The current best practices of user-centered design (UCD) may not be optimal with respect to eliciting information from representative users from special populations. This research extended elicitation approaches traditional focus on user needs and context to include criteria describing obstacles users encounter. Military veterans were selected for this research effort as representative users for a use case in technology design that addresses the difficulties associated with community reintegration. This work provides several contributions to the UCD field. First, different elicitation methods were compared by the depth and breadth of design space criteria elicited. Guidelines were generated for designer use of phenomenology in practice. Obstacles were added as an important facet of design, with corresponding grammar rules for construction. Finally, an algorithm was applied as a method for generating personas. Additionally, this dissertation contributes to the field of veteran research. Some example contributions include a set of design space criteria for designers to consider when designing for veterans, and two veteran personas grounded in data procured from the analysis. This research effort was conducted in three phases: elicitation, first-cycle analysis, and second-cycle analysis. The elicitation process engaged 40 military veterans to complete an interview session and a design session. These sessions explored the lived experience of veterans as they reintegrate into communities, and gathered their ideas for technology to assist with veteran reintegration. The researchers who conducted first-cycle coding focused on categorizing the most important participant statements (meaning units) using a codebook. This analysis resulted in over 3,000 meaning units. Additionally, the meaning unit corpus was subjected to systematic second-cycle analyses, using standardized linguistic structures to generate design space criteria. In total, over 6,000 design space criteria were discovered, and these criteria were synthesized to create personas using a situated data mining (SDM) algorithm. Results suggest that the interview session was crucial to elicit higher quantity and broader coverage of design space criteria. It is recommended that designers conduct and analyze interviews that focus on understanding the lived experience of users (not on their technology ideas) as part of a UCD approach. / Ph. D.

Idag är det många företag som misslyckas med sina implementeringsprojekt av affärssystem och många forskare anser att det beror på bristande användarinvolvering. Implementeringsprojekt av affärssystem blir allt vanligare i små företag, men effekten blir dock stor om ett mindre företag misslyckas med sitt projekt. Små företags misslyckanden är oftast relaterade till finansiella och humanitära kritiska framgångsfaktorer.   Ett affärssystem kan ge ett företag en rad olika fördelar och möjligheter. Men för att ett företag ska uppnå dem krävs ett lyckat implementeringsprojekt samt att användarna omgående efter driftstart kan använda affärssystemet. Därför måste företagsledare under projektet se till en rad olika kritiska framgångsfaktorer som är relaterade till användarinvolvering. För att kunna hantera användarrelaterade kritiska framgångsfaktorer och de problem som de kan orsaka finns det angreppssätt till stöd. Ett angreppssätt vars syfte är att stödja användarinvolvering och hantera användarrelaterade problem är Participatory design (PD) och dess metod User centered design (UCD). PD och UCD bygger på att involvera användarna tidigt och ständigt under ett implementeringsprojekt och det i form av bland annat testning och utbildning. Användarinvolvering är därmed en viktig faktor vid implementeringsprojekt av affärssystem.   Syftet med studien är att göra företagsledare medvetna om vilka användarrelaterade kritiska framgångsfaktorer och problem som kan påverka ett implementeringsprojekt och dess utfall. Vi anger ett antal åtgärder, baserade på användarinvolvering, som ska stödja företagsledare att bättre och effektivare kunna förutse och hantera användarrelaterade problem vid implementeringsprojekt.   Vi har med stöd av en kvalitativ undersökning och en empirisk studie påvisat sambandet mellan områdena affärssystem, affärssystemets implementeringsprocess, användarrelaterade kritiska framgångsfaktorer och användarinvolvering. Vi har konstruerat en egen modell och tabell, 4-A Modellen och 4-A Tabellen, som illustrerar hur de olika områdena relaterar och stödjer varandra under ett affärssystems implementeringsprojekt. Vårt bidrag är ett dokument vars syfte är att stödja företagsledare vid planering innan och under ett implementeringsprojekt, främst när det gäller projektets användarinvolvering. Dokumentet ska göra företagsledare medvetna om vad bristande användarinvolvering kan leda till, samt när och hur användare bör involveras under ett implementeringsprojekt. / Today many businesses fail in their enterprise recourse planning (ERP) implementation projects and many scientists believe it is due to lack of user involvement. ERP implementation projects are becoming more common in small businesses, but the effect will be large if a small business fails in their ERP implementation projects. Small businesses failures are usually related to financial and humanitarian critical success factors.   An ERP system can give a business a number of advantages and opportunities. But it requires a successful implementation project to achieve them and also that user immediately after start-up can use the ERP. Therefore, the manager during the implementation project needs to ensure a range of critical success factors that are related to user involvement. There are a number of approaches to manage user-related critical success factors and the problems they cause. An approach which aims to support user involvement and manage user-related problems is Participatory Design (PD) and its method User centered design (UCD). PD and UCD are based on involving the users early and continuously during the ERP implementation process and that in the form of testing and training. User Involvement is therefore an important factor in ERP implementation projects.   The aim of the study is to make managers more aware of the user-related critical success factors and issues that can affect an ERP implementation projects outcome. We foresee a number of measures, based on user involvement, which will support managers to better and more efficient anticipate and manage user-related problems in ERP implementation projects.   Supported by a qualitative and an empirical study, we have demonstrated the relationship between the areas ERP, ERP implementation process, user-related critical success factors and user involvement. We have constructed our own model and table, the 4-A Model and the 4-A Table, that illustrates how the different areas influences and support each other in an ERP implementation project. Our contribution is a document whose purpose is to support managers when planning a project’s user involvement, before and during an ERP implementation project. The document will make manager aware of what the lack of user involvement can lead to, but also when and how the users should involve in an ERP implementation project.

