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INTRODUCTION TO HCI Designing a New Heating Control System

1. Minimalist design Help error recovery 0 Help and documentation Re cOoo 19gun B WN The evaluation of each prototype consists of a list of positives followed by a list of problems specific to each user persona The severity of problems is marked on a scale of 0 5 0 a non problem mainly cosmetic problem that is unlikely to occur often 2 minor usability problem that 1s unlikely to occur often 3 major problem that is unlikely to occur often 4 major problem that is likely to occur frequently 5 catastrophic problem need to fix immediately It should be noted that a 6 point scale was used for the evaluation this 1s important because it was felt that if a 5 point system was implemented it would lead to often the middle option being chosen because the evaluator was not sure which one to pick By assigning 6 options they have no middle ground to fall back on 6 1 Circular design Positives Heuristic Flexibility and Large tactile dial makes temperature quick and easy to set efficiency of use Error prevention Can be programmed for each day individually User control and 21 Attractive minimalist design Back lit display allows user to read the display in low light and may help if they have weak eyesight freedom Flexibility and efficiency of use Minimalist design Visibility of system status Error prevention One hour boost function provides a quick and eas
2. Hes Outer cing is mode Curved glass face Badel dispen 1 end J EE PY i fo a td tenp hour boost fudio Cher VON ON Buttons are also bak Each be vie Nd al 68 G aaae 3 me Circular ran Kooman oe Soz O o S a bezel to Lhe 80057 4 Chane temperature A 2 iin will come On for Y hour only Oe Gl cme Hon Tu Wed Th fer SH Sun a mu j Dh Saas she 01 30 me ri rrr i e T I TU I T I hee TT TT OTe l Wess set to sed 4 Teese vill i prog Is d Cor Monda coms time 4S igi will come on 6 30 and L Pes 1 Hill dese ne ore go of ak 7 30 on Hime 4s showing b Repeat by w PES Mondays 3 Press on ten Ihis Moves amp tuesda 69 Appendix B Dial and Buttons Prototype VT TI AU S g eq 5 og ampenda panno KS alo i mei 2 7 b Dw v ee a 00 a sverd A D qnm dile i 40357 Guino Ora ey Sem veped 4 LY hapa nena mes IQ wee prone 5704 ae p weepi pes d cpm E lal pM pared p fv qp poy T vi veu T WLSim moys Cold e on GS j T4 T uf gt adhag weoh i 5 Appendix C louchscreen Prototype TOUCHSCREEN PROTOTYPE Group Y MD p t Leute VS l o gt an bier N ow tee M M Hone Sore ev mE NS MAS ay g ee eae VA m M 11 we FO ae odd tren CO cuoi 0v QUICK EW ALL aprons OP TIONS OPTIONS SCHEDULES Y o vi euo v al cu mem sco dules fet bol anne
3. 875 925 675 425 X 45 725 X 70 wo j aul AIR e wo gt Mni BR W o gt Ajo gt i wo j A e o Mi BR W o ro Co N LL a IN i i GC j ni C O5 W A A ch EL Te 28 Average of raw results 28 4 Averageage 327 Average total percentage 71 Page 1 78 Appendix F Maya Screenshots Fig FI Second prototype with glass over circular screen Fig F2 Second prototype from three angles
4. SAE A EE m a educa Westm AMENS MEME ES m DE vec t Lon e le veils ehedule 7 ape lno se ii e HEN TS foc Ci van N Len P zu i fr QUU for selec nva day E selected a lad Is 2 00 08 00 00 sledule na Km dv 00 Eh m edit 9s V Ver T a N m f ae MN cc C ui me T3 a 1 comp T un 1 i amid m d OK l SCHEDULE SCHEDULE Q tein EK NEL E escam MEDHESEE S wee DN iS S TER t oe en ceu nS yeer fo home gape BE e _ pop up a 2 Cakes side nome cC Den i mods V esp p Et ax ngo u V E Rae 4 Tempor il N schedule or Sove p a Anu Slots a ro merge a Nei ute oki M sch Mei ecto tite Hank Have Ne E p os schedule Ma af setin a pech cay Lil N be lost 2 Proceed o YES NO or dT c b qoe ae n m n 3 C opi H1 ONG SC EX gsl lt APT dp 201 58 QUICK OPTIONS 712 2014 E C cono M i ape or i ASES custom t opti Ot 1S Custom y Default l m oo p 3 p PSU meaa row da d Add c cusi tom EN Heatin ny c off it eae A KRAMER include pop up p HELP GENERAL CPTIONS 17 2 2014 al e fe
5. UNIVERSITYOF BIRMINGHAM INTRODUCTION TO HCI Designing a New Heating Control System Module Code 06 21253 Team Student ID Numbers 527754 1325309 1387694 1377918 AJM354 VCM309 TPC394 TCW318 9 Contents Introduction Definition of Problem 2 1 Project Goal A Review of Heating Control Systems 3 1 Studies of Heating Control Unit Usage 3 2 Typical Older Types of Heating Control Systems 3 3 Current Heating Control Units 3 4 Future Heating Control Units 3 5 Commercial Heating Control Systems Analysis of User Requirements Description and Rationale for First Prototypes 5 1 Circular Design 5 2 Dial and buttons Prototype 5 3 Touchscreen Prototype Evaluation of First Prototypes 6 1 Circular Design 6 2 Dial and buttons Prototype 6 3 Touchscreen Prototype 6 4 Summary of Features to be included in the Second Prototype Description and Rationale for Second Prototype 7 1 Evaluation of Potential Tools for Prototype 7 2 Guide Through Second Prototype Functionality Evaluation of Second Prototype 8 1 Persona Evaluation 8 2 Summaries 8 3 User Evaluation Recommendations 10 Summary References Appendix A Circular Prototype Appendix B Dial and Buttons Prototype Appendix C Touchscreen Prototype Appendix D User Questionnaire Appendix E Results from SUS Questionnaire Appendix F Maya Screenshots oO oco BNN WY 16 25 25 25 26 27 21 30 34 36 37 oJ
6. so in the end we did not consider Oliver Smith s requirements when designing it a commercial system calls for much more complex functionality and we did not think it was feasible to produce a prototype that fulfils the requirements of both home and commercial users 7 Description and Rationale for Second Prototype 7 1 Evaluation of potential tools for prototype A number of possible tools were considered for the creation of the second generation prototype each has been evaluated for its pros and cons below Balsamiq Balsamiq was considered for the tool used to create a second generation prototype Balsamiq is a quick and easy to use tool to create wire frame designs that allows a user to quickly and cleanly create an idea of how a systems user interface may look It is predominately aimed at interfaces found on a computer or mobile phone screen therefore it was felt that it would be less useful for this project as the touchscreen did not conform to the usual design for a computer program layout The positives for the use of Balsamiq are primarily centred around its ease of use because it 1s focused on the design for a computer program or mobile app it has many useful layouts for drop boxes common button layouts and various other frequently used elements These help the user create something quickly that resembles programs that most people use daily These positives make Balsamiq a very strong tool when designing a windowed program fo
7. Sek ie E date B View 2 manual _ E TR UAE 7 Chonge fo F Ce a E m L Se fos norec Hon ses a i Dee E ERREA PELE HE EE ee AT TERM yif rA te CEP PORE MM EDIT CM CHE Mae eg Shop pipes Vi CW u soge repor P b PEEZING 16 y otter a EE ere Lee COP vito C pus HD oe IL NEST GAP precydows of xci HOME ELP Uspne We era A b av p ct xm eet eae AONO FEED E m M Example To ereneparrr et al ae nodule E i4 Sy ZONE EDIT I LONDA M que 2 204 p wen SEU 4n OND nay ay gt Em WHOLE DAY SELECTED D TIME f E Zo nig i TO OFF Can gual amam OFF D EREE ER o phat I From A doy gt d 20 Ul E cT DE er eh pees FAX ys i mor Iu i t vum ud Li Lt i L a f Pointers Jar se coe VAG spar 4 y zi 1 E Le mum 7 ve Kens tO Rehas K b Zore 1 letus to Zone 1 1 Cel hy a Ce ARIS screen home saten sciet M Y w itagut weeps ud E P a wanes ua cenas ange arcude pop m b X ona 7 See Aena 5 g Loft 75 Tow scires are d Appendix D User questionnaire for home heating system interface second prototype Adapted from the System Usability Scale Digital Equipment Corporation 1986 For each question please mark one of the boxes according to how strongly you agree or disagree with that question If you are unsure of how to answer pleas
8. the family woman persona s requirements in mind Details of the functionality are explained in the notes accompanying the prototype sketches but below 1s a summary of the functionality that addresses Susanne s goals Flexible and easy to understand programmable heating controls The heating schedule can be adjusted for each day schedules can be saved and loaded The prototype shows only two heating zones but more zones could easily be added e Child proofing This is not shown in the prototype sketches since they only show screenshots but perhaps a slider switch on the side or top of the body of the controls that one has to hold for a couple of seconds to lock unlock the screen would work it is simple enough for an adult or older child to use but a younger child may have difficulty tampering with it A screen lock also allows the screen to be cleaned without pressing any buttons accidentally 26 e Saving money There is an economy option available under Quick options The user can also view a usage report under General options which includes an estimate of how much their heating is currently costing them 6 Evaluation of first prototypes The prototypes have been evaluated using Nielsen s heuristics Visibility of system status Match between system and real world User control and freedom Consistency and standards Error prevention Recognition rather than recall Flexibility and efficiency of use
9. 4 varied personas have been created in order to identify user requirements each with their own individual goals and problems with current systems They will then be used to summarize the main points to be carried into the design of the initial prototypes 16 Building Manager Name Oliver Smith Age 37 Occupation Experienced Building Manager Current interaction HIGH Wanted interaction MEDIUM Technological ability HIGH Description Oliver is the building manager at the Barrack Street office for Warwickshire County Council He is responsible for ensuring that the building operates normally and that it is possible for people to work in a comfortable environment all year round Some of his specific roles include ensuring adequate maintenance is carried out the building is secure and that the building is heated correctly He works typical office hours of 9am to 5pm with some flexibility over when he starts and finishes However as part of his role of being in charge of the building it often means that he has to come in early or late to ensure everything is operating smoothly for the work force that use the building The building he is responsible for is a fairly large 4 story building that houses approximately 200 people on a daily basis The office is not open at the weekends The Health and Safety Executive states that the building must be at least 16 degrees Celsius for people to work in therefore Oliver must ensure t
10. 40 52 52 56 57 63 63 65 67 70 73 76 78 79 1 Introduction Human Computer Interaction HCI is becoming more important everyday as computer systems become more integrated into everyday life It is often an overlooked aspect of programming or system architecture that can have significant impact on how a system 1s used by the majority of users Predicting how users will interact with a program or an interface can be difficult because it is unlikely that all users will react in the same manner posed with the same questions It is for these reasons that HCI is important it is the link between the user groups and the system creators Well implemented HCI processes can save significant investments in time and money by ensuring that the system is properly planned and tested to avoid a scenario where a system is delivered and no consideration has been made for how the users will interact with it Methods such as prototyping and the use of personas to evaluate the potential products can identify problems early on in the design process This is vital to avoid spending too much time and money on a product that ultimately has flaws its design This report will include a number of methods to show how even in the simplest of cases good implementation of HCI methodology can identify problems in a product and help remove these before a final design is created The aim of the project was to create a design process for a computer based sy
11. 7 amp 8 are from users that are aged over 50 This would suggest that they fall into the family persona Users that fall into the family person as stipulated by their age rated the systems the worst this indicates that the family person is the least worst catered for by the new system The three highest scores from the user questionnaires 3 4 amp 5 are from users that are aged 24 25 this places them in the young person persona This indicates that the new system fulfills the needs of both the interaction and functionality that the young person person requires 58 Plotting the average response to each question shows the areas the users liked and disliked about the system Users responded positively to questions 4 and 10 these questions related to the technical knowledge needed to operate the system learning curve and support The lowest score for question 5 1s 0 indicating that the users see no improvement at all compared to the currently installed system Question 4 I think I would need the support of a technical person to be able to use this system Question 10 I needed to learn a lot of things before I could get going with system Question 5 I found this to be better than the current system I use systems I have used in the past Average score for each question results from 10 questionnaires 1 average score Fig 19 Average score for each question Questions 4 amp 10 gave the bes
12. Match between There is very little feedback about the system and real overall heating of the building Is the world current temperature consistent throughout the building Consistency amp standards There are very few options to play with Oliver is fairly technologically minded and having the option of various options other than on off timed and pre set would be useful User control and freedom 6 2 Dial and buttons prototype Positives Heuristic Audible feedback on successful or unsuccessful attempts at Visibility of system using the functionality status 30 Large tactile dial that 1s easy to use Flexibility provided by continuous timed and pre set modes pre set mode allows multiple settings to be saved screen allows clear view of heating schedule and current Flexibility and efficiency of use Error prevention User control and freedom Flexibility and efficiency of use Visibility of system temperature on P Error prevention Negatives Persona Problem Severity Heuristic Only method of displaying time is the Visibility of timeline which is good for displaying the system status Susanne heating schedule however Susanne may i Match between Harr son l also want to view the time in a more system and real familiar format e g 13 30 world Match between Meaning of symbols for continuous system and real timed and pre set m
