Paint Shop Pro X2 HDR Photo Merge

Project: Paint Shop Pro X2 HDR Photo Merge
Company: Corel, Inc.
Year: 2006-07

Challenge
I was given the challenge of designing a high dynamic range (HDR) feature to stay competitive in the photography editing market. Most HDR applications are highly complex and technical but for Paint Shop Pro, I wanted to bring HDR to the masses.

Research and Design Methods
Competitive analysis
Sketching and wireframing
Heuristic evaluation
Iterative design
Think-aloud usability testing

Solution 
The HDR Photo Merge feature for Paint Shop Pro went through several iterations beginning with a tabbed design providing technical photo information and tone mapping similar to competitive applications. The more I researched HDR and what great results could look like, the more I wanted this to be as simple as possible so that anyone with a bracketing camera feature could use it. More and more point-and-shoot cameras offer bracketing or manual exposure adjustments so it was important not to limit the audience to the advanced digital SLR user.

The result is a simple dialog that allows the user to select bracketed photos (it can even auto-select images shot within a short time range), auto-align photos if they were not taken with a tripod, and merge them quickly. Brightness and clarify (local contrast adjustment) were added to allow users to reach the level of detail and quality often seem from applications with complex tone mapping adjustments. If you are curious to see what HDR can do for your photos, have a look at Flickr's HDR group.

Results 

• Positive feedback from industry reviewers
• Successful partnership with User Experience and Software Engineering teams
• HDR Photo Merge can be used by almost any amateur photo editor
• No need to understand technical jargon or complex workflows to make HDR images

HDR Screenshot


Sample Wireframe

Soap in Fisher & Paykel Washing Machine

I get a lot of visitors at this site who are definitely not looking for a user experience blog but I still would like to help them find what they are looking for. Each week, I will try to respond to a popular search term so my visitors will get the answers they need.

This week question:

"Where do you put the soap powder in a fisher & paykel washing machine?"

Answer:

Aquasmart

Use the dispenser on the front, left hand side of the top deck.

Ecosmart

Pour detergent down the center of the agitator, replacing the fabric softener cup (agitator cap) before starting a cycle.

This answer was taken from Fisher & Paykel user guides, available for download as a PDF from the company's website.

Recruiting people for a phone or AIM interview

It's research project time!

The first step to solving a problem is to find out what that problem is. To get there, @matto and I are looking to find out how people orient themselves to a new community after a move? If you have moved to a new city in the last six months and don't mind chatting by phone or AIM for 30 minutes, let me know. While we can't pay you for participating, know that we will use what we learn for only good, not evil.

Feel free to spread the word. Ten people should be enough to start.

Researching User Experiences

It is time for a research side project but selecting one of so many possible experiences is proving difficult. I'll be working with Matt Oliphant to identify problems with a selected workflow and provide recommendations for improvement. Matt and I decided to focus on something we don't like and brainstormed a few ideas:

• Using touchscreen devices in the winter (or if they are public, like ATMs)
• Booking air travel
• Reading a lot of news websites
• Using weather.com, both old and new to predict the weather for the next few days
• Reading most baby development websites because design is often poorly done
• Anything sharepoint, infopath, or oracle
• Shopping for a new car at various websites, some work and some don't
• That sometimes I get lost when organizing and browsing photos with Picasa
• That cashiers never notice my picture on my credit card until after they ask for ID
• Traveling
• Finding information from government agencies
• Going to the doctor
• Going to the dentist
• Brainstorming

We will have to narrow down this list to one actionable project and then will recruit participants for interviews and usability testing. Want to participate? Have a project idea? Leave a comment or send me an email.

Grocery Website Store Locator

Project: Grocery Website Store Locator
Company: SUPERVALU, Inc.
Year: 2008-09

Challenge
The client wanted to learn what visitors really expect from a large eCommerce site store locator:

• What link words do they look for?
• What are their frustrations with the current design?
• What does the website do well?
• How can finding a store be made more efficient and pleasant to use?
• In which ways can the design be made consistent across several brands?
  

Research and Design Methods
CogTool
A/B testing
Think-aloud usability testing
Competitive analysis
Contextual inquiry
Wireframing
Cognitive walkthrough

Solution
After studying why potential and current customers look for a physical store online, and how they navigate through the website to find a store, it was clear that there were too many pop-ups and ambiguous links. Information most important to the user was buried and information less important was too prominent. The new design offers a clean and simple layout with the zip code field near the top, active on load for quick keyboard-only searching. Functionality was consolidated to allow users who enter a full starting address the opportunity to get driving directions with fewer clicks. Critical information such as store phone number and hours were brought to the results page so users don't have to dig deep for what they want to know.