(in English): The diploma thesis deals with the use of design methods among Czech UX designers in the design of web and mobile applications. The aim of this work is to find out and critically describe how Czech UX designers use design methods in practice. The thesis analyse the design process of website, web and mobile applications, its various stages and procedures. The theoretical part of the thesis introduces the basic terminology of the User Experience field and current research in the field, with emphasis on relevant terms and processes that occur in design practice. This part of the thesis is based on data obtained in the practical part, according to which popular approaches, frameworks, processes and methodologies of the UX field will be identified and described on the basis of professional literature. In the research part, qualitative research will be carried out in the form of semi-structured interviews with Czech User Experience designers, focused on the identification of methods, procedures and principles and ways of their usage. At the end of the thesis, the obtained data will be evaluated and it will be identified whether Czech designers in their practice adhere to academic approaches, or what existing and theoretically described methodologies and procedures their design process...

Preem verkar inom drivmedelsbranschen som styrs av en mycket hög omsättning med förhållandevis små marginaler. Det är därför viktig med en väl fungerande lagerkontroll. Det man idag är ute efter är en ökad precision i lageruppföljningen och därmed behövs ett nytt systemstöd till detta. Jag fick i min roll hos Preem uppgiften att titta närmre på GUI och processerna bakom. Det resulterade i denna rapport med ett framtaget förslag på användargränssnittet till det nya systemet och dess affärsprocesser som är kopplat till detta. Arbetet fokuserar på hur de två framställs i förhållande till varandra och vilka metoder som används för att konstruera dessa. Arbetet inkluderar illustrationer av as-is och to-be processmodeller enligt BPMN specifikation, wireframes och en sitemap. Denna rapport visar ett förslag på ett sammanfört system och ett intuitivare GUI med nya processer bakom, för just Preem, och hur balansgången går mellan att skapa affärsprocesser och ett grafiskt användargränssnitt ur varandra, beroende av vilka som är involverade i projektet. / Preem is a Swedish company that operates in the oil industry, which is controlled by very high sales and with relatively small margins. It’s therefore essential with a well working stock control. Today they are looking for a better way of monitoring the stock with a higher precision and therefore they need a new system for that. My role at Preem was to take a closer look at the GUI and the processes behind that. It resulted in this thesis that includes the user interface for the new system and the business processes that are linked to this. The work will focus on how these two methods are produced in relation to each other, and the methods that are used to construct them. The thesis includes illustrations of as-is and to-be process models of the BPMN specification, wireframes and a sitemap. This report shows a proposal of an integrating system and an intuitive GUI with new processes, at Preem, and how the balance is between creating business processes and a graphical user interface out of each other, depending on the people who are involved in the project.

Denna rapport redogör för det praktiska examensarbete som har inneburit en redesign av Birnas Trafikskolas webbplats. Webbplatsen var i behov av en ny design, struktur och innehåll. I detta arbete har designprocessen utförts utifrån ett användarcentrerat perspektiv baserat på design thinking. Arbetsprocessen har bestått av research kring användarna, prototyparbete, framtagande av en grafisk profil och genomförande av användartester. Utvecklingen av den nya webbplatsen har skett via CMS-verktyget Joomla samt med användning av HTML och CSS-kod. Resultatet av detta examensarbete presenteras i form av en webbplats med ny grafisk design och innehåll. / This report describes the practical thesis that entailed the redesign of Birnas driving school’s website. The website was in need of a new design, structure and content. In this work, the design process was carried out with a user-centered approach based on design thinking. The work process has consisted of user research, prototyping, the developement of a graphic profile, and user testing. The developement of the new site has been made through the content management system Joomla and the use of HTML and CSS code. The result of this thesis is presented in the form of a website with new graphic design and content.

