When creating computer games it is necessary to use extensive documentation so that everybody involved in the creative process is up to date. This paper has investigated what prospects there are to improve the GDD process to a more updated version that would be less linear in its format and more user-friendly to everybody involved.  This paper evaluates the game designers’ available tools which were found to be inadequate to do an effective job, mostly because they are not suited for the complex task that is contemporary GDD creation and maintenance.  It was also found that there exists software technology and methodology to address some of these problems; but no evidence has been found that it has been implemented for the computer game industry in a useful manner.  Lastly, a suggestion for a framework that would use a more visual and amorphous workflow derived from the discussed theory is presented. This framework uses an open nomenclature in a node-graph structure where every node represents different entities/objects in the game and is connected to each other by their interaction between attributes.

Syfte – Syftet med studien var att studera skillnader i marknadsföring av hudvårdsprodukter riktat till kvinnor respektive män på Instagram. Genom att titta på helhetskonceptet av företagens instagramkonton utreds vilka könsstereotyper som används för att inspirera kvinnor och män till att följa dem på Instagram. Metod – För att uppfylla syftet har sex olika instagramkonton inom hudvård riktade till kvinnor respektive män studerats. Först gjordes en små-N-studie i form av en semiotisk bildanalys. Genom att studera denotation och konnotation av bilderna genomfördes en analys där vi även använde teorier från Teoretisk Bakgrund. Därefter genomfördes gruppintervjuer för att stärka konnotationen med hjälp av andra personers erfarenheter och åsikter. För att ge struktur åt analysen och se till att liknande delar av kontona granskades delades kontona upp i kategorierna Översikt, produktbilder, inspirations-/livsstilsbilder och citat i både den egna analysen och gruppintervjun. Resultat – Resultatet av gruppintervjuerna var att många grupper nämnde gemensamma beskrivningar och känslor av de olika kontona. Deras uppfattningar gick generellt i linje med vad vi kommit fram till i den egna denotationen och konnotationen, även om den var mer utförlig. Utifrån insamlade teorier och insamlad empiri från semiotisk bildanalys och gruppintervjuer identifierades könsstereotyper på de olika instagramkontona, vilket syntes genom färgval, uttryck av livsstil, fritidsintressen och rekvisita i produktbilder. Detta visade tydligt på kvarlevandet av gamla könsstereotyper om vad det innebär att vara man och kvinna. Implikationer – Implikationen för studien, alltså vad undersökningen pekar mot och verkar leda till, att könsstereotyper fortsätter att finnas och frodas, även på New Media. Detta leder till fler könsroller, fler begränsningar för kvinnor och män och fortsatt ojämställdhet. Att fenomenet även finns på New Media innebär att könsstereotyperna har större påverkan på människor, och att de också når ut till ännu fler människor. Begränsningar – Det som påverkar arbetets omfång och resultat är bland annat den begränsade tiden på vilken studien genomfördes, vilket begränsade antalet deltagande vid gruppintervjun, antal metoder och även djupet i den teoretiska bakgrunden. Hade studien utförts vid en längre tidsperiod hade studien kunnat vara mer omfattande vilket skulle ha stärkt studiens resultat. / Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the differences in marketing of skincare products on Instagram against a female or male target audience. By studying the companies concepts on Instagram we examine which gender stereotypes is being used to inspire women and men. Method – To fulfill the purpose, the authors have studied six different Instagram accounts within skincare marketed against women and men. A small-N-studie was done through a semiotic picture analysis. By studying the denotation and connotation of the pictures we did an analysis where we used theories from the Theoretical Background. Thenceforth we did group interviews to strengthen our connotations with the support from other peoples opinions with different experiences and backgrounds. To regulate the analysis we used headlines as overview, product-pictures, inspiration/lifestyle pictures and quotes both in the own analysis and in the group interview. Findings – The result of the group interviews was that many of the groups mentioned common descriptions and associations to the pictures on the Instagram accounts. Their perceptions was generally in the line of what we discovered through our own denotations and connotations even though ours was more detailed. From the theories and the discovered findings from the semiotic picture analysis and the group interviews we could identify gender stereotypes in the different Instagram accounts. This was shown through the colour-palettes, the life style that was promoted, the hobbies and the props in the product pictures. These findings clearly showed the signs of old gender stereotypes regarding what it means to be a man or a woman. Implications – The implications of the study is that the gender stereotypes will continue to exist and develop even on New Media. This leads to more limitations for women and men and continued inequality. The fact that this phenomenon is also on New Media means that the gender stereotypes has an even bigger impact on people, as it reaches to a larger group of people. Limitations – What influenced the size of the study was, among other things, the time limitations of the study. This limited the amount of participants in the group interview, the number of methods and even the extent of the theoretical background. If the study had been done during a longer period of time the study could have been more extensive which would have strengthened the findings of the study.

