Reading the interactive design news I discovered W3C research, released for public view and feedback on October 29th, 2009. W3C created the first draft of the Emotion Markup Language 1.0, conceived as a “plug-in” language for use in three different areas: manual annotation of visual and audio material involving emotionality; automatic recognition of user behavior from sensors; and generation of emotion-related system responses. According to this document, EmotionML can be applied to numerous aspects of modern technology including sentiment analysis, monitoring, control for virtual worlds, social robots, expressive speech synthesis, emotion recognition, and support for people with disabilities. For example, in ambient assisted living systems, this language would measure simple satisfaction levels at mealtime for people with autism, as well as proactive response when things go wrong with elderly individuals, allowing for a more patient-centered rather than institutionally-centered system. Under normal circumstances - and prior to critical conditions - there is a sensation in the human body that, if recognized in time, allows the prevention of a fatal situation. Multimodal Interaction Working Group proposes a general emotional language for various applications, as well as providing default options.
Here is an example of a how simple emotion annotation might look like:
<emotion>
<dimensions set=”myFriendlinessDimension”>
<friendliness value=”-0.7”/><! — a pretty unfriendly person — >
</dimensions> </emotion>
New language provides new ways to describe emotional dimensions by valence, potency, arousal, intensity and unpredictability. Most language specifics require a deeper understanding of the scale values, but by just examining the code, I found it amusing, and bewildering, to see numbers assigned to something that consists of more than just physical aspects. Is it then possible to capture the subtlety of human emotion? There are primary emotions that are undoubtedly recognized during typical interactions, such as fear, joy, and happiness, but there are also a wide range of complex experiences that consist of moods, feelings, stances towards objects and people, etc., that are so multilayered, momentary, and fleeting, that it seems virtually impossible to recognize them - let alone put numbers on them.
We possess a well-developed sense of emotional encounters and we experience emotions consistently. Our emotions become an inseparable part of our communication, and of our relationship to the environment. So it only makes sense for current technology to create an environment where interactions are emotionally rewarding. The recent Milo demo from the Natal project demonstrates amazing character development; making it clear that the modeling of emotion is the next step in the advancement of human-machine communication.
I find it exciting imagining an emotion markup language 10 years from now. How much of what we experience as humans could be translated into a digital language? How would our emotions be affected when they are encountered with a virtual replica? Will we experience positive emotions with digital characters more so than with real people? And what would we prefer? I asked my friends about the meaning and expression of emotion in their daily lives. The passion I heard could only come from another human and I hope this language will never be forgotten: “Emotion is a flood of feelings - taken outside of a person’s body or heart; expressed from hands and breath as music, in words as poetry, in paintings as color, and in dance as movement. Emotions are like colors of blood in your veins that carry memories, both happy and sad, and when they flow past your heart, feelings are triggered. Emotions make us feel sick, happy, full of life, or longing for life. Without emotions the earth is colorless, and there is no one to see its variance and beauty.”
Designers shape the relationships between people and objects or environments. Therefore, we should be leaders on issues of sustainability. Sustainability is broad and there are many ways to influence through design.* For now I have a thought on influencing people’s consumption behaviors.
It seems like every day we hear about a new technical advancement that promises less waste and more efficiency. But any technology advancement has to contend with our ever-growing appetite for resources, which is the true root of the problem. I would argue the larger challenge - or imperative - is in changing behavior. There’s a menagerie of devices and services appearing that are designed to help you monitor your energy usage. They’re getting a lot of attention but I think there’s a more effective way to create broad behavioral change.
The Monitors, and How They Fall Short
These designs show your usage in real-time and historically, and some provide a cue when electricity prices are high (in areas where pricing varies) or when you’re using more than usual. Great stuff - and smart to tie in financial benefits of conservation. Links are at the end. Some incorporate design “nudges,” popularized in a recent book, that help people make better choices.
But my enthusiasm faded as I kept looking. These are mostly special-purpose designs made just for awareness. The early adopters who use them are a small group of people who already have intrinsic motivation to conserve. There’s a big gap between them and the rest of the world. A more ambitious goal should be to influence more people, because even small changes - if mass-adopted - will have a bigger impact than the best efforts of the small group of devotees. To get there, sustainability must be a design factor in everyday products, not a special goal for extra devices.
