The Problem

The focus of this team project was to build a prototype and simulate interaction out of foam board and vellum to later conduct a usability test with. Coming from previous assignments in this class the prototype was going to be a concept we had already created, an e-reader, social networking, and event book-device called Hand Easy.

Process

This project was intially part of a larger semester long theme of "interaction after dark". Throughout the semester we studied a consistent user group for all of our assignments, which was international students. Leading up to the creation of this device, we used multiple methods to study our target group including conducting a focus group, multiple ethnographic observations, and multiple contextual inqueries. The focus group included four participants with the shared characteristic of all being international students. We asked them questions relating to the use of technology in the daytime, the evening, as well as technology use in different contexts like the academic setting, social setting, the recreational setting, and other areas of interest. The ethnographic observations and contextual inqueries were carried out during the daytime and evening hours to get a feel for what users do during different times of the day. We were able to gain great insight using these user research methods, which ultimately influenced the way we created Hand-Easy. Eventually we conducted a wizard-of-oz style usability test with multiple participants testing the Hand-Easy prototype giving them various scenarios and tasks to complete.

Final Concept

The Hand Easy prototype utilizes a touch screen interface for user interactivity. Besides being a book it also has social networking and map technology incorporated within it. We created the frame of the book out of the foam core and created paper cutouts to represent a listing of books already integrated into the device. We designed Hand Easy so that users would be able to use the device for multiple purposes in academic and social settings.