This thesis explores the role of curation in the design and development of brand experience in the luxury retail environment. Three research objectives seek firstly, to gain an understanding of the meaning of curation in luxury retailing and identify the role, purpose and value to luxury retailers; secondly, to explore the different ways in which curation manifests itself in the luxury retail environment by examining sole brand and multi brand luxury retailers, and lastly, to identify how curation is brought to life through the curatorial roles within luxury retailers. In light of increasing global competitive pressures and fast-paced technology advances associated with mobile devices, the rise of omnichannel retailing has led luxury brands to be ubiquitous, with the resulting challenge for luxury retailers to develop seamless and experiential omnichannel brand experiences in order to continue to differentiate and grow. However, there is a paucity of literature regarding the design and development of luxury brand experiences, suggesting a gap in the literature. In addition, ‘curation’, a term traditionally associated with museology, is being increasingly used in the business environment in terms of creating differentiated experiences or collection of products both online and in-store. Little attention has been paid to curation in the literature, with the result of limited understanding of the role of curation in the design and development of brand experience, suggesting a second gap to be addressed in the research. The research was an investigative, qualitative and thematic analysis-based study. The data collection focused on face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 17 senior professionals from the luxury retail and cultural environments in the UK. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) Six Stages of Thematic Analysis and NVivo software were utilised to analyse the data, resulting in 9 key themes. My original contribution to the literature is this research is one of the first empirical studies to explore the role of curation in the design and development of brand experience in the luxury retail environment, resulting in three key contributions. Firstly, the role of curation is an influential one in the design and development of brand experience in the luxury retail environment and is manifested in four forms of curation across sole brand and multi brand luxury retailers. Secondly, curation in luxury retail has evolved from the traditional art-historian discipline of curation and is emerging as a new discipline and modus operandi in its own right, creating strategic, organisational, financial and experiential value. Thirdly, a strategic curation management toolkit consisting of three strategic frameworks was developed that contributes to both the brand literature and management practice. The toolkit provides managers with a common vernacular to develop their curatorial capabilities and identify strategic opportunities where they can harness curation as a strategy to design and develop omnichannel luxury brand experiences as a route to competitive advantage and build a platform for future growth.

儀式作為人類社會中最重要的體驗活動，在歷經時代的考驗與價值觀的轉變汰換後，流傳下來的內涵與核心意義雖然不變，但表現形式、媒材不斷隨著時代發展與時俱進，本研究欲以政治大學畢業典禮薪火相傳儀式為例，利用體驗設計為框架，將儀式原有內涵作為敘事基礎，藉由數位內容的製作，以及互動設計結合當代科技的運用，重新策劃並執行互動儀式體驗，進而探討傳統儀式與互動儀式體驗的轉變與差異，因此本研究目的歸納為以下三點： 1. 以體驗設計為框架，儀式內涵為敘事核心，利用互動設計結合展示科技製作數位內容，建立互動儀式媒介、互動儀式情境，進而重新策劃、製作、展演虛實整合的互動儀式體驗。 2. 分別從表演者、主動參與者、被動參與者、製作執行者的角度，探討互動儀式體驗與傳統儀式的的轉變與差異。 3. 歸納出互動體驗設計應用於儀式展演的策劃與執行要點。 研究結果發現，互動儀式體驗透過當代互動科技的應用，讓儀式參與者能即時主動加入儀式展演的內容創作，因此相較於傳統儀式能帶來更多的參與感與歸屬感，雖然多數的儀式參與者仍偏好被動觀賞的形式，但集體共創的展演內容能引起在場儀式參與者的共鳴，進而創造儀式當下的回憶，因此深化體驗的感受，也讓儀式不只是流於形式的過程。 / Ceremony is one of the most important experiences in human society. Although the principles and core elements may remain the same, styles of ceremonies and technologies used in the ceremonies have been developed as time progress and values change. The purpose of this study was to discuss the transformation and difference between traditional ceremony and interactive media-introduced ceremony by a case study of passing the flame in National Chengchi University commencement ceremony. This study covers below three topics: 1. By utilizing experience design as framework and the narrative in ceremony as the core, preparing digital content that combines interaction design and exhibition display technology, establishing interactive media and environment, an interactive ceremony experience was re-curated, prepared, and executed. 2. Discussion of transformation and difference between interactive ceremony experience and traditional ceremony from views of performers, active participants, passive participants, and executors. 3. Key factors of application of interactive experience design in ceremony curation and execution. After field observations, digital content analysis, and interviews with some participants, the results revealed that real-time interactive experiences in ceremony can bring more sense of participation and belonging than used to. Despite most of participants preferred just watching the performance, participants could get more connection from exhibition content that contributed by themselves. Therefore, the memory created at the moment could bring stronger feelings and experience and not letting the ceremony become a mere formality.

