Assignment 3 - Emotion Probe Design

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In this assignment, in order to improve on the current lecture experience, we did ethonography, cultural probe and laddering to find out the various problems as well as needs of the students. The areas contributing to user experience in a lecture hall can be quite vast, ranging from the architural design, to the ergonomics of layout or even cultural aspects such as teaching methods. Therefore, there is a need for us to use various method to find out the needs, wants and expectations of students.

FOr ethnography, we focus our observations on the ergonomics of LT design, students' behaviors and habits as well as lecturer's performance. However, we feel this this form of field observation can be overly subjective from our own pespective. Hence, we decided to gather opinions from our friends as well.

But there is a tendency that people usually do not mean what they say due to peer pressure, fear or some other reasons. Hence, to get a more realistic out look on user's view, we tried cultural probe on them. By doing cultural probe, it will enhance user's own privacy space , inducing them to express their thoughts more freely. The cultural probe which I asked users to
do is diary studies where by each of them jot down the bits an pieces of their lecture experience. Subsequently, I conducted Laddering on the same respondents to get an in-depths understanding of the view points written in diary.

SOME Problems observed/faced (others pls refer to slides):

1) Narrow spaces between seating rows is one of the main cause of empty seats left in the middle of the row.

2) Students refusing to sit at the front which prohibits interaction between lecturer and student.
Large lecture hall lead to sparsely sitted lecture hall. This lead to lack of a conducive interactive environment as the emptiness of the lecture hall also affects the mood of the students.

3) visibility is unclear from the back as well as from the first 2 rows.

4) Table
- Too small - Flipping table might be troublesome for people who are careless -> things fumbling to the ground

5) Noise created by unattentive students, latecomers (through the squeaking sound of the door), poor microphone

6) FEAR of asking questions by students.

7) Boring presentation style by lecturers lead to sleeping students or even students skipping lessons.

8)Notes which are general in details might attract students to pay attention in class and take down notes at first. However, if the notes are too brief, students who are slow might not understand and lead to disinterest in the lesson.

9) concepts of all topics not linked up -> materials taught in bits and pieces

10) Certain lecture hall are too secluded - not accessible - a vicious cycle of punctuality problem

11) We know Singapore is warm. But certain LT are really too cold which lead to loss of concentration during lesson

12)Not enough electric plugs, which are VERY important for a laptop based education system
Some Solutions to the problems :

SOME SOLUTIONS :

Our solutions are segregated into technological and cultural solutions. We believe that it is a mixture of both element which will create a wholesome lecture experience

- Seats and Capacity problem

A table bench sitting format with chairs on track rollers can possible help to solve problem of empty seats in the middle of the row

Prototype of IDEAL seat design

Prototype of table

2) We believe that building entrance at the centre-sides of the hall will help in diverting student flow to the front of the LT. From our observation and laddering, we discovered that a reason students do not go to the front is because they are eitherlazy to walk all the way to the front, or they cant see from the back if there are seats available at the front. Hence, these prohibit them from walking down further front.

3) To solve problem of interactivity -

A wireless/bluetooth system which allow students to log in via handphone/laptop & send real-time questions to the lecturer at the front is good for those who are afraid to speak out their queries during lesson


Some cultural solutions :

- Play more audio or videos to liven up the lessons. Especially when played at the start of the lesson, it can act as a buffer time for late comers -> reduce likelihood of disruption of lessons

-present lecture as a solution to a meaningful problem to invite contemplation

- Lastly, we believe that the presentation style of the lecturer is VERY important in building on to the lesson experience. Lecturers should try to speak clearly in a lively manner and not monotonously mumblingto himself. Solution : Send lecturers for public speaking lessons!!

Ultimately, most of the design ideas we came up with are ideas we WISH to have. But in reality, thereare many limiting factores such as cost, budget and personality of the lecturer.Hence, our ideas cannot be applied to all lecture experience design.

Lastly, we believe that the main attraction in creating a positive lecture experience is still the student himself/herself. If the student is not interested in learning,we believe that the experience of learning will not be pleasant no mattar what. This is because the mindset of the students is the ultimate controlling factor for his/her emotions, expectations andattitudes towards the lesson and hence quality of experience. If the student is not keen to learn at all, no mattar how interestingthe lecturer is or how comfortable the chairs are will not attract him/her into enjoying the learning process.

Assignment 2 - Four Pleasure Analysis

Chosen product: leopard printed short sleeved dress with a boat neckline

Expanded RMA Profile

Imaginary Subject:-

Name: Lily
Age: 32
citizenship: Singaporean
Race: Chinese
Job: A full-time 'tai tai'


Lily is a well-groomed woman who spots sexy long reddish-brown curls and always fully-clad in distinguised designer clothings. She loves the flaunt off her wealth and aims to attain a style of sophistication. To her, having taste/style is to don the most luxurious products which various Hollywood celebrities are wearing. Her usual shopping outfit consists of the latest large-rimmed sunglasses (think nicole-richie)sitting neatly on top of her head, a pair of diamond studded Jimmy Choo high heels which Jennifer Lopes donned during the MTV awards and cladded with loud accessories such as diamond necklaces, diamond watch, golden bangles and large dangling earrings. Of course, this is topped off with a 5-figure Hermes bag dangling on her wrists as she sashayed down the branded boutiques along orchard road.