Another thing that struck me is how isolated some of the nudges can be from the related behaviors. Imagine seeing an angry red glow and trying to find the culprit in your home; it’s too abstracted from the behaviors that set this usage in motion. For broad change, discovering the connection between information and behavior shouldn’t require extra work or it’s less likely to succeed.
An Alternative: Contextual Intervention
There is a great opportunity to make contextual interventions during people’s behaviors. The intervention might be a change in affordances or simply information. It’s like a nudge but the key is to design influences that are tightly coupled with specific user behavior, making a feedback loop that takes advantage of the way we naturally learn. Thus, it isn’t helping analyze your utility bill, it’s suggesting that you turn off the faucet while you’re not using it. Here are some examples of the kind of thing I’m talking about.
The “Faucet Buddy” shows you just how much you’re wasting while you shave or brush your teeth. I’d bet this is all the cue many people need to stop the tap while they’re not using it. That saves both water and energy from the water heater. My landlord recently installed compact fluorescent bulbs and I could easily see him lowering his water costs (he pays for water) by giving these to tenants. I only wish it used a less formal unit than liters - something that connects the quantity to its source or destination perhaps?
The Honda Insight comes with a speedometer that changes color. Efficient braking and acceleration lead to a rewarding green glow. The Prius has something similar. Nissan has a force-feedback pedal coupled with visual cues that provide more resistance with less efficient acceleration. It’s one thing to show your MPG but better contextual intervention provides immediate feedback explicitly tied to current braking, acceleration, or idling to influence it in the short term and teach over time.
The Disappearing Pattern Tiles have a pattern material that vanishes in the heat of the shower. The longer the shower, the less pattern. With this particular pattern, I think that’s actually a reward, but the idea is sound. It’s a simple but obvious cue that just might keep your fingers from wrinkling and your bill from soaring. Plus, no extra power cost - it uses waste heat. It doesn’t convey impact but could be a good reminder.
The Gravia lamp runs for 4 hours powered by a falling weight. You must manually start the weight at the top to get it going again, like the process of winding a watch or clock. It’s very difficult to conceptualize energy like we can with material resources; equating it to physical effort is a great idea. The connection is reinforced every time you charge it.
Amazon.com offers the default option to “Group my items into as few shipments as possible.” Similarly, when you schedule your deliveries from one UK grocer, you’re shown all the times their trucks will be nearby already. They both miss an opportunity to complete the feedback loop with information on the impact of the choice, but they’re influential designs at the time of choice.
Design Principles for Successful Contextual Intervention
So what’s contextual intervention? ‘Contextual’ means a cue that occurs at the time of a behavior - it also implies that the cue is built in to a useful function, not a design meant solely to provide the cue. ‘Intervention’ means the cue exposes a desired choice with an effective influence, and also teaches over time. It does not mean choice is removed, but rather that the consequences are conveyed. Here are a few principles to make the most of these designs.
Ideally, the solutions require little or no extra consumption. I love the idea of using waste energy itself to provide information about the usage, like the tiles.
Use impact as the cue. It might work to just default to the preferred choice, but drawing a connection to quantities and consequences helps raise awareness that goes beyond your design.
Minimize extra steps for the user. The Gravia is a great concept in connecting behavior to energy but if it fails in broad acceptance, this is why. People won’t easily sacrifice convenience.
Minimize new purchases and material impact. As McLuhan said, “the medium is the message.” If your design has a big material footprint while encouraging sustainable behavior, people will notice the hypocrisy.
Be familiar. Characterize impact in an accessible way. Kilowatt-hours aren’t valuable feedback until you understand their relation to your behavior intuitively. Start with something easy to relate.
Be encouraging. Positive reinforcement tied to a good choice has been shown to effect behavior change; chastising is counter-productive (and probably won’t sell).
Be honest. Don’t exaggerate. Green-washing is a serious impediment to informed decisions for change.
Do you have other examples of contextual intervention? Add a comment below.
*Learn more on sustainability elsewhere [sustainability, ‘triple bottom line’]. Why should you care? There are lots of reasons. Social, ecological, national security [123]… Besides, you may miss a new wave of consumer demand or find yourself unprepared when clients ask for your perspective.
How are Industrial Design and Interaction Design different? Is it true that Industrial Designers drink more during work hours? Are Interaction Designers better looking?
