Design Probes

Background

Brief

Literature review • Online Observation • Design Probes

Design Methods

Brainstorming • Mind mapping • Flow Diagrams • Sketching • Prototyping

Build

Adobe Illustrator • Figma

Process

What are Design Probes?

Design probes are a form of participatory design where participants are provided with items that prompt them to provide information about their lifestyle and feelings. They are an indirect and sometimes provocative way for learning about a group of people and can uncover insights that designers often don’t think to ask about in a traditional interview. They are often seen as a good starting point for opening up a dialog with participants.

What I developed

Probes

The probes I developed consisted of 6 task sheets and an introduction sheet. I created these in Adobe Illustrator and wanted to make them colourful, animated and engaging. I had learned that the more effort that is put into making the probes generally results in more effort in response to them. The tasks were split up in two sessions. I provided three task sheets to participants in week 1 and 3 tasks sheets to participants in week 2 in order to lighten the load. I hoped that participants would be less inclined to rush the probes if there were less to get through.

Autonomous vehicle app/feature

The design probes resulted in some very interesting insights about travel and provided some direction for autonomous car design. I was most interested by an idea of cars being associated with road trips which was highlighted by multiple participants in probe 3. I decided to prototype an app for an autonomous car but focused specifically on developing a trips feature which would allow users to create and share memories.

This feature would act like a social media app and could allow users to share trips with friends or keep them for personal viewing. Security and privacy was an important consideration for designing this application. One of the probe responses talked about the car being able to take photos as it drives which is something that was implemented as part of the app. The autonomous car could be used to take 360* photos/videos and using AI could automatically contribute to trips if enabled by the user. The trips feature also included an explore section which allows the user to choose a location and view public trips in that area. I felt that this would be a great way to find things to do and points of interest in a new location.

Introduction Probe

The introduction probe was intended to thank participants for their time as well as to provide some context about the exercise they were about to take part in. It let them know how they were meant to work through the probes. It was also intended to prompt the participant to think freely, be open minded and to be comfortable with any response they provide. In some cases the more obscure responses are the most insightful.

Probe 1

Probe 1 was aimed at gathering some direction in terms of how an autonomous car interior should be designed. The participants were asked to draw the inside of their ideal cabin which they would be spending a significant amount of time and travelling great distances in. I refrained from letting the participants know that this was a car design as I was concerned that preconceived ideas of how car interiors should be might influence the participants response. In my prior research I noticed that many speculative autonomous car concepts were somewhat similar to conventional car interior design and wanted to get away from this.

Probe 2

Probe 2 was created in response to prior research which highlighted a sense of discomfort that passengers can have with autonomous vehicles. I wanted to try and find out what makes passengers feel safe on different forms of transport.

Probe 3

For Probe 3 I wanted to learn about the form of interaction that a user might have with their autonomous car and the kind of information that might be presented to them. I suggested to the participants that their car has started its own website and asked them to list the kinds of things they could use the website for. I hoped that this would invoke some more creative responses.

Probe 4

Probe 4 revisited the task in probe 1. This would be carried out in the following week. The participant is asked to redesign their cabin from probe 1 taking into account that they will now be sharing the cabin some days of the week. I thought that this would highlight the important aspects of their design and reemphasise what they value.

Probe 5

Probe 5 was intended to highlight the aspects of luxury travel that participants would most highly value. The participant is told that they’ve been upgraded to first class and asked what aspects of their flight they’re most looking forward to.

App

Following on from the probe participation and assessment of the responses I designed an app which would be used to control an autonomous vehicle. I specifically focused on a trips feature which would allow users to create memories which consist of photos and videos from journeys they’d been on. One of the challenges of this app was the amount of information and tasks that it would need to manage. I decided to split the app into a profile and car section. One of the challenges of this app was the amount of information and tasks that it would need to manage. I decided to split the app into a profile and car section where users would control journeys, passenger access, interior control and information related to their vehicle.