This study explores the conceptual relationship between design aesthetics and Aristotelian rhetoric in the context of information visualisation. Aesthetics and rhetorical theory are traditionally studied as separate discourses, but conceptual links between these fields are identified, specifically in terms of communicative goals and strategies. This study therefore compares selected theories on design aesthetics and Aristotelian rhetoric in information visualisation in order to ascertain whether a combined framework may be feasible. Although information visualisation is traditionally practiced from software engineering disciplines, this study frames the practice within the broader field of information design. The democratisation of the field of information visualisation and the emerging practices that emphasise the aesthetic value of visualisations is explored. In order to understand what is meant by the term ‘aesthetic’, a variety of both classical and contemporary views on aesthetics theory is investigated. Even though the term ‘aesthetic’ is not defined, a broad understanding is created by identifying the main conceptual themes in discourse. A specific focus is placed on understanding aesthetics in a design context, since there are many misconceptions about ‘aesthetics’ in this context. The idea that aesthetics relates to the communication of artifacts is explored, which provides a point of departure in linking aesthetics and rhetorical theory. The communicative nature of information visualisations is thus explored in relation to visual rhetorical theory. Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals, namely logos, pathos and ethos, form the backbone of the visual rhetorical analysis of visualisation artifacts. The aesthetic and rhetorical theories explored throughout the study are compared by applying them to Charles Joseph Minard’s seminal information visualisation of Napoleon’s march to Moscow. This comparative analysis considers the traditional divide between aesthetics and rhetorical theory but identifies sufficient conceptual links between the discourses to suggest that a combined aesthetic-rhetorical framework for information visualisation may indeed be practical. Lastly, the wider implications and potential value of such a combined framework is considered within a broader design context. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

This diploma thesis focuses on design of the web application for project management. The final product is more process-oriented compared to most of other widely spread project management tools. It builds on the visual representation of tasks' progress. One of the main features is its simplicity and user friendliness as it also aims at the users who are not willing to invest their time to discover more complex applications but are willing to use some project management tool. The application is developped in the Symfony framework.

An interactive multiple screen visualisation might become an opportunity for engaging and illustrative presentations of scientific, complex, and abstract research. With multiple (interactive) monitors, storytelling and interfaces could bring engagement, immersion, and attraction to the audience. The challenge of designing for a multiple screen setup is that the amount of information can be overwhelming, causing the perception of it and engagement with it to decrease. This thesis explores approaches that could enhance the perception and engagement of the content for a multiple screen setup. The Research Through Design approach sets the structure for the entire thesis. It consists of methods for exploration, concepting, prototyping, and user testing. By following this research approach, three versions of a prototype were developed and tested which led to the results of this thesis. The overall nature of this research process was exploratory and the design decisions were applied during the activities. The main findings of this thesis regarding the multiple screen setup during the research process included three attention guiding approaches: black and white, blur, and pause, and according to the user test participants, the preferred approach was black and white. The second vital aspect of the research and testing were the five-act story arc and interactive storytelling structures. According to the data from user tests, interactivity helped to increase the engagement and perception of the exhibition piece.

Den här studien syftar till att besvara frågeställningen: Hur kan existerande designriktlinjer inom gränssnittsdesign anpassas för heuristisk utvärdering av gränssnittskomponenter i digitala strategibrädspel? Rapporten inleds med en bakgrund över brädspels historia, inklusive dess digitalisering och tidigare forskning inom både fysiska och digitala brädspel. Vidare redogörs en beskrivning av heuristisk utvärdering och olika designriktlinjer inom fysiska brädspel, datorspel och generell gränssnittsdesign. Baserat på en litteraturstudie över tidigare forskning om designriktlinjer för brädspel, datorspel och generell gränssnittsdesign har en lista med ett urval av etablerade designriktlinjer gjorts. Dessa har sedan använts i en heuristisk utvärdering för att undersöka hur väl de är lämpade för utvärdering av digitala strategibrädspels gränssnitt. Baserat på en analys av utvärderingen har listan med designriktlinjer itererats, som i sin tur utvärderats av tre externa utvärderare med expertis inom spelutveckling och/eller UX-design. Utvärderarna har även deltagit i en semi-strukturerad intervju om hur det var att utvärdera ett digitalt brädspel och hur listan med designriktlinjerna var att använda. Sammanlagt har litteraturstudien, de heuristiska utvärderingarna, en observation av de externa utvärderarna samt intervjuerna resulterat i en ny lista med designriktlinjer specifikt anpassade för heuristisk utvärdering av digitala strategibrädspel och visar på hur designriktlinjer behövs anpassas för utvärdering av digitala strategibrädspel. / This study aim to answer the research question: How can existing design guidelines in interface design be adapted for heuristic evaluation of interface components in digital strategy board games? The study begins with a background of the history of board games, including its digitalization and related studies of both physical and digital board games. Furthermore, a description of heuristic evaluation and different design guidelines for physical board games, video games and general interface design is made. A list of selected design guidelines have been created based on a literature review on previous studies on design guidelines for board games, video games and general interface design. These have been used in a heuristic evaluation to examine how well they work for evaluation of the interfaces of digital strategy board games. A new list with design guidelines was then created based on an analysis of the evaluation, which later got evaluated by three external evaluators with expertise in game design, UX-design or both. The evaluators also participated in a semi-structured interview about their opinions and experience of using the design guidelines to evaluate a digital board game. The literature review, the heuristic evaluations, an observation of the evaluators and the interviews resulted in a new list with design guidelines, specifically intended for heuristic evaluation of digital strategy board games, and shows how design guidelines needs to be adjusted for evaluation of digital strategy board games.