13. Smallest increment for adjusting temperature is 1 degree which some users find is too large Target temperature 1s not displayed alongside actual temperature ecobee Smart Thermostat 55 2 75 85 95 miT mT 1 VITTTTITTTTITTH TTTTTTT E 03d OO l u i p Bug Weather Quickdave pataia Program Mare Naor Chon st H Sd fiat AM Fig 4 ecobee Smart Thermostat http www automatedhome co uk new products ecobee launch wi fi smart thermostat html Size 5 5 x 3 2 x 1 in approx 140 x 80 x 25 mm Features e Full colour display e Displays outside temperature Programmable e Can switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit e Generates statistics Pros and cons based on user reviews Pros e Easy to program interface is easy to understand Cons Temperature is set using a slider on the touchscreen which can make it difficult to choose the temperature accurately e Interface is too small Honeywell evohome Fig 5 Honeywell Evohome http www pocket lint com news 124619 honeywell evohome control individual radiators with your phone gallery photo 3 Features e Full colour screen e Several rooms can be controlled individually Quick options button on the home page this leads to a page with options such as an Economy mode which reduces the temperature in all rooms Includes a fault logbook e 0 5 degree Celsius increments e You can make heating schedules for each room ability to switch
14. and and freedom having the option of various options other than on off timed and preset would be useful Dan Jones Unclear if shutdown turns screen off or Flexibility shuts down the system and efficiency of use No 1 hour boost button Flexibility and efficiency of use 54 Dan Jones Does not show the temperature the Error house room is currently at prevention Dan Jones No feedback on how efficient my heating Flexibility plan is and efficiency of use Persona Problem Severity Heuristic Flexibility and efficiency of use Susanne Susanne cannot save load programs e g if User control Harrison she wants to switch from a default to a and freedom holiday schedule and then back again she Flexibility will have to reprogram from scratch each and time efficiency of use Susanne Method of changing the time is not Harrison particularly efficient Susanne cannot set hours and minutes separately 2 3 Susanne When on the timer or pre set mode the dial 1 Visibility of Harrison displays the text timer or pre set but system does not display the temperature status Recognition rather than recall 2 Error Susanne No child proofing locking mechanism Harrison Prevention Susanne Only one heating zone 4 User control Harrison and freedom Persona Problem Severity Heuristic Feedback completely visual lack of 3 Visibility of audible feedback means Humphrey must system status 3 rely totally on his e
15. apon qjee gt Heating Off Set Temperature Custom ERs 22 24 5 19 21 5 Hot Water Status Settings Menu Schedule overview Room Temperature 16 18 5 Access your evohome View and adjust your Current room 9 e Controller settings heating schedule temperature display ON OFF Fig 6 FAQs How does the evohome controller work http www evohome info tthowItWorksDiagram 3 4 Future Heating Control Units NEST The Nest Learning Thermostat was made for the other 90 of us who rarely or never program our thermostats Instead of needing to be programmed Nest learns from you Yoki Matsuoka nest com blog Fig 7 The NEST Thermostat http www technobuffalo com tag nest Nest is a new company aiming to introduce the latest technology into the home to both improve the ease at which we can control our environment and save money The Nest thermometer is a thermostat and control system however the control system is somewhat hidden from the users view There is a thermometer inside the unit that feeds back to allow the system to either increase or decrease the temperature of the room The nest thermometer has the ability to learn a families habit of heating so that eventually the thermostat and heating never needs to be altered or changed Nest thermostats can be placed in up to 10 different rooms that accurately monitor and control the temperatures across the house The nest syncs with a broad spec
16. been fairly basic in their design Regardless of this however many people struggle to use them Peffer et al 2011 suggested that only 56 of home owners in America always programmed their heating control unit This project is designed to try and increase usage of a building s heating control system through the use of a better designed interface Previously heating control systems have been split into two areas the older manual setting type of heating control unit that requires regular direct input from the user and the more modern approach of a programmable heating control unit that can vary its settings dependent on how the user initially sets up the various modes Manual systems typically looked something like the one found in fig 1 below programme HW CH va hrs MAS ialdays e Twice Fig I Pin type control unit www cse org uk These types of systems varied in sophistication however the general theory behind using them was to set the pins in the case above the blue and red arrows to the times of day the user wanted the system to turn on and off They often also offered some limited programs such as heating all day or for a set period for example 12 hours or all day and not night time These systems were basic at best and have some significant problems firstly they often only had one set of pins meaning that only one setting for when the heating turned off and on was available This is very inflexibl
17. displayed in this way is useful once a user knows the order of the menus but some guesswork will be required by new users who may have to scroll through completely before they are able to remember which menu option comes when The information required is therefore not immediately attainable Basic data Language gt GB english e 09 05 03 Day of week Fr Time 16 55 gt Select language i Fig 9 The operating overview of the Vaillant VRC 630 Key 1 Menu Name 2 Cursor indicating selected parameter 5 Menu number 4 Dial Set parameter turn select parameter press 5 Dial Select menu turn Activate special function press The most often used display of the system is the basic display Fig 10 which displays the current operating statuses and target room temperatures of each 10 individual heating circuit Operating modes can also be seen and adjusted these include Eco and Auto Date time and outdoor temperature are also displayed As the circuit adjusts itself based on the outside temperature it may be useful to have this displayed as the user can then be aware of how much extra work the system is performing in order to heat to the target temperatures Fr 17 05 02 15 37 15 C heat zone 1 gt heating 22 C FLOOR 1 Eco 20 C FLOOR 2 Auto 92 15 C Cylinder Auto select operation mode Fig 10 The basic menu screen of the Vaillant VRC 630 Further menu screens for each
18. is small but gets very cold in the mornings at the moment the heating system in place is confusing and currently Dan has been unable to automate or program is despite several attempts including downloading the instructions from the internet On several occasions Dan has returned from work to his home very warm indicating that heating system has been on heating an empty home costing him money Dan is familiar with new technology and finds it more intuitive and easier to use than some older technologies which is part of his frustration with the current thermostat heating system Pain Points Dan finds there are too many buttons coupled with tiny writing Dan finds his current system very slow and unintuitive to program the amp buttons are inaccurate and fiddly to use e No precise temperature control just a dial for hotter or cooler e Dan cannot program weekends differently to week days e If Dan turns the heating on ad hoc he sometimes forgets it s on costing him money remaining on there is also no timer function for a boost of heat 23 Goals Dan is never sure of which button to press at any time as there are too many and they often double up on features To be able to program the heating properly for his needs To be able to change the weekly program easily especially as winter moves to summer To save money on my bills To be able to set a precise temperature and leave it at that temperature To ha
19. or for adjusting a schedule is not the fastest Susanne has to scroll up or Flexibility and e a ffi e f down until she reaches the desired um M temperature and scroll to the desired time s 2 User control No way to quickly set identical day schedules to all some days they have to be programmed individually and freedom Flexibility and efficiency of use Persona Problem Severity Heuristic 3 User control Dan Large amount of menus and submenus and freedom whilst Dan can navigate them this takes Flexibility amp Jones l time slowing down use of system efficiency of use There is a great deal of control for different 2 Visibility of zones however Dan s flat is not expansive system status and one zone is all that would be required Flexibility amp Setting all zones to be the same would take efficiency of up a lot of time use No tactile operations slow down on the fly 3 Visibility of adjustments system status Persona Problem Severity Heuristic The hierarchical screen structure could 4 Humphrey prove confusing to someone with a lack Ueroa of technological ability An ever present Oldman i i and freedom menu or breadcrumb structure could help ensure Humphrey doesn t get lost The screen often offers a lot of 4 information at once Whilst this offers Aesthetic and more functionality Humphrey may not be minimalist able to digest all of this information design
20. rather than larger industrial units Therefore the Oliver Smith persona became less important for initial prototype design because it was clear that these designs would likely not meet many of his goals Despite this his persona will still be used for evaluation for the rest of the project to give an additional opinion on the evaluations 24 5 Description and Rationale for first prototypes 5 1 Circular Design Design features e Few buttons on the face of the device this results in a cleaner UI and is less daunting or intimidating encouraging users to program the device e Outer bezel ring as a temperature adjustment is a familiar dial style approach SO 1S intuitive to use by any user Display is clear and relatively uncluttered allowing for easy viewing this also helps to improve user confidence when programming the device Difference heating schedules can be programmed for each day Rationale The circular design is practical and feels immediately familiar and intuitive to use The outer bezel moves like any other dial and a Ihr only boost button is large and clear at the top of the device The screen while uncluttered is small and clearly shows the basic information needed and what state the heating system 1s currently in Setting the boiler to come on is simple and the system 1s programmed in a small number of steps The system can be programmed to have a unique routine for each day of the week and once set the syste
21. takes the user back to previous screen Thu 27 Feb Shut Down After pressing right arrow Pressing Constant again at any point takes user back to initial screen When temperature goes above set value 21 degrees screen becomes red 4 AM PM indicator on clock face After pressing Timed User can click the down arrow or move on to End Time or Temperature At any point user can switch between setting Start Time End Time and Temperature End Time Cancel After pressing down arrow to set the start time The bezel animates with a left rotation and the clock face spins with it 42 Cancel After pressing End Time at any point Start Time End Time After pressing up arrow to set the end time The bezel animates with a right rotation and the clock face spins with it 43 Start Time End Time Cancel After pressing Temperature Start Time End Time After pressing arrow to rotate bezel clockwise 44 Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Timer mode Is active Timer ts set for 10 am until 2 30 pm Temperature 23 c ELE oe oe After pressing OK Pressing OK again takes the user to the following screen Pressing Cancel at any point returns to home screen Pressing Edit takes the user back into the timer options window ome a E Constant Home screen again but status indicator shows a timer is set 45 Tabbed wind
22. that can be changed quickly is the reason that this software package has been chosen to design the second stage prototypes Maya is the choice of many professional graphics design and computer games design companies studios this and the free license given to students makes one of the industries most powerful design tools available to use this 1s also why Maya was chosen Flash and Photoshop Flash offers complete integration with Photoshop including importing of layers and Illustrator which will speed up the prototyping process due to increased compatibility between programs This 1s advantageous over rebuilding the image in PowerPoint as fine control over layout can be achieved in Photoshop Different scenes can be set up as key frames and different areas of the prototype can be configured as buttons that when pressed can jump to the correct scene Animations can be incorporated on tactile operations such as the turning of a dial in a more precise and professional looking way than with PowerPoint The frame stage workflow of Flash hands itself to this tactile object based design each element will have its own place on the stage where the dial can be ever present and the screen can change from key frame to key frame without the dial having to move as well which is the default behaviour in PowerPoint when a button click merely moves from slide to slide Using Flash in this way requires a small specialist skill set whereas P
