Low-fi prototype icon key
Process
We began by putting down a functionality and feature brainstorm list of everything that we could think of that was useful in an augmented reality iPhone app for a museum. We each took a chunk of the list (with overlapping) and individually drew up a first round of rough sketches of how these things might look and act.
working on lo-fi prototypes
At this point, we got back together as a group, went over our sketches, and discussed the ins and outs of what we had thought of so far. After consolidating our ideas this way, we put together a list of second-round sketches that we would be able to present to users for informal usability testing.
Initially, we were going to do the sketches in Omnigraffle separately, but decided that our ideas were thus far too nascent to be sure our sketches could be consistent and flow well. Instead, we scheduled a craft session where we all used paper, scissors, tape, and colored pencils to make a set of paper prototypes. In some cases, we wanted to demonstrate iPhone functionality such as being able to slide and move objects around, and we also wanted a modular design that would allow global functionality to be selected across prototypes. To achieve this, we worked off an overlay framework and laminated them. Doing this, we were able to simulate a slider of dinosaur evolution:
a movable map:
a “favorites” button that could be generically overlaid:
Users
We presented our lo-fi paper prototype to two potential users who fit into our target demographic. The first subject did not own an iPhone but is a regular users of an iPod Touch, which has similar functionality. The subject works as a web application developer and is tech savvy.
The first subject felt the overall interface was intuitive but suggested that new users would probably go through the icon sets a few times in order to familiarize themselves with the functions of each, before making use of those that most appealed to their interests.
This first user expressed a desire to be able to leave his own mark on the exhibit through some sort of note-making system that would be shared with other users, as well as the museum staff. This would allow users to post questions and comments on exhibits.
The second individual we interviewed is a regular iPhone user, and has significant background in developing iPhone applications. This users suggested several ways in which we could bring our prototype more inline with the official user interface guidelines the iPhone.
Recommendations
Based on the results of our user testing, we have a good idea of what direction to go into next with the ARMuseum project. One of the users felt that there needed to be more ability for the user to “leave their mark” at exhibits and suggested an annotation system similar to notes on Flickr or tagging on Facebook photos. Based on this, our latest readings about sense.us, and general discussion about how ARMuseum can help create a persistent social map of a museum, we felt it was important to more comprehensively flesh out this aspect of our project. To this end, we sketched out how this could possibly be implemented.
There would be rectangle hotspots overlaid on an exhibit, representing hotspots that people had left comments on. The rectangles would be dynamically skewed so that the user can tell where they need to walk to get the same perspective that the original commenter had. From there, they can view the comment, reply to it, or even pull up a social map of the museum that highlights the original commenter’s path through the museum.
Our next recommendation has to do with general design guidelines. One of our users is an iPhone application developer and noted that there were many ways that our design did not like up with the Apple Human Interface guidelines for the iPhone. So another big aspect of our next iteration will deal with examining consistency across our design.