DSDN 112: User Feedback & Considerations For The Final Model

So, I finally got around to it and did some user testing. I got my victims (Mwahahahaha) to cover their eyes and then I passed them individual textures, and got them to rub these textures along their cheek, and then describe the texture to me in terms of how they felt about it.

My first victim was a friend of mine, and I made sure she always told me what she thought of the textures and whether or not she liked them.

I don't want to give my victims a series of lovely textures; that would be too nice of me. And I also don't want to shun them into the depths of despair with horrible face-shredding abominations. I want to give them an eclectic mix of sensations.

Having another person test my materials, a person who hadn't seen them before, was extremely beneficial. It really helped me to decide which textures weren't worth having, and which ones I could expand on. My friend helping me led to some interesting revelations!

Next, I tested my surfaces on my tutor. She had a lot more to say regarding the design, sadly not all of which I took down in pen., but remembered.

The combination of opinions and mixture of sensations led to a definite decision to cull the amount of materials I have down to a total of four or three. The sock material and foam were chucked out, and the cotton wool buds were gone too. All of them were deemed to be "pretty average and not really designed". So therefore I need to come up with some more materials for the whole board.

I should still go with the destroying-trust-before-returning-it concept. And I want to. The layout/sequence of the materials will be crucial. I need to sequence the materials with a few harsh ones first, followed by some nicer and more interesting materials, and finish on something unique and nice.

I'll also need to intersperse the different materials, since metal is consistently cold, and wood is generally warm, while paper is relatively neutral.

Another thing I needed to consider was that all the surfaces were at the same height, so that the user can smoothly transition from one surface to the next, which I need to take into careful consideration.

Also, after talking with some of the other tutors, I was told I should also create a blindfold, and some sort of curtain to cover the board while the user puts on the blindfolds.