One Day Challenge: When I Know How Essential Collaboration and Information Architecture on Digital Application Design System
One day my HCI lecturer gave a test for each group in the class. The test is to make a low-fi prototype with certain problems and conditions. Each group has a different task. My group got the mission to make a disaster mitigation mobile app for natural disaster victims which had to be completed in one hour
At that time, we did not know about design thinking or other innovation methods in making digital products. Therefore we create an application feature based on our knowledge and experience. We began to simulate our position as natural disaster victims, what we feared, and needed as an initial basis for the required features. The features that come to our mind are login/signup, notification, features to find people around (for example, family), communication with people around who are reached by the locator, and emergency calls. Initially, we were confused about how to unify all these components simply and easily. Finally, I got the idea to create a radar-shaped system to facilitate the search for the nearest victim in a pressed condition through the GPS / Bluetooth / Wifi locator feature. This idea was based on my experience in a short brief on the Artillery Locating Radar / Fire Finding Radar (HALO) project in my undergrad computer and system control laboratory.
My team does not have an IT or computer science background, so I totally understand that they are not familiar with making application systems. But that does not mean they do not help at all. Although the system was originally created by me, the feature components were the result of a joint discussion. Also, the first system that I created succeeded in creating a critical conversation, which was valuable to improve the function of the application features.
Since that day, I have a different view of the teamwork. Before this day, I believe the team was a working partner who helped each other in their respective functions. For example, if I’m a system engineer and my friend is a developer, my friend will help me load the system that I made based on his ability. Now, I realized how valuable and important the perspectives and expertise of various stakeholders make products more diverse. I agree collaboration is important for optimum product development. Still, the work environment in every organization needs to be taken into consideration whether collaboration can be done or not.
When designing a system on our last project on the HCI class. I must admit, it such a mess. I was confused by the system we wanted to make because of the complex features that we add. I know how to make flowcharts or to make simple payment applications, but information systems are not my expertise. Until one day, one of my friends discussed Information Architecture (IA), and finally, I found out where my weaknesses were.
According to the Peter Morville Site, IA’s goal is to help users understand where they are, what they find, what is around, and what to expect. So IA’s function is to inform content strategies through identifying word choices as well as notifying user interface design and interaction design through playing a role in the process of wireframing and prototyping. IA itself is fundamental to UX design because it forms the design project framework. Visual elements, functionality, interaction, and navigation are built following AI principles. There will be a disadvantage if the application is made with unorganized navigation. IA is also different from the User Journey Map. IA is an initial concept to determine the system while the User Journey Map is made for system validation to the user.
I am not saying that UX Designer often ignores IA and focuses more on interfaces in digital product development because UX is a new interdisciplinary field. But I suggest IA as one of the starting points for beginners who want to learn UX and considering collaboration rather than delegation on their work.
The end result of our one day challenge went so memorable and surprising. I did not observe the overall results of the user testing that we held because of the limited time. I also had the duty to become a participant as a user testing for the other team. What I remember the most was when one of our friends, who also a visual impairment, became a user testing participant and made us rethink the whole application we built.
