*Week 2: 7 Days of HCI / Fall 2024*

Here I was attending my Information Architecture Class at 7:43 pm on a Tuesday evening listening to my professor say — *“Human beings understand visuals better than words. Languages are complex.”* And it got me thinking — but we communicate in words? Yet our eyes are reluctant on reading, but they appreciate form.

I believe I’ve managed to secure classes where I can learn about storytelling in different forms. In forms such as data visualizations, fictional or imagined stories and the sequence of information on my screen.

## **Technology is an iterative social tool.**

Fictional stories teach us about human behavior. Our senses incite emotions, and our emotions direct the stories we tell ourselves everyday to function in the human society. Technology is a tool we use to communicate with other and to satisfy our social needs.

Strategic and purposeful use of technology has helped us build experiences that are understandable to most human beings, apart from the several (and less anxious) population that hasn’t discovered internet yet. Now on the internet, there exist intended experiences for purposes that incite feelings that range from delightful to dark. Every feeling is planned and strategized to create an intended experience and to achieve a purpose.

> ***“We are conditioned to understand narrative better because our lives are an amalgamation of stories.”***

To create intended user experiences, stories play a holistic metaphorical role both as a method and a tool. Imagine someone tells you a story —

“I lost my crimson card AND I need to swim today BUT I will need to scan my ID at SRSC, THEREFORE I need to apply for a new card.”

I used the ABT method to weave a short story so I could tell you about the premise, the problem and the solution. But stories serve as an overall tool to communicate problems and can be used as a method to increase engagement and empathy. It may become a little complex when interactivity comes in the party.

## **Timed, sequenced and optimized information supports interactivity.**

When human attention has been captured and is in engagement with a device, it’s better practice to present information that matches *most* Mental Models. As human beings, the stories we tell ourselves may repeat at times. We are wary of dangerous situations by constantly scanning for familiar situations in order to reduce the element of surprise. Moments of surprise require a learning curve and aren’t accepted easily, and are starting to be met with frustration and anxiety.

> ***“Why can’t I find what I came to look for? What is wrong with this website?”***

The likely answer to question above is poor information architecture. And the key to improve IA is to create a balance between words, images, sound and surfaces to incite certain feelings in an intended experience. Languages are complex yes, but they help us talk. Words are overwhelming yes, but with images they become more context-driven and approachable.

## **Metrics are a form of stories too.**

As daunting as numbers are, they are entities of their own just like words or images. Data visualizations helps us understand numbers better. It’s essentially form and numbers clubbed together to tell you a story about a situation.

As a design researcher, my job is to study, analyze and understand human beings to create experiences for other human beings. Human-Computer Interaction teaches me a variety of ways to understand the relationship between computers and humans. And this week, it was through stories.

*So, what stories did you choose to tell yourself today?*

“Humans understand narrative better than letters and metrics”.

*Week 5 & 6: 7 Days of HCI / Fall 2024*

I’ve been learning about breaking things down in order to understand their granularity and ultimately understanding concept holistically. All in terms of categories, mental models, data, emotions, or even stories for that matter.

## **Mental Models are more generic in nature as compared to it’s name.**

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FrHLt5ts8hXTP4WtSJzB0zn4ksC33%2FK1B7FkvH7ZWFCRMqqL0Y%2F0407ecfd-0752-42f4-8a96-6c0fc98ff495.jpg?alt=media&token=bce94128-e6ea-4c32-b44b-f994c6d97160","id":"0407ecfd-0752-42f4-8a96-6c0fc98ff495","width":786,"height":384,"filename":"Frame 19.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

The thing about user experience is that there are descriptive words for jobs, methods and concepts. Whenever I come across a new term on the internet, I am intrigued to find the meaning and its usually something I already know but with a different name. But that doesn’t mean things in the field of UX are repetitive, they are rather descriptive and niche in nature.