Tomorrow night: Artefact will be presenting with Carbon alongside frog design, Microsoft Hardware, Fluke, and Hornall at frog design in Seattle. If you’re a fan of game shows, in flight entertainment, or Christopher Konrad, then you will love this event.
Learn more about the “soft” and “hard” sides of product design. See work that was designed by Artefact and Carbon working together.
Event Details When: Wednesday, July 22nd. Doors open at 6:30, presentation starts at 7:00. Where: frog design at 5th and Pine in Seattle - 413 Pine Street, Seattle, WA 98101 [map link] Fee: Free!
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for the play by play @artefactgroup
Sam Chenaur, Platform Strategy Advisor for Microsoft, wrote a great entry covering our collaboration with Identity Mine and InfoSpace. The project set out to design a new toolbar that utilizes the power of Silverlight™ technology to perform engaging interactions beyond current experiences. InfoSpace currently offers wallpapers and recipes, but they have set out plans to extend this service through the simple, yet functional shell, such as weather, music and horoscopes.
Chenaur also points out the benefits of an RIA implementation, which extends the idea of the conventional toolbar:
The use of a rich interactive technology, like Silverlight, to power a user interactivity is important as it creates an engaging experience for the user. Unlike other toolbars available today, crammed with indistinguishable icons, the toolbars developed by InfoSpace are a fresh experience with simple, elegant and consistent user experiences. Each toolbar sort of act as a Rich Interactive Application (RIA) that happens to live at the top of your browser.
I was cleaning my desk the other day (something I should probably do more often) and it suddenly struck me just how many random little sketches and diagrams were scattered around my tabletop. There were stacks and stacks of paper sketches and many of them quite detailed and intricate.
Some collections were neat piles collected after a collaborative brainstorming session, but the vast majority were working sketches - that is, sketches used to think through ideas visually. If you do anything in the design world, this is probably not anything new to you. Most designers I know immediately reach for a pen and paper the moment they need toexpress anything that would take more than three words to describe.
This got me to thinking about the relevance of sketching in the digital age and the role it plays here at Artefact. Thinking about it more carefully, 4 major questions emerged that seemed worth exploring. Today I’ll be discussing part one of four, about sketching in general. Parts 2-4 to follow soon!
1. Why do designers feel the need to incessantly sketch?
Sketching is an invaluable skill for designers. The sketchbook is to designers what the voice recorder is to journalists, or the notepad to writers. It is the tool by which the early seeds of ideas are quickly captured and developed.
Imagining ideas is an innately human thing to do. At some point in the evolutionary process, humans gained the ability to not just remember stories and situations they had experienced, but to begin to imagine new situations and ways of doing things. In a way, those early story tellers were the first “user experience designers.”
Looking at the work of early humans it seems obvious that drawing is also deeply rooted in human development. Long before the written word, we were visually depicting the world around us. It provides a method of creative expression and exploration. Similar to the evolution of creative story telling, we moved from drawing things we saw around us, and began depicting things we imagined. This is where the process of design comes into play.
This section looks at three primary uses for sketching in the early ideatioin phase of design: as a way to transfer ideas from brain to paper, to rapidly iterate through concepts, and to build a working mental model of the design.
A Crutch for Short-Term Memory
When thinking abstractly and imagining new ideas, products, or features, we need a way to capture those ideas. Our brains can only store 4-7 things at any given time, and visual mental images last very briefly. Sketching provides a fast and natural way of bringing those ideas out of our heads and into the real world.
No matter how rough, the sketches provide at least mental cues as to what the ideas were and how they were imagined. Jonathan Fish in his research Cognitive Catalysis: Sketches for a Time-lagged Brain states that sketching’s “primary and privileged function is to support the user’s brain as he or she imagines possible objects.” To help facilitate this, it’s always great to have lots of paper or a sketchbook readily on hand. Ideas can come and go quickly, and capturing them before they disappear is critical.
Rapid Iteration
As we sketch this stream of ideas, we can begin to build on them and develop them visually on paper. These are what I like to call working sketches - sketches created primarily for oneself to simply work through and capture ideas in our head before they disappear into the ether.
Like Bill Buxton says in one of his many lectures on sketching and design, Sketches are quick, lightweight and non-committal, which makes them perfect for rapid and easy iteration. The fact that sketches are quick and lightweight is important - it prevents one from growing too attached to a particular idea or implementation. When rapidly capturing rough ideas and iterating on them, it often helps to stay as fast as possible.
