Four important considerations for better mobile research

1. Sri Putrevu
Mobile Research

2. touch sensitive body cover Tangible
flexible touch screen
Transitive Materials
speech recognition
liquid battery Programmable Reality
What does ‘Future Mobile’ mean?

3. Augmented Reality
1 Billion+ Mobile Web
Users by 2010
Increase in smartphone
screen sizes
“8 In 10 Smartphone users
frustrated by content”
What is happening…

4. “…Even the best mobile UIs tend to borrow
too many conventions of interaction from
the desktop, rather than creating a UI that is
unique to mobile devices to keep both the
context and task front and center.”
Blue Flavor

5. Phone
Traditional UCD – user centered design Compass Email
Calendar Music
Research Design Evaluate
GPS TV
Internet
Product (lets say a phone) with features
People
Organic
Mobile UCD – user (context) centered design
Still a Features
Emotion
Product?
Research Design Evaluate
Culture
Behavior
Consider now
Future
Paradigm Shift…

6. Traditional UCD – user centered design
Participatory, Ethnography,
Interviews, Observations,
Research Design Evaluate
Questionnaires…
Mobile UCD –user (context) centered design
Will these methods work?
Research Design Evaluate
Should we invent new methods?
“To discover what makes websites easy or difficult to use on mobile devices, we combined three usability methods” - Jacob Nielsen
Traditional Methods…

7. 4Pillar Framework
• Where do you fall?
• Select appropriate methodology
• Identify ‘Primary’ context of use
• Choose ‘User’ type
Framework

8. High Risk ($$$) Low Risk ($)
High need to get it right the first time some iterations possible Need Idea
Expectations
lot of research some research
some no
research research
Low
Expectations some iterations possible Lot of iterations possible
Have Idea
Big Brands Small groups
1. Where do You Fall?

9. High Risk ($$$) Low Risk ($)
High Need Idea
Expectations
Triangulation… Rapid Ethnography…
Simulated Lab
Agile type development
Data Logs…
Low
Expectations Have Idea
Big Brands Small groups
2. Select Appropriate Methodology

10. McCullough – Typologies of
Situated Interaction
• At Work
• At Home
• On the Town
• On the Road
3. Identify Primary Context of Use

11. There is the ‘Youth
and Teen’, then…
‘Casual’ user
‘Repeat’ user
‘Urgent’ user
4. Choose User Type

12. Recap…
• Where do you fall?
The amount of research to be done depends on investment, brand, and
customer expectations.
• Select appropriate methodology
Goals should drive the research methodology. There is no one magical
methodology that addresses all questions.
• Identify ‘Primary’ context of use
Design for one primary context and rest will fall in place.
• Choose ‘User’ type
Targeting the right user will immensely influence research data and the UI
design that follows
Bottom Line

13. Thank You!