Design Critique #7: Zoom(Web)
The worldwide pandemic has transformed Zoom into an essential tool for schools, companies, and events. Then how would zoom adapt to this unprecedented situation?
Introduction
What is Zoom?
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the demand for videoconferencing has increased greatly. It is reported that most of the meetings are now conducted through online video services such as Zoom. Schools have also commenced using Zoom to teach students. In the savage competition of many video conferencing applications, Zoom successfully broke through.
“Zoom is not only a business communication company, suddenly it’s becoming an infrastructure company.” — Eric Yuan (CEO and founder of Zoom Video Communications)
Let us briefly outline the unique features of Zoom first:
- It is convenient to use and only requires 1–2 steps to participant in the meeting. There is no need to download the software locally in advance.
- The call quality is very high, and video webinars can hold video conferences of up to 3,000 people.
- With many core functions and powerful cross-platform convenience, users can share web pages and files, and can greatly increase the participation of the meeting by co-annotating the file with the meeting members in the video.
- Compared with other video conference costs, it is cost-effective.
A lot of users go with Zoom because it’s easier for people who are not tech-savvy. However, after zoom accompanied us to participate in the classroom for several months, everyone had expectations for their various functions. Some focus on optimizing the functionality of scheduling meetings, some focus on the hot end-to-end encryption that has been discussed recently, and some focus on the similarities and differences between remote and face-to-face meetings. In the following discussion, I will combine the points mentioned in our discussion and summarize them into UX-related insights.
Part 01: How can online video simulate real-world conversations?
We found out that in the zoom’s classroom, it did its best to restore all the content in the real classroom. Through the Gallery View, we can not only see everyone’s faces but also clearly see what the teacher said and how the progress is (because everyone becomes the first row in the classroom). In classroom interaction, there are features for raising hands, asking questions, and answering inquiries. Annotation tools can highlight everyone’s collaboration in real-time. We can even break out the whole class into several discussion groups.
Compared to our face-to-face interactions, Zoom seems to provide us with a more accessible learning environment and requires less energy production. But why do most users think that online courses are more tiring than face-to-face courses?
For example, in face-to-face communication, the motivation of the other party to speak is very obvious, so few people will start speaking at the same time. However, in a video conference, it is difficult to accurately identify the other party’s attempt to speak, which usually causes multiple people to speak at the same time and remain silent once they are found. Interestingly, how does Zoom judge who is speaking and assign the home screen?
Another scenario is that in a real classroom if someone raises their hand, the teacher will know at a glance who he can call first to answer. In video conferencing, this is not easy to achieve. It is worth noting that zoom has the function of raising your hand. In the teacher’s interface, you can see who raised the hand first, and it is easy to count how many people voted on a question. However, in our discussion, we found that some people still adopted the method of raising their hands directly just like in the onsite classrooms.
From this perspective, zooming may require the establishment of a new classroom interactive system to expand our real-life experience. Under what circumstances can remote meetings give users more convenience than face-to-face meetings? In other words, does the remote conference have its unique advantages?
From a UX point of view:
In terms of accessibility, Zoom does create more convenience than face-to-face meetings. For example, Zoom supports real-time captioning during conferences and webinars, which will greatly facilitate people with hearing impairments and allow them to participate better.
In addition, zoom gives users great freedom in meeting records. It provides users with a variety of ways to view and edit meeting records. Users have the freedom to choose whether they need audio-only or transcript recording. One can search for text within the transcription and search for transcribed recordings that include the text you are searching for.
Part 02: Did zoom prioritize user privacy or user experience?
One of the unique features I mentioned above is the convenience of joining a meeting. Users are able to join meetings by clicking the links. Those links will be cloud-based and run everywhere without downloading any software. While that brings a question, is this easy-enough-for-anyone-to-use product actually safe for any of us to use?
From a UX point of view:
There is no doubt that providing links can help users seize the time. Just opening the link sent by a friend to enter the meeting provides great convenience for many users. Regardless of the security risks, from the user experience perspective, if the user does not log in first, their name will be displayed as a random disorder code, and they will not be able to modify the background from the settings. If they are assigned to a group discussion room, it will be more frustrating, which means that they cannot join the same breakout room once leaving. This often happens when the cyberspace is unstable.
If the above does not attract enough attention from users, this tweet that makes the ID of the cabinet secretary’s meeting public is another red flag. From the UX perspective, having the meeting ID in the upper left corner of the screen allows users to find it without having to browse the menu. Unfortunately, this convenience seems to sacrifice a lot of user privacy.
“A lot of the security issues we saw seem to be the result of choices made that privileged user experience over security.” — Marczak, who was part of the Citizen Lab team that uncovered security vulnerabilities in Zoom.
From a UX point of view:
Talking about the conference room ID and its related functions to help users to start a meeting, Zoom actually has a lot of room for improvement. The primary task of the main users of zoom is to determine upcoming meetings and regular meetings in advance. For example, for students, it is very important to be able to successfully schedule a fixed class time without having to reopen a classroom link every time. The “schedule” on the user’s home screen is only available for users to create their own meeting rooms. Another “join” function only allows users to join the meeting by entering the conference room ID. These two functions cannot meet the user’s need to add a fixed time link.
Part 03: How does the virtual background shape the new communication experience?
Under the rampant epidemic, everyone is maintaining social distance, which makes people more urgently seeking a new definition of communication. This provides new user requirements for video conferencing applications, how to make people’s working environment more professional and neat while giving users a certain degree of personality. Once this need is established, people quickly think of virtual reality technology, which can improve remote collaboration and help people stay in touch.
Then how to help people through the application of virtual background？
- Virtual background for video conferencing with a practical purpose, for example, company watermark and company logo can be added in formal conference.
- Remove noise, add personality, and enhance the camera experience.
- Since most of us attend the meeting from our room, using virtual background enables users to easily hide it for privacy purposes.
In terms of science and technology, whether it is a blurred background, an animation effect on a real background, a whole-body background separation, or an emotion-related background, virtual reality has been realized and penetrated into various daily lives of users. Zoom did not develop this new technology but learned the user's needs as early as possible. The virtual background has been greatly welcomed by users of zoom, which allows us to regain the importance of learning user needs.
Summing up
Under a more in-depth exploration of zoom, we found more hidden features, including some content that can only be seen on the host interface but not to the participants. It seems that we can continue to explore more zoom settings. At the same time, Zoom does meet the basic needs of most users. How to join the meeting more conveniently and participate in the meeting smoothly. Here are more questions that are worth thinking if you want to explore on Zoom including:
- In what case would participants want to share their screens simultaneously?
- If somebody drops out of the meeting room, what is the most efficient way to invite them back?
- When users start screen sharing, is there a better way to identify users who want to unmute?
- Is there any way to avoid recording from the third party without the allowance of the participants?
What’s Next?
In the upcoming article, we will share the first try of the mock interview discussing “Be kind to your mind” app: Headspace
We recently tried to evaluate the apps critically by playing host, presenter, and evaluator. We are very looking forward to sharing the insights from the evaluation and things we have learned, this article will publish soon. Join our discussion by posting a response below! Stay happy and healthy! Feel free to reach out for anything :)
