HCI Design Brief

<Logos and identifiers>

Task Allocation Table

List each section within the document, and who has been assigned
to complete that section. Before submission, list those that
contributed to each section in the completed by column.
Sectio Allocated Author/s
n
Numbe
r

Completed by
Author/s

1.0

Florence Gard

2.0

Marcos Da Silva

Florence Gard

3.0

Lloyd bendle

Lloyd
bendle/Matthew
Sinclair

4.0

Matthew Sinclair

Matthew Sinclair

Comments

Florence Gard
5.0

Tim Brabazon

Tim Brabazon

6.1
6.2

Matthew Sinclair

6.3

Alteration and Completion Table

Any time changes are made to the document, track those changes
in this document. List which section you change and a quick
summary of the changes you made.
Date

Ver.

Author/s

Section
Number

Addition/Alteration

Table of Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of this Document
1.2 Scope of this document

2 Background
3 Target audience
3.1 Audience beliefs
3.2 Audience demographics

4 Problem Statement
5 Goals
5.1 Usability Objectives
5.2 Mandatory elements
5.3 Deliverables

6 Alpha Design
6.1 Structural Design
6.2 Visual Design
6.3 Supporting Design Tools

7 Testing
7.1 Test Plan
7.2 Test Results and Analysis
7.3 Findings and Recommendations

8 Final Design

1 Introduction
1.1

Purpose of this Document

Give a brief statement outlining what this document is and what you
aim to provide in this document.
This document is a design project proposal to answer Life Techs
request in order to improve disabled peoples situation.
Youll find here a full and complete analysis of your request, a profile
of the client in order to identify its needs. This has lead us to identify
our objectives and propose a design that we believe is the best
solution in order to help disabled people visualize what kind of home
modification they would need.
This will document presents the design of an overlay tool that
people could use on their smartphones/tablets to get real life
overview of house modification.
Our goal here is to place people with disability in the center of our
proposal. Well be using their real life environment, pictures of their
house and design over it. This will give the opportunity to imagine
what the design of the new technology offered will look like.

1.2

Scope of this document

Define the scope of your document what will your document

cover, and what is outside the scope of your project?
This document is an industry document and will cover the
understanding, research, testing and solution to the problem of
house modification imposed by physical disabilities.
Further steps of the process, including the coding of the software or
the adaptation of the application from one platform to another
(smartphone / tablet, iOS / Android etc...) stands outside the scope
of our project.

2 Background
What is the background of the project? Why is it being done? What
problem are you addressing? What is the value for the client and
user?

In regards to the special needs of people with physical disabilities, five Griffith
University students, with support from Life Tech Company, developed an
application called noXcuses.
The Life Tech Company is focused on providing independence and safety for
older people, also as children and adults with a disability. The outcomes are
more independent at home, work or school and in the community.

The goal of this project is to implement an application with the capability to

visualize the innovation and making handicapped people able to picture the
image of having houses modifications thatll attend their needs.
The family Bush, a traditional family from Gold Coast, have a son named Paul
with physical disabilities. Paul had a car accident when he was younger and
became paraplegic after it.
His disability imposes him to be in a wheelchair in order not to be deprived of
his daily mobility. However, Paul has not reach a full level of independence in
his house. Pauls father has to help him climb the stairs to get into the house.
Indeed, the Bush family lives in an old house that does not have an
accessibility pathway.It is thought that an app could be developed to help Paul
and his parents visualize some of the modifications that can be done to the
house.