23. with more quickly that the alarm only being raised internally Similarly the UI 1s accessible via a web browser which means that issues that are fixable purely through the UI are remotely fixable A useful screen that can be accessed through the zone summary page is a Trend Summary Screen see Fig 17 This allows the user to view the recorded temperature of a zone at 15 minute intervals which is useful in identifying temperature patterns and anomalies This screen however only displays the information in a textual format A clearer picture would be given through a graphical representation F QO ZC6 Zone Temperature Trend May 12 2008 9 45 AM 68 4 Deg F May 12 2008 9 30 AM 68 1 Dag May 12 2008 9 15 AM 69 5 De May 12 2008 9 00 AM 69 1 De May 12 2008 8 45 AM 69 8 De May 12 2008 8 30 AM 69 0 De May 12 2008 8 15 AM 69 7 De May 12 2008 8 00 AM 70 4 De May 12 2008 7 45 AM 70 3 De May 12 2008 7 30 AM 69 7 Deg F May 12 2008 7 15 AM 70 2 Deg F May 12 2008 7 00 AM 68 9 Deg F May 12 2008 6 45 AM 69 0 Deg F May 12 2008 6 30 AM 69 4 Deg F May 12 2008 6 15 AM 69 7 Deg F May 12 2008 6 00 AM 70 4 Deg F hhh hn nh Th Vx ZasTrap Tied Fig 17 The trend summary screen Johnson Controls 2008 4 Analysis of User Requirements User requirements are vital to the design of a successful product It is important to try and identify as many of these requirements as early in the design process as possible In order to do this
24. without getting confused and giving up There 1s no tactile or audible feedback Visibility of Humphrey may not be able to see or feel 2 system status that he is making any changes Seting up a preset eais a lotooto Hiit an S P l parey 4 efficiency of likely to get confused as to where he is in the process and give up 35 use Persona Problem Severity Heuristic While there are daily pre sets there are none for special occasions such as Christmas holidays where the opening times of the office might be different This means the heating would have to be controlled manually for the day or the pre set for that day would need to be changed Neither could be done automatically meaning Oliver would need to manually adjust the system Flexibility amp efficiency of use While the system offers a significant number of options the display seems to be Minimalist fairly cluttered and slightly difficult to design understand There appears to be no smart function to automatically reduce the temperature of areas of the building that aren t being used therefore not helping reduce bills Flexibility amp efficiency of use 6 4 Summarv of Features to be included in the second prototvpe For the second prototype we decided to combine a touchscreen which can provide a wide range of functionality in a limited space with a physical dial which allows the temperature and time to be
25. 20132 11 VR80 Room Zone Control 1 MRI h or ote El T xO2F m Io GG PO TU GE TH FR SA SU BESS 8888o Fig 11 Device overview Key l Fig 12 Display overview Key I Display 2 Dial turn click I Info Diagnostics 2 Info level 3 Heating button circuit symbol 4 Time amp Temperature F Special functions button display 5 Days of week 6 Actual P Programming button Temperature 7 Operating Modes 6 Special Function The VR80 is a bus modular remote controller intended for use with the VRC 630 It controls one of the sub systems that may be connected to the VRC 630 Whilst all changes that can be made with the VR80 may be made with the VRC 630 the VR80 can be located within the zone that it affects meaning that in larger commercial spaces it is easier for users based within that zone to make changes to the heating system that only affect that zone everywhere else is still in the domain of the VRC 630 or another remote controller located within another particular zone The turn and click operation also used in the VRC 630 is again used here which helps users familiar with one device to be able to use its sister device without too much learning Turning the dial causes the actual temperature to disappear from the display 6 on Fig 11 and the required room temperature appears at 4 on Fig 12 After a 1 second pause the user can then turn the d
26. IUM Wanted interaction MEDIUM Technological ability MEDIUM Description susanne is married with a 14 year old daughter and a 3 year old son Her husband works full time with a typical 9 to 5 Monday to Friday job Her daughter 1s in school weekdays from 9 to 3 Her son is in nursery on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 to 2 While her son is in nursery Susanne works from home as a freelance proofreader On Tuesdays and Thursdays Susanne is often out with her son taking him to the park to meetings with friends or out shopping with her The weekend schedule frequently changes from one week to the next some or all of the family may stay at home for much of the day or they may all have a day s outing or be out for the whole weekend visiting relatives for example Main points e The family is not on a particularly tight budget but Susanne and her husband have noticed that heating costs contribute too much of their energy bill and would like it if they were able to be more economical with their heating e Susanne is reasonably experienced with computers using her PC on a daily basis her job is web based e She owns an iPhone so has some experience using touchscreen technology but admits she has not explored much of the phone s available functionality having felt neither the need nor the inclination to do so She is otherwise not a very technically minded person she sometimes half jokingly refers to herself as a
27. Oldman Pre set mode allows programming for each day individually heating can be programmed to come on multiple times a day Shut down button allows whole system to be turned off quickly Options button leads to menu that allows user to view manual or usage reports Repeat option allows schedule to be copied to the following day Large tactile dial makes temperature quick and easy to set Flexibility provided by continuous timed and pre set modes Persona Positive Visible breadcrumb trail at the top of the screen ensures Humphrey doesn t get lost in the system High contrast between background and text User control and freedom Flexibility and efficiency of use Flexibility and efficiency of use Help error recovery Help and documentation Flexibility and efficiency of use Flexibility and efficiency of use Error prevention User control and freedom Flexibility and efficiency of use Heuristic Visibility of system status Visibility of system status Large readout of all information with clear emphasis on the most important aspects very large temperature display Aesthetic and minimalist design Visibility of system status No fiddly controls large tactile bezel for setting time temperature and large touchscreen buttons for navigating menus 53 Flexibility and efficiency of use Error prevention Timer and presets can be configured with a high Us
28. adjusted easily compared to repeatedly pressing buttons on a screen some users may also feel more comfortable with tactile controls Some of the other features we chose to carry over from the first prototypes include Being able to choose between continuous timed and pre set modes This time we chose label the choices textually since we concluded that symbols might not be clear to users Having three clearly labelled modes provides flexibility of choice while also keeping the interface easy to understand e An options button on the homepage which leads to a menu that includes among other things a user manual this means that the user will always have easy access to instructions 1f for example they misplace the physical ones and usage reports A quick off option this time on the homepage people frequently change their minds or make mistakes and it 1s important that they are able to reverse any decisions they make We also chose to add a clickable breadcrumb trail so the user can see how they got to a particular page and easily go back to a previous page While we agreed that having different heating zones 1s a useful feature it makes design implementation a lot more complex so we ultimately decided not to include it in the second 36 prototype as we thought it was more important to focus on other more fundamental features We decided that the prototype would be aimed at home users as opposed to commercial users
29. amily user can be thought of as a power user They require frequent interaction with the system and have a wide range of function and non functional requirements these requirements arise from the users long term exposure to other heating systems The young person user will has more simplistic set of 60 functional and non functional requirements as the requirements are not as advanced the design of this heating system better meets the needs of the young person resulting in a higher score Review of user comments from questionnaire some user comments highlight some faults with the new system some of these changes can be implemented and would be incorporated into a further future prototype However some user comments do not require a change in the system User comments that can easily be addressed in future prototypes without compromising the current design usability of functionality It was not immediately apparent that I had to press constant again to turn off the system program No way to tell current temperature this is to determine what temperature user should select e Missing advance I hour boost button e Unsure if shutdown button turns off the display of switches of the heating system e Not obvious if bezel screen display current temperature or set temperature e No indication if boiler is fired up e In constant mode I liked the use of blue red However this colour change
30. and therefore require recall rather than recognition Severity Heuristic Recognition rather than recall The constant and timer icons look visually similar and with deteriorating eyesight may not be distinguishable The pre set A B and C buttons are in very close proximity to the three mode selectors and it could be thought that they select the mode not the switch above Error prevention Error prevention Pre sets can only last 24 hours and must be manually switched between If Humphrey is away for an extended period he cannot come back to a warm house without turning the heating on every day Flexibility and efficiency of use It may not be clear that the pre sets must be initially set by holding down the pre set button If Humphrey holds down the pre set button for too long it will begin the overwrite process Even if he doesn t continue to set a new pre set he could get lost within this function and not be able to exit Error prevention User control and freedom The push buttons are very small and close together and have small labels Lack of motor control and weak eyesight mean that it will be very difficult for Humphrey to select the correct times 32 Error prevention The push function buttons are too coarse Humphrey cannot set half hour 4 intervals for example Flexibility and efficiency of use While there are a few pre se
31. between day and week views There currently do not seem to be any user reviews most likely because it 1s a very new model It is arguably the most attractive model out of the three and based on the simulation provided on the company s website it seems quite easy to understand and use If there were to be criticism it would be the lack of a help button on the homepage the same could be said for the other examples above if someone is unsure of how to do something it would be much easier for them to have an easily accessible help menu rather than having to dig through various menus and options in the hopes they will come across an answer somewhere Since paper manuals often get misplaced having a manual available from the touchscreen would be useful That being said a good interface should be more or less self explanatory evohome Controller display Quick Actions Zone Override indicators a mc go Open Temporary Permanent Remote Economy Away Day Off Heating Off Custom Window Override Override Override Quick Action Quick Action Quick Action Quick Action Quick Action detected active active active active active active active active Away n Outside 11 5 Monday 16 December Zones a P to mak Quick Actions Living room Kitchen Bedroom 2 97T Sains EE p 227 00 Es RIA 9 TEE f EN Optimisation f 18 125 e OPT E Optimisation Hot Water Dining room Bedroom 1 Bathroom active ZM 47 15 19 33 3X SETTINGS
32. ciency of use 28 No child proofing locking mechanism Does not appear to be an easy way for Susanne to view program settings without changing them e g she may Error prevention Visibility of system status User control and Humphrey Oldman hour boost 1s actually in effect The current temperature is not displayed Humphrey may not be able to remember if he has a pre set running or has overridden it so may not be able to determine the current temperature The indicator showing the current day is very small Humphrey may not be able to determine which day he is changing the pre set for The and buttons require a large number of repeated presses to get to the correct time or a precise release if the button is held continuously Both could be a problem with Humphrey s lack of motor control There is no graphical representation or confirmation that the 1 hour boost 1s in effect Humphrey may not realise that it has worked or forget within the hour that he has initialised it 29 want to check the program for Monday EO by pressing set but end up changing ek A oY P Flexibility and it instead efficiency of use Persona Problem Severity Heuristic Dan The current temperature 1s not Visibility of displayed only readable from the bezel 2 Jones system status border Heating is only programmable for one burst a day cannot have heating 3 Flexibility and schedule