Hydroponics is a method of cultivating plants without the use of soil. Soil acts as a growth medium which gives plants stability, provides nutrients and allows roots to be kept wet without drowning. In hydroponics the soil’s functions are replaced by synthesized methods. Stability comes from a substrate (i.e. LECA, rockwool perlite).The 16 essential nutrients are solved in water which are distributed to plants’ roots by different techniques. To generate photosynthesis natural light is replaced by artificial light, especially red light in the proximity of 660 nm. Hydroponics has been used as a cultivation method for at least 2000 years. During the 20th century industrial applications became common since plastics allowed for complex systems engineering. The method also makes it possible to grow the same amount of crops with approximately 10% water usage and 25% of the area compared to conventional cultivation. During the past few years systems for home use has emerged but the product genre is still in its cradle. This master thesis covers a new conceptual design of a hydroponic home system. The project was carried out at Omecon AB in Stockholm as a consulting design project. Omecon AB is an engineering consultant agency within mostly mechanical construction looking to widen the competence base. Using a design process based on Human-Centered Design the project involved the stakeholders users, extreme users, Omecon AB, plant experts, electronics engineering and service as well as plastics design engineering. Additional/supplemental economical–, ecological– and social sustainability aspects has been considered during all phases of the process. By using the Human-Centered Design process the problem range is expanded from its initial state which results in a more complete end result. Common methodology altered with some unorthodox twists has been utilized throughout the project. The final result is a conceptual hydroponic system for home environment which is designed as an interior design product as well as a high-performance cultivation system. By using natural materials such as wood and steel the users expands its life span and thus mitigates the negative environmental impact. Another aspect which prolongs the products life span is the modular usage which lets users vary and choose their preferred settings. All manufactured materials included in the final concept were flow resources and the parts were engineered to be easily separable for future replacement and recycling. A new type of pot was invented along with a new way of adjusting the height-wise position of lamps. The aeroponic technique, which was applied to this concept, is generally considered to generate the largest plants and thus comprises higher performance compared to other home systems. The use of substrate was also eliminated which decreases continous material consumption within hydroponics. / Hydroponik är en metod för att odla växter utan jord. Jord i odling agerar som ett växtmedium som ger plantor stabilitet, tillför näringsämnen och tillåter rötter att vara i väta utan att dränka dem. I hydroponik ersätts jordens funktioner med syntetiska metoder. Stabilitet ges av ett substrat (t.ex. LECA-kulor, stenull eller perlit). De 16 essentiella näringsämnena löses i vatten och distribueras till plantors rötter med hjälp av olika tekniker. For att skapa fotosyntes ersätts naturligt ljus med artificiellt ljus. Speciellt rött ljus i närheten av 660 nm. Hydroponik har använts som odlingsmetod i åtminstånde 2000 år. Under 1900-talet blev industiella applikationer vanliga eftersom plast möjliggjorde tillverkling av komplexa system. Metoden tillåter även att odla samma mängd grödor med 10% av vattenmängden och 25% av ytan jämfört med konventionell odling. Under de senaste åren har system avsedda för användning hemma blivit vanligare men produktgenren är fortfarande ung. Det här examensarbetet täcker en ny konceptuell design av ett hydroponiskt system för hemmabruk. Projektet utfördes på Omecon AB i Stockholm som ett konsultarbete inom design. Omecon AB är en konsultfirma som mestadels är verksamma inom mekanikkonstruktion men de vill vidga sin kompetens. Genom användning av en designprocess som har baserats på Human-Centered Design har projektet involverat intressenterna användare, extrema användare, Omecon AB, växtexperter, en elektronikingenjör samt plastkonstruktion. Vidare har aspekter inom ekonomisk–, ekologisk– och social hållbarhet beaktats genom alla faser av processen. Via användning av Human-Centered Design-processen har problemrummet expanderats från den initiala utgångspunkten vilket resulterar i ett mer komplett slutresultat. Vanlig metodik varvat med okonventionella anpassningar har använts genom projektet. Slutresultatet består av ett konceptuellt hydroponiskt system för hemmabruk som är designat som en inredningsprodukt samt ett odlingssystem med hög prestanda. Genom användning av naturliga material som trä och stål förlänger användarna produktens livslängd och på så sätt förmildras den negativa klimatpåverkan. En annan aspekt som förlänger produktens livslängd är moduläriteten som låter användare variera och välja deras föredragna inställningar. Alla tillverkade material inkluderade i slutkonceptet var flödesresurser och delarna konstruerades så att de går lätt att separera för framtida ersättning och återvinning. En ny typ av kruka uppfanns tillsammans med ett nytt sätt att justera höjden av lamporna. Den aeroponiska tekniken, som används is konceptet, är allmänt ansedd att generera de största plantorna och innefattar därför högre prestanda jämfört med andra hydroponiska hemmasystem. Användning av substrat eliminerades också vilket minskar kontinuerlig materialkonsumption inom hydroponik.