3 Target audience
Who is your target audience for this product?
Disabled people, cares, life tech, health professionals
The main groups of target audience are: people with disabilities,
carers for people with disabilities, people who want to future proof
their homes, Lifetec employees, health professionals.
Human factors commonly impacting on quality and effectiveness of
interaction include:physical factors which will influence our audience
is Touch, Vision is also a human factor we need to address because
our target audience needs to able to visualise and see the design
we are making.
Body Interaction is a very important human factor when looking at
our design. As our target audience will need to feel our design when
it's revealed using there Hands, arms, legs, feet, head.
The information which was used to research our audience was the
LifeTech website. In addition websites which are focused around
how disabled people with wheelchairs can have a better quality of
life.
The target audience for our product is very diverse. Some of the
types of people who will be using our technology are disabled
people who are in wheelchairs, health professionals who deal with
disabled people, and the staff who work with LifeTech as they need
to know every detail about the new technology being proposed for
people with disabilities.
What key human factors will influence the way they interact
with your product?
The three categories of human factors which will influence the way
our target audience interact with our product are broken down to
Physical, Environmental and Cognitive factors.
The physical factors which will influence our audience is Touch. Our
target audience needs to know about the temperature, texture,
shape, physical position, movement, and the sense of resistance
when we reveal our design.
Vision is also a human factor we need to address because our target
audience needs to able to visualise and see the design we are
making. Some factors for vision include the Light Frequency which
affects colour percep, Light Intensity which affect the perception of
brightness , Visual Acuity, Fixation and Saccade are all factors we
will take into account when looking at vision. Body Interaction is a

very important human factor when looking at our design. As our

target audience will need to feel our design when it's revealed using
there Hands, arms, legs, feet, head.
What activities did you use to research your audience?
The information which was used to research our audience was the
powerpoint slides from the lecture. Websites which are focused
around how disabled people with wheelchairs can have a better
quality of life.

3.1

Audience beliefs

How does your audience feel about their situation (as it

applies to your product)? How do they feel about the
technology you might use? What does this mean for your
design? Is there anything that should be avoided?
http://www.unicef.org/disabilities/files/Factsheet_A5__Web_N
EW.pdf secondary data used
Children 18yrs and younger
Relatively little data exists on children with disabilities
and what evidence does exist is based on a smaller set of
studies then available for most other groups of children.
The greatest barriers to inclusion of children with
disabilities are stigma, prejudice, ignorance and lack of
training and capacity building.
Children who are poor are more likely to become
disabled through poor health care, malnutrition, lack of access
to clean water and basic sanitation, dangerous living and
working conditions. Once disabled, they are more likely to be
denied basic resources that would mitigate or prevent
deepening poverty. Poverty and disability reinforce each
other, contributing to increased vulnerability and exclusion.
Children are not only born with impairments, but can
acquire impairments later in their childhood, be it through
disease, accidents or as a result of conflicts and natural
disasters.
A significant proportion of children with disabilities are
denied access to basic services including education and
health care.
While all children have an equal right to live in a family
environment, many children with disabilities continue to
spend much or all of their lives in institutions, nursing homes,
group homes or other residential institutions.
Children with disabilities are disproportionately
vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse.

 Cultural, legal and institutional barriers render girls and

young women with disabilities the victims of two-fold
discrimination: as a consequence of both their gender and
their disability.
Children with disabilities are often overlooked in
humanitarian action and become even more marginalised as
fewer resources are available in the midst of an emergency
18-45yr olds
https://www.ndis.gov.au/people-disability/examples-services-andsupport
There are very little statistics on this demographic of people in regards to wheelchair
use. Below is a few case studies and what area they want to improve their life in.
Alex, 23, lives with intellectual disability, dyspraxia, cerebral palsy and
epilepsy. He lives at home with his mother, father and sister, where his
behaviour often causes conflict. Alex is keen to get a job, and eventually to
move out of home with some friends.
Margaret, 58, of Newcastle, with long-standing spinal multiple
sclerosis, has been assessed as medically unfit for employment.She has
recently had an arm operation and gave up the business course she had
been studying as a result. She felt that the repetitive nature of typing, in
particular, would prevent her from obtaining even part-time work.
For both Alex and Margaret to find employment they will need to be able to get out of
bed and prepare for their days. This is where our lifetech ramp will come in handy.
Saving these people time and making sure they can get to where they need to be on
time. This will improve their quality of life and make them happier in the long run
whilst they strive for employment.

