NCO205 User-Centred Design: Human Factors and Design Thinking

Question 1

Critically reflect on your GBA project by answering sub-questions (a) to (e). Your answers should not be a chronological account of what happened in your GBA project or a summary of your GBA project presentation. Your answers should not be about how your GBA group functioned as a team. Your answers should highlight the points in your GBA project that you felt went particularly well and/or not well, and thoughtfully explain why by drawing insightful connections to Human Factors and Design Thinking.

(a) Describe what was done well in the Empathise phase of your GBA project and illustrate how it contributed to the project’s user-centred design outcome. Describe what was not done well in the Empathise phase of your GBA project and how might it be improved. Explain how Human Factors knowledge and/or the outcome from other Design Thinking phases contributed to the Empathise phase of your GBA project.

( 20 marks )

(b) Describe what was done well in the Define phase of your GBA project and illustrate how it contributed to the project’s user-centred design outcome. Describe what was not done well in the Define phase of your GBA project and how might it be improved. Explain how Human Factors knowledge and/or the outcome from other Design Thinking phases contributed to the Define phase of your GBA project.

( 20 marks )

(c) Describe what was done well in the Ideate phase of your GBA project and illustrate how it contributed to the project’s user-centred design outcome. Describe what was not done well in the Ideate phase of your GBA project and how might it be improved. Explain how Human Factors knowledge and/or the outcome from other Design Thinking phases contributed to the Ideate phase of your GBA project.

( 20 marks )

(d) Describe what was done well in the Prototype phase of your GBA project and illustrate how it contributed to the project’s user-centred design outcome. Describe what was not done well in the Prototype phase of your GBA project and how might it be improved. Explain how Human Factors knowledge and/or the outcome from other Design Thinking phases contributed to the Prototype phase of your GBA project.

( 20 marks )

(e) Describe what was done well in the Test phase of your GBA project and illustrate how it contributed to the project’s user-centred design outcome. Describe what was not done well in the Test phase of your GBA project and how might it be improved. Explain how Human Factors knowledge and/or the outcome from other Design Thinking phases contributed to the Test phase of your GBA project.

( 20 marks )

Design Thinking Answers: Expert Answers on Above Design Thinking Questions

Empathise phase:

In the empathise phase, the things that went well were the successful onsite interviews at MRT stations to understand the challenges faced by commuters with mobile payment kiosks. This has allowed us to get authentic feedback from real users. How about the things that did not go well was the inclusion of a specific group and exclusion of others, as our interview focus on young adults and elderly ones were left out. The improvement that is possible is to include a diverse group of people by supporting inclusivity. The human factor contribution was significant as the knowledge of ergonomics helped us to refine the interview questions appropriately.

Define phase

In the define phase, we have clearly identified the core problem which is confusion among users in using digital payment kiosks, but the aspect that was not good enough was the problem definition, as it was too broad. The improvement can be possible by narrowing the problem. The human factors contribution was good as the mental models helped us define the problem clearly.

Ideate phase

In the ideate phase, the things that went well was the brainstorming session that helped in generating creative ideas in solving the problem. However some of the ideas were ignored which can be improved by applying constraint ideation techniques.

Prototype phase

We have performed the development of a low fidelity clickable mock-up test on mobile screens by clearly showing high smartphone adoption rate. The prototype lacked crucial features which could have been improved by way of applying universal design principles promoted by Singapore’s BCA.

Test phase

In the testing phase, the feedback from diverse people helped us to perform the testing effectively but the sample size was very small, which could have been improved by including people from diverse backgrounds.

Disclaimer: This answer is a model for study and reference purposes only. Please do not submit it as your own work.