A Student Welcome Gift

In this Case Study

Object Redesign
Usability Evaluation

Tools and Deliverables

Heuristic Analysis
Participant Observation
AEIOU Framework
Design Concepts
Physical Prototype
User Prototype Evaluation
Sketching

The Problem

New students in a Full-Stack Engineering immersion training program were given a water bottle on their first day. They deemed the gift “unusable” and “impersonal.”

The Solution

I devised multiple alternative concepts for a welcome gift and undertook concept evaluation.
User interviews with a prototype informed a second round.

What Surprised Me

My findings revealed an important cultural value of the Full-Stack immersion program, and taught me to put designs in front of users early!

The Process

Heuristic Evaluation

I examined the gifted water bottle through the lens of some industry-standard usability heuristics (Nielsen, 1995). These were crafted for evaluation of user interfaces, but many principles, such as system visibility and user control and freedom, apply to physical products in addition to digital ones.

Heuristic analysis revealed the bottle had some usability issues, but more importantly—why was it deemed impersonal?

Participant Observation

This immersive, ethnographic method was a good place to start. In order to understand our users—Full-Stack Engineering Students on their first day of training—I needed to be more than a fly on the wall. Through casual conversation in addition to careful observation of the environment, artifacts, and relationships between students and their surroundings, I learned more about the users’ needs and what a meaningful welcome gift should represent.

The AEIOU framework is a method to sort observations about users:

activities
environment
objects, and interactions with objects
relationships and values

Through participant evaluation, a user goal began to take form. Our users need to feel supported in their learning. They may need help managing stress in order to take in the demanding, immersive curriculum.

Design Concepts

I illustrated three design concepts for alternative welcome gifts, using sketches and imagery evocative of the meaning and purpose of each concept.

Of the three, Blaze and Spill-It were voted by the design team as the most viable concepts to move to prototyping. I broke the tie in favor of Spill-It. A low-fidelity, non-functional prototype was constructed and the Spill-It personal acoustic isolator was born.

Inspired by the Rubber Duck and designed for the dense co-working environment of the Full-Stack classroom, the Spill-It allows verbal debugging and expression of frustration or delight without disrupting other students.

Prototype Evaluation

I evaluated the concept of the Spill-It in interviews with three users from the Full-Stack program. Through probing questions and observation of how they reacted to and engaged with the low-fidelity prototype, I learned that they would not be likely to find this tool useful or meaningful.

Reactions ranged from laughter to confusion! The individuals reported that they themselves were too reserved to have need for a personal acoustic isolator.

However, open-ended questions can lead to unexpected insight. Users revealed an aspect of the Full-Stack student culture and workflow that ran contrary to the isolating function of the Spill-It device. According to one user, “The expectation at [the immersive program] is that everyone is available and helpful.” In terms of classroom workflow, the effectiveness of rubber duck debugging was called into question. In the words of one interviewee, “I need a human.”

The interviewer’s toolkit: Low-fidelity prototype, recording consent forms, and an interview script.

Conclusion

I learned an important lesson:

Put concepts in front of users early and often.
Avoid sinking valuable time and resources into concepts that may miss the mark. Never design in a vacuum.

What’s Next?

The Spill-It device might be relegated to the scrap bin, but a clear design direction has emerged. My next round of design concepts will focus on students’ expectations of asking for and receiving help. This is a cultural value that is important in the classroom and has implications for engineering environments beyond the program. Remembering to leverage one’s team is a good value to instill on day one. A redesigned welcome gift will underscore new students’ membership on a team that values their success and believes in their capacity to contribute.