Older people aged 45+

http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/encyclopedia/en/article/189/
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32511489
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca257
06c00834efa/810637dd6d45d81dca2570ec0073f133!
OpenDocument
20% of those aged 70+, and 50% of those aged 85+. That is, with
increasing age, disability increases and, among those who are elderly (age 65
and over), the old elderly are more likely to experience disability than are
young elderly. For this reason, the WHO argues that in terms of disability, old
age can be viewed as starting at age 75.
Older people who suffer with a disability found that even minor
changes to the environment can potentially result in a positive outcome.
according to the US Pew Internet research centre, 77% of older
people would need someone to help walk them through the process of setting
up a new device.
ABS shows, In 1993, 25% of older people lived alone. Those

living alone were more likely to be women than men, and the likelihood

of living alone increased with age. 18% of people aged 60-69 lived
alone compared to 35% of people aged 80 and over
Older people will be able to benefit from having home modifications installed.
However keeping the technology simple and easy to use is the biggest issue. A large
chunk of the older generation live alone so having simple easy to follow instructions
is going to ensure they want to use lifetechs products.

Other important facts about wheelchair use in the world

http://www.searo.who.int/entity/disabilities_injury_rehabilitation/whe
elchair_factsheet.pdf secondary data.
About 10% of the global population, i.e. about 650
million people, have disabilities. Studies indicate that, of
these, some 10% require a wheelchair.
In 2003, it was estimated that 20 million of those
requiring a wheelchair for mobility did not have one. There are
indications that only a minority of those in need of
wheelchairs have access to them, and of these very few have
access to an appropriate wheelchair
2.2 million people in the United States depend on a wheelchair
for day-to-day tasks and mobility.

3.2

Audience demographics

Detail any demographic details about your audience that may be

useful specific aspects of your audience that will influence the way
they interact with your technology. This may include:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/5673.0.55.003

Groups

Income

Technology
experience

Location Gender
of use

18yrs and
younger

$21,000less

Very familiar
with
technology.
Grown up with

In their
home

male /
female

it their whole
lives
45yr olds
and older

$40,000

Middle aged
In their
people are
own
finding
home
technology
relatively
straightforwar
d. However
older
generations
need a helping
hand

Male and
female

18yrs-45yrs
old

$37,000

Easy to use
technology

Male and
female

In their
own
home

4 Problem Statement
Currently, when physically disabled people need to move in their
house, their mobility is limited. Not only because of their wheelchair
but mostly because their house isnt adapted to their mobility
anymore.
The Bush Family, Paul and his parents, are looking for an easier way
for Paul to get in and out of the house. It is thought that improving
the accessibility of house will greatly reduce the time it takes for

Paul to get around. Installation of ramps, stairs equipment and other

has become a need in order to improve his mobility, independence
and quality of life.
However, we understand that visualizing what such house
modifications would look like is very hard. The client doesnt realize
how intrusive it would be, how it might be potentially used.
Our goal with our app is to provide Life Tech a real professional tool
to guide its clients through the possibilities of modifying their
homes.

Reminder:Your Constraints, including budget, if known

5 Goals
To develop a mobile application that uses a real environment, with
the use of overlay imagery to visualise possible home modifications
that benefit disabled people.

5.1

Usability Objectives

As our target audience of this mobile application includes a wide

range of ages, a usability approach that caters to all users will be
appropriate.
When using the app, the user should easily navigate through a
simple interface that clearly categorises functions intuitively. A
simple interface should ensure that there is a minimal learning
curve in order to improve efficiency and memorability. If a user error
is made, they should feel comfortable recovering from it. The visual
design of the app should appear familiar and satisfy the user upon
successful operation.
To measure the success of these objectives, the use of personas and
scenarios will enable us to understand how different audiences will
adopt our design.

