Introduction
Milestone 2 involved conducting diary studies and follow-up user interviews to refine our design scope to enhance people’s ability to monitor their space. We learned the difficulty and the irrelevance of trying to quantify cleanliness. We learned the importance of providing users with gentle reminders to maintain a regular cleaning schedule and coordinate their cleaning efforts with their roommates.
We scoped down our target audience to be people in their 20s who are learning how to live on their own for the first time and living with roommates. Based on our analysis of our diary studies and follow-up interviews, we decided to create an enhanced cleaning experience that would be transparent, supporting communication among people, enjoyable, providing helpful reminders and notification, and efficient. We designed a series of user enactments to understand how our users may react to:
We scoped down our target audience to be people in their 20s who are learning how to live on their own for the first time and living with roommates. Based on our analysis of our diary studies and follow-up interviews, we decided to create an enhanced cleaning experience that would be transparent, supporting communication among people, enjoyable, providing helpful reminders and notification, and efficient. We designed a series of user enactments to understand how our users may react to:
- A centralized tangible representation of their home cleanliness
- System automation vs. user control
- Making cleaning a shared experience that each individual could be accountable for
- Salient updates and notifications for bacteria detection
- Navigation guidance from augmented reality technologies
Study Design
For designing our user enactments, we started by generating a wide variety of ideas about different scenarios around people’s decisions to start cleaning. Our goal was to generate as many different ideas, group them into common themes, and have people in our target interact with these lower fidelity prototypes in a contextualized setting. After we conducted these user enactments, we clustered our observations and notes into themes based on the following standards.
We conducted the user enactments in a shared kitchen space at the Foundry. We recruited five participants in our target audience - college students or young working professionals who live with roommates - for six user enactments. We had more male participants to address our earlier disproportionate representation of women in our diary studies. We situated each of the lower fidelity paper prototypes in each space. After participants acted out each scenario, we followed up with short interview questions to get their emotional responses and feedback on the user enactments. We had at least one person taking notes at all times and took photos. We referred to these thorough notes and photos for our affinity analysis. We had a disproportionate representation of University of Michigan Master’s students.
Below are brief summaries for each of our user enactments. At the beginning of the enactment, we briefed our participants about their motivations and goals for the purposes of the user enactments - to support the cleanliness of their home and work together with roommates to achieve this goal. For each goal, we provided them an opportunity to interact with the six disparate systems.
We conducted the user enactments in a shared kitchen space at the Foundry. We recruited five participants in our target audience - college students or young working professionals who live with roommates - for six user enactments. We had more male participants to address our earlier disproportionate representation of women in our diary studies. We situated each of the lower fidelity paper prototypes in each space. After participants acted out each scenario, we followed up with short interview questions to get their emotional responses and feedback on the user enactments. We had at least one person taking notes at all times and took photos. We referred to these thorough notes and photos for our affinity analysis. We had a disproportionate representation of University of Michigan Master’s students.
Below are brief summaries for each of our user enactments. At the beginning of the enactment, we briefed our participants about their motivations and goals for the purposes of the user enactments - to support the cleanliness of their home and work together with roommates to achieve this goal. For each goal, we provided them an opportunity to interact with the six disparate systems.
Study Results
- For the Display User Enactment, both participants expressed that they would like to have another button to say, “I’ll Clean It.” They said that asking someone else to clean it again may result in tension and even negative conflict, and they would realistically take matters into their own hands. They also pointed out that the button label could be revised to sound more polite and less direct, to say “Request to Clean Again” or “Mark as Unclean” instead of “Please Clean Again.”
- Users appreciated the visual, interactive, and artistic elements of the cube. They expressed that they would like to see colors to represent the type of space it is and its level of cleanliness. More than half the participants explained that they would expect the cube to include some labels (either by the full name or by initials) to indicate which side belongs to which space. One participant suggested using a generic picture of different rooms to communicate which space each side was representing. The limitation of the cube would be that one would have to turn it to see all of the side.
- The smart kitchen counters user enactment showed that people appreciate contextual feedback (on the counter itself) and would prefer to get push notifications on their mobile device only if they were away from the display. Too many notifications would feel redundant and even unmeaningful.