33. d to come on for both the efficiency of use morning and the evening ur j E and buttons are required to be rentia ond pressed held down to set temperature di s ae 3 efficiency of use although this is not an ability issue for ERoPerIvenOR Dan it does take up time P No confirmation that heating or one 4 Visibility of system status Visibility of system status Visibility of system status Flexibility and efficiency of use Error prevention Visibility of system status While there are daily pre sets there are none for special occasions such as Christmas holidays where the opening times of the office might be different Oliver This means the heating would have to Flexibility amp Smith be controlled manually for the day or efficiency of use the pre set for that day would need to be changed Neither could be done automatically meaning Oliver would need to manually adjust the system There appears to be no smart function to automatically reduce the temperature of areas of the building that aren t being used therefore not helping reduce bills Flexibility amp efficiency of use There no display of the current temperature at all meaning no one will be able to determine the temperature of the building unless they look at the pre set temperature settings and guess that the temperature is at the pre set level this may not always be the case Visibility of system status
34. day s settings on the next day PRESET rja LE Lr Repeat brings up a dialog asking if the user wants to repeat the day 5 settings Cancel takes user back to initial preset screen Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Start Time End Time Temperature 7 00 am 9 00 am 21 c Pressing OK takes user to Tuesday 5 tab with the same settings This can also be accessed by pressing Tu from Monday 5 tab From here clicking Mo returns to monday 5 tab and clicking adds another row to Tuesday 5 tab as previously 49 Preset mode is active Next active period 7 am until 9 am PRESET On pressing OK at any point Pressing cancel returns to the home screen Pressing Edit returns to Monday tab on the preset screen Pressing OK returns the user to the home screen but Preset is visible within the circular screen Thu Z7 Feb 19 12 Constant PRESET 50 Thu 27 Feb From the home screen pressing Shut Down brings up the off screen Pressing on brings up the home screen 51 8 Evaluation of second prototype The personas were again used to evaluate the second prototype both for its pros and its cons Again the evaluation was based around the Nielsen Heuristic model using the 6 point scale that was outlined before the first prototype evaluation As well as the use of personas however a simple user evaluation was cr
35. dom Flexibility and efficiency of use Quick options allow user to e g quickly turn all heating off or use an economy option User control and freedom Flexibility and efficiency of use Help error recovery User can view manual and a record of their heating usage there 1s a help button on every page Error prevention Help and documentation Pop ups help prevent the user from choosing the wrong settings yes and no buttons in pop ups are positioned consistently Consistency and standards Error prevention Negatives Susanne Target actual temperatures are not visible Harrison on every page Persona Problem Severity Heuristic Visibility of system status The OK button on the Edit Monday screen does not actually save changes to the schedule changes can only be saved on the settings screen This may be confusing may not be obvious to Susanne No option to name zones Susanne may have trouble remembering which zone corresponds to what area of the home Problem is worse the more zones there are Error prevention Flexibility and efficiency of use Match between system and real world Error prevention Recognition rather than recall No quick off or cancel option for the temporary override 34 User control and freedom Flexibility and efficiency of use Help error recovery Method of adjusting temperature either for the override
36. ducts 1ind ustrial commercial commercial comfort CCS controls insert PUBL5294 rev 6 1 1 pdf Meier Alan How people actually use thermostats 2012 Peffer T et al How people use thermostats in homes A review Building and Environment 46 12 2011 2529 2541 TechnoBuffalo Tagged NEST Available from http www technobuffalo com tag nest Sauro J 2011 Measuring usability with the system usability scale SUS Vaillant 2013a VRC 630 2 Operating and Installation Manual Retrieved February 1 2014 from Vaillant Commercial http www vaillantcommercial co uk wp content uploads 2013 01 61 revision id 453 VRC 630 2 installation operation pdf Vaillant 2013b VR80 Remote Control Device Operating and Installation Manual Retrieved February 1 2014 from Vaillant Commercial http www vaillantcommercial co uk wp content uploads 2013 01 51 revision id 456 VR 80 installation operation pdf Vaillant 2013c VR90 Remote Control Device Operating and Installation Manual Retrieved February 1 2014 from Vaillant Commercial http www vaillantcommercial co uk wp content uploads 2013 01 54 revision id 455 VR 90 installation operation pdf Wilhite H et al A cross cultural analysis of household energy use behaviour in Japan and Norway Energy Policy 24 9 1996 795 803 66 Appendix A Circular Prototype Crow p 2L mw Circular d design pre 15 O02 l ZO Man Tu Wed th m Sk Su ee
37. e as typically most homes are used differently in the week to how they are used at the weekend meaning that the system would have to be changed on a very regular basis Secondly the dial which indicates the time of day to which the pins are set was often very small this meant reading the numbers displayed on the dial was difficult These systems also lacked the basic ability to consider daylight savings adjustments so they would not respond differently after the adjustments to the clocks were made These types of control system have however begun to be replaced by more advanced panel type arrangements with digital displays as found in fig 2 below D fi T eris ey LAN OPE 0 CO ra mon Tue Wed Tew Fri Sat Bun WEIN Fig 2 digital type control unit www cse org uk These newer types of control improve on the previous pin design by typically allowing multiple programs to be set so the heating system can react to different days of the week and different times of day They do however pose problems of their own the model pictured above 1s a fairly simple design however some control units have a significant number of buttons that may appear to make the unit more complicated to people and therefore may use the unit even less There is also little change in the size of fonts used on the unit meaning that people with even slightly impaired vision may struggle to read what the buttons do 3 3 Current Heating Control Units T
38. e mark the middle box Strongly disagree Strongly agree 1 think would like to use this system frequently 2 found the system unnecessarily complex 3 thought the system was easy to use 4 think would need the support of a technical person to be able to use this system 5 found this to be better than the current system use systems have used in the past 6 thought there was too much inconsistency in the system 7 would imagine that most people would learn to use this system very quickly 8 found the system very cumbersome to use 9 felt very confident using the system 76 10 needed to learn a lot of things before could get going with this system Strongly disagree Strongly agree 11 I feel the dial makes it easy to change the temperature and time 12 would feel comfortable using the touchscreen in real life Optional questions Age Briefly describe your technical ability experience T Appendix E SUS Results Appendix E Results from SUS questionnaire Average User questionnaire number g QuesionNo 1 2 3 4 5 e 7 8 9f 10 eachauestion i a n PO IN IN C1 Oo O UNI m o gt M C1 0 EE ee ee eee Raw SUS results 35 22 86 85 37 7 X 17 X 18 X 29 X 28 SUS as percentage 875 55 X 90
39. eated a member of the design team guided a user through a user experience and then asked them to fill out a questionnaire asking them to rate their experience on a number of areas An example of the questionnaire can be found before the results of the evaluation below 8 1 Persona Evaluation Positives Persona Positive Heuristic There appears to be some ability to have preset Flexibility amp programs efficiency of use Good summary page of what preset timer has been Visibility of created system status Nice large display of the current temperature Visibility of system status Very clear button background contrast Visibility of system status Easy to adjust the current temperature settings Flexibility amp through use of large twistable knob efficiency of use Persona Peiive Heuristic EON bezel is a convenient and familiar way to change the clock and temperatures system Large clear touch screen with clear instructions Usability of BEA E EN EP selected system status Clear buttons that show which buttons I need to Visibility of EN ub RN Jpiensanddeals e emat options and details system status I am able to pre set different times and temperatures Flexibility and for each day for the week efficiency of use Repeat button significantly reduces the buttons Flexibility and pushes to set up the system efficiency of use 52 Persona Positive Heuristic Susanne Harrison Humphrey
40. een that is more power intensive than a traditional dial based control system This is not an issue with the system however as after 10 minutes of inactivity the UI times out logging out the user and after a further 5 minutes the screen turns blank LC 2ZCU 10 Summary Zone Controllers 73 1 Deg F 69 5 Dag F Select zone to view detalls Page 1 of 2 E Fig 16 Zone controllers summary page on the System Manager Fig 16 shows the summary page with the information on each zone available from the Summary page accessed via the navigation bar Each of the buttons visible in Figure 9 lead through to a full summary of information for that particular zone This page suffers from the same issue as the VRC 630 in that only 4 zones are visible at once and the user must scroll through pages of information to find the zone that they are interested in although here the results are alphabetical which is helpful There is a lot of wasted space resulting from the buttons being stacked one by one vertically at least nine would fit onto this screen without any loss of information 15 The system also contains the functionality for alarms to be sent to different devices as well as being displayed on the system manager and zone controller in the case of an unexpected event These alarms can be configured to be sent to pagers email accounts and as text messages which is a useful service that could ensure that problems are dealt
41. elderly persona was not represented in our prototype testing and evaluation questionnaire ideally we would have an equal weighting of the different user groups As it stands we only have a heuristic evaluation of the system with regards to the elderly group e Users may have had different interpretations of the question about technical ability e Older users were more critical of the system but this could at least in part be due to them being more willing to be critical the younger users were in our age group and so may have felt more reluctant to provide strong criticism The sample size is very small so we cannot make very solid conclusions however it still allowed us to identify problems we had overlooked Additional Notes All user comments from questionnaire e Found it easy to use t was not immediately apparent that I had to press constant again to turn off the system program e No way to tell current temperature this is to determine what temperature user should select e Missing advance I hour boost button e Unsure if shutdown button turns off the display of switches of the heating System e No indication if boiler is fired up e Analogue clock for time selection is nice e not obvious if bezel screen display current temperature or set temperature e Preset function not clear user knew that is how to turn on preset but was unclear if that is where a user would set up the presets Repeat buttons function was
42. engths e Strong in designing windowed programs typically found on computers and mobile phones e A vast library of buttons and layouts typically used in computer programs meaning the designer does not need to create them from scratch e The software is free at least as a trial e The interface is simple to understand for a computer aided design program e There are a good number of tutorials available for creating apps and windowed programs Weaknesses e tis not particularly flexible when designing an interface that is not typical to a computer or phone e Would require a user to learn the menus and options as it was a package that no one in the group had heard of before PowerPoint PowerPoint and other similar presentation software is at first glance an obvious choice for the touchscreen implementation of the second generation prototype It has the advantage of being software that all group members are familiar with to some extent and a basic interface where clicking a button will take you to another page can very easily be created However when considering some of the more complicated functionality we may wish to include in the prototype PowerPoint falls short For example e Changing the temperature or time requires the text on the screen to change in real time again this calls for several animations that make textboxes appear and disappear with the press of a button as well as having to layer the textboxes on top o
43. er control and precision so system can turn on exactly when freedom needed e g 30 minutes before Humphrey expects to Flexibility and get back from the cafe efficiency of use Current system status is visible on the circular Visibilty of readout so Humphrey knows whether the system is system status on set to timer or set to run a preset There are is no icon based readout as long as Recognition Humprey can see something he can read what the rather than button does recall Negatives Oliver While there are a few presets they have to Flexibility amp Smith be activated manually meaning Oliver will efficiency of still need to access the controls in early use morning and late evening There appears to be no smart function to help reduce the temperature of areas of the building that aren t being used automatically therefore not helping reduce bills There is only a single display of the temperature which is located on the control panel meaning that people in the office will not be able to see it There is very little feedback about the Consistency overall heating of the building Is the amp standards current temperature consistent throughout the building or is it just that temperature at the control panel where the thermometer is Flexibility amp efficiency of use Visibility of system status There are very few options to play with User control Oliver is fairly technologically minded
