People-centered Design

Locomotive maintenance

The physicality of industrial work

In the context of dangerous and heavy machinery much work can only be achieved by working together. Yet, as we try to bring in modern digital technologies we discover that their design is still very much as a personal product to be used by one person.

Removal of parts of a railway locomotive can require co-ordination between 3 or more individuals (who maybe on opposite sides of the locomotive and unable to easily see each other) – and the equipment is heavy and can inflict serious damage to a person who is not adequately protected and focussed on what is happening.

Bringing digital transformation into this space risks distracting people from the physical work and from the needs of their colleagues.

If a mobile computing device is to be useful, then it probably needs to ‘belong’ to the locomotive rather than to a specific engineer.

Add to that the fact that the purpose of a digital device is primarily to track the work being done, rather than support the execution of that work, and one has to start asking tough questions about the user experience of technology in physical, industrial work.

Motion management in Radiotherapy

This is another good example of how having the data is only the starting point. Presenting the user with the relevant data in a way which is safe and usable is a much deeper design problem that is usually appreciated.

Racing data

Kevin Richardson (Infragistics) gave a talk at UCDUK15 about the design of data presentation for motor bike racing, which provided a great example of how having the data is only the starting point of the design process.

Medical Equipment

A group with doctors alone on a new piece of medical equipment became very focused on the attractiveness of the technology and its message of innovation, but when joined by nurses, the doctors were quick to recognise that they would barely interact with the equipment.

GE Digital Power

In creating digital HMI for a power plant, it is easy to find constraints pulling in different directions – towards simplification of the HMI and the use of fewer, smaller screens, versus the presentation of more data across more, larger screens. Either is a possible experience that can be designed for, but the whole team needs to know which experience they are aiming for.

Three-ring Binders

Before being engaged on innovation in 3-ring binders, qualitative surveys had found that the snap of the three rings was not a problem for users and we were directed to look for innovation elsewhere.

Zyliss Kitchen Gadgets

Making a new family of kitchen gadgets could not just be about an easy grip … observational research in people’s homes while they were cooking highlighted the role of family and cooking together (with children joining in especially). And, of course, the inevitable need to make clean up fast. Innovations that resulted from these insights included a salad spinner with an integral brake and a potato masher with no enclosed spaces to trap potato.

Business and technology

What is the role for data and AI?

Customer Encounters

UE Roll unexpected usage

UE Boom design awards

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