Animationer i grafiska gränssnitt blir allt vanligare men används ofta godtyckligt och utan kunskap om vad upplevelsen av olika rörelser framkallar för känslor hos användaren. I gränssnitt är det viktigt att animation används sparsamt och med stor försiktighet eftersom det kan ge negativa effekter på användares upplevelse om det används på fel sätt. Det har tidigare forskats kring hur animation i gränssnitt påverkar användbarheten utifrån mätbara faktorer men det råder brist på forskning som kvalitativt undersöker hur animationer ur ett bredare perspektiv påverkar användarupplevelsen samtidigt som upplevd funktionalitet bibehålls. Litteratur inom områdena produktupplevelse, användarupplevelse, användbarhet, visuellt perception och animation har därför studerats. I denna studie undersöks hur olika rörelser kan framkalla emotionell respons hos användare av grafiska gränssnitt. För att ta reda på detta har användares upplevelser undersökts kvalitativt genom tio stycken användartester av funktionella animationer vilka genomförts i samband med kontextuella intervjuer samt kartläggning av respondenters känslor i förhållande till olika rörelser. Resultatet av undersökningen presenteras dels i form av den metod som tagits fram i ett försök att kartlägga emotionell respons på rörelser, men även som resultat av den metod som tyder på att animationer framkallar emotionell respons hos användare av grafiska gränssnitt. Animationer i grafiska gränssnitt kan användas i både funktionellt och estetiskt syfte där den funktionella aspekten av animation kan hjälpa användare i den kognitiva process som innefattar avkodning av vad som sker i ett gränssnitt, exempelvis genom att med animation skapa visuell kontinuitet mellan olika stadier i förändringen av ett objekt. Den estetiska aspekten kan i sin tur användas på ett sådant sätt att den funktionella animationen förmedlar den karaktär, känsla och personlighet som gränssnittet syftar till att framhäva. Denna studie visar på att funktionell animation, genom utformning på deras utvecklingskurvor kan påverka användares emotionella respons i förhållande till rörelse. Funktionell animation kan därmed utformas på ett sätt som gör att upplevelsen av animationens utvecklingskurva överensstämmer med den emotionella respons som webbplatsen syftar till att framkalla. / As animations in user interfaces become increasingly more common, the animations are often used in an arbitrary fashion, without any knowledge of what kind of effect, in terms of feelings and emotions, the movement have on the user. At the same time it’ s important that animations in user interfaces are used carefully and thoughtfully as the motions can have negative effects on the users experience if not used wisely. Previously conducted research have studied how animations in user interfaces affect users perceived ease of use, but there is a lack of qualitative research in the area of how animations affect the user experience at the same time as it’ s used in a functional manner. Literature within the fields of product experience, user experience, usability, visual perception and animation theory has therefore been studied. The research conducted in this study aims to reveal if, and how, different motions can induce emotional response during the use of graphical interfaces. To examine this, the user experience has been studied with a qualitative approach. A usability test consisting of different types of functional animations has been conducted in tandem with contextual inquiries, with an identification and mapping of emotional response in relation to different motions. The result of this study is presented partially in terms of the method constructed in order to plot users perceived emotion in response to motion, but also as the result of the study which shows that different types of animations evoke different feelings in users. Animations can be used in graphical interfaces with both functional and aesthetic purposes, where the functional animation can be used to facilitate the users cognitive process and decoding of an interface, for instance by creating visual continuity between different stages in the change of an object. The aesthetic aspect of the animation in turn can be used to convey character, emotion and personality through the functional animation, thus bringing forth the feelings the interface aims to emphasize. This study shows that functional animation, by customizing its bezier­curves, affects the users emotional response to movement. Thus, functional animation can be constructed to match the emotional response a webpage sets out to convey.