In today’s society there is a growing awareness of where food is produced and there is a trend to use locally grown produce in restaurants. One way for restaurants to differentiate themselves is to grow the produce inside the restaurant. This thesis has the aim on identifying the problems and user needs for an indoor cultivation solution and developing a new indoor cultivation product that solves the identified problems and meet the user needs. To achieve this aim, a usercentered design approach was utilised and the following three research questions were answered: How can the needs of the user be translated into a product specification for indoor cultivation in restaurants? What are the functionality, usability, and construction requirements for an indoor cultivation product in a restaurant? What product concept can be designed to grow classic herbs in restaurants based on the needs of the user? To identify the needs interviews were performed with the users. The needs were then translated, together with the company’s needs, into a product specification. This was done in two steps, identifying the metrics and setting values. Some of the most important requirements are that a hydroponic system is used, that the product is easy to clean and is moveable. The product development process was iterative and included different ideation, development and evaluation methods. The users were involved in some of the evaluation methods to give input on the final design. Their opinion, together with evaluations based on the product specification, were used when choosing the final concept Lärad. Lärad uses a circulating hydroponic system and have three separate growing containers each containing 16 plants. The growing containers can be pulled out to enable easy access of the plants. Both the water system and the LED grow lights, that replaces natural sunlight, are controlled automatically to minimise the users’ involvement. To test the concept, to see how well the product specification is fulfilled, both a CAD model and a functional prototype were created. The results from the tests were, even at the concept stage, that 97% of all the tested requirements were fulfilled which shows that the concept is suitable for indoor cultivation in a restaurant environment. Some further work that includes refining the design and optimising for production will be needed to launch the product.

I Sverige uppskattas 800 000 personer leva med astma. I landet pågår ett digitaliseringsarbete för att via e-tjänster göra vården mer tillgänglig för patienter. E-tjänster avsedda för astmavård har uppvisat svårigheter att främja kommunikation mellan patient och vårdgivare. E-tjänster har inte ansetts kunna ersätta den personliga kontakt som ett möte mellan patient och vårdpersonal erbjuder. Bristande kontakt med vården kan leda till att gradvis försämring av astmasymtom inte upptäcks. Det kan också leda till en avsaknad av upplevt socialt stöd hos patienten, vilket kan leda till sämre mental hälsa. För att undersöka hur e-tjänster för astmavård kan designas för att, genom individanpassad information, främja och upprätthålla kommunikationen mellan patient och vårdgivare, till stöd för god vård och patienthälsa, har en studie uppdelad i tre steg genomförts. Denna studie inleddes med en litteratursökning, följdes av en intervjustudie med öppna intervjuer och avslutades i en konceptdriven designprocess. Intervjuerna analyserades mot tidigare teorier och användes tillsammans med dessa som grund för att skapa ett designkoncept tänkt att främja och upprätthålla kommunikation mellan patient och vårdgivare i astmavården. Designkonceptet, “Astmaportalen”, togs iterativt fram genom en konceptdriven designmetod vilken involverade astmavårdpersonal, astmapatienter samt informatikstuderande. Konceptet manifesterades i form av en digital prototyp. Utvärderingar med astmavårdpersonal, astmapatienter och informatikstuderande visade att designkonceptet skulle kunna utgöra ett användbart bidrag till en symbios av vårdmöten på plats och digitala lösningar. / In Sweden, 800,000 persons are estimated to live with asthma. There is an ongoing digitization work in the country, to make healthcare more accessible to patients through the use of e-services. E-services intended for asthma care have shown difficulties in promoting communication between patients and the caregiver. E-services have not been considered able to replace the personal contact that a healthcare meeting between the patient and the caregiver offers. Lack of contact with the healthcare can lead to gradual deterioration of asthma symptoms not being detected. It can also lead to a patient-perceived lack of social support, which can lead to poorer mental health for the patient. To explore how e-services for asthma care can be designed in order to, through individualized information, promote and maintain communication between patient and the healthcare provider, in support of good care and patient health, a study divided into three steps has been carried out. The study began with a literature search, was followed by an interview study with open interviews and ended in a concept-driven design process. The interviews were analyzed against previous theories and used together with these as the basis for creating a design concept intended to promote and maintain communication between the patient and the caregiver in asthma care. The design concept, "Astmaportalen” (“The Asthma Portal"), was iteratively created through a concept-driven design method which involved asthma care personnel, asthma patients and informatics students. The concept was manifested in the form of a digital prototype. Evaluations with asthma care personnel and asthma patients demonstrated that the design concept could make a useful contribution to a symbiosis of healthcare meetings on site and digital solutions.