- While our users said that receiving notifications would likely change their behavior or encourage them to do so, they mentioned that they would become annoyed with too many notifications and would eventually default to ignoring them or working around them to make them stop.
- Our participants liked the idea of the display for scheduling tasks and holding users accountable, but explained that it is likely that people's experience with it would differ based on the number and nature of roommates that they have. For example, the app would not afford anonymity where there are only two roommates, and could cause passive-aggressiveness. Conversely, for one more outgoing participant who is not afraid of confrontation, the display idea seemed like an effective way to communicate with roommates beyond personal text message conversations and to keep track of tasks.
- Those who participated in our enactments indicated that they prefer more visual representations of cleanliness and tasks, as shown by the cube, the smart kitchen counters, and the display idea. For example, our users indicated that they would like for each side of the cube idea to have a different color which could be associated with a particular room or task as opposed to only using words. A second color would indicate how clean the room or task would be.
- Even going beyond just the visual representation of whether a space needs to be cleaned or not, users found solutions that provided an idea of which tasks need to be complete as very helpful.
- Our users thought that while our augmented reality idea is cool and futuristic, they did not feel that it is entirely practical or that it would be an option that they would interact with for a sustained amount of time. They explained that while they appreciate the novelty of the idea, it overcomplicates cleaning for them. This feedback is a great example of how sometimes technological interventions can over-operationalize or complicate tasks more than is necessary.
- However, they did mention it would be helpful to drill down into spaces that are marked as unclean to be able to see a list of tasks.
- If we are to continue with the Pictures Enactment, it would be best to set the bar a little higher, as participants commented that 50% seemed too low to seem “satisfactory.” They recommended setting 70% matching as the minimum bar. They also mentioned that they did not find the scanning to be as helpful, as they feel that they can rely on their vision to understand whether their room was organized or needed to be cleaned.
We grouped some of our notes into common themes using the affinity wall method:
- Participants did not want too many redundant push notifications and instead would like to passively monitor their space.
- Participants liked the visual representation of information.
- Some participants expressed wanting to minimize device interaction in the comforting space of their home.
- They felt that the display idea, which was designed to facilitate roommate relations, may introduce some tension and conflict into roommate relations.
- The effectiveness of the display app would depend on how they felt about their roommates. If they felt comfortable with their roommates, they would likely ask them to clean the space again and explain their thought process, but if they were not close to their roommates, they were likely to choose to clean it themselves.
- Users felt that systems providing indoor navigation might not always be necessary, as they preferred to do a quick spot check and felt that they did not need technology to mediate their cleaning routine.
- The salient feedback from the kitchen counters, display, and the cube would inspire participants to start cleaning.
- The rewards and gamification idea was in general very appealing to our participants.
- Participants needed more context to understand and appreciate measuring and quantifying cleanliness.
Ideation and Selection
After we analyzed our data from the user enactments, we came up with additional design concepts to address the design opportunities and unmet needs from our affinity analysis. From the themes derived through the affinity wall, we came up with design recommendations for each user enactment idea and made refinements to address users’ concerns, assumptions, and emotional responses.
- Instead of a cube, provide a small tile display with a list of different rooms. This tile could embedded into the surface or on the wall. One could tap each of the rooms to view the necessary tasks for each room.
- For the display, have an option for people to either mark that they will clean it or ask other people to clean it in case they don’t have time to clean the place
- AR display that tells people the level of cleanliness and specific tasks required to make that space cleaner
- Glasses making use of AR to see how dirty or clean a space is (instead of using a mobile app to scan the space)
- A miniature version of your house that lights up certain spaces that need to be cleaned
System Proposal
Based on our experience prototyping results and the previous research that we have conducted, we have decided to move forward with a way to help users visualize the cleanliness of their home. We initially designed a lot of concepts revolving around displays and applications to fulfill this purpose, but the concept we have selected uses a more visual representation of cleanliness.
The device that we are envisioning is a cube that users can program with different tasks or rooms that they would like to keep track of. Each side of the cube will represent one of these things. Users will have a mobile application wherein they can control the frequency at which they would like each task or room to be completed. Each side of the cube will change color in accordance with the schedule set by the user in order to indicate how imminent that task is, or to represent the state of that task or space.
