability. Meanwhile, the effect of user experience was investigated with a novel methodology-Taxonomy of Experience. The results revealed necessary elements that the users cared about the most, and these differed from the interface design guidelines of phone industry. This PhD thesis presents the application of the triangulation method to explore the variables that impact upon individuals’ interaction with mobile phone interfaces, specially concerned with mobile phone interface design from a psychological perspective, and provides a deeper understanding of users for future design events. More importantly, this research delivered the concept of understanding users before conducting design.

This thesis presents a research model to investigate university-students’ acceptance and behaviour in relation to social-networking sites (SNS). In order to carry out this investigation, the research project was divided into two phases using qualitative and quantitative data based on a diverse sample of university students. Phase One used a think-aloud technique to explore the interaction experiences associated with students’ use of Facebook, a popular social-networking site. Twenty-six participants from Teesside University took part in the first study and six categories of experience (communication, gratification, inquisitiveness, evocation, interconnection, apprehension, and ambience) were identified. Subsequently conceptual similarities were found between all six categories of experience and six psychological human needs (relatedness, pleasure, popularity, security, competence and meaning). In Phase Two, a research model was constructed, based on existing literature on technology acceptance and the psychological needs identified in Phase One. Results from an online survey of 766 university students in the United Kingdom, who were also SNS users, provided evidence for the proposed model. The model explained and predicted students’ adoption of SNS, accounting for half of the variance in behavioural intention and almost a quarter of the variance in actual use behaviour. The results showed that students’ personal beliefs, social identity and psychological human needs influenced their decision to adopt SNS. Specifically, user-perceived usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment and credibility were found to iv be important factors in students’ adoption of SNS. The influence of social identity on students’ behavioural intention was also found to be mediated by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Furthermore, the findings emphasise the importance of psychological human needs in students’ adoption of SNS. In particular, the need for relatedness was found to be a significant independent predictor of behavioural intention. Based on the results of this study, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Society today is becoming increasingly digitalised. This has led to several daily routines that used to be handled either via telephone or face to face, are nowadays being handled via the internet. Important actors in society such as authorities but also companies open their web-sites at the internet, thereby enabling more options for people to interact with them, however the elderly group (+65 years) of users is not being included in the digitalization due to various reasons. The purpose of this study is to explore whether differences in user experience can be found within the elderly group and why. Furthermore, the purpose is to contribute with more material for future development of relevant interfaces. Initially, a group of seniors answered our surveys. Thereafter, the study deepened by doing interviews and observations of seniors when interacting with an online booking system. The result presents a number of factors such as previous experiences but also age related factors that affects the informants’ interaction with the interface. / Samhället präglas idag av en ökad digitalisering, vilket har lett till att ett flertal vardagliga ru-tiner som tidigare skötts antingen på plats med personal eller via telefon numera sköts via internet. Viktiga samhällsaktörer såsom myndigheter men även företag upprättar sina webbplat-ser på internet och därmed möjliggörs fler sätt för människor att interagera med dem. Dock inkluderas inte den äldre (+65 år) användargruppen i digitaliseringen av olika anledningar. Syftet med studien är att förklara huruvida skillnader i användarupplevelse går att finna inom den äldre (+65 år) populationen. Vidare är syftet att bidra till ökat underlag för framtida ut-veckling av relevanta gränssnitt. Initialt fick en grupp pensionärer besvara våra enkäter. Utöver enkätens data fördjupades arbetet genom att utföra intervjuer och observationer av pens-ionärer när de interagerade med ett bokningssystem online. Resultatet presenterar en rad fak-torer såsom tidigare erfarenheter men även åldersrelaterade faktorer som påverkar informan-tens interaktion med gränssnittet.

The purpose of this study is to explore how good User Experience (UX) in web design leads to increased possibilities for conversion rate. By using specific design elements and applying them with a UX perspective on the web design for Aller Media's new recipe site Stowe, high conversion rates would be expected. As a member of the Stowe project group, I have developed different sketches. Theoretical basis for this has been literature with a focus on conversion optimization, UX and web design. Based on that, I have created the design for several web pages of the Stowe site using the graphic design software Sketch. Accordingly, my part was to decide how different design elements could be used to improve the possibilities of high conversion and offer good UX, and also how this could be implemented into factual design. In so doing I have followed the process of web design from beginning to end. The result of this was an in detail sketch of Stowe's landing page, an onboarding flow and sketches of several different Stowe pages, some of which were a collection page and a recipe page. / Syftet med denna studie är att utforska hur man men hjälp av bra användarupplevelse (UX) skapa webbdesign med ett konverteringsperspektiv. Genom att applicera UX på specifika designelement i webbdesignen för Aller Medias nya recepttjänst Stowe förväntas vissa konverteringsmål nås. Som medlem i Stowe's projektgrupp har jag analyserat och gjort efterforskningar och utifrån dessa skapat olika skisser. Litteratur som behandlar konverteringsoptimering, UX och webbdesign har utgjort den teoretiska basen för studien. Utifrån det har jag sedan skapat design för flertalet olika sidor för Stowe's hemsida i programmet Sketch. Således var min roll att avgöra hur olika designelement kunde användas för att skapa förutsättningar för konvertering och erbjuda bra UX samt att implementera detta i faktisk design. På så sätt har jag följt processen för webbdesignen från början. Resultatet blev en detaljerad skiss av Stowe's landningssida, ett onboarding flow samt flera olika sidor till tjänstens hemsida, där ibland receptsida och samlingssida.

