Johns Hopkins University Principles of Human Computer Interaction

February 10, 2012

Design of a Better Remote ControlBy Frances Advincula

Stakeholder Descriptions

Luciaa. Goal: To turn on the closed captioning feature for the first timeb. Background: A 9-year old girl. Knows how to use the iPad and the cell

phone, so used to very graphical user interfaces. Never really had to turn on the closed captioning feature for anyone before.

c. Expectations: Easy to use devices where the steps are highly graphical and obvious. She wanted to just press a button and it would turn on the closed captioning. 

d. Preferences: Visual cues, versus black and white, text-based menus. Not have to miss any part of her movie while turning on features like this.

Marka. Goal: To turn on the closed captioning feature by asking someone else

to do it for him.b. Background: a 50-year old, hearing-impaired dad. Has to have closed

captioning to fully enjoy a movie. A bit of a techno-phobia, always asking his daughters and wife for help in turning on and operating digital devices.

c. Expectations: To be able to turn on closed captioning quickly, without having to miss a movie or go to another menu. Be able to increase the volume without hiding the closed captioning.

d. Preferences: A one click button to toggle the feature on or off. At least a small explanation of the differences between caption types.

Phyllisa. Goal: To have a visual cue to easily remember which button brings up

the closed caption menu.b. Background: Frequently ran into the confusion of which button brought

up the menu with closed captioning, so she put in a sticker next to it as a visual reminder.

c. Expectations: Most TVs remote controls will probably have that closed captioning feature next in the menu brought up by a "Set-Up" button.

d. Preferences - A button that specifically says "Closed Captioning" or something similarly visual and obvious.

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Task Analysis

Lucia, remote operator Press buttons to accomplish her task, mainly to turn on the TV, play the DVD, adjust the volume, and turn on the closed captioning

Mark, closed captioning requester Asks Lucia to turn on the feature. Provides suggestion based on previous experience and visual cues such as the sticker.

Phyllis, sticker placer Press buttons to turn on closed captioning, and other normal TV functions. Puts a sticker on the "Set-Up" button to remind herself.

Figure 1, The “Set-Up” button marked with the sticker, serving as a visual cue.

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Problem Scenarios

Perspective: Lucia - the person actually operating the TV remote control

Lucia is a 9-year old girl who wanted to watch the movie Ice Age with her dad Mark, who has a hearing impairment. She turns on the DVD player and inserts the movie disc. Then, she sits at the couch, points the remote at the TV, and presses the power button. Fortunately, the movie menu displayed right away with the word "Play" already highlighted. She presses the button that says "Enter," and the movie starts playing. She presses the arrow up next to volume to increase it, so that Mark will be able to hear it better. 

A few minutes into the movie, an important conversation comes up, and Mark says he couldn't really hear what was going on. He asks Lucia to turn on the closed captioning. (Being a kid, Lucia completely forgets about the subtitle option that most DVDs come with -- which is accessible from most DVDs’ main menu.)

She picks up the remote control and is baffled with the choices -- "Display," "Set-Up," and "Disc Menu." Confused, she asks Mark what to do. Mark looks at the remote control and sees a blue heart sticker pointing at the button "Set-up." He clicks the button and hands the remove over to Lucia.

Lucia then sees a Menu on the screen, completely blocking them of the movie view. There were so many choices that she was getting confused!

"Urgh, I am missing the movie!" she whines. She scrolls down the menu by pressing one of the down arrows and finally sees the option "Closed Caption." She clicks "Enter" and another option shows up! The menu shows “Closed Caption 1”, she presses it again, and it displays “Closed Caption 2.”

"Which one is it?" she says as she turns to Mark. Mark says, "I think it is the first one; I kind of remember that’s what mom always picks." She presses the up arrow which displays “Closed Caption 1” again, and she presses “Enter.” The menu disappears and both Mark and Lucia now see the closed captioning feature as well as the movie.

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All is well, until Mark asks Lucia to turn up the volume some more. As she turns it up, the close captioning disappears, but goes back after a few seconds. Thus, they miss a few important parts of the conversation.

