<p>This paper intends to describe the work and result of the design project Meet App. Meet App lets users interact around their current locations in a direct manner. The user experience is evaluated to get an understanding of the usefulness and interaction with this type of design. The project is related to the context-awareness research field where findings put the project in a greater whole. The result indicates usefulness and enjoyment interacting with the application, but because of the low number of participants the findings cannot be validated.</p>

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The goal of this thesis was to explore the usability of on-foot sensors for ambulatory gait analysis. Using a human factors engineering approach, two different ambulatory gait analysis prototypes were assessed in two separate studies. The first study was conducted with student participants in a university setting and the second study was conducted in-situ with neurorehabilitation patients at Bridgepoint Hospital. The usability and patient experience of the prototypes were assessed, and based on these findings a set of recommendations was developed. These issues and recommendations are detailed in this thesis and are expected to inform the design of future iterations of the prototypes.

The goal of this thesis was to explore the usability of on-foot sensors for ambulatory gait analysis. Using a human factors engineering approach, two different ambulatory gait analysis prototypes were assessed in two separate studies. The first study was conducted with student participants in a university setting and the second study was conducted in-situ with neurorehabilitation patients at Bridgepoint Hospital. The usability and patient experience of the prototypes were assessed, and based on these findings a set of recommendations was developed. These issues and recommendations are detailed in this thesis and are expected to inform the design of future iterations of the prototypes.

El camp d'Experiència d'Usuari consta d'una àmplia gamma d'aspectes diferents sobre la interacció amb productes o serveis. L'experiència d'usuari difereix del paradigma objectiu basat en el rendiment, centrant-se en un punt de vista més ampli on les necessitats d'usuaris, els desitjos i les fantasies tenen un paper important en el procés de presa de decisions dels usuaris. L'enfocament d' hipòtesi i validació utilitzant anàlisi quantitatiu té dificultats per tractar, d'una manera estructurada, altres tipus d'informació que aspectes estrictament relacionats amb l'ús dels productes (per exemple les emocions) on els resultats obtinguts són efímers i complexos.Els aspectes d'experiència d'usuari que impliquen sentiments relacionats amb necessitats inherents, desitjos i fantasies s'anomenen informació subjectiva sobre l'experiència. Per obtenir aquesta classe d'informació, l'experiència d'usuari s'analitza segons la relació psicològica entre usuaris i productes o serveis. Aquesta tesi descriu el canvi de paradigme que proposa la psicologia constructivista i la seva pertinència per a l'aplicació en l'obtenenció d'informació subjective sobre l'experiència d'usuari en les primeres fases del disseny de producte. Primerament, una visió de conjunt general del punt de vista proposat presenta les bases de la psicologia constructivista aplicables al camp de l'experiència d'usuari. Després, differents estudis exploratoris il·lustren, amb exemples, com s'haurien d'utilitzar aquestes tècniques com eines d'obtenció d'informació subjectiva:- La tècnica dels paisatges experiencials utilitza la graella cognitive, una aproximació alternativista al constructivisme, per obtenir informació sobre la resposta dels consumidors a un cert grup de productes i els requeriments d'ús.- El procediments de restricció utilitzen tècniques d'escalament (aproximació discursiva al constructivisme) per aconseguir informació nuclear sobre valors que una persona té. Aplicat a disseny de producte serveix per augmentar el nivell de precisió, obtenint informació que relaciona atributs emocionals, funcionals i físics del producte. - El mètode de generació de metàfores sensorials es pot considerar una aproximació retòrica al constructivisme i utilitza productes, objectes i contextos com vehicles per transmetre coneixement tàcit.- La visualització de necessitats i desitjos latents és una aproximació narrativa al constructivisme. Utilitza presentacions de vídeo per desvelar comportaments d'interaccions futures que compleixen els desitjos i les aspiracions dels usuaris.Les tècniques per a l'obteció d'informació subjectiva sobre l'experiencia d'usuari proposades en aquesta tesi doctoral (SEGIT) emergeixen de l'anàlisi de les avantatges i febleses dels estudis exploratoris anteriors. Es poden considerar com un conjunt de tècniques (exploratives i projectives) per ser utilitzades durant el procés de disseny com a eina inspiradora per guiar el procés creatiu (una tècnica de generació d'idees d'experiència per desenvolupar nous conceptes d'interacció) i un model per a la validació de resposta futura dels consumidors. La informació obtinguda amb el mètode de SEGIT s'analitza per a propòsits inspiradors i informatius:- Des d'un punt de vista inspirador, el conjunt de tècniques proporcionen aspectes clau per al procés d'inspiració. Les tècniques exploratòries permeten obtenir idees detallades i justificades i les tècniques projectives conceptes amb un nivell alt d'abstracció i coherència al mateix temps. - Des d'un punt de vista informatiu, aquest conjunt de tècniques es poden utilitzar per obtenir informació sobre la preferència de compra dels consumidors. Alhora que analitza diferents variables que afecten la fiabilitat dels resultats obtinguts.En conclusió, la visió sobre el disseny de la interacció presentat en aquesta tesi doctoral i les tècniques proposades mostren un camí optimista per explorar amb el propòsit de millorar l'acceptació de noves tecnologies en la vida quotidiana. / The field of User Experience (UX) consists of a wide range of different aspects about the interaction with products or services. User experience differs from the performance-based objective paradigm, focusing on a wider point of view where users needs, desires and fantasies have a role in the users decision-making process. Quantitative analysis and hypothesis and validation approaches have difficulties to deal, in a structured way, with information other than that, which is strictly related to aspects regarding product usage (i.e. emotions and affect, social interaction) and the results obtained are ephemeral and complex to measure. The aspects of user experience that involve feelings related to inherent needs, desires and fantasies are called subjective experience information. To obtain this kind of information, user experience analyzes the psychological relationship between users and products or services. This thesis describes constructivist psychology and its relevance for user experience research in early stages of product development. First, a general overview of the proposed point of view introduces constructivist psychology to user experience practitioners. Then several exploratory studies illustrate, with examples, how these techniques should be used as subjective user experience information gathering tools:- The experience landscapes technique use the repertory grid as an alternativist approach to constructivism for gathering information about consumers' response to a certain group of products and extract users' experience requirements. - The tightening procedure uses laddering techniques (discursive approach to constructivism) to get core information, the values a person holds. In order to increase the level of accuracy, obtaining design relevant information that relates emotional, functional and physical product attributes.- The sensory metaphor generation method can be considered a rhetorical approach to constructivism and uses products, objects and contexts as carriers of meaning of subjective experiences.- The visualization of inner needs and desires technique is a narrative approach to constructivism. It uses video presentations to unveil future interactions behaviours that fulfil users' desires and aspirations. The Subjective Experience Gathering and Inspiring Techniques proposed in this PhD thesis (SEGIT) emerges from the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of those exploratory studies. It can be considered a set of techniques (explorative and projective techniques) to be used throughout the design process as an inspirational tool to guide the creative process, a generation technique of experience ideas to develop interaction concepts and a model for consumers' future response validation. The information obtained with the SEGIT method is analyzed for inspirational and informational purposes:- From an inspirational point of view, the set of techniques provide key aspects of the inspiration process in relation to exploratory (detailed and complete ideas) and projective techniques (concepts with high level of abstraction and coherence at the same time). In addition, results show that different aspects like the participants' linguistic abilities and practitioners' guiding skills affect consistency.- From an informational point of view this set of techniques can be used to obtain subjective experience construing profiles about consumers' product preference. At the same time the results show how variables like participants' cognitive complexity of consumers' response and the cognitive structure of the valuation process affect its reliability.In conclusion, the approach to interaction design presented by this research and the proposed techniques for inspirational and informational purposes show an optimistic path to explore with the aim to help designers to bring peoples' sensorial experience and technology closer together.

