So the plan was to start the physical prototype in the workshop on 13/3. Unfortunately some members of the group felt ill and couldn’t attend. So we did postpone the meeting but decided to create some quick paper prototypes from home. The task is to try out the meaningfulness in doing a chore and then high-fiving a paper/cardboard hand when the chore is done.
So the insights gained here is that it feels viable. The process of doing some chore and then going to “the hand” to claim the reward. Although no reward mechanism is implemented I can sort of visualize it working. It could be an achievement showing on the app or unlocking time to do some thing more “fun” for the user. The group see a huge potential in developing this feature further, specifically for children. It would be a way to include them in the household and make them feel like they participate, at the same time while the have some incentive to do the boring chores.
So as a physical prototype a lot of things are missing, mostly the tactile feel of using it. Doing the function digitally would look very different as you don’t necessarily need your whole palm to make contact but it can surely be configured that way. As of this moment we are keeping the options open to both digital and physical manifestation (or a mix of both) of the prototype. The focus right now is to meet up in the workshop on Monday to build and test our prototype.
Far more specifics can be chiseled out from this crude prototype in figure 2. Using my hand as an example I know for sure that it is bigger than the average hand. Possible solution to this issue is to maybe design a GUI element that represent the a high-five interaction. If a physical size needs to be determined it would be wise to do a smaller hand and something that doesn’t look so crude and clumsy. A digital high-five will also have to be designed appropriate to the screen. Doing a quick test on my smartphone which has a 5.5 inch screen reveals that a high-five as an interaction not only looks stupid but also physically is cumbersome. As we will try out prototyping the design on the smartphone, certainly other actions and designs will be more viable. I’m leaning towards some function were the user slides an icon or a press and hold action to indicate the chore is done. The important part is to make the action memorable and not “fast” as checking a tick in square or simply taping a button. We feel that it is appropriate to tax the users cognitive load a bit in this case but we also want to achieve the feel like the app is worth doing that. Some kind of reward will have to be implemented in order to keep the retain user attention. Especially for kids whom has a short attention span.
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