Perspective: Mark - her father, the person watching the episode with his daughter Lucia

Mark sits next to his daughter Lucia and tries to watch the movie Ice Age with her. He has a hearing impairment and requests his daughter to turn on the closed captioning feature. Lucia asks him which button it was, and he notices the blue heart sticker his wife put in there as a reminder. This is not the first time they struggle with setting up the close caption, and he wonders why there can't be a single button that just turns it on or off.  Lucia presses the button, and a black menu pops up, blocking their view of the movie. He feels a bit guilty about this, but thinks it should be no big deal since it probably will not take very long. As the two struggle with the menu, Mark again wonders why they can't just have a button that toggles the feature on or off. He also sighs in frustration at what the difference between “Closed Caption 1” or “Closed Caption 2” even is. Finally, he remembers it is probably the first one and tells Lucia this. Finally, the closed caption feature appears, and they can return to their movie. A few minutes later, Mark still couldn't hear all the effects and asks Lucia to increase the volume. As she does this, the volume progress bar appears on the screen, and the close captioning disappears. This frustrates Mark since he wasn't able to read the conversation. Then, Mark remembers the subtitles feature in most DVD menus. However, he no longer says anything about it because that would mean pausing the movie, going to the main menu and turning on the feature, and playing the movie again. He sighs in frustration yet again.

Perspective: Phyllis - the mom of the family

Phyllis notices how often this problem of closed captioning arises. She doesn't like it that she has to miss the funny parts of her favorite show NCIS by having to figure out which button to press. Finally, she decides to put a sticker next to the "Set-up" button to remind herself which button pertained to the closed-captioning.

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Claims on the Current State of Technology

"Set-Up” button a. Pros: Present in a lot remote controls, so it will at least give a hint to

users of new remotes. There are a lot of buttons on a remote, so the wording somewhat (although can still be ambiguous) narrows down the options.

b. Cons: However, it is not as clear, as some remotes also have a "Top Menu", "Menu,” etc., buttons.

Blue heart stickera. Pros: Provides a visual cue that this button is important. If the user is

aware of its history and purpose, it provides a poke-yoke type of reminder.

b. Cons: If the user doesn't know what it's for, it is terribly distracting and useless. Furthermore, it may even bring a user to a menu he or she doesn't even want to mess with, and will cause further frustration.

Closed Caption 1 and Closed Caption 2 options in the Menua. Pros: Provides a more granular level of customization.b. Cons: Very confusing and not useful if the definitions are not defined.

Hiding the closed captioning when volume is being adjusteda. Pros: Minimizes real estate space taken by updates.b. Cons: Users might want to see the captioning anyway -- the little real

estate taken by the additional space of the volume update maybe irrelevant to them, if they prefer seeing the subtitles at all cost. 

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Requirements Specification

Area 1: A new Closed Caption buttona. Requirement: There should be a one click option for users to quickly

turn on or off the closed caption feature. The button should be obvious, with a visual cue like the universal “CC” emblem.

b. Business Need: Allows users to get the task done quickly since it eliminates the need to consider other buttons or go through confusing menus. Provides a quick way to turn it on or off without the user having to miss or pause any part of the movie. 

Area 2: Not hide the closed caption when volume is being adjusteda. Requirement: There should be at least an optional setting wherein

adjusting the volume will not hide the closed captioning.b. Business Need: Impaired users miss parts of the movie's conversation

when the subtitles are hidden, diminishing their enjoyment of the scene.

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Works Cited

Rosson, Mary Beth., and John M. Carroll. "Chapter 2: Analyzing

Requirements." Usability Engineering: Scenario-based Development of

Human-computer Interaction. San Fancisco: Academic, 2002. N. pag.

Print.

Unger, Russ, and Carolyn Chandler. A Project Guide to UX Design: For User

Experience Designers in the Field or in the Making. Berkeley, Ca.: New

Riders, 2012. 82+. Print.

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