Lesson video

Hi there, everyone.

My name is Mr. Booth, and thank you for joining me today for your Design and Technology lesson.

Today, we are gonna look at ergonomic testing and design development.

It's really important that we test our designs throughout the iterative design process to make sure we are improving them based on user experience.

Today's lesson is part of the Ergonomic design: accessible controllers unit.

Let's have a look at the outcome.

Today's outcome, I want you to test the ergonomics of a model and use data to improve a design, and that's what we're gonna be doing today is getting our models tested by our users and then improving them further.

Four keywords for you today.

The first one is iteration, the process of refining and improving a design.

Next, we have testing, trying something out to see if it works well.

We have feedback, which is a key fundamental part of the iterative process, and this is all about comments on the design to help improve or refine it.

And then finally part of that feedback will be subjective, a view based on personal opinion, and it's really important that we get lots of those personal opinions from lots of different users to be able to iterate our designs.

Two learning cycles today.

The first one is all about testing, so let's have a look.

Product development includes empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and of course, test.

You might have seen this illustration before.

Today, we are gonna focus on testing.

This is all part of the iterative process.

It doesn't necessarily mean we are at the end of the process because we might then go back to the beginning and start to empathize again once we have tested.

But today's lesson, this is the focus.

Prototypes are tested to identify and fix problems in a design.

Testing helps make sure the product works properly, is comfortable to use, and meet the needs of the end user.

That's why it's so important to do this regularly throughout the designing process.

It saves time and money by avoiding mistakes later in production.

Imagine if you designed a product, it was released to its users, and then, of course, you found out there was something that was wrong with it.

That would be very frustrating and cost a lot of money to fix.

If you did that throughout the iterative design process, when you are still working with foam models, for example, you could iron out those issues and make sure that the final product is far better than it would've been.

Products are tested by trying them out to see if they work properly and are easy to use.

For example, let's go back to our games controller.

It might be tested by people playing games to check if the buttons are within easy reach and also comfortable to press.

If you, for example, had a new backpack, you might test it by filling it with books, so weighing it down and seeing if the straps are strong and comfortable.

And by doing this with products, we can design better products for our users.

Quick check for understanding.

Why are prototypes tested before they are manufactured? Is it a, to make the product more expensive? Is it b, to find and fix any problems before making the final product? Or is it c, to make the manufacturing process slower? Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've got your answer.

Well, it is, of course, b.

We want to find and fix any issues or problems before moving on to making the final product or the final prototype.

Well done.

Now, let's say you are designing a product for a single user, such as a wedding dress.

You only have one user.

It is a bespoke item, usually very expensive, but it's for one person only, and they are the only person that are going to test that product.

But if you are designing a product that is gonna be used by a wide range of people, you need to get it tested by as many users as possible before you go into that final production to make sure it's working, and of course, here, we have a tin opener widely used by a significant number of different people in the home.

By testing your products by different users, this will ensure the product works well for as many users as possible.

It is important to have a diverse range of people testing with different ages, genders, and abilities.

You've got to make sure that there is a wide range there.

Otherwise, you might not get the data that you need to improve the product correctly.

They may also have different preferences.

And when people provide feedback, the design improves.

This helps create a product that is more comfortable, accessible, and enjoyable to use, which ultimately means it will be more successful, and the company will make more money.

Now, let's have a look at what Jacob is doing.

So Jacob plans who he's gonna ask to test his controller prototype and he's gonna explain why.

So let's have a look at what Jacob says.

So first of all, he's gonna ask his parents to test his controller, because they are adults.

His dad has bigger hands than his mum.

He's also gonna ask his younger sister to test the controller, because she has smaller hands.

And then also he's right-handed, but he's got a friend who's left-handed.

So he's also gonna ask him to test the controller.

Now, do you think that these are a suitable set of users to test his games controller? I want you to pause the video now, have a think about it, maybe have a chat with the person next to you, and decide whether or not you think that these are a good range of people.

Pause the video now.

Come back to me when you've had your discussions.