Research on financial decision aids, systems designed to help people make financial decisions, is sparse. Previous research has often focused on the theoretical soundness of the advice that the systems provide.The original contribution of this doctoral thesis is a set of empirical studies of how non-expert people understand the advice provided by financial decision aids. Since every piece of advice must be interpreted by a receiver, the accuracy of the advice can be corrupted along the way if the receiver does not understand complicated terminology, probabilistic reasoning, or abstract concepts.The design concept resulting from the studies visualizes a unique combination of short-term and long-term variables that are usually treated as separate and not interacting with each other; loans and amortizations, insurance, retirement saving, and consumption. The aim is to visualize the consequences of different decisions and possible adverse events in terms of their effect on the user’s future consumption, rather than abstract numbers detached from the user’s lived experience.The design concept was tested and evaluated by personal finance experts and professional financial advisors, as well as students and people without financial education, who represented the target users of the system. Results indicate that the system has a learning curve, but that once users understand how to read the graph, they find it more informative than conventional financial planning tools. / <p>QC 20170809</p>

Helping drivers improve their driving skills and become safer drivers is a problematic topic. Most drivers have a lacking self-assessment ability and consider themselves above average driving skills. This is believed to be related to the lack of continuous feedback after getting the driver’s license. This has led to initiatives to find alternative ways of coaching drivers toward better self-assessment and thereby toward safer driving. Chatbots and conversational interfaces has received increasing attention over the years and could be technologies that can solve these challenges. However, a major challenge to chatbots is that they are mostly implemented in a “one-size-fits-all” approach, and while personalization of the chatbot could solve that challenge, it ishard to achieve. In this study, personalized chatbot conversations that aim to coach drivers are examined. The aim is to create a guide that can help designers and practitioners with design decisions that needs to be considered when creating coaching chatbot conversations. The study was performed as a Wizard of Oz study, where attributes for personalization as well as coaching considerations were tested with users in two iterations to iteratively develop the guide. The findings of the study include the guide itself with its guidelines (see appendix 4), as well as insights on considerations required chatbot personalization and coaching. Regarding personalization, chatbot personality and level of control were identified as two attributes that were fit for adaptation. These can lead to social benefits as well as more tailored services to the users. For coaching, the use of follow-ups, feedback and the chatbot’s attitude are identified as necessary considerations when designing coaching chatbot conversations.

Games can be used to convey meaning and communicate messages. While there is ample research on games' expressive capacities, how players' backgrounds impact game interpretation has thus far been under-explored.  This study explores this gap by way of testing an expressive game and discerns if there is a relationship between how people experience a game and their personal background and current state of mind. To engage this question, we conducted a player study. We developed the abstract, metaphorical game “Lorn” intended for this purpose. The game together with an online survey, intended to assess players' background and state of mind, was distributed to potential participants. After having played the game, the participants shared their interpretation of the message in the game and their experiences and feelings they experienced while playing. 15 people participated in the player study. The result indicates there are differences in how people interpret a message depending on their personal background and their current state of mind. / Spel kan användas för att förmedla både budskap och mening. Trots att det finns omfattande forskning på hur man kan uttrycka sig med spel, så är forskning kring hur spelares bakgrund påverkar deras tolkning bristfällig. Den här studien utforskar detta genom att testa ett “expressivt spel” och urskilja om det finns någon koppling mellan hur människor upplever ett spel och deras personliga bakgrund och sinnesstämning. Vi utförde en spelarstudie för att undersöka den här frågan. För detta ändamål utvecklade vi det abstrakta, metaforiska spelet “Lorn”. Tillsammans med en online enkät, som ämnade att ta reda på spelarnas bakgrund och sinnesstämning, distribuerade vi spelet till potentiella deltagare. Efter att ha spelat spelet delgav deltagarna sina tolkningar av betydelsen, sina upplevelser av Lorn, och vilka känslor de kände när de spelade spelet. 15 personer deltog i studien. Våra resultat indikerar att det finns skillnader i hur människor tolkar budskap beroende på deras personliga bakgrund och sinnesstämning.

