Studies have shown that many problems office workers face today arise from digital communication and collaboration, with information overload being the biggest obstacle to being effective and productive. Briteback is a new messaging app for teams, which was launched in November 2015, and which aims to solve these problems by providing users with a platform where they can manage all their work-related communication, in an attempt to structure office workers’ communication and to relieve communication related stress. As the app is a new competitor on the market, Briteback is evaluating the possibility of using different marketing strategies to position itself against competition, and to deepen their customer’s engagement and loyalty. According to several studies, gamification is a promising marketing strategy which can be applied to all kind of contexts. Given this background, this study examines what elements a gamification concept could include to assist Briteback with its marketing strategy to acquire new customers, as well as to deepen customer engagement and loyalty. The gamification concept resulted in an achievement based model, where users of the app can collect badges and learn more about the app and its features, as well as how to use these most effectively. Users can compete against each other for a leaderboard position and earn a VIP club membership to gain early access to new features. Usability tests at the end of the design process showed that study participants rated the overall usability of the gamification concept with a score of 75.6. It is concluded that the developed gamification elements have great potential of assisting Briteback with its marketing goals.

Lean Startup lacks a method specifically designed to evaluate whether a HCI-design is fulfilling the promises delivered by the unique value proposition (UVP). At the time of writing, concurrent think aloud protocols during usability testing and interviews are used to that end. There are, however, a couple of issues bundled with the use of such methods. Using a case study conducted on two iterations of high-fidelity prototypes of a meal planning website currently in development, a method called Directed Product Reaction (DPR) is proposed. DPR is a result of the adaptation of Product Reaction Cards, and the addressing of issues uncovered during case study iterations. DPR aspires to be that specifically designed method needed for assessment of user experience in relation to UVP in Lean Startup, and while the resulting method proposed has far from achieved that goal, it serves as a foundation moving forward.

The aim of this project was to find and implement actions to increase ERP system developers’ ability to improve user experience. The focus has been methods and resources that are used in the everyday work, and the selected methodology was action research. The project took place at IFS, which develops the ERP system IFS Applications. The project started with a pre-study consisting of interviews, observations and a survey. Then, four workshops were organized where the methods Ad hoc personas, Heuristic evaluation and Speed sketching were introduced and practiced. The workshops also included information on user experience in ERP systems. The workshops were then evaluated with a new survey and focus groups. The results show that the participants thought the workshops had a positive effect on their ability to work with user experience. Heuristic evaluation and speed sketching were very well-received, and deemed easy to integrate with the everyday work. Ad hoc personas workshops should be conducted early in a project to have the best effect. Overall, the workshops increased the participants’ motivation for user experience work.

The purpose of this study was to develop a list of usability guidelines, i.e. a usability checklist, which can assist in evaluating the usability of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) user interfaces. Interviews were conducted to help understand their context of use and to find design focus points for the evaluation of MOOCs interface. These design focus points were then inspected for usability issues with Jakob Nielsen’s usability inspection method - heuristic evaluation - using author’s own set of 10 usability heuristics. The study reveals two main findings. Firstly, the context of use of MOOCs differs from a regular university course in the manner of how users perceive and approach them. And secondly, the usability checklist has to be adaptable and up-to-date in order to support the constant change of context of use of MOOCs. The combination of both findings is what makes this study not just another checklist, but a valid contribution to the understanding of MOOCs and the research field in HCI.

En produkt är användbar när användaren kan göra precis som den vill utan att tveka, stöta på problem eller att användaren ska behöva ifrågasätta produkten. Användaren ska uppnå sitt mål om en produkt är användbar (Rubin & Chisnell, 2008). Användarvänlighet ska se till att möta våra behov och krav som vi kan ställa på produkter. Vår tillfredställelse med upplevelsen av produkten kan då påverka användbarheten (Reiss, 2012). Forskningsgruppen Educational Technology Group hade utvecklat ett digitalt läromedel där en kunskapslucka inom interaktionsdesign behövde fyllas. Denna studie gjordes i syfte av att utvärdera användbarhetsupplevelsen i ett digitalt läromedel kallat Historiens Väktare för barn i årskurs 4 med hjälp av tänka högt-protokoll, intervjuer och enkäter. Studien resulterade i en problemidentifiering i interaktionen, att vissa moment i spelet upplevdes som komplicerade och behövde ses över. I analysen gavs det förslag på förbättringar som kan appliceras på läromedlet för att ge en positivare användarupplevelse. / Educational Technology Group