So what did you think? Well, I think it's actually a pretty good range of people.

You've got an adult female and male, you've got a younger sister testing it as well, and also you're testing left and right.

The other great thing about this as well is all of these users are accessible.

What I mean by that is that Jacob is going to be able to get his product tested by them.

Three of them live at his house, the other one's his friend, so he probably sees quite often.

So I would say that actually these are a good range of people to test his product.

Now, there are a range of tests that can be carried out.

These include ergonomic tests to see if the controller is comfortable to use and interact with, and we could also do aesthetic tests.

Do our users actually like the product? Do they find it appealing? Does it suit their style? That's something you also have to consider when doing aesthetic testing.

The information gathered from these tests will be subjective.

Remember, that's one of our keywords, and this often means that people will have their own opinions based on their beliefs and feelings.

Someone who likes a rough black texture on their games controller might be fantastic, but there might be someone else who wants a bright color and they want a softer texture.

So you've got to take all these into consideration when doing these tests.

A quick check for understanding.

What is aesthetic testing? Is it a, checking the size of the design? Is it b, checking if the design's look and feel are appealing to the end user? Is it c, checking the comfort of the design, or is it d, checking that anthropometric data has been used? Pause the video now.

Come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is, of course, b, checking if the design's look, feel are appealing to the end user.

Well done.

So now Jacob is gonna plan what questions he's gonna ask the people testing his controller.

It's really important to do this.

Otherwise, you might miss something if you don't plan it.

So let's see what Jacob has come up with.

His first question is, "Can you hold the controller in one hand? "Can you reach all the buttons? "Is it comfortable after 30 minutes of use? "Do you like the colors? "What does the material feel like?" Once again, I want you to have a think about these.

Do you think they are suitable questions to ask users when they are doing their testing? Pause the video now.

Come back to me when you've had that discussion.

So I thought these are suitable questions, although I think he could expand on some of those.

For example, "Can you reach all the buttons?" He might wanna break that down to different types of buttons.

He also says, "What does the material feel like?" Well, he might want to ask them a little bit more about that.

Is it soft? Is it easy to grip? So he could expand on these questions, and that's something you could do as you are asking these questions, and of course, your users might do that anyway.

Task A.

First of all, I want you to plan who you will ask to test your controller, and I want you to explain why.

I then want you to plan what type of test you will conduct and plan questions you will ask.

I want you to conduct the tests and record the results in a table, and here is an example of what your table might start out as.

Pause the video now, have a go at this task, and come back to me when you've completed it.

So how did he get on? Let's look at how Jacob got on.

Well, the first one was planning who to ask to test your controller.

As we know, Jacob is gonna test with both his parents, his younger sister, and his left-handed friend.

Then it was what type of test you will conduct and what questions you will ask.

So Jacob chose to ask the people testing his controller to use it for 30 minutes, and then what he did is he prepared some questions.

Now, of course, it's only a prototype.

It's not a working prototype, but you could ask people to pretend as if they are playing a game for 30 minutes to see if it's comfortable to use.

And of course, there is his questions.

"Can you hold it in one hand? "Can you reach all the buttons? "Is it comfortable after 30 minutes of use? "Do you like the colors of it?" And, "What does the material feel like?" And then finally, he presented his results in this table, so he could reference them really easily.

So we've seen the questions before.

"Can you hold it in one hand?" And his results from this from all the users he tested was, "Everyone that tested my controller said "they could hold it in one hand," so that's great news.

"Can you reach all the buttons?" "My little sister said she couldn't reach all the buttons, "but everybody else could," so that's interesting, and that's a great bit of feedback from his little sister.

"Is it comfortable to use after 30 minutes?" Again, his sister said it was hard to hold for 30 minutes.

"Everyone else said it was pretty comfy." "Do you like the colors?" Again, the little sister loved the colors, but the mum said it was too bright and didn't blend into the games console that they had in their front room.

Again, great feedback.

And then, "What does the material feel like?" Well, his friend said it was slippery after 30 minutes of use, and actually that could be a problem for prolonged game-playing.

