The goal of this project was to build an app to replace a paper based system that is being currently used by a wild bird rehabilitation center for managing raptors (raptors are birds of prey like eagles, hawks, falcons and owls).
The users that the app was being built for is a group of people (raptor handlers) that take care of raptors. Their daily routine comprises of a set of procedures, which include the collection and logging of various data points on each of the raptors (eg. weight, temperature, food). The logged data in turn defines the protocol for many of the procedures before they can be carried out. It is critical that the procedures are strictly and accurately followed and performed.
We started with a Design Brief to serve as a guiding point of view throughout the process.
Technology can be applied to manual procedures to facilitate and automate user actions, while preserving aspects of the existing working model and flexibility.
Design considerations and technical challenges
We had to explore how to seamlessly integrate the presentation, collection and application of information:
Users need to be presented with relevant data — How do we make sure there is a balance between too much and too little information?
Users need to be able to access different sets of information — How can we take into consideration their current role and current task?
Users need to be also able to add information into the system at the same time — What are ways in which we can factor in that the decisions on the information to be entered might require looking at existing information in the system?
In particular, when designing for such situations where the cost of mistakes is high, it becomes more important that the interaction of users with the system has to minimize inaccuracies and inefficiencies.
This app is being built to solve an existing problem in the real world, and so we have been able to test the prototype iteratively with real life users. The testing was carried out side by side with the current paper based system. This has been an interesting exercise because of the design challenges that we are facing to make sure that the app does not lose any of the benefits and advantages of the existing process. Also, the users have relatively older mobile devices, and the code for the app has to make sure the designed functionality will work on the target devices. Finding solutions for these constraints is going to be important for the acceptance and adoption of the app, and the eventual success of the project.
Evolution of the design
Core task in the app
One of the core daily tasks for each of the raptors is to collect an log various data points. The description below walks through this data collection and entry task.
Iterations in the design and user testing
One of the findings that came out of testing with users was that we observed a moment of hesitation when entering one of the views in particular. When the user is performing the task of entering data, they are presented with a view that has a picklist of selections. It was found that users were not readily able to remember what to do on that screen, and had to actively think and recall what the task was.
The solution for this problem was to add a “hint” text to the data entry picklist view, that acted as a sort of breadcrumb to help users keep track of where they were. This served as the main focus of the online test, and we saw a significant improvement in the usability, where the addition of the hint text with a microinteraction was able to provide the user with context of what they were doing and where they were, thus smoothing out the workflow of the task.