44. f one another which makes editing tedious There does not seem to be a way if there 1s it is not obvious to save changes between slides if the temperature 1s changed on one slide it 1s not then automatically changed on other slides A button can only trigger an animation on an object on the same slide Our conclusion 1s that other software 1s better suited to our needs Maya Maya is a tool used to generate 3D models shapes and assets for use in movies design and architecture Maya has the ability to build components in a wireframe style and apply textures over the top The overlaid textures can be used to show a material type to imply construction or graphics to show a UI The ability to create these shapes and then combine them into more complex structures is of great benefit this enables the user to create otherwise unimaginable shapes 38 The package is extremely powerful allowing for a wide variety of effects textures and offers full control when designing parts This 1s of particular interest as glass will be a key part of our design Maya has a light shadow set of tools built in this allows for a visual effect of light reflecting off surfaces The ability to export rendered scenes from Maya in a wide selection of formats 1s also vital this allows the 3D model to be exported and then used in other software packages such as Photoshop and Flash The wide functionality of Maya suits the needs to create versatile models
45. fter the Christmas break and Oliver has got to work at Sam to ensure the heating system 1s turned back on and the building is starting to heat back up again The building 1s slowly heating up however it is obvious that the top floor 1s not going to be warm enough by the time people are due to start he therefore decides to increase the temperature output for the whole building in order to heat the floor quicker He knows this will not be popular with his boss however he sees little alternative It is a typical winters day in the office and people are complaining on the top floor that the office is too cold Oliver is aware that building work is on going on the roof at the moment and this means that more heat 1s being lost from the building than usual He checks the temperature in the area via the thermometer he has and it shows that the temperature is close to the minimum but acceptable He then sends an email out to confirm that the temperature in the office is acceptable He wished that there was some kind of visual aid for people in the office to see the exact temperature in the area It 1s Friday afternoon and the last of the office workers have left Oliver starts his routine of turning off the heating system manually He wished that this process could be automated meaning he could leave the office earlier 18 Parent family woman Name Susanne Harrison Age 42 Occupation Housewife part time freelancer Current interaction MED
46. he Heatmiser range There are several models with varying degrees of complexity functionality but all seem to be variations on the same basic design Below is an overview of the most expensive non wifi model currently available on their website ws m m m m tea Fig 3 Heatmiser Touchscreen Thermostat http www heatmisershop co uk room thermostats cI touchscreen thermostats c9 Model PRT2 NTS Size 110x 100 x 17mm Features Blue backlight Ability to select between Celsius or Fahrenheit Adjustable frost protection a minimum temperature you can set to e g stop pipes freezing Programmable with weekday weekend or 7 day options Holiday function allows you to set a reduced temperature for a number of days for when you are away for a prolonged period Hold function keeps the temperature constant for a chosen number of hours Programmable for two zones 1 e you can adjust the settings individually for two different areas of the house and cons of Heatmiser touchscreen models based on user reviews Screen option freezes screen for 15 seconds allowing it to be cleaned Displays actual room temperature unlike traditional analogue controls The backlight doesn t come on until an icon is touched this can make it difficult to see what one is doing Method for setting the time is somewhat unintuitive Can be easy to press the wrong button though this may be due to screen quality rather than size and or layout
47. he building is at minimum this temperature for office hours He typical keeps the heating systems at a steady constant to cater for this however this changes around holiday periods where the heating 1s turned off This means that when people return to work the heating needs to be adjusted to ensure the building 1s back at least 16 degrees Celsius Main Points e Oliver is comfortable with most of technology that is typically found in the office Oliver is experienced in his role and has seen various different types of heating systems at the buildings he has previously worked at 17 Oliver is very aware of the tightening budget constraints on things like building management and is aware that he may be asked to alter the way the building is heated Pain points The building he is in charge of is fairly old and loses heat very easily in different areas meaning that achieving a consistent temperature 1s difficult It is not possible for the control system to have multiple programs for different holiday periods meaning he has to reprogram it every time There is no way to operate the controls other than being in the building meaning he often has to start early and leave late Goals To have a flexible system that allows different areas to be heated independently To save money on heating bills To be able to operate the system remotely To have set programs for different times of the year Scenarios It is the first day back a
48. he time the fact that the hour and minute is set in one movement is quite a lot of visual information to keep up with 56 susanne Harrison Susanne finds the system fairly straightforward to use and is pleased that she is able to set a different schedule for each day while also being given an easy option for temporarily overriding the schedule She appreciates being able to view her usage history as this gives her a better idea of how she may save money Her biggest problems with the system are the lack of zoning Susanne feels it is wasteful to heat the entire house when she just wants one or two rooms to be heated and the lack of an option to save or load schedules She also would have liked it if some kind of childproofing had been implemented however this could easily be added in later prototypes Overall the system provides Susanne with much of the flexibility she desires Oliver Smith The system was clearly not designed with Oliver s needs in mind this was identified earlier in the report It does however still have some merits to it that he would find useful The ability to set different programs for different days means he can set one program for weekdays and one for weekends when the office building will be shut It also has a large display indicating the temperature while this is only useful for those near the control panel it is a good step in displaying the information about the heating system like he wished Ultimately ho
49. heating circuit can be accessed by first highlighting the required circuit by pressing the right hand dial until the circuit is displayed and then turning the dial can change the parameters This method of highlighting and altering parameters seems rather clunky as the turning motion is used on the opposite dial to scroll through menus users may then use this motion to try and scroll through parameters This would result in confusion and reading of the manual may be necessary to realise that pushing the dial 1s the required motion There is a further code level section which displays engineer level parameters These may be viewed but not changed by the user unless a password is entered Having these displayable to the user may add confusion to the parameter setting process it may be better to have the whole section protected by password before the user is able to be confused by these extra parameters A further disadvantage with the basic menu is the fact that only four zones are viewable on the screen at any one time Many more may be controlled by the system so fall beyond the fold of the bottom of the screen They are not listed alphabetically so with a large number of systems in place the only option users have is scrolling through the whole list until they reach their required system This may be combatted through a larger screen size or even alphabetising the results would increase the usability of the menu Vaillant
50. ial to make changes to the required room temperature After five seconds of non operation the display then returns to its normal mode The novice user may have some issues with this functionality They might not understand why there are two separate temperature displays and as the main temperature disappears when the dial is turned and there is a delay between turning the dial and being given the ability to change the temperature they may not realise that they have accessed this function Also as the new desired temperature disappears from view after five seconds with the display returning to the current temperature they may not realise that they have completed the process Some form of confirmation that the desired temperature has been altered may be helpful here One of the advantages of the VRC 630 was that plain text was used rather than operating symbols which allowed all users to understand the information displayed without having to consult a manual The VR80 has replaced this text with operating symbols 3 and 7 on Fig 12 which undermines this feature that made the VRC 630 easy to operate Furthermore there is wasted space on the display as all of the days of the week are constantly present with the current one highlighted This 1s a drawback of the display technology used but a more dynamic LCD option would add significant cost to the product Vaillant 2013b 12 VR90 Room Zone Control The VR90 is a second option ava
51. ilable to perform the same function as the VR 0 a remote control device for use with the VRC 630 for the control of one zone Vaillant Basic data Fig 13 The operating overview of the VR90 zone control system Key I Menu name 2 Cursor indicating selected parameter 5 Menu number 4 Dial Set parameter turn select parameter press 5 Dial Select menu turn activate special function press The VR90 is an improvement on the VR80 in a number of ways the controls are identical to those of the VRC 630 which allows for a fluid user experience between the two devices The operation is also very similar the plain text information display 1s back doing away with the confusing pictorial representations of the VR80 The menu system is similar to the VRC 630 and the basic display is almost identical but only displays the information relevant to the zone it occupies see Fig 8 As such it shares most of the advantages and disadvantages of the VRC 630 Fr 17 05 02 15 37 15 C room temperature 2l c heating 22 C select operation mode Fig 14 The basic menu screen of the Vaillant VR90 Vaillant 2013c 13 Johnson Commercial Comfort Johnson offers a range of commercial comfort systems as part of an integrated suite of holistic HVAC Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning products The system comprises of a system manager and zone co ordinator providing the com
52. is not carried through to timer mode e In timed mode because I can press TEMPERATURE any time it felt like I could set a different temperature at the start and end times some user comments however do not require any changes to the system this 1s because either an information box appears on the system screen informing the user of these errors would only be made once at the time of first use Therefore as these mistakes misunderstanding of feature will have a low frequency and a low impact they will not be addressed e Preset function not clear user knew that is how to turn on preset but was unclear if that is where a user would set up the presets e Repeat buttons function was not immediately clear user thought it would repeat the selection with in the day not copy to the next day The fact that it was a prototype with very limited functionality meant that some users by their own admission felt they could not assess it properly and did not feel confident about the final product Because a lot of the features are not implemented on the prototype it s hard to feel confident that it will work as described e Because not all the features work fully I do not feel confident about using this product This lack of working features also affects my ability to assess this product too Issues with the questionnaire 61 some issues with the questionnaire may have given us incomplete or skewed results The
53. m requires little to no interaction 5 2 Dial and buttons prototype This prototype aimed to use existing traditional temperature control design tropes and use them in manner that presented more information to the user more quickly It takes a twistable knob for temperature setting and allows the user to choose either continuous timed or preset settings and use a long strip of push buttons in order to set times for the latter two The rationale for this was that in using components that appear familiar on a boiler control in a way that may be more easily programmable it would be less of a learning curve for people like Humphrey to move over to the system Also with Humphrey in mind audio feedback is given which allows those that are short of sight to be able to hear what changes they have made Despite these good intentions the desire to cling onto past technologies proved unsuccessful as will become apparent Replacing the button elements with a touch screen would have been hugely beneficial as they actually hinders people like Humphrey by being trickier to use Strengths e Provides clear visual and audible feedback on successful or unsuccessful attempts at using the functionality Large tactile easy to use dial for configuring system in constant timed and preset modes 25 e Allows for presets to be configured and used Shows user graphically what the system will be doing over the day and where in the process the sy
