Hi Simon<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>These are all very important issues to discuss. I would feel much more comfortable, given how far along we already are in the design process, if there were a way to test design changes before releasing them as a public build. Especially seeing as we are increasingly faced with situations where either solution seems acceptable, and it is a question of perspective or usability, as was the case for yesterday's Home view discussion.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I'll start thinking about a protocol by which to test the current build of Sugar and gather structured feedback in order to share it with the entire design team. That should help us make informed decisions regarding changes to what is already there. For new features, it should mostly be sufficient to test low-fidelity prototypes, i.e. print-outs of what the screens might look like, to be able to gage how intuitive they are.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I'll aim to have something to share by our next meeting. If anyone would like to participate in helping me create the test protocol, please let me know!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Christian</div>
<div><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 5:05 PM, Simon Schampijer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:simon@schampijer.de">simon@schampijer.de</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 15:36, Christian Marc Schmidt<br>
<<a href="mailto:christianmarc@gmail.com" target="_blank">christianmarc@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi Sugar Design Group:<br>
<br>
<br>
I enjoyed the meeting yesterday, and think we ended up making several<br>
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good<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
decisions. However, regarding the Home view, I am now beginning to<br>
</blockquote>
wonder if<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
we are doing the right thing by hastily changing the design without<br>
conducting a proper qualitative study.<br>
I am only questioning it because I feel that, with every major design<br>
change, it would be best if we had real evidence, beyond just the<br>
</blockquote>
anecdotal.<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Ideally, I envision the design team being a part of these observations,<br>
</blockquote>
and<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
systematically testing design decisions in the field with a number of<br>
participants. It need not be more than say a sampling of 20-30 students<br>
</blockquote>
of<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
various age-groups, but the insight from these observations could really<br>
drive us to make more informed design decisions, based on more than just<br>
</blockquote>
our<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
opinions (which, as we saw yesterday, tends to lead to compromise).<br>
So, I personally think that we are at a point where we should try and<br>
arrange for some user-testing for the design group, however we<br>
</blockquote>
facilitate<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
it, before proceeding with any revisions to the existing design (though<br>
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I<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
wouldn't want that to hold us back from adding any additional features<br>
</blockquote>
like<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
the thumbnail view, that continue to build out the UI to match the<br>
</blockquote>
original<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
design intent). I have a little experience putting together qualitative<br>
</blockquote>
test<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
protocols, and while I'm not sure exactly how to facilitate these<br>
</blockquote>
testing<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
sessions, I think some of you may have ideas.<br>
What do you think? Should we use our meeting next Saturday to discuss<br>
</blockquote>
our<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
options for testing?<br>
</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
<br></div></div>
Thanks Christian for putting this on the table. Of course, a qualitative study would help to get some data about the new design and we should setup a process to get that feedback. As you mentioned some of the designs probably do not need that much of a study.<br>
<br>
Today I thought about how we can achieve a full Feature cycle. We have several parts settled but they are not all linked together yet and some are missing.<br>
<br>
We have the Feature Policy, which main goal is to make systematic and predictable the process by which community ideas on how Sugar should evolve get transformed into actionable proposals. The Feature process includes the task of the submitter to get feedback of the design team (if the Feature adds UI or changes current UI). What we have not defined is what we do with the design teams feedback. We should give the submitter a way to comment on that design and in cases like the Home View changes we probably should get feedback in form of a study. Of course we need the developers as well to create testable 'ideas'. And who has the final word?<br>
<br>
I will think about it a bit more and ideas are of course welcome. It is not an easy task as it needs cross-team communication and cross-team working. Already with the work we did yesterday we made a big step forward into that direction and I am very happy about that.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Simon<br>
<br>
[1] <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Features/Policy" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Features/Policy</a><br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><a href="mailto:anything@christianmarcschmidt.com">anything@christianmarcschmidt.com</a><br>917/ 575 0013<br><br><a href="http://www.christianmarcschmidt.com">http://www.christianmarcschmidt.com</a><br>
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