Globally, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurs ranging between 20 to 140 per 100 000 people, with only 2-11% surviving. Immediate bystanders, i.e. a person close to the victim, performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) have a vital role to play in the chain of survival from OHCA. Today CPR training takes place in many different contexts as workplaces and schools, but there is still a lack of knowledge concerning CPR in society at large. The overarching aim for this thesis is to find new ways of delivering CPR in order to train more laypeople and save more lives. By initially exploring CPR training in both workplaces and compulsory schools in Sweden, my final design question for this thesis has been: How might we empower the teachers to enable them to carry out CPR training at school? Ethnographic fieldwork both exploring CPR training in workplaces and schools including interviews with mainly instructors, teachers, and laypeople as well as participatory observations in CPR training, have been carried out. In addition, the fieldwork included being a participant in a CPR training course myself. The results from my research process were clustered into insights and potential opportunity areas. Departing from these insights a decision was made to continue the thesis with CPR training in schools as reaching out to children and young people already at school can open the path for more long-term sustainable knowledge. Despite CPR training being core content from year 7 in compulsory schools in Sweden, it is not carried out in a majority of them. My research shows that lack of CPR material as well as an unclear syllabus in Physical Education and Health in how to involve CPR in your teaching, are some of the main obstacles for teachers and reasons for why CPR training is not being carried out in every school today. Potential future scenarios were explored through creative workshops and idea sessions with the users and main stakeholders. The explorations led to focusing on the teachers, as they have a vital role in being the bridge between the CPR knowledge and the pupils. My final proposal is CiPRA: a collaborative CPR education platform for teachers and schools, with the aim to increase the knowledge and the conditions for teachers to carry out CPR training, starting already from six years of age. The structure of the platform follows the years of the Swedish school system and the recommended steps fromThe Swedish Resuscitation Council for CPR training and first aid. The platform enables teachers to plan and prepare CPR training, both long a short term irrespective of previous experience. The platform is based on three main parts; knowledge contributions from teachers, teaching content both through pre-made lessons and an idea bank as well as a shared booking system for practical CPR material. Together these parts unify in an individual lesson planning for every teacher. In my final design proposal, it has been important to emphasise the main insights as well as making sure that every involved stakeholder is represented.

Digitala hälsotjänster har de senaste åren ökat i popularitet bland svenska medborgare. Dessa tjänster kan användas som komplement till traditionella fysiska vårdcentraler för att bli undersökt av en läkare, sjuksköterska med flera. Under de första månaderna under Covid-19 pandemin kan digitala hälsotjänster ha blivit ännu mer populära på grund av att de erbjuder ett kontaktlöst (smittofritt) sätt att få medicinska råd. Den här studien, genomförd maj 2020, undersöker hur aktiva svenska medborgare är i användning av digitala hälsotjänster för vård via nätet och deras inställning samt vad som påverkar deras inställning. För att ta reda på detta användes en enkät för att samla in empiri. 166 svar samlades in. Studiens resultat framhäver att ungdomar är mycket mer aktiva användare av digitala hälsotjänster för vård än äldre. Resultatet visar även att medborgare som testat digitalahälsotjänster för vård har en mer positiv inställning till digitala hälsotjänster än medborgare som inte testat digitala hälsotjänster. Detta kan tolkas som att de som har en positiv inställning har det rent generellt gentemot digitalisering av vård, eller som att användares inställning påverkas positivt (i flesta fall) redan efter ett besök. De faktorer som hade störst betydelse för medborgarnas inställning till digitala hälsotjänster för vård var lättillgänglighet, säkerhet och ekonomiska aspekter. En stor andel av respondenterna som inte testat digitala hälsotjänster hade önskat rekommendationer om hälsotjänster från staten eller en statlig hälsotjänst för att de skulle testa tjänsterna.

Designing for societal engagement and benefit, aiming for the inclusion of humans, has been largely implemented within interaction design research. However, recent studies on entanglements and more-than-human worlds in interaction design, participatory and speculative design, in combination with Science &amp; Technology Studies (STS) and ANT (Actor-network theories), revealed new opportunities for designers for the development of methods and practices, particularly about designing new forms of engagement with and through design artefacts for the benefit of the natural environment in the city. Through an RtD process, this thesis explores current relations between humans and nonhumans by establishing a more-than-human design space that embraces participatory and speculative methods. The aim is to implement more-than-human theories into the design practice to contribute to Posthuman Interaction design and Non-anthropocentric design. Therefore, this thesis presents Internet of Beings, a series of speculative design artefacts that aim to rebalance power structures and enable collaborative more-than-human interactions in the city. Internet of Beings stems from the desire of speculating on possible more-than-human futures, where cohabitation and care are at the base for the future of urban species. While humans are asked to reattune, be curious, notice again and collaborate with nature, nonhuman species start to have agency in the decision-making to thrive in a collaborative, sustainable more-than-human city. Thus, Internet of Beings represents a way of "staying with the trouble" (Haraway, 2016) for a collaborative future (Tsing, 2015) in the urban environment.