54. not immediately clear user thought it would repeat the selection with in the day not copy to the next day e In constant mode I liked the use of blue red However this colour change is not carried through to timer mode e In timed mode because I can press TEMPERATURE at any time it felt like I could set a different temperature at the start and end times because a lot of the features are not implemented on the prototype it s hard to feel confident that it will work as described e Because not all the features work fully I do not feel confident about using this product This lack of working features also affects my ability to assess this product too 62 9 Recommendations Through the process of design and evaluation of the various prototypes a number of issues were identified that were either never considered important by the design team were over looked or could not be implemented for either technical time or resource limitations In order for a heating system to be created on these findings a more robust prototype should first be created in order to consider the following weaknesses or problems with the current iteration e As stated in the report the system is fairly limited to being useful in individual homes only it is not suitable for commercial use There are a number of possibilities to how the final prototype could be extended so to be used in this area including allowing multiple control panels throughou
55. odes may not be l world immediately obvious to Susanne Recognition rather than recall User control and T freedom Smallest time increment is one hour 3 Feso cand efficiency of use Flexibility and How to program is not obvious without efficiency of use instructions Help and documentation No obvious way of turning the heating off Uscecontorasd quickly temperature dial has not been freedom labelled so impossible to tell whether it 5 l iunt Help error wil have an off option alongside neers temperature options P Susanne may find the spoken feedback MA User control and unnecessary and or irritating but there l freedom does not appear to be a way to turn it off No child proofing locking mechanism 2 Error prevention Desired temperature is shown but not mastic DE WRN l system and real actual temperature world 31 Persona Problem Severity Heuristic Dan Jones A lot of re setting and constant interaction with device to change schedule day to day Pre set buttons are close to the mode selectors this 1s unclear and could cause confusion 4 Flexibility and efficiency of use Error prevention Overly complex system and it is not intuitive to use loss of the instructions would significantly reduce the usefulness of the product Error prevention Persona Humphrey Oldman Problem The constant timer and pre set selectors have no textual representation
56. ogrammable flexibility This change in mindset was not ideal but it was felt that it was early enough in the process that it would not hinder it too much but it was clear that an early definition of some user requirements would have been very useful in order to guide the process better The change in definition of the project also lead to consideration to other areas of the project because usability became the primary concern it meant that the more technology and business focused persona became less useful for evaluation of the various prototypes created for the project It became clear that the goals and scenarios posed by this persona would likely not be catered for by the project meaning that most of the evaluation of the project by this persona would likely be negative This was identified and addressed in the report but had a clearer definition of what the product was trying to address would have lead to the creation of a more useful persona that may have been able to offer more for the project Even with these problems however it was felt that the group identified the scope of the project well and was therefore able to create something that was achievable in the timescale The second generation prototype was limited in its capability but it was designed in this manner in order to focus on one area of the system to give a user an indication of a fully working element of the product rather than limited functionality throughout the product O
57. ore productive She would also like the heating to only come on in the room she 1s working in since it 1s a waste to heat unoccupied rooms School and nursery have broken up for the Christmas holidays Susanne needs to change the heating s weekday schedule to account for this but seeing as it 1s a short lived state of affairs she would like to be able to save the normal weekday schedule so she can switch back to it easily once the holidays are OVer 20 Elderly retired gentleman Name Humphrey Oldman Age 81 Occupation Retired country club green keeper Current interaction MEDIUM Wanted interaction LOW Technological ability LOW Description Humphrey lives in a bungalow in a suburban town with his wife of 55 years Margery aged 79 Their days are spent mostly together in a fairly solid routine They have two sons and two daughters each with multiple grandchildren who usually visit weekly Humphrey acquired a decent amount of money over his career as did Margery which is supplemented by their pensions The couple are usually awake by 6am independent of whether it 1s the weekend and spend their day either entertaining grandchildren or getting the bus into town to eat in the local caf s Both Humphrey and Margery are beginning to lose sight and aural functions and have to rely somewhat on walking sticks for mobility Main points Although the couple acquired a decent amount of wealth Humphrey 1s still consci
58. ous of not overspending on heating unnecessarily by leaving it on while they are out for example Neither Humphrey or Margery are technically competent there is no computer in the house and although they have a premium satellite TV package they never use the advanced features for fear of doing something wrong Any information conveyed by small text or symbols isn t viewable by Humphrey due to his poor eyesight Margery s 1s slightly better and she can sometimes be of help 21 Humphrey does require the heating to be active at most points during the day unless the weather is agreeable or he is out of the house If the house is too cold he 1s at risk as his body 1s becoming weaker Pain points Goals Humphrey can t use a user interface of any real difficulty without being shown multiple times over several occasions Even then he still often gets confused and gives up the task Small buttons and menu options are difficult for Humphrey to see or be able to press thanks to reduced control over small motions Although he wants to not use heating when he is out of the house he often forgets to switch it off before he is either out when it is too late or when he is in a different part of the house to the thermostat when it is a lot of excess effort To have a simple user interface with no confusing options or menus to be able to change the temperature or turn the heating on or off To keep the house at an optim
59. ow Each day of the week can be accessed via its tab in this prototype only Monday and Tuesday are click able From there start and end times and temperature can be selected Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Monday Start Time End Time Temperature 7 00 am 9 00 am 21 c After pressing Preset Button to add new row Explained below Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Temperature 21 c Repeat Cancel After pressing Start Time The user would be able to twist the bezel to set the start time however this is not implemented in this prototype 46 Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Temperature 21 c Cancel After pressing End Time The user would be able to twist the bezel to set the end time however this is not implemented in this prototype Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Monday Start Time End Time 7 00 am 9 00 am After pressing Temperature The previous 3 screens are accessible from each other 47 Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Monday Start Time End Time Temperature 7 00 am 9 00 am 21 c Start Time End Time Temperature Repeat Pressing adds another row of options which would operate in the same manner as the previous row this is not implemented in the prototype Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Monday Start Time End Time Temperature 7 00 am 9 00 am 21 c PRESET Pressing removes the additional row 48 Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Repeat this
60. owerPoint is a universally taught skill Therefore there is a learning curve to using the software 1n order to create the prototype However to provide the functionality required all that 1s necessary is a couple of lines of ActionScript stop and goloAndStop and a member of the team already possesses this knowledge Furthermore thanks to the Adobe CreativeCloud 30 day free trial all of these programs will be available until after the project hand in date Flash is not available on all platforms which limits the devices that the prototype can be used on to PCs with Flash installed However this 1s also an 1ssue with using PowerPoint as PowerPoint must be installed on machines to run prototypes based on it 39 7 2 Guide Through Second Prototype Functionality Pressable breadcrumbs not clickable in prototype but would lead user back through the menus to this point Date g p Time Twistable bezel ae a JL N y v Thu 27 Feb 13 12 Shut Down Options menu Not functional in Home Screen prototype Would lead through to advanced options amp settings Status indicator Touch screen Temperature display ome r AG Constant Clickable arrows to simulate twisting the Selected option becomes red bezel After pressing Constant 40 When temperature goes below set value 21 degrees screen becomes blue Home After pressing left arrow the bezel rotates Right arrow
61. parable functions of the VRC 630 and VR80 90 mentioned above as well as zone sensors bypass controllers and I O modules This review will focus only on the system manager and zone controllers as they are the elements of the system that require user interaction through a colour touch screen interface which 1s billed as intuitive Johnson Controls 2011 The System Manager and Zone Controllers are LCD touch screens that use a one touch gesture in order to make all selections using the finger rather than a stylus or pen The interface is menu driven which allows the user to set system parameters access system information and monitor and control connected equipment Operations are carried out through one of five screens Fig 14 Home Alarm Summary Schedule and Setup The active screen is indicated by its menu icon turning green This interface is easier to navigate than the VRC 630 s as all menus are constantly displayed at the top of the screen however the reliance on an icon based navigation without any text requires the user to already know the meaning of the icon or select that screen to see its title once it has loaded This 1s a drawback of the system Bar C6 Details Title Area Zone Temperature 64 1 Deg F Base Setting Zone Curent Setpoint 62 0 Deg F Thermostat Alignment Unavallable Main Display Area Occupancy Status Operating Status Cooling Help Text Zone is Requesting None Paging Information A
62. pe that was more robustly designed through the use of Photoshop and Flash This final prototype was then evaluated again through the use of the created personas but also through some basic user testing The goal of this project was to create a heating system control unit that would be better than those currently on the market this meant improving on simplicity user interface and learnability while allowing user flexibility to control the system how they wished 63 Initially it was felt that the creation of a system that allowed basic functionality but had an array of more complex features that would allow advanced users more flexibility in its use However after researching the subject it became clear the initial barrier and the most significant barrier for users was the complex design of many of these types of system Meier 2012 This changed the focus somewhat on what the system should provide this influenced the design of the initial prototypes but also on the choice of personas It was felt that most people that used these types of system probably had limited time and patience for learning all the features on a system like this Therefore it was felt that the focus of the project should change somewhat from an increased technological system to an increased usability focused system This change in mindset can be seen in the first generation prototypes while two focused on simple to use interfaces one concentrated on system options and pr
63. r a computer or mobile phone however this project is focused on the design for a heating system The basic heating system design is focused on having two parts the first is that of an adjustable dial that can be easily used for adjusting the temperature quickly The second part is a touch screen that contains more of the features such as daily heating programs or zonal heating commands These two parts make up the overall design for the second generation prototype Balsamiq could be used for this design however it 1s limited when designing a system that is not using the typical features found on most computer programs Its strengths lie in having these features ready at hand for designers to use However in this instance it is unlikely that many of them would be useful meaning that most of the design would have to be done from scratch This means that it 1s 1n affect no more useful than any other computer aided design package and because it focuses on windowed programs predominately it may well be weaker than other packages when trying to design a different type of interface Overall it was decided that while Balsamiq is a useful tool for creating prototypes its strengths do not match well with the prototype design proposed for this project It would require the team to learn how to use the software from scratch and 37 most of the most useful features would not be used for the design Therefore the team decided not to use this package str