For example, a user wants to wash their linens every two weeks, so they set one side of the cube to represent their linens, and set the frequency of that task to every two weeks on their app. They may have the option to custom-select a color, word, or icon to associate with that task, which will be displayed on the cube so that they know what that side of the cube represents. In some way, the cube will change color or pattern to indicate the status of the space or task. For example, if the user wanted the cube to use color, green may mean that the linens were just washed, while yellow may mean that it is time to wash the linens, and red would mean that the user is overdue on washing their linens. When done, the user could open their app and tap the task to mark it as complete, which would propagate the status of the task to the cube, which would update accordingly. We have also considered putting a button on each side of the cube to reset the side in order to minimize the cross-channel demands of our product.
Since the information we would need for our device is largely user-controlled, we believe that a full-functioning version of the cube could be created in a few months. It would require some display or lights that could change color or pattern on a schedule, which is not hard to implement. These lights would also have to be controlled by a phone, which is also feasible, and could be developed with Bluetooth. We would need to determine the best way to power the cube, which is not something we have discussed much to this point.
We feel that this concept is also scalable for the future, because even as technology advances, people will still need to keep track of the frequency at which they do things in their home; the technology of the cube could even include things like grocery shopping, taking medications, or tracking upcoming assignments and schedules. We would imagine that the cube could take different forms so as to not limit users by number of sides and the shape, and it could also develop to present information to users differently (with sounds, flashing, messaging, etc.) which could be especially useful when considering accessibility. We would also like to incorporate sensors into our system at some point to help users keep track of spaces that they have trouble gauging the cleanliness of with their eyes alone (e.g. counters). We would pair this with user input to provide the most accurate information to users.
The first mockup shows how one may want to represent a space on each side of the cube. For example, if one side is representing the bathroom, there is the possibility of representing it with its first initial, B, and having it color coded as blue. It could light up in red, yellow, or green, depending on whether it is dirty, acceptable, or very clean. Other ways to represent the space would be to use icons representing that space or spelling out the full word. We also discussed the possibility of color coding the outer border and highlighting its level of cleanliness by changing the cube side's fill color.
The second mockup is an example of how the application could let users control the cube, customizing what colors each space should be represented and how often they should clean them. They can also input the kinds of tasks required for each space. For example, below, one could see that you could set the frequency of changing the linens to every other week. You can also change whether the display of the label should take the place of an actual label, the color, or an icon.
The device that we are envisioning is a cube that users can program with different tasks or rooms that they would like to keep track of. Each side of the cube will represent one of these things. Users will have a mobile application wherein they can control the frequency at which they would like each task or room to be completed. Each side of the cube will change color in accordance with the schedule set by the user in order to indicate how imminent that task is, or to represent the state of that task or space.
For example, a user wants to wash their linens every two weeks, so they set one side of the cube to represent their linens, and set the frequency of that task to every two weeks on their app. They may have the option to custom-select a color, word, or icon to associate with that task, which will be displayed on the cube so that they know what that side of the cube represents. In some way, the cube will change color or pattern to indicate the status of the space or task. For example, if the user wanted the cube to use color, green may mean that the linens were just washed, while yellow may mean that it is time to wash the linens, and red would mean that the user is overdue on washing their linens. When done, the user could open their app and tap the task to mark it as complete, which would propagate the status of the task to the cube, which would update accordingly. We have also considered putting a button on each side of the cube to reset the side in order to minimize the cross-channel demands of our product.
Since the information we would need for our device is largely user-controlled, we believe that a full-functioning version of the cube could be created in a few months. It would require some display or lights that could change color or pattern on a schedule, which is not hard to implement. These lights would also have to be controlled by a phone, which is also feasible, and could be developed with Bluetooth. We would need to determine the best way to power the cube, which is not something we have discussed much to this point.
We feel that this concept is also scalable for the future, because even as technology advances, people will still need to keep track of the frequency at which they do things in their home; the technology of the cube could even include things like grocery shopping, taking medications, or tracking upcoming assignments and schedules. We would imagine that the cube could take different forms so as to not limit users by number of sides and the shape, and it could also develop to present information to users differently (with sounds, flashing, messaging, etc.) which could be especially useful when considering accessibility. We would also like to incorporate sensors into our system at some point to help users keep track of spaces that they have trouble gauging the cleanliness of with their eyes alone (e.g. counters). We would pair this with user input to provide the most accurate information to users.