> *In a similar way, mental models exist in every part of our lives. It’s the way you think the world works, or even a dishwasher for that matter.*

## **Pre-Attentive Attributes may also be a form of ancestral mental model of living.**

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FrHLt5ts8hXTP4WtSJzB0zn4ksC33%2FK1B7FkvH7ZWFCRMqqL0Y%2Fc453f65c-16a2-4ace-9b11-904f4987ff7b.jpg?alt=media&token=6f2dc7d4-1734-4456-8404-230e59147481","id":"c453f65c-16a2-4ace-9b11-904f4987ff7b","width":786,"height":384,"filename":"Frame 18.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

*“Pre-attentive attributes are information we can process visually almost immediately, with no thought whatsoever.”*

The reason I mentioned human beings tend to chunk things is because we need to understand the granularity of a subject matter to create meaning in our minds. Meaning-making is often after interpretation and description. But the purpose will determine the categorization of subject matter. Information is categorized according to purpose and then prioritized according to preference.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FrHLt5ts8hXTP4WtSJzB0zn4ksC33%2FK1B7FkvH7ZWFCRMqqL0Y%2Fa7ed5850-4dea-45d6-96e9-cdc1ffc8979f.jpg?alt=media&token=0e1e1c58-13e8-403d-bd80-56b6ef5f70b8","id":"a7ed5850-4dea-45d6-96e9-cdc1ffc8979f","width":786,"height":384,"filename":"Frame 20.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

*Because our environment is constantly demanding attention,\
**we must categorize to live.***

Purpose + Context — serve as the essence of categorization.

## **Senses and emotions are closely interlinked and influence behavior.**

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FrHLt5ts8hXTP4WtSJzB0zn4ksC33%2FK1B7FkvH7ZWFCRMqqL0Y%2F89d71450-d00c-4276-9979-9f3e4e8239fc.jpg?alt=media&token=c10f13d2-35d7-44b9-b518-5d34c2e68687","id":"89d71450-d00c-4276-9979-9f3e4e8239fc","width":786,"height":384,"filename":"Frame 21.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

*Above is a visual representation of facial expressions, but meaning-making isn’t limited to expressions.*

I’ve been learning how we create meaning from our environment and with people. Facial expressions are one form of interpreting what might be going on but it isn’t limited to expressions. We create meaning through our senses and our emotions. Feeling something when you are in a particular room. Feeling something when you are with someone. Feeling something when something happens on a screen. Feeling something when you interact. We associate some sort of feeling to anything pay attention to.

## **Feelings are created in intended experiences.**

I’ve come to understand that experiences are intended. Stories are broken down to create feelings are various points in time. Categorization is done to understand and distinguish purposes. Mental models exist to understand similarity and difference between ways of thinking or interpreting. And even though organizing worldly concepts for human consumption is difficult, we pay price with human attention. Human attention is further divided with chunks to understand the world as a whole.

“Humans practice chunking to holistically understand life to further inform mental models.”

*Week 3: 7 Days of HCI / Fall 2024*

I may talk about storytelling to an exaggerated extent for the next several weeks (months) to emphasize why it’s important. It’s more of a learning experience for me as when I explain it I may gather more knowledge and write about the topic and enhance my learning.

## **Visual senses often and highly contribute to contextual understanding and sense-making.**

Humans can make better distinctions between forms as compared to text. We have what they call — Pre attentive Attributes, which we haven’t quite discussed yet in our class. But I was highly curious to see what it was so I learnt about it:

> ***“Pre attentive attributes are visual attributes, including size, color, shape, and position that are processed at a high speed by the visual system.” —** Source: [Guides at Johns Hopkins University.](https://guides.library.jhu.edu/datavisualization/design#:~:text=Preattentive%20attributes%20are%20visual%20attributes,to%20you%20in%20each%20image%3F)*

## **The Narrative Arc is widely applicable, especially as a sense-making and sequencing tool for relatability.**

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FrHLt5ts8hXTP4WtSJzB0zn4ksC33%2Fk46A5jiyTaw6jGdulwZT%2Fd8305fea-276e-45fb-a82b-8b3b3229e0a4.jpg?alt=media&token=5b4231ec-fee2-4183-affb-2984925fa940","id":"d8305fea-276e-45fb-a82b-8b3b3229e0a4","width":950,"height":523,"filename":"Narrative Arc.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

It’s so simple, our lives revolve around stories — “Do you know what happened today?” “I can’t wait to go back to my country after an entire year!” “I missed the bus so I had to walk till your place!” “I feel hungry and I am low on energy but I don’t have any groceries in my fridge, therefore I need to visit Aldi as soon as possible so that I can eat.”

