Usability+Requirements


 * Usability Requirements:­ **

Usability requirements can be defined as being “concerned with meeting specific usability criteria.” (Sharp, Rogers, Preece, 20) This means that usability requirements focus primarily on how users can effectively engage and use the product designed. “Usability is fundamental to the quality of the user experience and conversely, aspects of the user experience, such as how it feels and looks, are inextricably inked to how usable the product is.” (Sharp, Rogers, Preece, 20)

In short, effective usability requirements and goals involve the product being easy to be used and enjoyable from the user’s point of view. In order to further measure the usability rate of a product, usability itself is categorized into six different goals. They are effectiveness, efficiency, safety, utility, learnability and memorability. These goals are usually reached using the form of questions, with the purpose of providing the interactive product designer a strategy of assessing the different aspects of their product and the user experience. Evaluating the interactive product design based on the use of the question format can aid the designers in understanding and pointing out the potential issues that the design has, allowing the designers to be able to create solutions for these problems early in this stage of the design process. On one hand, it can solve any problems with the design itself, on another hand; the designer will be able to test the reactions of the users, and receive feedback on the design, allowing room for further improvement.

Question: “Is the product capable of allowing people to learn, carry out their work efficiently, access the information they need, or buy the goods they want?” (Sharp, Rogers, Preece, 21)

Effectiveness is the basic goal that describes how well a product’s function is and describes how effective the product is in assisting the user carry out their designated tasks. Based on the design of FoodSmart, its function is predicted to assist the target market group in organizing their foods that are placed in the refrigerator and keeping track of the expiry dates of the foods. The target market for this refrigerator design is for individuals who share a kitchen space, and this can be for household families or roommates. The highlight of FoodSmart is that it has a scanning system that permits one to keep track of the groceries that they purchased everytime. This way, the users can keep track of when the groceries will expire, and FoodSmart can generate a list of groceries for the users so that they can easily make online payments for the next round of their grocery purchase. This system design will definitely increase the level of effectiveness of the FoodSmart refrigerator itself because all the qualities that are included in this design serve the same purpose of improving the user’s eating habits and lifestyle as a whole.

Error Rate:

Question: “Once users have learned how to use a product to carry out their tasks, can they sustain a high level of productivity?” ((Sharp, Rogers, Preece, 21)

The error rate requirement can also be known as the safety requirement in the usability criteria of a product design. Its main function is to determine the possible errors that might occur that will cause potential harm or damage to the user. External conditions that might cause danger would be a possible power outage that might cause the information about the groceries that are stored on the database in the refrigerator to be lost. Thus, it is important for the designers to have a computer-operated system to remotely control the information on the database of the FoodSmart refrigerators. This way, the information that was stored on FoodSmart will be able to be restored after. The information includes the details about all the groceries that were put in the FoodSmart refrigerator, as well as the private credit card information of the users when they online grocery payments.

Standard Guidelines:

The standard guideline requirement implies that there must be sets of instructions that the user should follow in order to effectively use FoodSmart and the software that is embedded in it. The standard guideline will list out how exactly to use FoodSmart, including how to correctly scan the barcode using the detachable scanning door handle. It is a set of handbook instructions that will list out how to accurately use the touch screen interface, how to follow the steps in pressing the right buttons so that FoodSmart can deliver the right functions according to what the user needs; this includes imputing the right information about the groceries bought and adjusting the settings to set expiry date reminders or to create their personalized grocery list, and also be alerted with possible coupons that can be used.

Look and Feel:

In terms of look and feel, the FoodSmart refrigerator will have a similar exterior design to the KitchenAid French Door Refrigerator with External Dispensor and LCD Display Video. Foodsmart will have two door handles, one being the detachable barcode scanner device. The freezer will be located in the bottom of the fridge and there will be large drawer and shelf space provided in the refrigerator. The touchscreen interface will be located above the ice and water dispenser on the door, making it easy for the user to operate and carry out the tasks desired. Smartglass material will also be used to increase the aesthetic quality of the exterior of the FoodSmart refrigerator itself. Smartglass material permits users to be able to view what is contained in the fridge without having to actually open the door of the refrigerator, making it more convenient and also saving electricity.