The rough nature of the sketches also helps communicate to others that it’s a “napkin sketch” - (much like in this fun book and website, or less so like these sketches) something that shouldn’t be taken literally or as a final design, but simply as the core for an idea that can be developed further. I remember clearly what my senior ID professor had to say about it: ”never be married to your sketches.” “they’re cheap - you can create hundreds more.” “it’s the ideas you’re developing that are valuable, you should be fine with throwing the sketch on the ground and grinding it under your feet.“ Not that I literally walk around grinding paper on the floor, but the idea is that working sketches are a means not an end - a way of developing ideas further.
Often times, quickly sketching through an idea can reveal new connections or refinements, or equally likely that the idea simply won’t work as imagined. Like formal RITE studies for product concepts, these mini rapid sketch iterations either on our own or collaboratively with others can help us refine ideas, test them visually, and iterate further.
Developing a Mental Model
Working sketches don’t have to be literal representations of a visual idea - they can be abstract to explore relationships and properties. Examples include mind maps, process flows, metaphors, models, or some combination thereof, but they don’t need to be formal. They help understand larger problems through simpler models and they help one think through ideas - it’s like having a mini brainstorm session between you and the paper. Kate Rudder’s blog post ”The Joy of Sketch,” has a few examples, as well as this list on PSDTUTS.
Idea sketched as a model
These same techniques can be used when working through ideas with others. I can stand in front of you and describe my idea and try to communicate it with further and further words and vigorous hand gestures, or I can just grab a pen, walk up to a white board, and in a matter of seconds communicate my visual idea more succinctly and clearly.
At Artefact, it’s no accident that nearly every wall in our studio is covered with whiteboard material and cups of pens are all over the place. Even with yards and yards of blank white space, we are constantly erasing just to make room for new sketches. We also don’t just sketch in 2D on paper and whiteboards, but we’ll discuss that later in part 3.
Not just for Designers
You don’t have to be a designer or an artist to sketch your ideas. Everyone can communicate and drawing is just another tool by which to do that. We often host client workshops where we have participants - researchers, managers, engineers, business consultants, all those engaged in the project - to help generate ideas and capture those ideas on paper. Being intimately connected to the project, they can often provide great insight to the problems at hand, which we help them bring out during these collaborative sessions.
We encourage everyone to draw a picture - even if it’s just stick figures and boxes - to help describe their ideas.The sketches don’t have to be beautiful - that’s not the point (see above) - they just need to have enough detail to capture the idea. At this point in the design process, rough sketches ensures that everyone understands that these are ideas yet to be developed.
For these types of brainstorms or for any kind of working sketch, refined skills are not required, but can speed up the process for quickly capturing many ideas at a higher fidelity. For those looking to improve their sketching skills, there are some great resources like:
Whether in a big group or on your own, sketching is a valuable tool the process of design. It helps everyone be more creative, imaginative, and collaborative with their brainstorming, plus it’s just plain fun!
While doing user research for our mobile design projects, we often see users having a hard time with multi-tasking and moving information from one application to the other. This video shows a solution to the lack of copy/paste on the iPhone that as simple, easy and natural as the iPhone user interface itself.
For reference, Technologizer’s Harry McCracken posted results on the state of iphone satisfaction. The chart clearly shows Cut and paste being the most-wanted iPhone feature at nearly 100%!
The Seattle Interaction Design Association group would like to officially invite all members and students to the next event! We’re very excited to announce that the theme of this event will be on natural user interfaces (NUI) and the future. We will spend some time exploring NUI interactions and the implications for it in the future five years and beyond. To help us with this discussion, August de los Reyes, Dennis Wixon and Sabrina Boler will kick us off with a talk on their insights on their experience with Surface and other input technologies. Following will be an open floor for conversation, networking and some hands on experience with NUI related stations. Please join us for this exciting occasion where we will discuss, learn and story tell the next generation in user experience!
RSVP with Chrish or Kevin [at] artefactgroup [dot] com
This will be a catered event with light snacks and beverages (alcoholic and non alcoholic).
Parking is available on the street as well as across the street in a paid lot.
The event is also free.
RSVP: Contact Chrish or Kevin [at] artefactgroup [dot] com including any additional information regarding number of guests or questions about the event.
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