Researchers in the area of web usability dwell on the importance of simplicity in a website design so that users can achieve a specific task with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. If a banking website misses one of these characteristics of usability users may get lost in the middle of the website or become frustrated and “will seek information elsewhere”. This study assesses what are the main issues behind the current banking websites through a questionnaire with 74 participants the result of this questionnaire shows that there are still unsolved problems in the current banking websites that impacts the quality of use. This study performs a thorough theoretical study to find out more about the subject understudy and by combining together with qualitative interviews; the study comes up with a proposed solution to improve banking websites’ usability – by implementing a user-centered design. / Program: Masterutbildning i Informatik

We see this world rich with culture, emotion, and human connections. The human built world can afford a sense of beauty, sublimity, and resonance, and through our advancements in technology also bringing the advancements in society. At the center of these advancements are interactions, conversations, connections, collaborations, and relationships, within and across multiple disciplines, with and without technology. For the last decades, as the computer technologies have been developing, the importance of human-computer systems interaction problems are also growing with the passage of time. This is not only because of the computer systems performance and characteristics have been improved, but also due to the growing number of computer users and of their expectations about general computer systems capabilities as universal tools for human work and life facilitation. Interface design is important for several reasons and the current growth of the different web applications are characterized by an increasing availability of online different services or products trading and different search facilities like flight search web sites, provided by most commercial airlines. In this study we will therefore create an understanding of the most important interaction design principles for the designers of online booking systems. The research methodology used in the research is design and creation. The method components used in this study are documents and interviews. The theoretical study has identified some important aspects covering the human computer interaction, usability of interactive interface, user feedback and the user-centered design approach for the development of such online booking systems. These aspects have been verified through the three interviews with the interviewees having different experience levels. The result shows that the interaction design is really important in designing of interactive online booking system. Therefore, the designers of such systems need to have an understanding of the most important design principles like the usability and functionality of the system, the approach should be iterative in design, provide proper feedback, minimum steps in booking process, risk management, and user-centered approach should be included in your design principles. It is also important for the designers of online booking systems to be aware of the usability factor of the system. The cognitive psychology is also vital for designers to understand how users think and perceive things. Designers need to have a good balance between context and graphics of the interface of such systems. The result also has been shown in the design of prototype with the most important interaction design principles and other factors. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik

Data privacy has been growing in importance in recent years, especially with the continuous increase of online activity. Researchers study, design, and develop solutions aimed at enhancing users’ data privacy. The wicked problem of data privacy is a continuous challenge that defies straightforward solutions. Since there are many factors involved in data privacy, such as technological, legal, and human aspects, we can only aim at mitigating rather than solving this wicked problem. Our aim was to focus on human aspects for designing usable crypto-based privacy-enhancing solutions.  In this thesis, we followed a user centered design method by using empirical qualitative means for investigating user’s perceptions and opinions of our solutions. Most of our work has focused on redactable signatures in the cloud context within the eHealth use-case. Redactable signatures are  a privacy enhancing scheme allowing to remove parts of a signed document by a specified party for achieving data minimization without invalidating the respective signature. We mainly used semi-structures interviews and focus groups in our investigations. Our results yielded key HCI considerations as well as guidelines of different means for supporting the design of future solutions. / Data privacy has been growing in importance in recent years, especially with the continuous increase of online activity. Researchers continuously study, design, and develop solutions aimed at enhancing users’ data privacy. The wicked problem of data privacy is the continuous challenge that defies straightforward solutions. Since there are many factors involved in data privacy, such as technological, legal, and human aspects, we can only aim at mitigating rather than solving this wicked problem. Our aim was to focus on human aspects for designing usable crypto-based privacy-enhancing solutions.  In this thesis, we followed a user centered design method by using empirical qualitative means for investigating user’s perceptions and opinions of our solutions. Most of our work has focused on redactable signatures in the cloud context within an eHealth use-case. Redactable signatures are a privacy-enhancing scheme, which allow the removal of parts of a signed document by a specified party without invalidating the respective signature. Our results yielded key HCI considerations as well as guidelines of different means for supporting the design of future solutions. / <p>Paper 3 was included as manuscript in the thesis.</p>