As short as our stories might be, we somehow find relatability within these short stories with other human beings. To set connections and familiarity, our stories are relatable because of the emotion we express those stories with.

* Excitement: *“Do you know what happened today?”*

* Anticipation, Relief, Longing: *“I can’t wait to go back to my country after an entire year!”*

* Frustration, Inconvenience: *“I missed the bus so I had to walk till your place!”*

* Discomfort, Fatigue, Necessity: *“I feel hungry and I am low on energy but I don’t have any groceries in my fridge, therefore I need to visit Aldi as soon as possible so that I can eat.”*

Relatability and connection is formed with characters, settings, actions, choices and dilemmas. Sometimes an unexpected twist evokes an emotional response in human beings. You would also notice that when you read stories, you imagine a scenario on your own — you fill in the missing parts of the story. The senses that aren’t engaged but in order to make sense of it, you make something to make sense of it anyway.

## **Human brain requires context to perceive — more the information to contextualize what we see, more the sense we can make out of it.**

Before computers came along, human beings relied on physical objects to make sense and tell stories to themselves about their lives.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FrHLt5ts8hXTP4WtSJzB0zn4ksC33%2Fk46A5jiyTaw6jGdulwZT%2F228576c3-7f21-4642-8299-c6172a8cc1c2.jpg?alt=media&token=8ed3fdb0-b354-4f4a-bef5-040c481fcad8","id":"228576c3-7f21-4642-8299-c6172a8cc1c2","width":950,"height":209,"filename":"Objects.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

Obviously, evidence of replicated physical objects in digital context is highly visible today. And because there is no physical environment in digital settings, we have to provide visual cues to users to help them build context and meaning of information being communicated. We make patterns with the information we have. It creates impact on how we perceive digital information.

Icons are a great way to understand the meaning of ‘affordance’. As popular as the term is, I couldn’t quite understand the meaning of it until recently.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FrHLt5ts8hXTP4WtSJzB0zn4ksC33%2Fk46A5jiyTaw6jGdulwZT%2F386afbc5-91eb-47c2-8fd9-acdd2f292ecd.png?alt=media&token=8c327ad7-2d46-4703-8f27-aaeb8b00722c","id":"386afbc5-91eb-47c2-8fd9-acdd2f292ecd","width":2694,"height":176,"filename":"Screenshot 2024-10-03 175540.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

For example: what associations can you form with the icons present in this navigation bar? (Send feedback!) Our mental models help us create meaning with visuals and textual information we see on the internet. We also tend to chunk information to better understand subject matters. So when you move from 1 page to another, you are moving from 1 experience to another in your mental model. You are essentially moving from 1 room to the other in the home of the mind.

As much information is bombarded to us every minute, we divide our attention according to visual cues which are also engaged with familiarity. People process visual information differently and attention cannot be controlled. Cultural cues help in such situations. Human beings are constantly distracted with information, so when information is missing and we rely on lessons from our cultures to build meaning of situations. **The way we understand a system works is a mental model. Even if it is incorrect.**

*So, what cues in your environment today helped you enhance the mental model of your life?*

“Humans look for familiar cues in their environment to build context.”

*Week 4: 7 Days of HCI / Fall 2024*

Living in a community is evident in various states of human life. We live in a community on the internet, in our neighborhood, in our career, in our friendships, and relationships both close and distant. Somewhere when digital technology boomed in the 90s, humans got lost in the fascination of it and obsessed over what the next best thing.