The present work is based on the research and design of a mobile AR experiment performed in the context of the emerging interdisciplinary fields of digital heritage and experience design. In an attempt to find a method to support the justification and discovery of elements that can influence the user towards the fulfilment of an objective in a heritage experience, my experimental research reveals that a combination of play moments including elements of embodiment and sensuousness in mobile AR are most suitable to convey a story. Determining suitable gameplay and game mechanics requires an appropriate setting and context for a user’s encounter with digital heritage. My research outlines a design methodology to reveal how the aesthetics of mobile AR technology can be designed to support critical user experiences through play and discovery. / Designing Digital Heritage. Seeing Secrets

Objective: The focus of this bachelor thesis is to study what a selection of magazine readers think generates value on the reading experience of a traditional lifestyle magazine. Furthermore create an deeper understanding of these values.  Method: Qualitative interviews was used as the method to investigate the participants' view of the user experience when reading a lifestyle magazine paper. Seven interviews were conducted with people who prefer the traditional newspaper.  Results: The results of this study show that it may be to early to talk about the print magazines dead. The physical and mental feeling that appear from reading a lifestyle paper magazine is almost impossible to implement in the digital version. Our results show that some of the underlying causes that lead to a the choise of the print magazine depends on the structure, the reading experience and the qualitative content that appears to be difficult to emulate on the web.

Much of the developed world is experiencing an aging population. This requires society to adapt to take care of a growing elderly population and improve their quality of life. Today, mobile systems are available that makes it possible to monitor and improve health (m-health). Even though these systems could be immensely helpful for the elderly population, this has not been the primary demographic for the current m-health systems. This case study aimed at examining how persuasive technology (technology for changing behavior and/or attitude) can be used to promote usage of m-health applications by the elderly. For this purpose, a theoretical framework for supporting m-health systems is proposed. This framework consist of persuasive technology (for motivation and support for fulfillment of human needs), knowledge of elderly issues in interacting with mobile interfaces, smartphone usability heuristics and the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle (to support goalsetting and incremental progress). To determine how persuasive technology can be used to motivate elderly and find effective strategies for this purpose, the case study examined health behavior, motivations for healthy behavior, attitude to health, general goal setting behavior, needs, preferences, technological experience and self-efficacy, as well as usage of m-health systems using qualitative and participatory methods. Methods used included semi-structured interviews, future workshop, revolutionary rapid prototyping and usability evaluation. The findings of the interviews and the future workshop suggested the primary motivation for healthy behavior was derived from social aspects. Thus, the most effective persuasive strategies for the elderly likely target their need for social belonging and socialization. Based on the findings, an interactive prototype was developed. The prototype proposed an m-health application with self-monitoring that implemented an elderly community around healthy behavior, with opportunities to earn digital rewards and challenge other users to competition. The interactive prototype was then used in a usability evaluation to gauge its usability by the elderly and revised in higher fidelity according to their feedback.

<p>Diabetes is a prevalent disease nowadays, and it is a big challenge, especially for seniors. The biggest challenge for seniors with diabetes is that they need to prick their fingers to test their blood which is painful and horrible. Also, the current glucose meter does not make good use of the glucose data to help them better treat the diabetes. Also, seniors live alone and lag off behind the diabetes information & technology. Therefore, based on seniors’ characteristics, I want to employ new technologies, such as data visualization and AI technology, in the design to help them manage their diabetes more easily. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Through the literature review, I learned the disease information of diabetes, investigated the diabetes situation in the seniors’ group, and studied the seniors’ characteristics, which can make the designs more suitable for seniors. To better understand diabetic seniors’ conditions, needs and wishes, I took part in several diabetes events in Lafayette Indiana, volunteered in the retirement village and conducted a series of interviews in these two settings. By analyzing the peer products, daily self-measurement of my own sugar level and keeping diaries, I learned what do the similar products look like, got some inspiration from them and found problems in the current products. After drawing a bunch of sketches to explore the idea, HTA chart, wireframe, low-fidelity prototype and mockups were developed in the first design iteration. I came up with the smart product system, based on the seniors’ characteristics, combined with new technologies to help seniors with diabetes easily manage their diabetes. Then I conducted the usability testing with the prototype & physical models to refine my design. Finally, usability testing was conducted again to make sure my products provide a pleasant experience for seniors with diabetes. With this smart system, testing blood becomes a happy & relaxing experience and seniors can join the diabetes group to support each other. Moreover, Seniors with diabetes can get feedback and suggestions from the system. </p>