So Jacob has got some fantastic feedback there.

Our next learning cycle is all about iteration.

So iteration is the process of refining and improving a design, and the iterative process technically never really finishes.

Now, eventually, a designer will release a design, but that tends to be the best possible design that they could make at that point when they had to release the product.

But really we're always improving the products, and you'll know that probably from smartphones.

They're always getting iterated and becoming better based on feedback.

After the end user testing, feedback is used to develop the next iteration, ensuring the design improves based on testing results, because, of course, we are still in the development stage.

We're still creating prototypes.

The first step we need to do is analyze that feedback, and analyze means to examine something in detail.

We've got lots of feedback from our end users.

So what we need to do is examine that to be able to iterate our designs.

So Jacob has now analyzed the feedback he received from the people who tested his controller to identify aspects he could improve as part of the iterative process.

First of all, he's thinking about changing the size of the controller, so people with smaller hands find it more comfortable and can reach all the buttons.

Next, he thought about changing the color, so it's more in keeping with the color of most games controllers.

And then finally, he thinks he could change the materials to one with more grip, or maybe include grips in certain places to aid with holding it for long periods of time.

Quick check for understanding.

What does analyze mean? Is it a, examine something quickly, b, examine something in detail, or c, examine something over a long period of time? Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've got your answers.

It is, of course, b.

You're gonna analyze something in detail.

Well done.

So improvements should not be based on one person's feedback alone.

Sometimes, it's quite easy to go with one person's feedback, 'cause you like that feedback.

It suits your preferences.

But it's really important to base it on as many as possible.

Gathering opinions from as many users ensures the changes meet the needs of a wide range of people, and different users have different needs, preferences, and ways to interact with the product, and it's important to gather all their opinions.

If only one person's feedback is used, the final design may only suit them and not work well for others, and that, of course, will create a flawed product that won't sell well and won't be successful.

Another check for understanding.

Why should you test a prototype with a wide range of users? Is it a, so the development process takes longer, b, different users may all like the design, or c, different users have different needs, preferences, and ways of interacting with a product? Pause the video now, have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is, of course, c, different users have different needs, preferences, and ways of interacting with a product.

Now on to Task B.

What I want you to do first is analyze the feedback you gathered in Task A, and identify iterations you could make to your controller.

I then want you to sketch or model these iterations and explain your improved design.

So we are going to iterate your games controller prototype.

Pause the video now, have a go at this task, and come back to me when you've done it.

So how did you get on? I'm sure you've done fantastic and you've improved your design through the iterative process based on feedback.

Let's see how Jacob got on.

So as we know, Jacob wanted to change the size of his controller, so people with smaller hands would find it more comfortable and could reach all the buttons.

He also wanted to change the colors, 'cause they don't match games controllers, and he wanted to think about the materials, because, of course, the grip wasn't very good for prolonged gameplay.

So let's see what Jacob did.

He did, of course, make his games controller slightly smaller, only five millimeters in each direction, but that meant that all his users then could then access the controller.

He did have to change the location of the buttons, which is absolutely fine, and actually he might have even improved his design by doing that.

He didn't want his controller to be uncomfortable for adults with the biggest hands, so that's why he only changed it a little bit.

Now, I'm sure you did this brilliantly as well, and I'm sure you've modified and iterated your design to make it even better.

Now, you can, of course, keep doing this, and it all depends on the timescale you have to complete the project.

But if you do it again, you will improve your design further and you can keep doing that until you've got the design which is best suited for your end users.

So that brings us to the end of today's lesson.

Let's have a quick summary.

Prototypes are tested to identify and fix problems in a design.

Products intended for a wide range of people must be tested by different users.

The information gathered is subjective, which means people will offer their own opinions based on their own beliefs and feelings.

After end user testing, feedback is used to develop the next iteration, ensuring the design improves based on testing results and feedback.

You've been absolutely brilliant today.

I look forward to seeing you all next time.

Good bye.