Internet is community as well and we use digital tech to communicate with each other. We don’t live on the internet to catch up on who’s doing what, but to feel a sense of community (although it exists in our heads). *Perhaps, countries are the greatest example of living a community experience.*

## **Designer’s in the HCI Community co-exist on the internet and in real life.**

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FrHLt5ts8hXTP4WtSJzB0zn4ksC33%2FvNdoSAVpidIr3Zt5RUJU%2F9ccc3f05-80b9-451f-bd40-ee29a4e3e402.jpg?alt=media&token=ead19941-4db0-424d-bfad-45c1d9ab5fe7","id":"9ccc3f05-80b9-451f-bd40-ee29a4e3e402","width":786,"height":384,"filename":"Frame 16.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

I’ve been having conversations around learning experiences and instructional design with various people this week. In the process of talking, I realized the design community stands on a ‘shared’ understanding of well, sharing knowledge. We talk to people to find clarity in ideas and seek knowledge.

## **We categorize information to get a better sense of how to behave or how are we expected to behave in a certain part of community.**

Websites serve as a smaller part of communities present widely on the internet. We create tools to communicate information to another community. Mental models exist in the similar fashion to understand the placement of information or the ‘findability’ of information.

And because human population cannot stop reproducing and there are so many us, there is tons of data. Data is another tool of storytelling and communicating information to a community. Mental models are expected to be exercised in data visualization tools such as excel sheets and tableau to express information in an intended experience.

## **Our sense of physical environment and digital environments often overlap to get a sense of community.**

I have a hypothesis (which I haven’t quite validated) that visual senses perform a larger role in interpreting information in our environments. But they don’t perform a lot in meaning-making. In one of the classes, we get a sense of our environment or we read images, people or even rooms by first observing, interpreting and then creating a meaning that we further in a mental model. What we perceive is then organized in our sense of community. Brains are automatic interpreters. Our memories also play a role in associating meaning.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FrHLt5ts8hXTP4WtSJzB0zn4ksC33%2FvNdoSAVpidIr3Zt5RUJU%2Fc1cdb3af-f021-4815-bb2e-a71bcbdcb616.jpg?alt=media&token=7a16c8c0-e425-4121-b043-be647d9fd60f","id":"c1cdb3af-f021-4815-bb2e-a71bcbdcb616","width":786,"height":384,"filename":"Frame 17.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

Which makes me think — ***Are we humanizing digital technology as well?** Do we want to stay connected with humans which includes our daily use of digital tech to enhance communication.*

“Humans love community and communicate with digital technology.”

Writer - Researcher - Designer

Enhancing Patient-Clinician Communication with Digital Teach-Back

UX Researcher

* Assessed and improved course effectiveness by 15% through revisiting the design layout based on pedagogical principles that raised retention rate.

* Composed student engagement by 25% and improved comprehension rates by 20% through content optimization, including revamping course content, optimizing button placement, and selecting appropriate platforms.

* Boosted student satisfaction scores by 10% and elevated retention rates by 15% by collaborating cross-functionally with developers, managers, and content editors to implement UI enhancements.

Content Designer

* Expanded CVR of the e-commerce website by 20% by leading a team of 7, conducting UX audits, analyzing user interviews, performing competitive analysis, and A/B testing sales pages to modernize the website experience.

* Transformed overall employee satisfaction by 20% and reduced user-reported issues by 15% by testing and analyzing over 10 web apps, reorganizing the employee experience.

* Streamlined click-rate by 15% by strategizing email content based on user buying history and collaborating with product managers and content writers to promote brand-customer relationships, thereby revising customer experience.

* Innovated customer engagement by developing a detailed skincare quiz to provide personalized experiences, based on the analysis of 100+ interviews to create user personas.

* Achieved up to a 4% CVR by creating high-performing social media ads for Facebook, using Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity for targeted ad design.

* Contributed to a 20% rise in sales and directing brand image by creating a luxury product catalogue for the brand, highlighting effective product catalogue design.

Visual Designer

Working as a mentor for student entrepreneurs who build products from scratch, providing hands-on support and aligning with user needs to create market value.

Sanskriti

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