Results

• Finding a store is faster and more pleasant to use
• Positive feedback during final round of testing
• Successful fast-paced iterative design
• Stronger stakeholder buy-in with modified cognitive walkthrough technique
• Store locator better integrated with overall website design

Store Locator Screenshot

Upcoming User Experience Events

UX events in Minnesota:
Help is out there: Online community, community artifacts, new ways of harnessing knowledge: Hosted by UPA Minnesota
February 11
St. Paul, MN

MinneWebCon: Sponsored by the University of Minnesota
April 12
St. Paul, MN

Web App Masters Tour: Hosted by UIE
April 27-28
Minneapolis, MN

For those who aren't in Minnesota:
Usability Week: Hosted by Nielsen Norman Group
Feb 22-26
Atlanta, GA

The World of User Experience: Hosted by Aquent
Feb 27
Los Angeles, CA

UPA 2010: Embracing Cultural Diversity
May 24-38
Munich, Germany

Office 2007 Enterprise Deployment

Project: Office 2007 Corporate Deployment
Company: Confidential
Year: 2009

Challenge
The primary purpose for this study was to identify how much training and support would be needed for several thousand users transitioning to Office 2007 from an earlier version of the product. By studying how first time upgraders learn to use new features and work with old ones, the client wanted to learn what type of documentation works best for employees.

Research Methods
Month-long diary study
Web survey
Heuristic evaluation of training materials
Usability testing in user's native environment

Solution
Because most employees were very familiar with the Office suite and comfortable using integrated Help, as well as searching the web for guidance, the need for supplementary materials was reduced. Users shied away from support documentation and preferred to hunt-and-peck, exploring the application to learn about new features and find the old ones because they felt it was an enjoyable experience.

Result

• Identified major issue as installation procedure and time, not application usability
• Documented potential financial risk to deploying as-is
• Cost-savings in reduced need for training and support materials
• Participating employees enjoyed having a real impact on an IT project
  

Paint Shop Pro X2 Express Lab

Project: Paint Shop Pro X2 Express Lab
Company: Corel, Inc.
Year: 2007

Challenge
A last-minute proposal from Corel product management required a Paint Shop Pro feature that allowed photographers to edit many photos using just a primary set of tools and that shares the look and feel of the rest of the application.

Research and Design Methods
Contextual inquiry
Retrospective interviewing
Sketching and wireframing
Heuristic evaluation
Cognitive walkthrough
Iterative design
Think-aloud usability testing

Solution
User research showed that professional photographers, advanced amateurs, and novice photo editors shared a common workflow - quickly select a small set of images, improve the color and lighting, and crop. The key factor in selecting a product to do this was how quickly the photographer could be in and out of the application. By bringing a set of key editing tools like red-eye reduction, cropping, rotating, straightening, and a modified version of Paint Shop Pro's Smart Photo Fix, most users can breeze through a set of photos quickly. An additional benefit of this design is that the new Express Lab mode eases the transition to a more advanced photo editing product like Paint Shop Pro from a more lightweight application.

Results

• Major feature brainstormed and developed within a few months
• Positive user feedback during final round of testing
• Supportive industry reviews
• Paint Shop Pro now trends toward larger amateur photo editing consumer market

Express Lab Screenshot


Sample Wireframe

Baby Bottles

It's been a long time since I last posted but I'm definitely back now. A couple months ago, my daughter, Penelope, was born and I've had to learn the art of baby bottle design. At first it seemed simple, I bought a brand I was familiar with from when my sister was a baby, not really thinking it mattered too much how the bottle is designed. Now, two months and three brands later, I'm still trying to find the perfect bottle.

Most bottle brands claim to reduce colic and gas because of some special design feature. Playtex offers two versions: the drop-in style and a vented bottle. The drop-ins are great because after feeding, parents can toss the liner and the bottle stays clean (for the most part). It doesn't really change the fact that parts still need cleaning so I can't say it's a huge time saver. However, because the liners compress as baby eats, there is less air going into baby's tummy. That is a nice feature.

The vented bottle is pleasant to use because it feels sturdy and high quality. However, there are more parts to clean and assemble and the caps fit too snug on the bottle.

When combined with the use of a bottle warmer, the experience of using both these bottles becomes flawed. I learned quickly that the smell of a heated drop-in liner is pretty nasty, even when barely warmed in the steamer. Being BPA-free, I don't have a concern about leaching chemicals, but it smells scary, so I now sit and wait for the drop-in bottle to warm in a glass of water. Because the liner doesn't press against the bottle, it is very difficult to run the bottle under the faucet to warm it. This means I sit and wait with a hungry, crying baby and definitely don't use this style for overnight feedings.

The vented bottle doesn't have a nasty odor when heated but after removing the bottle, it drips hot water for several minutes out of all the crevices around the top and vented bottom such that wrapping it in a towel while feeding has become necessary.

There is a third bottle I enjoy using - Avent. It's a basic shape but very sturdy. The ounce measurements seem to be more accurately printed on the side, and the baby doesn't fight the flow as much. Because these bottles are wide, they barely fit in the steamer but I don't have lingering drips of hot water and there are no smelly liners. I would switch to these 100% if I could but unfortunately the cost of good design is the increased retail price. In the meantime, little Penelope drinks out of three different bottles but at least that means she won't get attached to any particular style.
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I will be back to work next month and back focused on saving the world from horrible software and website experiences. Look for new blog posts (not all babycentric) coming more frequently this spring!