CONTEXT OF USE

by Johan Adda
first appeared on Mission UX email list.

When I was a kid I went to visit Leonardo da Vinci’s house in France. I was blown away by his wooden prototypes: the flying machines, a tank, a parachute — yes, made out of wood! This visit was such an inspiration for the kid I was, and shaped my desire to become a designer. I have read a lot about da Vinci since. He is a great human being to be inspired by. Le Clos Lucé, Da Vinci’s home, was the context of many stories. I still vibrantly remember my visit many years later.

Then I met Aristotle.

Alexander the Great’s teacher Aristotle was the most influential thinker of all time. He studied biology, physics, metaphysics, logic, poetry, politics…

If someone one day offers me a time-travel ticket to meet three people of my choice, these two are at the top. My third choice would be to take coffee at Saint Germain des Prés with Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.

Who would be your top three?
 Tweet me.

I was doing some research about Information Architecture last year and, by serendipity, I landed on Aristotle’s classifications for intellectual virtue. He grouped them into three classes:

Theoretical

. Sophia — wisdom

. Episteme — scientific knowledge, empirical knowledge

. Nous — reason, intelligence

Practical

. Phronesis — practical wisdom, prudence

Productive

. Techne — craft knowledge, art, skill

Episteme can be learnt in school, while Techne requires practise and the formation of habits.

In the UX field there is a need for both scientific and craft knowledge.

Before we start, I would like to share with you one of the core beliefs that motivates me to write a new exercise every week: I created Mission UX to help you take a user-centred approach to design and to never let your design skills become outdated.

Today you are going to practise how to define a context in 7 points.

The term context of use refers to the characteristics of the users, tasks and the organisational and physical environments. Think of the context as a specific frame in which the product or service takes place.

When I take on projects I often like to define the context first. It’s a good way to set boundaries, both in terms of limitations and opportunities.

Tools

For this exercise we’re gonna use a tool called a service image. Link. 
Take a picture of an outdoor cash machine. It would be great if you experienced it yourself by getting out some cash.

You can also print my pdf as a reference to use with your team while taking photos of the experience. And please remember to keep your pin code safe :)

Archive the photos you take in a folder called “Context of Use EX05”.

Practise time! Let’s start.

Here is the problem. Your team is in charge of changing the cash machine experience for a well known bank. They say the average time spent per customer is too slow. Your first job is to define the outdoor experience context of use.

Let’s define the context of use

You need to answer 7 points relating to the experience.

1/ The place. Where is it? Is it fixed or transportable? Inside or outside? What was the weather like, the light?

2/ Time. When did it happen, the time, date, decade?

3/ Relation. Use the exercise about proxemics (Relation and Interaction EX03) to define if it is an intimate, personal, social or public experience. Warning: a cash machine is a public object, but the experience itself is not :)

4/ Frequency. Do you do this rarely, very often, daily, weekly? Is it the first time?

5/ Mood. Are you stressed, focused, busy while you’re doing this?

6/ Possession. Do you own the object, is it public, something you could share?

7/ Quality. How was your experience: was it easy to use, useful, findable, accessible?

Frequency

Let’s do one of these exercises this week.

Challenges

Your challenge is to create a photomontage that will be your service image. Apply a black and white filter to the photo, then draw or select the cash machine and put some colours on it. Attract the eyes to a particular part of the scene to illustrate each of the 7 points. Now create a Keynote or a PowerPoint photomontage with these illustrations.

A bit of science

The book The Design of Everyday Things (originally called The Psychology of Everyday Things) was first published in 1986. In this book, Donald A. Norman describes the psychology behind what he deems ‘good’ and ‘bad’ design through examples, and offers principles of ‘good’ design.

Norman popularised the term user-centred design. He used it to describe design based on the needs of the user, leaving aside what he deemed secondary issues like aesthetics. User-centred design involves simplifying the structure of tasks: making things visible, getting the mapping right, exploiting the powers of constraint, designing for error, explaining affordance and the seven stages of action.

Definitely a book to buy, read and annotate.

Have fun.

Wait! I have an announcement to make. 90% of my readers — you, probably — are not doing the exercises. No worries! I knew before I started Mission UX that this would be the case. It’s why I also provide you with some stuff to read.

But I have an offer for you: let’s chat for 30 mins on Skype together. Tell me something you would like to share: a problem, something in your daily job you would like advice on, or if you just want to talk about the exercises, UX, books…

Ping me on Twitter and I’ll add you on Skype. Don’t be shy, we will both learn from each other. Frogs don’t bite.🐸

Johan