Project 1 - Reflection

This article is a reflection assignment as part of the "COMP 4461: Human-Computer Interaction" course at HKUST. This reflection is written for Project 1 (Make the campus more friendly for visiting students from the animal kingdom).

Background

We were required to brainstorm and come up with a POV-based mindmap within class time. In order to aid us in brainstorming, we were supposed to use the Design Thinking methodology, prioritizing user needs.

Empathize

We kicked off brainstorming by empathizing with our potential users. My team and I started suggesting potential ideas, like access to washrooms for animals. We were told to focus on abilities and habits of animals, so we took into account their dexterity, sleep patterns, size and shape, to name a few.

The following mindmap is the result of our empathizing process:

Furthermore, we took some wild ideas like considering bullying and mental health of the animals. It seemed overly dramatic to do so, however, we felt that personifying creatures from the animal kingdom meant that we could cater to issues that humans face in a university setting.

Interpret

After empathizing with the users' needs, we moved onto developing personas for different types of our users. I developed the POV for a land animal, while my teammates took aquatic and aerial animals respectively.

The following POV is that of a cow, a domesticated land animal I chose.

After each of us formulated our personas, we began developing a user needs statement, based on what we learnt that day in class.

Due to the time restrictions in class, we could only consider two of the problems we identified, and as per that, formulated the user needs statement.

Personal Reflection

During class time, I would always wonder how would such processes and frameworks work in real-life. As a programmer, I was always able to think about software in practice. Therefore, I saw this project as an opportunity to implement my learnings in class. From empathizing with users' needs to crafting a unique persona, it was extremely exciting to see the design thinking process in use in reality.

If I were to remark on what I look forward to in the coming projects, it would be the process of carrying out this design thinking process from ideation to execution. I am aware that the upcoming projects do require prototyping and user validation, so that is something I look forward to, as it would combine my passion for programming along with the lessons I will learn throughout this course.

Lastly, I think that one thing my team and I lacked in was effective time management. After the presentation was over, I realized the room for improvement we had. Given that time was very scarce for preparing for the presentation, we should have been quicker and more efficient, adapting to the requirements in class.

AI Usage

My team members used poe.com to aid them in needfinding, however, I personally refrained from using AI. But I must say that going forward, I may use AI to help me with the longer projects that are upcoming.