64. r current system There were some recurring comments from users these related to missing functionality compared to their current system or a feature they would want in a new system The features missing from the system can be summarized in the following user comments 66 e issing advance I hour boost button e No indication if boiler is fired up e No way to tell current temperature These comments highlight clear gaps in the system s functionality as these are responsible for the low score to question 5 adding these features to future prototypes amp designs would improve the SUS score for question 5 and the system as a whole The average technical ability across the users is deemed to be high this is validated by the high scores from questions 4 amp 10 However all users found the system easy to use and aesthetically pleasing to look at and use as shown by user comments e Found it easy to use e Analogue clock for time selection is nice 90 of users rated the bezel and touch screen interface design highly This implies that the design was successful and that it is an appropriate and efficient implementation These comments coupled with the positive feedback of the bezel and touchscreen show that the overall system design 1s good The results show that the design is least accommodating to the family user whereas the young user 1s shown to be the best accommodated Using the data and user comments the f
65. rea Navigation X Fig 14 The basic screen layout of Johnson s System Manager The black bar at the bottom of the main display area provides optional help text as well as page numbers if more than one page of information is being displayed This is a useful feature which may be an advantage for novice users as rather than consulting a manual they are provided with relevant help when the need for it arises It could be argued that the fact that help text is necessary at all is indicative of a poorly designed system but if some controls are specific to HVAC software it may become necessary to include terminology that the layman cannot understand without this help text 14 An advantage of Johnson s system is the matching UI between the system manager and zone controller once a user has mastered one they have by default mastered the other The similarity can be seen in Fig 15 System Manager Home Screen Zone Coordinator Home Screen FA MF M eR MM LM AN mST NI ETSI Nw 963006 OOOO X LC SMU 0 Lce ZCU 10 Thursday May 8 2008 5 23 44 PM Thursday May B 2008 5 23 44 PM Zoning System Status Off Outdoor Air Temperature 63 1 Deg F Outdoor Air Temperature 68 3 Deg F Software Revision 1 0 2445 Software Revision 1 0 2445 Fig 15 The home screens of the System Manager and the Zone Coordinator One possible disadvantage of the system that has been addressed may have been the fact that the UI is based on an LCD scr
66. s on the different types of heating control unit that have existed in the past those that currently are being implemented in properties and possible future implementations There will also be consideration made of the difference between systems that heat individual homes and those expected to control larger buildings such as office blocks 3 1 Studies of Heating Control Unit Usage In a study done by Wilhite et al 1996 it was discovered that more than 50 of households in the city of Oslo failed to adjust their control systems at night and 28 of households made no change for when they went on holiday These high numbers would indicate a significant problem with users interacting with their control systems at all even 1f it were to make infrequent changes for example when they were to go on holiday This lack of knowledge in how to use the controls or at least lack of confidence in the control system is reflected in the study done by Meier 2012 Here they carried out a number of studies into how people use their control systems and found that people frequently claimed they didn t know how to use it or didn t want to mess it up indicating a lack of confidence in their ability to use the technology The studies also showed a significant 89 percent of respondents to an online survey claimed they rarely or never adjusted the controls 3 2 Typical older types of heating control systems Historically heating control systems have
67. ser an overview of and functionality to modify the conditions in multiple zones from a central control point as well as the individual areas The Carbon Trust recommend zoning when appropriate as it provides closer control over temperatures and more efficient heating saving both money and resources Carbon Trust 2011 Here current systems from two companies that implement zoning are examined and critiqued Vaillant Cascade Controls VRC 630 Boiler Management Control The VRC 630 is a weather compensated cascade control as well as a time dependent programme for heating and hot water supplies it also connects to outdoor sensors which result in a weather dependent operation The control system may control up to two systems or with additional mixer circuits up to 15 however all circuits are controlled by the central control if a remote control is not also installed see below All settings are adjusted and monitored by the central control There is a graphic display with plain text used which 1s an advantage new users don t have to learn an array of symbols in order to be able to control the system Another advantage of the system is multi lingual support The control display is of a variable nature the different levels of menu may be accessed using the dial marked 5 in Fig 9 The current menu is represented numerically in the top right corner of the screen and also by name on the top right Having the menu names
68. stem There are many systems that people use on a daily basis that are poorly designed and it is the aim of this project to identify one of these and attempt to create a number of prototypes to try and improve the interface between the system and the person interacting with it 2 Definition of Problem The system chosen by this team was a central heating control unit it was commented on from various members within the group that they had encountered many different types of control unit in houses they had stayed or lived in and often very few of them had been simple to use It 1s often the case that the system is used in its most basic form to either turn the heating on or off Or it 1s used minimally for example the system will be set once when the person or family move into a property and then left not taking into account changing needs for the people that live in the property 2 1 Project Goal The goal of the project is to create a control panel that makes it simple for a person to make changes to the way the property they are in 1s heated but also to give the flexibility to how different people may use it The panel should offer an easy to read display a clear indication of current conditions within the property and an easy method to adjust the settings 3 A Review of Heating Control Systems It is important when considering a new type of control unit to consider what people are used to dealing with The following section will focu
69. stem 1s Weaknesses e No textual representation for mode selection or presets relies on recall over recognition Presets only last for 24 hours and require user to manually switch between them e Many many buttons for setting of presets They are small and difficult to use and even then don t provide a fine enough structure for setting the system e Program buttons could be confused with change of mode buttons How to set programs is not obvious Potential Improvements e Have a text based labelling system rather than an icon based one e Move preset buttons to a location where they cannot be mistaken for the mode change slider e Redesign preset timer setting system introduce a more user friendly method of input e g incorporate into the dial e Allow for presets to last for longer than 24 hours or to be configured to initiate on a particular day 5 3 Touchscreen prototype Touchscreen technology has improved vastly in recent years and many modern heating systems now make use of this technology One of its major advantages 1s that it allows for a wide range of functions in a relatively small space a variety of options can be spread across a number of pages with pages that are not in use being hidden this makes it easier to design neat minimalist interfaces For these reasons we decided to make one of the first generation prototypes a touchscreen model The touchscreen model was designed with Susanne Harrison s
70. stem Usability Scale Retrieved March 2014 from Usability Net http www usabilitynet org trump documents Suschapt doc Ecobee The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Available from http www ecobee com solutions home smart Ecobee Feature Comparison Available from http www ecobee com solutions home comparison E On How Smart Are Smart Meters Available from https www eonenergy com for your home saving energy smart meters how smart are smart meters Heatmiser Modern Touchscreen Thermostats from Heatmiser Available from http www heatmisershop co uk room thermostats c 1 touchscreen thermostats c9 Heatmiser Heatmiser PRT2 NTS Two Zone 12v Programmable Room Thermostat Available from http www heatmisershop co uk thermostats c1 touchscreen thermostats c9 heatmiser prt2 nts two zone 12v programmable room thermostat p67 Honeywell Evohome Smart Zone Based Home Heating Available from 65 http evohome wearegood com Johnson Controls 2008 System Manager amp Zone Coordinator User s Guide Retrieved February 2 2014 from Johnson Controls http www johnsoncontrols com content dam W W W jc1 be commercial products ind ustrial commercial commercial comfort system manager zone coordinator users guide pdf Johnson Controls 2011 Commercial Comfort Systems Retrieved February 2 2014 from Johnson Controls http www johnsoncontrols com content dam W W W ici be commercial pro
71. t a building all interconnected to allow various areas to be heated on an individual basis The system was ultimately designed to be as user friendly as possible with clear and simple user interfaces This however limited the functionality of the prototype The programming features in particular suffered in order to allow a simple design A future prototype should consider implementing more options for programming the system while still appearing simple in design There was also no consideration made beyond the first prototypes for how a user may interact remotely with the system This should be considered in the form of some mobile phone connectivity something that was beyond the scope of this project 10 Summary This report aimed to try and redesign and improve upon the typical heating system controls found in households By analyzing previous current and future technologies in the field it was possible to draw together some conclusions about what type of system we should create This lead to three first generation prototypes being designed in a simple hand drawn fashion that allowed for various elements to be considered and integrated into a single system These prototypes provided the base for the project four varied personas were created in order to evaluate these prototypes and using Nielsen heuristics model each prototype s positives and negatives were evaluated A summary of these points helped inform a second generation prototy
72. t average score this shows that the design was successful in reducing the technical challenge that current systems provide This was a key part of the design for both the hardware and software The large bezel and large format screens are clear and users immediately know how to operate bezel as it resembles a dial and is familiar across all generations This could be due to the design of the system not offering enough options or flexibility compared to their current system However this could also be due to users 59 having finally become accustomed to the currently installed system that due to the unfamiliarity of the new system they find it too different Several users gave feedback relating to the smaller bezel display 20 of users suggested and would have wanted to the smaller second bezel screen to display the current temperature This was suggested as visual feedback so the user can see the current temperature and know whether to increase or decrease the temperature and by how much Conclusion Users aged over 50 gave the system the worst score whilst users aged 24 25 gave the system the best scores The SUS questionnaire shows that users gave a 71 satisfaction score which would imply that as a whole the system is well design and implemented Most users would not change their current system for this system studying the users further comments this is due some key features that are missing in this system when compared to thei
73. techno peasant and frequently employs her daughter to e g help her with the printer scanner 19 Pain points Often pressed for time Has little patience for figuring out how something works Will sometimes forget to turn the heating off once she has turned it on To have programmable heating controls that are quick and easy to get to grips with and flexible enough for her and her family s busy and sometimes inconsistent schedule s For the controls to be child proof so her son cannot play with them but easy for her teenage daughter to use since she may want to ask her daughter to turn on the heating etc To save money on heating if possible Scenarios On weekdays Susanne s husband gets up at 7 00 he has to be out of the house by 8 00 Susanne gets up at 7 30 at the latest Nobody likes getting up when it s cold least of all Susanne s teenage daughter who is reluctant to get out of bed at the best of times Susanne would like the heating to come on at least half an hour before her husband wakes up and for it to not turn off until 8 00 by which time everyone is usually up and dressed Susanne wants the heating to come on later on weekend mornings as it 1s normal for everyone to sleep in Susanne does not like working in a cold room since it 1s hard to type with numb fingers she would like the heating to come on before she gets back from dropping her son off at nursery so she can start work in comfort and therefore be m