The first mockup shows how one may want to represent a space on each side of the cube. For example, if one side is representing the bathroom, there is the possibility of representing it with its first initial, B, and having it color coded as blue. It could light up in red, yellow, or green, depending on whether it is dirty, acceptable, or very clean. Other ways to represent the space would be to use icons representing that space or spelling out the full word. We also discussed the possibility of color coding the outer border and highlighting its level of cleanliness by changing the cube side's fill color.
The second mockup is an example of how the application could let users control the cube, customizing what colors each space should be represented and how often they should clean them. They can also input the kinds of tasks required for each space. For example, below, one could see that you could set the frequency of changing the linens to every other week. You can also change whether the display of the label should take the place of an actual label, the color, or an icon.
Demo Proposal
In our system proposal, we have described the specific experience we want to simulate and highlighted each aspect of interactions we want users to have with our final product. The figure below shows the system architecture of our ideal product. Basically, we will have a sensing network integrated by particle boards and cleanliness sensors in the house environment. The cleanliness sensors send back the real-time sensing data to the server based on Raspberry Pi (Apache server) and the server will push these data to our user interfaces. Therefore, the cube and mobile interface can get all kinds of sensing data that we have from our cleanliness sensors. Moreover, since the functions of our cube are more complicated, we try to build our cube on an Arduino Yun board, which has a dual processor that allows developers to program some Python or Java applications on it. Besides, all the communication protocols will be based on HTTP (Internet). Due to time constraints and our lack of access to sensors that may be able to sense cleanliness, we are focusing on only the user interaction with the cube for our demo, but we have outlined how it might work with sensors as well, if we had enough time and access to the sensors.
The table below gives a summary of our demo plan, which includes the experience we want to simulate, the methods that we will used, the alternative scenario if original methods cannot work out, and the reasons if we cannot simulate with the original and alternative methods.
Demo Storyboard
Conclusion
By this point, we have decided which concept we would like to move forward with to prototype and demo. This has been a long process for us, and the idea that we are moving forward with is relatively new, but based on the feedback that we got from our enactment participants and other considerations, we are confident with our selection.
We originally focused on the scope of home cleanliness of young individuals living with others. While our scope has remained generally the same throughout this project, we have been able to refine it based on what we have learned about the following:
As a result, our scope has been pared down more to be summed up by the question: how can we help users visualize, objectively communicate, and track the cleanliness of their homes (in shared spaces and otherwise)?
We also have some questions about whether the cube might be the best format for this reminder system, as one has to turn it around to see it. Moreover, we have questions about whether we are restricting the amount of spaces one would want to track, as a cube only has six sides. Therefore, we have discussed the possibility of adding a tablet display feature that can also be embedded into the corresponding surfaces or walls. We also wonder how collective or individual this experience would be. This question came up during one of the user enactments, if one would mainly program this for the purposes of self-discipline and ensuring their individual contribution, or if this would be a shared cube among the roommates or housemates. Overall, however, all of our respondents reacted positively to the subtlety and visual nature of the cube and all of them liked the concept of a device that helps you track whether it is time to engage with a specific task or to address a certain space.
We originally focused on the scope of home cleanliness of young individuals living with others. While our scope has remained generally the same throughout this project, we have been able to refine it based on what we have learned about the following:
- Level of interaction that users want from a system: we have learned that users do not want to have to interact much with the system, and would rather have something more passively help them keep track of their home.
- Level of interaction that users want with others through a system: we initially thought that we could improve communication around cleanliness in shared spaces, but learned that overt communication around cleanliness is complex, not always realistic, and dependent upon roommate relations.
- Representations that users would like or find most useful: We have learned that users like more visual representations of cleanliness rather than textual notifications. Especially since other things frequently take precedence over cleaning for young people, visuals can be more subtle and less pushy than text.
As a result, our scope has been pared down more to be summed up by the question: how can we help users visualize, objectively communicate, and track the cleanliness of their homes (in shared spaces and otherwise)?
