IDEA Lab
About
The mission of the student-powered, faculty-led Interface Design and Experience Analysis (IDEA) Lab is to bring campus, community, and corporate partners together to make technology and innovative ideas more accessible. Whether a client needs an app or website design, a user experience study, a communication strategy, digital assets, or some combination of all of the above, the IDEA Lab is here to help clients exceed their unique goals. The lab accomplishes this through tailored, human-centered design techniques, which results in data-driven recommendations and creative solutions.
The Team đ
Leah Moss
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of UX Design (PCAL)
Mark Simpson
Co-Investigator
Associate Professor of UX Design (PCAL)
Michael Galloway
Co-Investigator
Associate Professor of Computer Science (OCSE)
Kristina Arnold
Collaborator
Chair of Department of Art & Design (PCAL)
Gordon Emslie
Collaborator
Professor, Former Provost
Greg Arbuckle
Collaborator
Professor, Former Dean
Menu of Services đŠâđť
| Service | Description |
|---|---|
| User Research | User to understand the target audience by investigating needs, behaviors, and motivations through qualitative and quantitative methods. Data can be collected through interviews, surveys, and card-sorting. Data is most commonly presented in personas. |
| Sprint to Strategy | Have a vaguely defined idea, but arenât sure about the ideaâs target user, strategy, or feasibility? In sprint to strategy, weâll answer key business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with real-world people. |
| UI/UX Prototyping | From proof-of-concept prototyping to hyper-realistic, interactive products, we can prototype just about anything digital (websites, apps, smart tech, wearable tech). |
| Usability Testing | How do real users feel about the product? By âproduct,â we mean just about anything a person interacts withâwebsites, games, virtual reality, apps, and even podcasts. This type of evaluation collects data and gathers metrics such as task success rates and time on task. Results are used to provide validated, data-driven recommendations. |
| Usability Testing Add-On: Heuristic Evaluation | Heuristic evaluations are add-ons to usability testing. Heuristic evaluations are used to catch common usability problems. |
| Usability Test Add-On: System Usability Scale | Developed by John Brooke in 1986, a System Usability Scale is a standardized, reliable low-cost usability scale. |
| Accessibility and Universal Design Evaluation | Is your product meeting Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)? Universal design refers to âthe design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability.â |
| Web Design | From ideation to creation, we can launch your websiteâor refresh your old one. We specialize in CMS including WordPress, the industry leader. |
| Digital Asset Creation | Digital assets can take many forms, including graphics, icons, infographics, marketing materials, and more. |
| Content Calendar Creation | For many, the idea of a creating a digital content calendar to guide social media and digital marketing efforts is daunting. That’s where we come in. |
| Communication Consulting | Communication consulting offers a fresh perspective to communication strategies and effectiveness. This can encompass various aspects of communication, both internal and external, and span medium and platform. Consulting can be especially valuable when an organization is undergoing significant changes, facing challenges, or seeking to improve overall communication practices. |
| Presentation Workshopping | If youâve ever been forced to watch a presenter read word-for-word off of a text-heavy black-and-white default PowerPoint, you know the struggle is real. Weâll work with you to flesh out your idea and create the visuals to back it up. |
| Media Training | If youâve ever been asked to speak to the media, it can seem daunting. We can help you refine your talking points and guide you through the process with best practices. Soon, youâll be a pro at juggling the media without breaking a sweat. |
| View in Google Docs |
Pilot Project: SunSketcherâ˘ď¸
Our present work with SunSketcher can be considered an analogy for the IDEA Lab itself and a perfect pilot project. At first glance, SunSketcher might appear to be a science projectâbut it does not follow traditional academic silos. SunSketcher is about taking a complex, obscure idea; making it perform and function better; and transforming it into an engaging, accessible experience for a diverse population.
Tabby Cline, a student serving as the SunSketcher UX and user interface (UI) designer, developed a prototype of the app using standard, industry-leading software (Figma) [see figure B, below]. Leah Moss, Idea Lab PI, assessed this prototype using a quantitative System Usability Scale (John Brooke, 1986) as well as a survey instrument. Twelve UX students participated in the rapid testing session. While an eclipse was not falsely generated, participants were still able to assess the degree to which they understood the app and the appâs purpose; the progression through the appâs screens; and the appâs overall functionality and design.
Insights generated from informal UX assessments such as this are not generalizable to the population, but that is not the goal. The goal is to quickly and frequently test products to catch major usability issues and understand perceptions of products. In this sense, user experience research is most closely related to engineering research rather than scientific research.
This small-scope UX evaluation revealed that the app was in fact, highly usable (demonstrated by the average score of 82.5 on the System Usability Scale). However, the survey revealed more nuanced issues that could hinder adoption by and performance with a diverse audience and at scale, such as but not limited to the findings in the table below.
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Unclear Purpose | Create additional screen(s) to explain what SunSketcher is, its purpose, and the greater use the data serves. Do not assume the user watches the tutorial or visits the website prior to downloading and using. |
| Unclear Action | Create an âin progressâ screen when the app records during the eclipse. |
| Buttons & Labels | Button labels on other screens should be shortened to one or two words. Remove the status bar before handing it off to developers. |
| Tutorial Affordances | Tutorial imagery consists of screen captures of other screens in the app. It was unclear if these were static images and not clickable, interactive elements in and of themselves (ie, an image showing buttons looks like buttons). Add a stroke or other signifier to clarify these are static images. |
| Minor Formatting Inconsistencies | Inconsistent text formatting throughout (size, capitalization, alignment). |
Prototype
Application Materials for TOP Grant
Pre-Proposal 1ď¸âŁ
Presentation 2ď¸âŁ
Proposal 3ď¸âŁ
Letters of Support
| Contact |
|---|
| Terrance D. Brown, Dean Potter College of Arts and Letters |
| David N. Brown, Dean Ogden College of Science & Engineering |
| Stacy Wilson, Director School of Engineering and Applied Sciences |
| Buddy Steen, CEO WKU Innovation Campus |
| Tiffany Isselhardt, Exhibit Curator and Development Coordinator Kentucky Museum |