In an increasingly digital world, the accessibility of digital services is an important question of inclusion. Despite judicial requirements for accessibility of digital public services, the inclusion of accessibility into design practices is a new research area.   This research project explores how to facilitate the inclusion of accessibility into design practices by creating a methodology that centres around an accessibility maturity assessment. The result of the assessment forms the basis for the selection of design methods that are mapped to the attributes of the model.   Preliminary research consists of an interview study, desk research and unorganized research activities. A case study is conducted at the Swedish Tax Agency, the result of which form the basis of the design intervention. Case study data is analysed with the help of an accessibility maturity model, which also serves as the core of the design intervention. For the intervention, adapted, proven design methods are connected to the attributes of the accessibility maturity model. A proof of concept is created in the form of a handbook and validated with designers and employees at the Tax Agency. The validation shows that there is promise in the proposed methodology, as the use of the design practices ensure that accessibility is a part of the entire design process. Further research should investigate the use of the handbook in a case study in order to consolidate the practicalities of the methodology, as well as validate the utility of the methodology in a practical application.   Keywords: digital accessibility, digital public service, maturity model, accessibility maturity assessment, UX practices, universal design, disability   Contact: linneamichel@gmail.com

In 2016, Instagram announced an update in form of algorithmic personalization to improve user experience (UX) by showing “the moments we believe you will care about the most”.  This resulted in dissatisfaction and confusion in users, for instance expressed through the hashtag #RIPINSTAGRAM on social media. When algorithmic personalization is not properly explained, past research shows that user experience is negatively affected. This study examines if this is also the cause behind the consequences of Instagram's algorithmic personalization. Through qualitative interviews this study examines how non-commercial users have adapted to algorithmic personalization on Instagram and how this affects their user experience. Our study shows that attitudes and knowledge towards algorithmic personalization on Instagram varies. The results indicate that users could improve their experience by implementing strategies that clearly signal to the algorithmic system what they care about the most.

In today's society we have come to depend on digital media to carry out several daily tasks in order to achieve a fluent lifestyle. But with all of these handy features at our reach, entertainment has emerged permanently accessible for most individuals and as a result people in general spend more time in front of digital screens. By putting our attention to this assumption we want to investigate how companies go about incentivicing us to spend more time infront of digital media and how this might affect us. We believe that a clearer understanding regarding our reward system in relation to media consumption can be beneficial for a lot of people. To examine this matter, we have studied and compared to relevant research as well as executed a qualitative study where we have questioned both professionals in the industry regarding how they think when creating services and consumers to find out how they perceive these services. Our conclusions were that companies aren’t as aware of the theoretical mechanisms for addiction and UX for forced behaviour as we anticipated. However, they still use brand-new design tools which maximize what in fact is this very effect, such as extensive data-collection to optimise things like retention. Our consumer interviews revealed almost the opposite, all civilians were well aware and had a shockingly big understanding of algorithms and other forces that guide their hand, but they still felt hopelessly addicted to something useless. The takeaway synthesis of these two results is that companies should consider another parameter than things like retention when evaluating. They should start considering what time wasted consumers find meaningful. And a datapoint won't do any good in that regard

This thesis analyzes the User Experience in design and development of new Web applications. Thesis describes the proper use of the UX methods and also deals with the possibility of using gamification in the design of new services. The work also contains analysis of the market of driving-schools in the Czech Republic and defines its main problems. Like a solution to these problems, the work includes the design and implementation of a new web application for sharing experiences among students.

I detta examensarbete beskrivs processen för att designa, implementera och utvärdera ett webbgränssnitt som syftar till att hjälpa lantbrukare att ta fram en skräddarsydd kvävegödslingsstrategi. Målet med examensarbetet var att utforska hur ett sådant verktyg kan bli implementerat och brukas av målgruppen. I synnerhet granskades vilken data som är meningsfull för att ta beslut om kvävegödsling, hur gränssnittet kan implementeras för att vägleda användaren till ett beslut samt hur verktyget kan uppmana till mer effektiv växtodling.