We also have some questions about whether the cube might be the best format for this reminder system, as one has to turn it around to see it. Moreover, we have questions about whether we are restricting the amount of spaces one would want to track, as a cube only has six sides. Therefore, we have discussed the possibility of adding a tablet display feature that can also be embedded into the corresponding surfaces or walls. We also wonder how collective or individual this experience would be. This question came up during one of the user enactments, if one would mainly program this for the purposes of self-discipline and ensuring their individual contribution, or if this would be a shared cube among the roommates or housemates. Overall, however, all of our respondents reacted positively to the subtlety and visual nature of the cube and all of them liked the concept of a device that helps you track whether it is time to engage with a specific task or to address a certain space.
Appendix
User Enactment 1: Cube
After a long night of doing homework, you walk through the house to monitor the cleanliness of your home. Everything looks relatively clean to you. You decide to double check by checking out your cube, which you keep on the counter. Each side of the cube is assigned to one communal space in the apartment. The cube lights up and changes color if the surface needs to be cleaned. For example, your bathroom lights up after a week. You know that you need to clean it. The kitchen counters and tidy up sides are lit up. You check your phone, and look at your cleaning schedule. You realize that you're overdue with cleaning these spaces and decide to take care of them.
Questions
Imagine that the cube is real. How would you like the cleanliness of your house to be represented?
Props:
User Enactment 2: Scheduler
You choose how often you would like certain aspects of their home to be cleaned (e.g. vacuuming and counters once a week). You come home from a long day of work. The system detects that you’ve gotten home using bluetooth sensors and that they aren’t supposed to be at school or work according to their calendar. The system detects that you are one day late with vacuuming and three days late with cleaning the counters. The system detects that you have some time and suggests that you clean certain areas of the house by sending you a push notification.
Questions
Props
User Enactment 3: Display
You come home from a long day’s work. You notice that the bathroom looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in two weeks. You check a display to figure out who is in charge of the area for this week. You mark the area as unclean by pushing a button on the display, but you also have to type in a comment. This sends a reminder to the individual in charge. The person responsible gets the notification on their phone, and sees that he can earn more points if they clean the space within the next 24 hours. He takes off his headphones and heads straight for the bathroom.
Questions
Props
User Enactment 4: Augmented Reality Cleaning
On Sunday evening, you decide it’s time for a weekly cleaning. You open up the camera app on their mobile phone and scan the communal spaces - kitchen, living room, bathroom. You scan the surrounding environment using the phone and sees that the floors are clean and are highlighted in green, but the kitchen counters are red. This indicates that the kitchen counters need to be cleaned. You see that you’ve earned points for scanning your home.
Props
User Enactment 5: Smart Kitchen Counters
You come home from work and plan to prepare a dinner consisting of rice, vegetables, and chicken. You get your ingredients from the refrigerator, and put them on your counter. You start cooking your rice on the stove, and then take the chicken out and put it on a cutting board. You cut the chicken, and quickly rinse off your cutting board. Sensors you have placed on/near your countertop (where you usually prepare your food) detect that there is harmful bacteria (salmonella) on the counter. You, however, did not notice, since you cannot see salmonella. You see a display on your counter that tells you that salmonella has been detected. You also receive an alert on your phone notifying you that harmful bacteria has been detected on your countertop. You realize that some of the chicken juice dripped off of your cutting board onto your counter. You clean the counter with a safe cleaning product, and are assured that you will not be propagating cross-contamination in your food preparation.
Questions
Props:
User Enactment 6: Pictures
You take a picture of your space. The app pulls up a previous picture of the space’s clean state and compares the two images. It gives a score on a scale of 0-100 to evaluate how closely the current picture mirrors the clean state. The app tells them that it’s okay to not clean if there’s a 50% or more match. The app reminds them to clean if the match score is less than 50%.
Questions
Props
After a long night of doing homework, you walk through the house to monitor the cleanliness of your home. Everything looks relatively clean to you. You decide to double check by checking out your cube, which you keep on the counter. Each side of the cube is assigned to one communal space in the apartment. The cube lights up and changes color if the surface needs to be cleaned. For example, your bathroom lights up after a week. You know that you need to clean it. The kitchen counters and tidy up sides are lit up. You check your phone, and look at your cleaning schedule. You realize that you're overdue with cleaning these spaces and decide to take care of them.
Questions
Imagine that the cube is real. How would you like the cleanliness of your house to be represented?
- Words, visually, lights, colors?
- What spaces of your home would you put onto the cube? How would you decide?