This paper intends to describe the work and result of the design project Meet App. Meet App lets users interact around their current locations in a direct manner. The user experience is evaluated to get an understanding of the usefulness and interaction with this type of design. The project is related to the context-awareness research field where findings put the project in a greater whole. The result indicates usefulness and enjoyment interacting with the application, but because of the low number of participants the findings cannot be validated.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to learn more about the consumers' interaction with companies over different channels. It is conducted from a consumer's point of view, but the insights gained through this study will help companies to design and build better services. In this context, the concepts of User Experience, cross-channel and Customer Experience provide a theoretical framework. The new approach in this study is to combine the three concepts, their framing and their identified design elements. This conceptual framing contains a list of design elements with a positive influence on the service experience. However, the conceptual framing provides no answers on how to apply these design elements. In the methodology part, possible approaches are discussed. The heuristic evaluation used in the two case studies is a method that takes all three concepts from the theoretical framework into account. With the first heuristic, it is possible to analyze single touchpoints like User Experience demands. The following heuristics are used within a cross-channel context. Finally, the last heuristic is responsible for the holistic perspective from Customer Experience. The case studies are then conducted to verify the applicability of the design elements with the heuristic evaluation. The findings of the study were positive and suggest that the heuristic evaluation is a suitable method to analyze a company's service offerings. Additionally, the case studies lead to results which are useful for the two companies (Migros and Nestlé). The overall conclusion of this study is that the three concepts complement each other very well. User Experience is responsible for well designed touchpoints. Cross-channel expands the perspective on ecosystems and evaluates how the touchpoints operate together. Finally, Customer Experience analyzes the whole company and its touchpoints on a heuristic perspective.

This project takes an experiential design approach to urban planning. By focusing on the public spaces of an urban area, it develops a design process based on the experiences felt by those walking down the street: both visitors and residents. Each type of user has a different experience, and a variety of building-street interface typologies have therefore been developed. This project uses the same calculations and basic framework from Dean Almy’s Texas Futures Lab studio of Spring 2013. It then looks into the various user groups and adjusted the public spaces to provide more variety, reflecting the various experiences sought after by these users. / text

Game developers strive to maximize immersion and engagement, to emotionally involve the audience in their material. One technique used to increase engagement is the development of new technologies, such as Stereoscopic 3D. Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) creates the impression of depth (stereopsis) in at images by providing additional binocular depth cues, such as convergence and binocular disparity. In this thesis, we explore the effects that S3D has on the player experience in an attempt to uncover design methodologies that can help game developers develop more effective content. Three experiments were designed and conducted to examine the effects S3D has on player experience and game design: i) Engagement in Stereoscopic 3D Games, ii) S3D Depth- Axis Interaction for Video Games: Performance and Engagement, iii) Depth Representation and Player Performance with Depth-Axis Interactivity. We hypothesized that S3D technology would increase immersion and engagement, and new mechanics that exploit the depth axis would be effective. The results of these studies suggest that S3D does not increase user engagement, and is consistent with prior research that suggest the impact of S3D is dependent on the game. They also demonstrate that developers can design unique experiences in stereoscopic 3D, but there may be additional ways to represent depth. The results suggest developers need to adjust the difficulty of their game when including stereoscopic 3D, depending on the interactions of their game. It is our recommendation that developers continue to explore the affordances offered by stereoscopic 3D to create unique experiences, but its inclusion is dependent on their specific game.