...
Learnability: Elimination is a common technique for making choices. Given a certain set of decisions, a person initial instinct is to quickly get rid of choices that are not appealing. Learnability for this particular app follows the same idea. As a user eliminates choices for a restaurant, he can This design is based on a compass. When a user chooses to open our application, he can basically point the device in a direction and see what restaurants are in that direction. The motivation for this is that sometimes a user may have some notion of which way he is trying to go. In this application he can easily see what is in that direction. This application will eliminate the obnoxious "pins" that tend to show up in current restaurant map searches. Additionally, it doesn't require the user to read any sort of map to see what direction his desired restaurant is in. He can instead find restaurants in a more intuitive manner since the device is a part of the user's world, instead of simply showing a top view of the world. Finally, when we ultimately do show the user a map so that he can get there exactly, he is already oriented as to which direction he should begin walking. This will make the process of reading the map eventually much easier.just
Storyboard
IMAGE 1
1) Image 1 shows the first page a user sees when opening the application. It looks like a compass, showing that Wendy's and McDonald's are straight ahead, more or less. The user can also see the cardinal direction for orientation. If the user turns his device one direction or another, the restaurants being showed will rotate and new restaurants will appear. The restaurants always represent a few that would be found if the user headed in that direction. In our example, suppose the user is interested in sorting the restaurants that are shown in a different way. He touches the "sort" button.
IMAGE 2
2) Image 2 shows a simple menu of the different ways the application can choose to show restaurants. Since there are presumably many restaurants in a given direction, the user can choose which types he wants to see. Our user is very interested in getting cheap food, so he selects "cost". The menu disappears and the compass reappears as in Image 1. The user now finds two restaurants that interest him. He adds them to a list of restaurants he wants to compare by touching them. Once he has found two that he likes, he selects "compare".
IMAGE 3
3) Image 3 shows the two restaurants our user is interested in. If he changes his mind and wants to continue searching, he can simply press "back". Otherwise, he selects the restaurant he wants. In our case, the user wants to go to "Hsin Hsin".
IMAGE 4
4) Image 4 shows a map that the user can follow to his destination. Our user does so and enjoys his experience.
Further Information
The map in Image 4 is something that we are wrestling with a lot. It would be more consistent and very cool if after the user selected his restaurant, he was directed by a compass to the destination. In other words, he would be directed by an interface more like that shown in Image 1. We chose not to use that idea in this storyboard because we are concerned about the accuracy of the directions people would get, as well as the accuracy of the GPS knowing exactly where the user is. If we choose to implement this design, we will seriously consider implementing our design in this way.
Additionally, there is the concern of how we show multiple restaurants in the same direction. Since our expected user is not super picky about the place he eats, but instead is just trying to find some food, showing only a few restaurants in a given direction is acceptable. We are working out the best way to add some sort of scroll bar, though, to cycle through the various restaurants at various distances in a given direction. It is a minor detail at this point, but we are thinking about it.
Analysis:
Learnability: This should be very learnable, because the idea of pointing the device in the direction you want to find a restaurant seems very intuitive. A user should be able to pick up the app, and even if he doesn't know what it does, just by turning it and seeing various restaurant logos scrolling on the screen, a new user can learn what the app is doing. The subsequent screens are very self-explanatory and there are few controls. That means that a user will not have to learn very much functionality to fully use this application.
Efficiency: The main concern here is that a user will have to physically move the device to see all the restaurant options. This is a very slow process. This may be an acceptable tradeoff, though, if the user feels that the search is more intuitive and interactive. Once the user has chosen his restaurants, the rest of the process is very quick, as there are very few steps to take, and all can be completed with a simple touch. Another concern here is that the process of scrolling through the restaurants in a given direction may be time consuming and tedious for the user. We are designing this for a user who doesn't care too much, though, so we shouldn't find users who want to scroll through tons of restaurant options. In any case, efficiency is where we see a primary concern, because the user does have to physically move the device to select a restaurant.
Safety: We will have back buttons to easily return to previous screens. This will mitigate a lot of safety concerns. The largest safety concern is that after the user has chosen his restaurants, if he makes a mistake and wants to re select his restaurants, the nature of the compass interface is tricky. He will then have to point the device in the proper directions once again to find the restaurants he wants. This could be very annoying for many users as they are effectively forced to start over. This should be a solvable issue, though. We will continue developing solutions to this issue that mitigate the safety concerns while maintaining consistency with the design of the app.
"wipe" it off the screen. This motion is used throughout the entirety of the experience. As a result, the interaction with our interface is an intuitive way for users to eliminate choices consistant with the way they perform a similar task otherwise.
...
The restaurants will be chosen at random from the set of restaurants within 1 mile of the user, according to GPS. This is an acceptable way to choose the restaurants to display because the user is simply searching for a bite to eat, so he may not know what type of food he wants, but is certainly not picky. In any case, he can quickly cycle through many restaurants just by "driving down the highway." See the following storyboard to understand the game on a deeper level:
Storyboard
1) Image 1 shows the first screen a user will encounter. It has two simple options. The user can either begin to "race", or cycle through the restaurants. Otherwise, he can choose "help" to learn more about how to play and choose restaurants. In our example, our user chooses to "start race".
...