Props:
- Foam cube with labels and colors on each side
User Enactment 2: Scheduler
You choose how often you would like certain aspects of their home to be cleaned (e.g. vacuuming and counters once a week). You come home from a long day of work. The system detects that you’ve gotten home using bluetooth sensors and that they aren’t supposed to be at school or work according to their calendar. The system detects that you are one day late with vacuuming and three days late with cleaning the counters. The system detects that you have some time and suggests that you clean certain areas of the house by sending you a push notification.
Questions
- How do you feel about getting sent notifications to clean when you might be relaxing or doing something else?
- Do you think getting push notifications could change your behavior around cleaning? If so, how? If not, why not?
Props
- Sketches of a mobile view with a list of tasks that one has scheduled - shows whether they are on track, have impending tasks, or are overdue
User Enactment 3: Display
You come home from a long day’s work. You notice that the bathroom looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in two weeks. You check a display to figure out who is in charge of the area for this week. You mark the area as unclean by pushing a button on the display, but you also have to type in a comment. This sends a reminder to the individual in charge. The person responsible gets the notification on their phone, and sees that he can earn more points if they clean the space within the next 24 hours. He takes off his headphones and heads straight for the bathroom.
Questions
- How would you describe the process for marking a space as unclean?
- How comfortable did you feel providing this feedback to the person who was supposed to clean?
Props
- Sketches attached to the top of the counters with a tablet display for checking the cleanliness of the space
- Sketch of a way to send someone a message about why they're asking them to clean again
User Enactment 4: Augmented Reality Cleaning
On Sunday evening, you decide it’s time for a weekly cleaning. You open up the camera app on their mobile phone and scan the communal spaces - kitchen, living room, bathroom. You scan the surrounding environment using the phone and sees that the floors are clean and are highlighted in green, but the kitchen counters are red. This indicates that the kitchen counters need to be cleaned. You see that you’ve earned points for scanning your home.
- Do you think the indoor navigation is necessary?
- Will you use it at home?
- What spaces of your home would you choose to scan using this app?
- Does the notification effectively reminds you to clean the house and update the information about house cleanliness to you?
- How would this reward system impact your likelihood of using this app?
- Does the reward system motivate you to clean the house?
Props
- Prototype of a camera view on the iPhone with a popup message that measures the level of cleanliness
User Enactment 5: Smart Kitchen Counters
You come home from work and plan to prepare a dinner consisting of rice, vegetables, and chicken. You get your ingredients from the refrigerator, and put them on your counter. You start cooking your rice on the stove, and then take the chicken out and put it on a cutting board. You cut the chicken, and quickly rinse off your cutting board. Sensors you have placed on/near your countertop (where you usually prepare your food) detect that there is harmful bacteria (salmonella) on the counter. You, however, did not notice, since you cannot see salmonella. You see a display on your counter that tells you that salmonella has been detected. You also receive an alert on your phone notifying you that harmful bacteria has been detected on your countertop. You realize that some of the chicken juice dripped off of your cutting board onto your counter. You clean the counter with a safe cleaning product, and are assured that you will not be propagating cross-contamination in your food preparation.
Questions
- How do you feel about getting sent notifications to clean when you might be relaxing or doing something else?
- Do you think getting push notifications could change your behavior around cleaning? If so, how? If not, why not?
Props:
- Select two tables to install sensors
- Select two places to install the screens
- Sensor may include temperature, humidity, bacteria, and image types of sensors
- Mobile devices send users notifications if bacteria is detected on the cutting board surface
- A screen on the table that shows current status of the surface and sends alerts
- A notecard that is supposed to represent an antibacterial wipe
- A larger piece of paper that represents the cutting board
User Enactment 6: Pictures
You take a picture of your space. The app pulls up a previous picture of the space’s clean state and compares the two images. It gives a score on a scale of 0-100 to evaluate how closely the current picture mirrors the clean state. The app tells them that it’s okay to not clean if there’s a 50% or more match. The app reminds them to clean if the match score is less than 50%.
Questions
- What space of your home would you capture in a picture? How would you decide?
- How helpful would you find this feedback?
Props
- Sketches of mobile phone wireframes - where users can choose a space to scan and compare it with an old picture
- Camera view in iPhone