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Usability Associates
38 Montpelier Circle
Rochester, NY 14618
585.442.0499

Copyright © 2001-2008 Usability Associates


PRODUCT DESIGN AND USABILITY CONSORTIUM RESEARCH

Previously completed research
bullet(2007) Trend Analysis and Roadmapping. Consortium members elected to have guest speakers from different companies discuss the methods they use in their companies for determining and analyzing technical, product, business, and environment trends.

Deliverable: Representatives from Johnson Controls, Hewlett Packard, and Eastman Kodak presented contrasting ways they collect and use trend data, and  led informative discussions about those methods.  ABM Research, Ltd, gave a presentation on Semiotics, which showed how some current product designs are evolutions of designs from the past, including those of products and architecture.
 

bullet(2006) New and emerging user interaction methods and technologies. Most data was collected via in-depth Internet searching.

Deliverable: A document listing 61 methods/technologies coded according to 12 interaction topic areas, the type of interface (cognitive, physical, etc.), the stage of its development, and its uniqueness. Each method is linked to its description and reference. Most have an accompanying photo.

bullet(2005) Global design and usability collaboration. A majority of consortium members were interviewed to discover their experiences with offshore partners. Interviews covered both the process and the outcomes from 15 cases of collaboration with groups in Europe and Asia.

Deliverables: (1) A lessons learned document giving guidelines for effective collaboration and (2) A PowerPoint description of the survey including fishbone diagrams of outcomes showing financial losses/savings and showing effects on other company assets.

bullet(2004) Quantitative methods for measuring usability and emotional response to products. Surveys of literature, internet, and professional colleagues was done to collect data.

Deliverable: A spreadsheet listing 39 methods coded according to purpose, application domain, type of measurement, type of outcome, industry usage, and effort required to get results. Each method is linked to a series of bullets that succinctly describe it. Complete references are also provided for each method.

Candidates for future research

A) Within Membership: Information can be collected from member companies and condensed into a report protecting company anonymity.

  1. Compile qualitative PDU information such as organizational relationships, organizational practices, and future vision
  2. Benchmark specific quantitative PDU data (e.g., headcount ratios, financial ratios, salary survey) that are comparable across companies
  3. Benchmark the process of establishing and applying a common look and feel across products
  4. Conduct third-party survey/interviews of upper-level management's perceptions about product design and usability in your respective companies

B) External to Membership: Relevant topics can be researched in any of several forms including company surveys, surveys of ongoing university research, literature searches, guidelines, regulatory searches, state-of-the-art technology assessments, and other special studies.
  1. Globalization - guidelines for product localization in selected countries
  2. Eye tracking - state-of-the-art research and application
  3. Transcription analysis techniques - methods for analyzing transcriptions of interviews, focus groups, usability tests
  4. Remote usability testing -pros and cons of tools; examples of applications; comparison of results with traditional testing
  5. Repeatability of usability testing results - how to make them robust
  6. New software being developed for computer aided design
  7. New methods being developed for producing prototypes and models
  8. Identification and contact information of U.S. and foreign usability labs for hire
  9. User experience model - what is it, e.g., a generic model representing it
  10. Speech recognition - what is ready for application, what is state of the art, where is it going.
  11. Universal Design guidelines and technologies – Need to specify populations (e.g., big, small, elderly, expectant mothers, children, disabled), product type, and environments (home, work, transportation). Pete indicates the following:
  12. We are shooting for a broad description of Universal Design including the physical and cognitive capabilities and requirements for passengers/attendants, both today and in the future. We need full definition of our user population (age, culture, archetypes, trends, etc.), evaluation strategies and tools, and identification of targeted expertise.
  13. Continue 2005 research on global co-development by interviewing non-members and merging the data with previously collected data. This would increase the data sample size.
  14. Use of text, diagrams, illustrations, and photos etc. to compose effective written instructions
  15. Electronic instructions – guidelines and examples for leveraging software to create effective instructional material
  16. Trend roadmapping or trend spotting processes (see Visions-Sept p19 including JCI process on p21)
  17. Case studies of collaboration between Human Factors and industrial Design and/or Graphic Design. Survey managers about significant cases of collaboration to determine factors that contributed to successes and failures. Can be a mix of consortium and external companies.
  18. Identify ideation/creativity techniques including pros/cons and when they apply
  19. Tools and methodology to support strategy execution
  20. How companies harvest existing internal data (e.g., customer hot lines, product registrations, service reports) to discover user problems and concerns
  21. Identification of online newsgroups, forums, RSS feeds, and blogs related to product development, product design, and usability. Will include a description of each one.
  22. Lessons learned for methods used to create and sustain a culture of innovation. Literature review of case studies and/or interviews with managers at selected companies within and outside the consortium. Will exclude general "how to" books and articles.
  23. Open innovation - a survey of the flow of new product design and usability ideas across corporate borders. Interviews will be conducted to identify patent exchanges, licensing, etc. and the actual or perceived benefits and risks associated with each. (This may be difficult to do because of proprietary considerations).

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