Communication Design Studio
1
Experience design
ex 1: Field diary
BRIEF
Part of creative process of Experience design is focused on understanding the people who are
going to use what you design. One way in which this is done is by capturing the thoughts and
experiences of people as they interact with digital products over time.
This documenting of experience by a person can be done in a number of ways, the most simple
being a diary. The diary is recorded by the person as they go about their daily lives interacting with
digital products, to a design researcher, this daily environment is known as the field.
In this studio the person you will be designing for is yourself. To understand yourself better this
exercise requires you to create a field diary about yourself.
FIELD DIARY
Over the course of the next 3 days observe your engagement with Apps and Websites on your
phone. Record your usage of various Apps and Websites and at the end of the 3 days determine
the top 3 that you use the most or that’s use you find the most valuable.
The record of usage can not include social media websites and apps (i.e. facebook, twitter,
instagram, snapchat, etc) or the PTV app.
For each of the top 3 answer the following set of questions:
1. What is the main reason you use the App/Website?
2. Aside from the main reason you have for using it, what else can you use the App/Website
to do?
3. How often would you use these other features in comparison to your main reason for
using it?
4. What aspects of the App/Website do you find it easy to use? What aspects of it’s use
are frustrating?
5. If you could, what would you change or improve about the App/Website?
6. How do you think your use of the App/Website would compare to other peoples?
Also for each of the top 3 Apps/Websites screen grab the interface. If the screen grab of the
interface contains your personal information please blur this out.
You might like to answer these questions at the end of 3 days, or you might like to write down your
thoughts for various different Apps/Websites as you go.
See the 2nd and 3rd pages of this brief for example responses.
Determining the Top 3
To determine the top 3 you can log the amount of time you spend using each App/Website and
take the 3 you use the most or rank them by the value you gain from using them. For example a
Banking App might not be used that often but you might find it incredibly useful to your daily life,
so it’s use is highly valued.
PRESENTATION OF THE RESULTS OF YOUR FIELD DIARY
Applying the design skills you been learning this year and the Muse techniques covered in class
in Week 1, Create a new site for Desktop, with starting dimensions of 960 wide by 500 minimum
height and layout the question responses and screen grab. Layout one App/Website to a page
and include a menu to enable navigation between the 3 pages.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
You are required to put all the Muse files, including image assets and a coversheet into a folder.
The folder must be named with your student ID then name: for example 21238734_JohnSmith.
Compress the folder into a .zip file and upload it to Moodle by the due date.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
• Field Diary response 5%
• Muse Design response 5%
See Assessment Rubric for details of assessment.
DEADLINES:
Week 1-6 students: upload to Moodle before class in week 2, 04/08/14
Week 7-12 students: upload to Moodle before class in week 8, 15/09/14
Semester 2/2014
Assessment Value
10%
DEADLINE
Week 1-6 students: before
class in week 2, 04/08/14
Week 7-12 students: before
class in week 8, 15/09/14
Lecturers
Jon-Erik Andreassen
Yun Tae Nam
UNIT CO-ORDINATOR
Cameron Rose
cameron.rose@monash.
edu
Phone 9903 1185
Links and references:
Moodle links:
Ex-1 Rubric:
http://moodle.vle.monash.edu/
pluginfile.php/2500290/mod_
folder/content/0/CDS1002-Assessment%20Rubric-Ex1.
xls?forcedownload=1
Week 1 Moodle Tutorial:
http://moodle.vle.monash.
edu/pluginfile.php/2500288/
mod_folder/content/0/
CDS1002-Week%201-Final.
zip?forcedownload=1
General Information about
Field research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Field_research
Additional Muse tutorials
https://helpx.adobe.com/muse/
how-to/create-website.html
CDS1002 Communication Design Studio
1
Experience design
EXAMPLE FIELD DIARY RESPONSE – HIGH LEVEL OF DETAIL
Please note that this is not an example of the design/layout expected in Muse but purely an
example of the response to the questions.
PTV iPhone App
What is the main reason you use the App/Website for?
I use this to check mainly train and bus timetables, I tend
to use tramtracker for trams. In particular as I need to
catch connecting trains I use this to see when the next
train will be leaving in comparison to when the train I’m on
will arrive at the station.
Aside from the main reason you have for using it, what
else can you use the App/Website to do?
It can be used to check for disruptions to the transport
network. You can also locate stops using a map and your
current location. It also allows you to look up a particular
route and see all the stops on that route, you can then
see where the stop is on the map. You can then use the
app to plot your journey from your current location to a
station or stop.
How often would you use these other features in
comparison to your main reason for using it?
I mainly just search by text for stations and stops, I pretty
much never use the map features and didn’t realise
until I look at it for this that there was a map feature, I
had forgotten about it. I also forget that you can view
disruptions/notifications and only remember this when I
am stuck on a train for a really long amount of time.
What aspects of the App/Website do you find easy to
use? What aspects of it’s use are frustrating?
I like the search and the ability to favourite certain stops
as it make reuse of the app very efficient. In general
it is easy to find trains and trams but sometimes bus
stops and routes are harder to find as the search results
always seem to prioritise the things I don’t want. I find
the constant reload of timetable information annoying,
particularly when there is a 3G dead spot and it stops
loading which always seems to occur at crucial stops
such as Southern Cross or Flinders St.
If you could, what would you change or improve about the
App/Website?
As this is designed to constantly update and reload
timetable information I would like it to use real-time data
on the trains. If the trains are running late you can’t work
out what time you will arrive somewhere as the timetable
doesn’t show the real-time movement of the train. Also
sometimes the train you want to catch is running late but
you can’t check it’s timing as according to the app it has
already left. Tram tracker is much better at doing this and
I want the trains to work the same way.
How do you think your use of the App/Website would
compare to other peoples?
I would guess that I am a heavy user as my travelling
schedule varies daily, this means I don’t memorise the
timetables. Most people I know catch the same train
each day and don’t have to catch connecting services,
so they use this only when they are going somewhere
they don’t regularly go to.
CDS1002 Communication Design Studio
1
Experience design
EXAMPLE FIELD DIARY RESPONSE – LOW LEVEL OF DETAIL
Please note that this is not an example of the design/layout expected in Muse but purely an
example of the response to the questions.
PTV iPhone App
What is the main reason you use the App/Website for?
To check timetables
Aside from the main reason you have for using it, what
else can you use the App/Website to do?
There is also a map to find stops with.
How often would you use these other features in
comparison to your main reason for using it?
Almost never.
What aspects of the App/Website do you find easy to
use? What aspects of it’s use are frustrating?
I find it easy to use.
If you could, what would you change or improve about the
App/Website?
nothing
How do you think your use of the App/Website would
compare to other peoples?
Same as everyone else.
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