Co-design session I
General planning
12:30-13:15 Meet and greet
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Properly introduce ourselves
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Get to know the co-designer better
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Get familiar with the use context
13:15-14:30 Determine product requirements
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Inform about any potential wishes
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Determine what product shape would be best
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Determine and visualize the co-designers style
14:30-15:30 UI design
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Determine what functions should be included in the app
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Layout / graphic preferences
March 14th 2022
12:30-15:30
Team members present:
Antony Radstake
Karsten van Pruissen
Oliver Maddock
Steyn Knollema
Methods
Meet and greet
During the meet and greet a loosely structured interview is employed to allow the present team members and the co-designer to get better acquainted. During this interview the following questions where used as guiding points, these had to be answered at some point during the meet and greet part of the co-design session, but not in any particular order:
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What is her standard routine (where does the product fit in her (morning) routine, how does this influence the requirements of the product)
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What are her habits, what does a standard day for her look like (get a understanding of the context in which the product will be used)
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What products does she currently employ to help her deal with her autism (does she have similar products already, what does she like or dislike about these products, can these product be used by our product)
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What does her living space look like (get a understanding of the context in which the product will be used)
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Phone usage and preferences (what kind of apps does she like, how much does she use her phone, understand hot to build an app that she is likely to use)
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Behavior when she is overstimulated (what helps her in such a moment, what are things to avoid)
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At the end of this section the scenario was presented to the co-designer in order to see if our perception of possible use situations was realistic and probable.
Determine product requirements
In order to determine the product requirements a semi-structured interview is employed with some visual aids, to answer the following questions in the order that they are presented in here:
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Does she have any wishes we should take in to account (things that are not needed and will therefore not necessarily come forward in any analysis, but she would like to see anyway)
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What is here style (for this her living space and the object within it are observed)
The following collages are presented to the co-designer to see what collage or combination of collages (and the style that these collages represent) she likes:
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What shape of the product is desirable for her (watch, ring, necklace, how does she feel about jewelry, something in her pocket, what is her morning routine for putting it on, size, etc.)
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Does she prefer to get a notification on a certain pre-set interval or have the watch measure when she getting overstimulated and send her a notification then.
Interval: plan when you get notification, integrate KrachtPlanner, she would use an online planner and get notifications based on her schedule for that day (would she be willing to use a digital planner in which she plans out all of her activities for her day)
Measuring: the watch measures when she is getting overstimulated and sends her a notification at this moment
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What kind of notification does she prefer (vibration, sound, something else, possibly pair it with a phone notification)
UI design
For the UI design to determine a general layout for the app to accompany the (notification) device a number of blank phone screens are printed out and used to quickly sketch layouts and components. The aim is to answer the following questions:
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Phone usage and preferences (what kind of apps does she like, how much does she use her phone, understand how to build an app that she is likely to use)
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What functions would she like to be included
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Does she prefer one page with multiple add-ins or multiple, more simple pages
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General layout and components
Results
Meet and greet
The co-designer mentioned that because of her autism she has a routine she strictly follows each morning, even on mornings where she might have overslept, she will follow the routine, albeit a bit hurried at times. This means that she is very unlikely to forget the product.
She currently employs different types of devices to help limit the amount of stimulation (eg. sunglasses for light, headphones for noise) and products to help her relax (eg. weighted blankets, breath exercise products). However, a problem that is mentioned is that throughout the day she is not always aware of her mental state, which can lead to overstimulation. She would likely benefit most from a product that makes her aware of her mental state so that she can limit the number of times she is overstimulated.
The co-designer explained that whenever she is really overstimulated she can totally shut down. At this point, she is not always able to remember a predetermined plan and could use external help. At such a time she wants to be told what she should do to help her calm down, it should be clear, unambiguous, and direct.
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The scenario was one that the co-designer could envision herself in, it accurately portrays what can happen in a social setting and how a product could help a person with autism in that situation.
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​During the co-design, it also came up that the selling of the ‘Krachtplanners’, an agenda specifically designed by her for people with autism, is a serious source of stress.
​Currently for every Krachtplanner that is ordered she:
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gets an email with the order
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has to write up an invoice
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Check if the invoice is paid
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Send an email with a confirmation
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Send the Krachtplanner
This process gives her a lot of stress, as she wants to do it as fast as possible which results in her making invoices and writing up emails at the weirdest hours of the day. By automating this process she will only have to send out the Krachtplanners, which would greatly reduce stress. Therefore a mock-up of her website that implements this automation will be constructed.
Determine product requirements
The following two style collages best represent the style of the co-designer:
In consultation with the co-designer a watch is determined as the optimal shape for the product (see Products->Watch->Shape for more information about the selection process) that gives vibrating notifications on a certain pre-set interval that is based on the activities that she has planned on a day.
Because overstimulation is experienced in different forms by our co-designer, both physical and mental, it would be very difficult to accurately measure when overstimulation occurs. This kind of product cannot afford to make mistakes; if it misses a moment where the user is overstimulated the user can lose trust in the product, and if the product tells the user they are getting overstimulated when they are not they can experience stress or through a placebo effect get overstimulated because of the notification. A pre-set interval is consistent and will make the user more mindful and help them visualize what causes them a lot of stress, reducing overstimulation in the long run. If the user is overstimulated, they can tap the screen of the watch to manually get a notification, which can offer some tips.
UI design
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Because of the choice to go with an interval notification, this means that the app evolves from just giving the user feedback to also including her planning. This means that the co-designer has to be open to starting to use a digital planner. As of now she uses a very detailed agenda called the ‘KrachtPlanner’ that she developed herself specifically for people with autism.
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The switch to a digital version of this ‘Krachtplanner’ is not an issue, and is even desirable for the co-designer, as it allows her to always access it, either on her phone or laptop.
The co-designer is definitely not opposed to technology and is likely to use the app and web application, given that they are structured right.
The updated website also plays a role in this. It allows people with autism to get familiar with the Krachtplanner and see if it works for them. They can then get the digital function that also works with the app. New users might be hesitant to start using the app if they are unfamiliar with it, the physical Krachtplanner serves as a good introduction. Furthermore, due to the digital version being similar to the physical version, changing from one to the other isn’t as drastic of a change for the user to get accustomed to.
The web framing results in a first rough draft of the application:
The user is able to set an interval for how often they get notified based on what type of activity they are performing, as work activities are more likely to cause overstimulation than free time. The app shows an overview of the months as well as weeks and days. This allows the user to get more details about their planning, but also see the overview. Finally, the user can review how they were feeling at every notification and can start to see potential problems in their planning.