74. to the next day the ability to have a separate schedule for the weekend is very helpful However the absence of a 1 hour boost button is inconvenient he uses the heating to dry clothes as he lives in a flat with no access to outside and he may forget to turn the heating back off 1f using the constant setting Humphrey Oldman Humprey mainly uses the constant setting which he is able to turn on off and set the temperature easily without making errors although he can sometimes forget to turn the system off once he is finished using it or when he leaves the house However even though they improve on implementations in some older systems the timer and preset functions present Humphrey with some trouble When setting the timer he 1s unable to see what he set at the start time when he is setting the end time and temperature and he may forget what the previous parameters were before he can finish The tabbed system in the preset mode causes him confusion his poor eyesight means that sometimes he cannot make out which tab is open so does not know which day he is setting the preset for All feedback is visual in nature so whilst he can see the readouts when setting the constant temperature as that is very large and high contrast he cannot always read the smaller touch screen buttons when delving further into the system Audible feedback may help him with this While the twisting bezel system provides Humphrey a way to twist to set t
75. touch screen in real life Dd These additional questions relate to the hardware options chosen they were included to provide feedback on how user friendly and applicable the hardware choice of the touchscreen and bezel as the input method to the system The questionnaire also asks for the user s age this 1s so the results they provide can be matched to a persona as the personas generated have clear age brackets Being able to match results to personas we are able to evaluate how well each persona was catered for by the design At the end of the questionnaire each user makes a brief note on their technical ability and leaves additional comments on the system The users surveyed were aged 19 53 with an average age of 33 have different occupations and are from a variety of professions with a varying degree of technical ability SUS score converted to Percentage 100 90 80 70 60 50 percentage 40 30 20 10 Percentage 1 2 3 4 5 6 f 8 9 10 User Question number Fig 18 SUS score converted to percentage The users generally scored the system highly the average score is 71 the highest score is 92 5 and the lowest is 42 5 Figure 18 shows that there is high degree of variance between user questionnaire results this indicates that some users personas have not been fully catered for although on taking a holistic view the system provides good functionality The three lowest scores coming from user questionnaires 2
76. trum of other sensory devices to provide a holistic and truly adaptable and automated system Sensors such as humidity and motion can be added to allow extra functionality in a pseudo modular system The humidity sensor constantly checks the humidity both inside and outside and can feedback to any attached humidifiers or dehumidifiers The motion sensors ensure that only rooms being used are actually heated and that if the house is empty i e during school work or whilst on holiday that no energy is wasted The Nest thermometer also has WI FI connectivity that allows it to sync with the local weather and adjusts the internal temperature accordingly TechnoBuffalo E on Smart meters Although not truly a heating system control unit it gives great insight into the heat and energy used in the home and an overview of the heating situation TDI Fig 8 E On Smart Meters https www eonenergy com for your home saving energy smart meters how smart are smart meters Although it does not control the temperature of the home smart meters show an accurate and immediate usage figure allowing you to monitor the energy consumption and efficiency of your home and heating routine E On 3 5 Commercial Heating Control Systems Commercial heating systems differ from domestic systems as they cover a greater area often with numerous boilers and heating systems linked together The challenge therefore is to provide a control system that gives the u
77. ts they have to be activated manually meaning Oliver Flexibility amp will still need to access the controls in efficiency of use early morning and late evening There appears to be no smart function to automatically reduce the temperature of Flexibility amp areas of the building that aren t being efficiency of use used therefore not helping reduce bills There is only a single display of the temperature which is located on the Visibility of control panel meaning that people in the system status office will not be able to see it There is very little feedback about the overall heating of the building Is the current temperature consistent throughout the building or is it just that temperature Consistency amp at the control panel where the standards thermometer 1s There are very few options to play with Oliver is fairly technologically minded and having the option of various options other than on off timed and pre set would be useful The overall design is very cluttered and Minimalist not particularly easy to understand design Push buttons are very small making it Visibilitv of difficult to determine when the timer has y system status been set User control and freedom 33 6 3 Touchscreen prototype Positives Days can be programmed individually for different zones and schedules can be saved loaded schedule can easily be temporarily overridden Heuristic User control and free
78. um temperature when they arrive back from a trip into town the house should not be cold for long This could be achieved using an easy to set timer on the control system To be able to remember or instantly recognise how to use the control system without having to rely on help from others Scenarios Humphrey and Margery s grandchildren are coming to visit They have their heating on high in order to keep themselves warm but once the house is full and the children are playing the heat 1s beginning to become too much They need to turn the heat down Humphrey and Margery are about to leave the house to spend a couple of hours in one of the town s caf s They want to turn the heating off but for it to come back on before they arrive back to the house so the house 1s warm for them to come in to It is 3 30 AM and Humphrey wakes up the house 1s not warm enough for him to be comfortable He needs to use the thermostat in reduced lighting in order to bring the temperature back up to an acceptable level 22 single occupant Young professional Name Dan Cole Age 25 Profession Junior Trader at Oil Co Current interaction HIGH Wanted interaction LOW Technological ability HIGH Description Dan is a junior trader at a futures trading company based in canary wharf London Although the wage is good he is still young and having to live in London so is very conscious about the cost of living and bills Dan s flat
79. ve some new connectivity between heating and his smart phone so it knows if he 1s home Scenarios Dan needs the heating to be programmed to come on at 5 30 1n the morning as he 1s up early before the markets open but only for a short time Dan needs to be able to turn the heating on ad hoc he gets in late depending on market performance and research that needs to be done so he does not arrive home at a regular time and not until it 1s late At the weekends Dan likes to sleep in so he wants the heating to come on later at the weekends but still for only a short time also he still needs the ad hoc function to be available to dry his laundry Summary This section has laid out 4 different personas that have various wants needs and problems Below is a list of the general points that were raised by the personas that the first prototypes should attempt to address The system should offer flexibility for users between being able to have presets timings or constant heating options The display should be very simple and clear with the ability to use more options 1f the user desires it To be precise with heating options to help save money To have an obvious display of the current conditions in the house It should be noted at this point it was clear that the personas wanted some significantly different options from the prototypes It was therefore decided at this point that the focus of the prototypes would be on individual home systems
80. verall the group worked well together with members of the group often working together to complete various sections of the project Google drive was essential to keep a central repository of all the project that all members of the group could work and comment on 64 References Amazon user reviews available from http www amazon co uk product reviews BOOIJAVK90 ref cm_cr_ dp see all btm ie UTFS amp showViewpoints 1 amp sortBy bySubmissionDateDescending http www amazon co uk product reviews B00649IW XI ref cm cr dp see all btm ie UTFS amp showViewpoints 1 amp sortBy bySubmissionDateDescending http www amazon com ecobee EB STAT 02 Thermostat Heat 2 screen dp B004150PJG ref cm cr pr product topZproductDetails http www amazon com ecobee EB STAT 02 Thermostat Heat 2 Screen product reviews B004150PJG ref cm cr dp see all summary ie UTF8 amp showViewpoints 1 amp sortBy byRankDescending Barnes C 2011 Heatmiser PRT TS Wi Fi thermostat review amp troubleshooting tips Available from http chris gg 2011 1 I heatmiser prt ts wi fi thermostat review troubleshooting tips Carbon Trust 2011 Heating Control Retrieved February 1 2014 from The Carbon Trust http www carbontrust com media 10361 ctg065 heating control pdf Centre for Sustainable Energy Central Heating Controls Available from http www cse org uk advice advice and support central heating controls Digital Equipment Corporation 1986 Sy
81. wever as previously pointed out this system was not designed for large commercial use and therefore will have limited to no potential benefit for Oliver overall 8 3 User Evaluation Evaluation and results of user questionnaire A selection of potential users were asked to take part in a small demonstration interaction and survey activity to determine the applicability of the system that the prototype emulates The survey took the format of a brief explanation from a team member explaining what the system is and how it works It was explained that there are dual displays the smaller display is surrounded by a rotating bezel and the larger display is a touchscreen where the majority of the information is displayed and interaction takes place The users were asked to interact with the flash prototype a team member sat with the user to explain the limitations of the system and to offer any guidance Once the user felt they had sufficient experience with the system they filled out a questionnaire see appendix The questionnaire is an adaption on the system usability scale Digital Equipment Corporation 1986 these 10 questions related to the software interface of the system The questionnaire also included two additional questions at the end relating to the hardware design of this system specifically e Question 11 I feel the dial makes it easy to change the temperature and time e Question 12 I would feel comfortable using the
82. y way for user to temporarily override programmed settings if they are feeling cold Few steps button pushes needed to program the system User control and freedom Flexibility and efficiency of use Flexibility and efficiency of use Error prevention Negatives Persona Problem Severity Heuristic User control and Susanne Heating can only be programmed to 4 freedom Harrison come on once a day How to program the heating is not immediately obvious without instructions Flexibility and efficiency of use Flexibility and efficiency of use Help and documentation Dial shows desired temperature but actual temperature is not shown anywhere Only one heating zone Match between system and real world User control and freedom Method of programming the heating is not particularly efficient no way of setting hours and minutes separately which would speed things up and Susanne has to press set repeatedly to get to the day she wants No obvious way of quickly turning heating off cancelling if e g Susanne presses the l hour boost button by mistake or changes her mind Susanne cannot save load programs e g 1f she wants to switch from a default to a holiday schedule and then back again she will have to reprogram from scratch each time Flexibility and efficiency of use User control and freedom Help error recovery User control and freedom Flexibility and effi
83. yesight Visibility of Humphrey When setting the timer the information Oldman about start time temperature is not system status visible when setting the end time for example This means that Humphrey must Recognition wait until he has set all three to check if rather than he has input the correct parameters By recall the time he is adjusting the third he may have forgotten what he entered for the Error first prevention 55 Humphrey To cancel a timer preset he must go back 2 Flexibility and Oldman into the menu for that mode and press efficiency of cancel It may be easier for him to be use able to cancel any upcoming processes straight from the home screen There is no feedback on how economical 2 Flexibility and efficiency of Humphrey s usage of the system is He may think he is being economical but has no reassurance that he 1s use Humphrey Help and documentation is contained 4 Help and Oldman behind the options menu Although this documentation reduces the amount of clutter on the Error screen it may be easier for Humphrey to prevention get help on the screen where he is stuck 8 2 Summaries Dan Jones The design is intuitive and clear the dual screen interface coupled with the large format touch screen and rotating bezel make it easy to understand and use Dan is able to quickly and easily set the heating schedule for his week using the repeat button to transfer the heat schedule

INTRODUCTION TO HCI Designing a New Heating Control System

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