This study investigates the 404 error and in what way feedback should be given to the user in an error message to generate a good user experience. To investigate this, data was gathered from 1) a literature review looking at previous studies in User Experience Design, as well as different models to evaluate ease of use and perceived usefulness, 2) a pre-study questionnaire with nine participants who were asked questions related to error messages and feedback in general, and 3) two user tests; the first including 16 participants and the second including 46 participants. During the user tests the participants interacted with a prototype of a website that included 404 error messages. In the first user test the participants' user experience was evaluated based on the TAM model, including perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The second user study focused more on text and illustrations and their effects on the user experience. Three versions of texts were tested, formal, apologetic and amusing. The illustrations either included a character or an object. The result showed that, in general, the users preferred formal texts, as well as illustrations that included a character. The result also suggested that there is not one type of feedback that fits all users, in order to generate a good user experience, it is important to know the audience.

As e-health systems are becoming more common and necessary, it is an important field to explore. One important part that has not yet been explored enough is the formation of trust within e-health. An established approach to help formation of trust in other fields is that of user experience design. This Master thesis is focused on the topic of trust formation of first-time e-health service users and how user experience design can influence trust formation. For fulfilling the purpose, the method of think-aloud and semi-structured interviews were chosen. In addition to that, a prototype of an e-health service was developed. The outcome of the interviews was examined through a thematic analysis in order to answer the research questions. Based on the analysis, new aspects which influence trust formation on the surface level were identified, as well as some previously known were confirmed. The themes which are overlapping with previously conducted studies are Design feeling and Element placement. The newly identified themes contain Consistency, Colour and some aspects of Reading experience. The reasons for the identified aspects were categorized into the two themes of Craftsmanship and Expectations. Those findings were compared with previous studies, and recommendations for future research were formulated.

Today’s generation is born with digital devices like computers, tablets, smartphones, and gaming consoles. Children’s passive engagement with digital mediums (digital devices and the content they offer) has become a primary concern for parents because it limits children’s learning opportunities through physical play. In this digital age, we cannot completely take away these devices from children’s sight. Still, we can create more situations and contexts that encourage children to reduce their time with digital mediums and/or convert children’s passive engagement into an active engagement. This research-informed design project aimed to understand children’s (aged 8-11) motivations, aspirations, likes, dislikes, and engagement with different physical and digital activities in their daily lives. Learning from different phases of the design process was applied to design a proposal that helps increase children’s physical play during their engagement with digital activity. Method: Findings from the exploratory research led to a few opportunity areas, which were further investigated using research through the prototyping method. User personas, their needs, and their involvement in different activities inspired me to define a few design principles I followed throughout the project to evaluate my design decisions. I set my initial research question as “How might we integrate ‘digital mediums’ with the qualities of ‘physical play’ to provide our children more exciting growth opportunities.” I could probe, test, observe, learn, and finally prototype a few scenarios that enabled children’s physical play during the digital activity. Result: The final concept is “animo- A tool to engage children in a storytelling activity through physical play.” The concept combined children’s current interest in digital mediums with their interests in the creative activity of drawing and doodling. It creates opportunities for children to build the creation by COMBINING two or more objects or mediums, by ENGAGING in physical play and/or with the surrounding, and SHARING the creation that increases their social interactions. Children learn drawing, handwriting, animation, and storytelling skills. They become more curious, observant and notice more the living and non-living things. Bringing feelings and emotions to their drawings increases their expressive and imaginative abilities. They develop empathy, love, and care by sharing their creation with others. Small recognitions of their creation give them a sense of being noticed and encourages them to explore more. Animo helps children learn storytelling through animation, but more than that, it exposes them to the infinite possibilities of learning through physical play.

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