5.2

Mandatory elements

In the design of the mobile application, certain elements are

required to efficiently engage and familiarise the user.
The user will be able to select a product they intend to overlay on a
real environment. To enable the user to do this, the use of the
camera function or an upload image option is vital.
To familiarise the user with Lifetecs brand and the mobile
application, the logo and colour scheme should be maintained.

5.3

Deliverables

The client Lifetec will receive this design brief, which documents the
user research and decisions considered throughout the design
development of the mobile application. The alpha design included
will contain low fidelity prototypes that will reflect the understanding
and needs of both Lifetec staff and their clients.

6 Alpha Design
This is your initial design, for stage one of the brief. Section 6.1
details your design for the structure of your product, and for the
structure of information within your produce, such as wireframes,
storyboards, and content planning. Section 6.2 details the visual
aspects of your designs, such as colour palettes, icons etc. Section
6.3 is for any supporting design tools you may have used, such as
personas, scenarios, and prototypes.

6.1

Structural Design

Structural design refers to the navigational and information

structure of your product the structure that supports the interface
layout.
How will you structure your product?
Menu - Categories - Types - Models
How will you group your information?

 How will you navigate through your product? Why?

This can take the form of a diagram showing structure and
hierarchy, supported by a discussion and justification of your
choices. Why have you made these design choices? Connect back
to your analysis. Refer to the relevant design tools, techniques or
methods that you have used to develop your structural design.
For example:
Design element one is a <wireframe, or other design element> of
our information grouping for <a specific set of information>:
<insert wireframe or element>.
We analysed the <information> using personas developed from our
user research included in section 6.3. 'Sally' would prefer <some
cluster of information>, and <some cluster of information> would
be easier for 'Alan'. Based on this we chose <information
grouping> (refer to section 6.3 for a description of these
personas).

6.2

Visual Design

Detail your visual design:

Layout,
Visual elements,
Icons,
Graphics,
Style,
Colour palette,
Fonts,
General screen designs.

This can be sketches, sample elements (such as buttons or menus),

mockups etc, supported by a discussion, explanation, and
justification of your choices. Why have you made these design
choices? Connect back to your analysis. Give each design element
a unique identifier
Visual example

The Purple and green was used in the colour scheme as there are
the two main colours present in the LifeTec logo. Green was used as
a highlight and Purple as a low light. The the products were divided
up into categories and types so it would be easier for the customer
to hone in on a specific product and therefore have less difficulty
using the program. Information about the product is provided as it is
thought that supplying information about the product will help the
user make a more preferable decision. As for manipulating the
product in the visual panel, it is though that having a simple two
button system will provide a simple and easy to understand way to
move and rotate the product.

6.3

Supporting Design Tools

Used Activity diagram

Describe any design tools that you have used, such as prototypes,
use cases, personas, scenarios, card sorting etc. What tools did you
use? Why is this the best choice? Include the outcomes from
applying the design tools (for example, your persona set if you used
personas, or your story boards if you used this tool). Photographs of
low fidelity prototypes can be included in this document, electronic
prototypes should be submitted separately and referred to or linked
within this document.

7 Testing
7.1

Test Plan

Detail your testing plan for your design, following the approach
outlined in the module book and covered in the workshop. Pay
specific attention to the description of your method, your task list,
and the data you will collect and evaluate. Develop an evaluation
consent form for your sessions and include this as an appendix
there is a sample template available. Check the course site for links
to an example test plan.
Purpose of testing session:
The aim of noXcuses application is to provide the capability to the users to
visualize the innovation and making handicapped people able to picture the
image of having houses modifications thatll attend their needs.
The purpose of this testing is to evaluate the apps usage such as, efficiency
and overall satisfaction.
The goal of the tasks was to check if the users were able to go through the
application with no issue. The mental effort required to complete each the
tasks will be measure over the time taken to complete each one of the tasks.
The interface design can be assessed over the mental effort required to
complete each one of the tasks.

Test objectives:
The evaluation will help to
Evaluate the user usability will help us to understand better their needs.