Being a full time 'tai tai' , Lily enjoys an idling life without having to work. She lives in a semi-detached terrace at Novena with her husband, Paul, who is the director of an MNC firm in Singapore. She loves to decorate her house with imported edgy art work or statues which display her refined taste. Lily does 'work' hard to maintain her rich 'tai tai' statues. She wakes up everyday around 10 am to work out with her personal trainer. Lily firmly believe that to be respected as a 'well-disciplined' tai tai, she must maintain her beauty and figure at all costs. After two hours of sweating out, Lily will go for high-tea in hotels, usually with her girlfriends. Her girlfriends are also mostly rich 'tai-tais' whose main concerns are keeping up with the lastest trends in high society. Lily makes sure she keep in frequently contact with her girlfriends and being a status climber, she aims to network with more people of the high society. She loves mixing around with them as it gives her a sense of social status and pride. She also enjoys comparing herself with them as she love the feeling of being on par with them. However, as Lily was not born with a silverspoon in the mouth, she hates to display insecurities in front of her socialite friends. Hence, when speaking with her friends, she will choose her words carefully so as to appear as a classy and smart woman worthy of her rich husband. She may not be as exorbitantly wealthy or famous as her friends but Lily is definitely a woman who want others to know that she has the capabilities to afford a luxurious lifestyle. To her friends, Lily seemed like a dominating person who sets high expectation for herself.


Everyday after high tea, Lily will spend 2 hours on either of the following:

1) Shopping around Takashimaya/Paragon designer boutiques
2) Enjoying spa/facial packages
3) Pedicures/Medicure sessions
4) Enjoying Jacuzzi at Raffles Town Club

She have no qualms about spending thousands of dollars everyday to pamper herself with lavish goods or services. Needless to say, this glam life is fully sponsored by her husband's supplmentary titanium card. By the time Lily finished pampering herself, it will be the late afternoon. Occasionally, She does get VIP invitations to charity events and high society fashion parties. She uses such functions as a means to see and be seen among the upper crust of society. She loves attending such functions as a form of social ladder and would mingle actively with the crowd to self-promote herself. Lily loves the commanding attention she gained in these events.

During the weekends, Lily will reserve the time to accompany her husband, Paul. They share the same hobby of going out to the sea in their own yatch. Both of them enjoy listening to bar grooves on their yatch while sipping red wine but they hate listening to classical music as they thought that it was too dull. Sometimes, Lily also does accompany Paul to go for golf sessions at the Sentosa Golf Club. Both of them adore the finer things in life such as fine dining at a posh retaurant and watching musical performances at the Esplanade. To them , this form of posh lifestyle is an accessory to flaunt their status. They are very mindful of how others look uopn them and will usually only engage in activities that 'fit their status'.


Before being married to Paul, Lily belongs to modelling world. And she never likes to work.
Back then in her youth days, Lily came from a mid-range income family. She was the elder daughter of her family and lives in a 4 room HDB flat. Since young, her mother had always remind her of the importance of marrying a wealthy husband to secure herself a good future. Therefore, she had been 'brain-washed' with the importance of wealth and social statues.

Lily studied at Anglo-chinese Junior College. Her results were mediocre in her schooling days and she was very playful cum rebellious when she was young. She was constantly surrounded by rich friends who drives branded cars to school and wear considerably branded clothings such as Armani Exchange or Guess. She was secretly jealous of them and felt mediocre in front of her friends. Being envious of her wealthy friends, Lily was determined to climb up the social level. She makes it a point to go partying at clubs with her friends and that was a start for her to expand her social life. At the age of 18, she took up run-way modelling as a part-time job as it was considered to be a glamourous job back in her schooling days. Bacause of her job, she managed to work in exclusive events that were meant for celebrities or socialities. During these events, she got to further expand her network and socialized with men & women from the high society such as CEOs, celebrities and directors. Being able to be acquainted with various successful rich people helped her strived as a popular figure in school and this brought upon her an immense sense of satisfaction and empowerment. She feared that one day, all these glamour will disappear from her life and therefore continued to work as a model after she graduated. During her few years in the modelling circle, she pushed herself hard to know more rich men and this was how she got to know Paul, who was 10 years older than her.



