Fall 2020
Ergonomic Design and Evaluation
Role : Research, Design Thinking, UX/UI
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Our research team explored how positive emotions and experiences can be elicited through product design to alleviate pain-points associated with working from home. The COVID-19 pandemic caused many employees to work remotely in their homes; and although many feel like they are more productive, our user research demonstrates that employees are struggling from the lack of informal communication. More specifically, they feel like written communication is overwhelming and there are not enough opportunities to connect about non-work related subjects with their coworkers. Thus, our main goal was to focus on making social interaction more accessible and natural while working from home by simulating interactions that may occur in real-life office environments.
To that end, our team of four designers created StopIn: a Zoom extension that facilitates casual communication and promotes positive experiences. It allows users to quickly and smoothly engage in calls with coworkers without having to formally set up meeting times. It gives users the option to “open” or “close” their door to indicate availability, as one would do in an office environment. With StopIn, coworkers can request to chat, invite you to a coffee break, or simply knock on your door with a message.
Stakeholder Interviews
We began by surveying 11 participants of various jobs, who recently began working from home, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We asked four free response questions focused on the problems they were experiencing while working from home, and the routines of their typical in-office work. The responses highlighted a common difficulty with replacing in-person interactions in their home environment.
Survey Responses Themes
When asked about the aspects of their in-person routine that make work the most enjoyable, 100% of responses focused on social interactions.
1. Emotional Response.
“Getting [messages] on Slack is overwhelming; time spent waiting higher, engagement is lower”
“When we socialize, we get to know what everyone is working on, and we’re more likely to reach out for help … it’s hard when you feel out of touch”
“When we socialize, we get to know what everyone is working on, and we’re more likely to reach out for help … it’s hard when you feel out of touch”
2. What's Missing?
“I miss side-conversations I have with co-workers … You socialize and bond”
“I’m less collaborative … When I’m at the office it’s much easier to just stop by someone’s office than schedule a zoom meeting"
“I’m less collaborative … When I’m at the office it’s much easier to just stop by someone’s office than schedule a zoom meeting"
Market Research
Socializing and collaboration is key; So why isn’t it happening when WFH?
Info Overload. Applications like slack are used as a group messaging platform, and can facilitate informal communication, but can lead to users feeling overwhelmed by notifications, and a reduced response time.
Formalities. Zoom allows for video conferencing, which allows for immediate feedback in the conversations, but requires formal setup to initiate.
A Mix. Skype for business and jabber combine messaging and video conferencing, but interviews indicate they were not preferred for secure video conferencing, and had similar issues with overwhelming notifications due to written messages.
We believe filling a space that focuses on video conferencing, informal communication, and immediate feedback is key, without overwhelming users with messaging. In order to improve the user's experience, the identified communication barriers must be eliminated.
We believe filling a space that focuses on video conferencing, informal communication, and immediate feedback is key, without overwhelming users with messaging. In order to improve the user's experience, the identified communication barriers must be eliminated.
Communication Barriers
1. Delays in written responses
2. Stress due to influx of written communication
3. Multiple steps to initiate calls
4. Perceive formality of video conferences
2. Stress due to influx of written communication
3. Multiple steps to initiate calls
4. Perceive formality of video conferences
Design Opportunity
" How might we facilitate interpersonal relationships while working from home through casual interactions which simulate in person social exchange typically found in work environments?
Ideate Solutions
The best designs will fulfill my objectives with high impact and feasibility. In order to decide which features were most important, I ideated around this requirement and evaluated 4 ideas.
1. Social Interaction Game for Coworkers
2. Informal Video-Conferencing Software
3. Informal Meeting Add-on for Zoom
4. Workplace Emoji System
2. Informal Video-Conferencing Software
3. Informal Meeting Add-on for Zoom
4. Workplace Emoji System
Design Decision
Problem: WFH = lower social interaction
Solution: StopIn, an add-on to Zoom which facilitates immediate casual video chatting for any random occasion
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The design simulates real-life, natural interactions by employing a familiar analogy:
When a coworker casually pops by your office space or desk to have casual conversation...
We integrated our Zoom add-on through the iOS menu bar. This allowed us to create a drop-down interface with a toggle to easily switch user availability. In honor of our theme, we chose to change availability by opening and closing a virtual door. This way when the door is closed friends will have the ability to “knock” in order to request a casual Zoom conversation. Alternatively, when a user’s door is open, they have the option to “stop-in” to their friends Zoom or invite them for a “Coffee-break”. The idea here is to uphold an interaction similar to those which occur in the workplace. To that end we also employed casual conversation within the pop-up alerts themselves. This way, when a user receives the notification the message is as casual as it would be if your co-worker were stopping by your desk or office.
Testing
To evaluate our design, we focused on the emotional response of users to our product. We employed a questionnaire study in which users self-reported their emotional response. This data was then compiled and analyzed to identify trends of emotions associated with the product.
Five participants were surveyed after watching a demo video. All participants were individuals who typically work in an office, but have recently converted to working from home. This was so that all participants would be familiar with the obstacles for communication when working remotely.
The questionnaire tested the applicability of 24 emotions. Twelve of the emotions had a positive connotation, such as friendly or happy, and twelve had a negative connotation, such as aggressive or bored. Five point Likert scale questions were used, with 1 indicating the user strongly disagreed that the product made them feel the emotion, and 5 indicating the user strongly agreed that the product made them feel the emotion.
Histograms of Survey Responses
Results
Of the 12 positive emotions, the average score was 3.82 out of 5, with 5 representing the user strongly associating the emotion with the product. The highest
scoring emotion was friendly, receiving an average score of 4.6. This indicates that interacting with the product would encourage friendly emotions, and therefore a potential increase in the casual interactions the product is intended to facilitate. Other high scoring positive emotions included interested (4.4) and happy (4.2), indicating a willingness of new users to explore the product.
scoring emotion was friendly, receiving an average score of 4.6. This indicates that interacting with the product would encourage friendly emotions, and therefore a potential increase in the casual interactions the product is intended to facilitate. Other high scoring positive emotions included interested (4.4) and happy (4.2), indicating a willingness of new users to explore the product.
Overall, the survey indicated that the users associate the product more strongly with positive emotions than negative emotions. This indicates that the proposed solution would assist in improving the emotional well-being of individuals working from home. However, as the tested users were unable to interact directly with the product, more testing would be required to verify the emotional response of users with more direct interactions.