Assess the overall successfully of the app for allowing users to achieve basic,
common tasks
Identify any problem to achieve the successful the task
Specific Objectives:

How far and efficiently the user is able to:

To visualize the modification
To create a project of the modification
To add/edit 3D features
To move/rotate the picture of the modification

Methodology:
Number of participants = 4
Duration of each session = 1h
Location: in participants home

Test procedure:
The test phase is an accurately process that each one involved on it, in the
phase test will be exposed to the same testing conditions to avoid the
possibility of influence by factors other than the interface. To insure the phase
test procedure is solid, all the test information will be recorded.
The table below describe the instruments used in the phase test.
Instruments
IPad

latest

Main purpose
versions,

Samsung To achieve the felling more realistic

Galaxy Tablet latest versions

to

the

user. As

the

app

was

developed to run over a tablet

platform, the fingers gestures on an
actual screen is more natural and
realistic to the participants.

Pre-test Questionnaire for the user

It is going to be a multiple choice

form that it will be done using a
computer or even the tablet. It will
help us to assess their needs.

Moderate Script

It is going to be a multiple choice

form that it will be done by the
Moderator (me) using a computer or
even the tablet. Each one of the
tasks will have multiple choice. The
moderator can be able to decide
suits the action of the best

Post-test

Questionnaire

participants

for

the This

session

will

have

multiple

choice questions, and some of open

ended questions.

The phase test will be run following the steps:

Phase 1
1.Welcome to all the participants and guide them to moderator script
2.All the participants involved must complete consent form
3.Given guidance and applying the pre-test questionnaire together the
moderator script
4.Introduce phase test sessions according to the moderator script
Phase 2
Apply the phase test in 40 minutes using the questions and
templates
Phase 3

Closing the phase test in 10 minutes using the post-test

questionnaire, informal interview reaction cards

7.2

Test Results and Analysis

Provide a summary and analysis of your test results. Detail dates of

tests, participants, test results, and notes relating to the outcome.
Include quantitative and qualitative results as needed in summary
form. Include pictures of people evaluating your designs/prototype
from your testing sessions in an appendix. Includes scans or photos
of your completed consent forms in an appendix.
Pre-test Questionnaire
All participants of the test fell into our product demographic. The
age of users ranged from 12 to 85+. Their education levels ranged
from young people studying or still at school to those who have
been working in the workforce. All our questionnaire responses all
use technology based devices such as smartphones and tablets on a
regular basis.
Application Tasks
Overall the application worked as expected. The functions and
intended use for our application fitted perfectly with our target
audience. As this was just a test and the product we showed our
users was just a prototype we did discover a few minor ways we can
improve our design.
The speed of the application that controls our product was a little
slower. This longer delayed times when controlling our product. The
smoothness of our application was better on android devices then
on apple products.
We are going to be looking into the mechanics and coding behind
these minor system errors and when we launch our product we will
have all these matters sorted. Below is a table of how our
participants rated various qualities of our application

Post-test Questionnaire
Our findings and areas of improvement reflected back on the
information we received from our first users. They indicated some
flaws and things they did like. Below is a table which represent how
they felt about our application.

Ratings from each Questionnaire, and feedback from our users.

Navigation

3/5

Simple steps, lots of

links and buttons,
easy to get lost in
the different links,

Layout

4/5

Very easy to
understand. Well
structured. Light and
friendly colours,
great display
pictures

Running speed

2/5

Commands were
very slow, would be
nice if the system
was faster, I loved
the idea but the
application is very
slow.

7.3

Findings and Recommendations

Review your test results for your initial design against the needs of
your defined audience and the goals you established in section 5.
Review your designs against the accessibility principles in Module
10. Give your findings and recommendations for revisions to your
design.

8 Final Design
Detail the revisions to your design based on the results of your user
testing. Final designs are to be electronic, and should be referred to
by file name. Include screen shots for clarity.