Design Dive — 'eyeCan' Workshop

Prologue

From some moment on, after I came into IT.. a longing I'd been carrying in a corner of my heart was laid out right before my eyes today.

A project group I ran into a while back during some research. Design Dive.

People say "every company is the same," and there was always this basic ache I felt in my daily working life...

Design Dive felt like an oasis that would fill that thirst. Today was my first meeting with them.

Walking into the always-special Design Dive, pressure hit me... probably because it was a project I had longed for so much.

Anyway, I had survived 12:1 competition to become one of the divers.

I trust the seasoned eye of those who have run Design Dive for so long.

I ended up on the UX2 team. Team name: "I-U" (eye can + user) — we came up with it in a short time, seriously... but ridiculously, UX1 right next to us landed on the same name. -_-a

Our team is generally a bit quiet. Ha — maybe because it's our first meeting? And everyone looks busy. After the seminar they prepared a meal, but our team — except one person — all went home lol.

I've organized a few notes from the opening seminar, as below.

> Requirements

1) H/W — self-esteem, durability, convenience

2) S/W — usability, independence, agency

> Areas to improve

1) It's hard. About 3 months of learning is required.

2) Angle between the eye and the sensor.

3) Left-right eye motion is freer than up-down.

4) Infrared is used to distinguish the whites from the pupils. (Safety has not yet been verified, and the exposure range has not yet been characterized.)

> Impressions

1) Truly, the intellect that acts is different. Renewed recognition of the need for more active problem-solving and greater effort of will.

2) Risk → is this basically a very early version of Google Glass? Yet it rides on the "cause" to draw attention? → What if a mass-produced device like theirs launches mid-development? (150,000 KRW vs. 800,000 KRW?)

3) Opportunity → Don't get dazzled by the cause and the fame; approach it with a professional mindset, as the act of creating a new interface tool.

> My insight

< About: SD _ attitude >

   0) The approach needs to be improved

       : 0.1) Computing → communication.

         0.2) Asking ALS patients to use a QWERTY keyboard and learn for three months? Can we really sell them on the need?

                → Ever tried operating a smart TV with its remote? This is an experience dozens of times worse than that.

                → Don't try to teach them. The moment your customer needs training, that interface is just a tool for yourself. Enough with the masturbation — stop it!

                → They say empathy is knowing the heart just by looking at the eyes. That's exactly what this is. We need the basic training and qualifications needed to satisfy (or at least carefully consider) these users.

         0.3) Development "for charity"? Knowledge-sharing?

                They are simply a different kind of new customer.

< About: UX _ UI >

   1) Personalization

       : pre-setup functionality (before full paralysis).

         1.1) Sensor check: introduce an initial setup process for the touch interface.

         1.2) Check their communication type.

         1.3) Set conversation content by time / place / conversation partner.

                → Don't offer too many choices from the start; provide categories that narrow through stages.

         1.4) Provide emotion categories.

   2) Consider the delivery method

         1.1) Exclude the QWERTY keyboard outright.

                → Even able-bodied people do typing drills the first time they use a 106-key keyboard!

                → An unavoidable interface? Apple's mouse and finger-gesture interfaces were not designed as services for the disabled.

         1.2) Think about new interfaces.

                → Offer a curated range of choices.

                    : Rather than operating within Windows OS, develop a new-UI APP.

                → QWERTY alternatives.

                → Consider expression via color, vibration, sound.

                → Pre-recorded audio.

< About: UX _ A/S >

   3) Provide software like a typing-practice program.

< About: UX _ sustainability >

   4) Collect customer usability data

         : frequently-used words, emotions, delivery style, time to compose and feedback.

           → Auto-collect and quantify.

           → Expand service reach to other disabilities.

< About: Device >

   5) Device state-change functionality before, during, and after product use.

          → Let the S/W control the H/W.

   6) Improve the sensor-recognition process.

          as-is) Recognize pupil movement within the PC screen.  

                   1.1) The area is too wide.

          to-be) Capture pupil motion within a grid-paper-style region.