Four Pleasure Analysis


PHYSIO-PLEASURE:

- Enjoys maintaining her figure, fitness and youthful appearance. She loves the feeling of sweating it out and it makes her illusionize the probability of losing weight. (need pleasure)

- Relaxing in spas and medicure/pedicure houses is a must in her itenary. The aromatic smell of spa houses and the feel of people massaging her takes her to 'another world' (appreciation pleasure)

- Loves the ambience of high-tea in hotels and fine dining restaurant as it makes her feel posh and sophisticated. She also appreciate the decorum of the well-trained waiters. (appreciation pleasure)

- Likes products with quality texture such as genuine leather goods. Touching them makes her feel contented with her own taste. (Appreciation pleasure)

- Spend her weekends relaxing with husband, listening to the soothing but yet energizing sounds of bar grooves on a yatch as they sip their red wine. Loves to drown herself into a bliss of relaxation and surrealism. (appreciation pleasure)


SOCIO-PLEASURE:

- The donning of expensive designer products all over herself act as a form of socialising tools. They help to boost her self-esteem and made her felt on par with her socialite friends. Without these products, Lily might be more reserved when mingling with her group of friends. As mentioned, she is not as exorbitantly rich as her friends and sometimes feels insecure due to this. (need pleasure)

- Makes sure she carries the latest and most desirable designer products which are the favourites of Hollywood celebrities. In this way, she will be able to be the centre of attraction amonsgt her high society friends and flaunt her taste to them. Also, she made sure that her dressing style is Loud enough to attract the attention of others so that will discuss about her. For instance, her pair of Jimmy Choo shoes which Jennifer Lopes had worn before became the focal point of one of her high-tea sessions with her friends and she felt secretly pleased.(appreciation pleasure)

- The exquisite art pieces which Lily displayed around her house wowed many of her friends. They were impressed with Lily's refined taste and Lily was excited to discuss the art pieces with her friends. (appreciation pleasure)

- Lily attends charity events and fashion parties to net work around. These events are platforms for her to gain popularity and socialise with the rich. Also, by attending these events, she will be able to brag about them to her friends during high-tea sessions. (appreciation pleasure)


PSYCHO-PLEASURE:

- Splurging and laying her hands on expensive designer products help Lily fulfil her dreams of a materialistic and wealthy lifestyle. She felt pleasurable looking at her molehill of bling bling goods as she feels competent and empowered to be able to improve her own life with her own abilities. (appreciation pleasure)

- Her husband is always working during the weekdays. With a significant lack of attention from her husband, the only form of consolation for her is to chit-chat with her girlfriends everyday or attend functions to widen her social life (need pleasure)

- By working out everyday without fail, Lily felt secretly pleased that she is a disciplined person. (need pleasure)

- Lily loves introducing the numerous art work in her house to her friends as she felt like a connoissuer when she explains them. (appreciation pleasure)

IDEO PLEASURE :

- She is a person who dares and wants to be different. She does not like conventional items which blends her into the crowd. She hopes to make a statement with her loud dress sense. (appreciation pleasure)

- She loves artistic displays around the house as they embodies the values of art appreciation. (appreciation pleasure).

- To Lily, wealth and status is everything. She is a person who is concerned about making others aware of her posh lifestyle. Hence, she will only indulge in the right activities or buy the right products which fit her social status. Eg. Fine dining, yatching, golfing, spa. (need pleasure)



Product Benefit Specifications

*Credits to www.atlant.ru/cp/new_801.htm

The phone which resembles the one which suits Lily is a combination of the goldvish phones displayed above.

In terms of visceral, the touch and look of the phone must fulfil the physio-pleasure elements as it is more than just a tool. The phone can show some curves (as in the first picture) such that it will fit snudgly in Lily's hand and exude a sexy aura when she holds it. Preferbly, it will be made of gold colour, studded with some diamonds on a sleek reflective texture. The addtion of bling factor to her phone is a 'make-up factor' to compensate her insecurities of being mediocre as compared to her borned-rich socialites friends. This combination of design reflects excusivity and empowerment. Also, the ringtone volume should be very loud so that she will feel pleased with the attention attracted and make use of the garnered attention to show off or discuss her bling bling phone. In terms of behavioral, the phone can contain a planner(which acts like a pda), for Lily to plan her daily iternary to remind her of the numerous functions events she have to attend. Hence, it will score better in terms of usability if the phone consist of touch screen.

Furthermore, a phone with good reflective design is probably one of the most important factors in pleasing a user like Lily. It has to be reflective in the sense that firstly, it must have a magnet factor into attracting celebrities or socialites into using this phone. It should not be a mass market phone where every one can afford it, hence it must be an exclusive designer hand phone which is marketed for its glam exclusive factor.

Lily has alot of free time on her hand, so the phone should contain some entertainment functions for her to use during her medi-pedi or spa sessions etc. For instance, it can contain a 8 mega pixel camera for her to self-take high resolution pictures or internet abilities for her to watch fashion variety shows. Of course, the camera serves as a tool to capture her beautiful moments during the events.

Overall, this phone screams empowerment and glam.

REFLECTIONS

It is certainly not easy to see our products as an living object which maps on to the emotional, hedonic and practical needs of users. To do so, we have to really play the role of the user to understand what are his/her deepest fears, hopes and mottos in life. While many people may appear to be a certain typical category of persons, their inner-self may not show physically. Hence, a good designer as I have learnt in this assignment, is to probe further than what is seen on the surface into a person's background. A pleasurable product should tell the user that it is the one for them at a glance :). But of course, this is not as easy as it seems because I believe there are many people who do not even know themselves fully. Therefore, I guess to analyse a person, it takes more than analysing his/her background. Different perspectives from his friends, families are also very crucial in understanding this person.