Bad Design

First Assignment for NM4210: Finding a BAD design!

In the first lecture, we learnt that User Experience is a term used to describe the overall quality of experience a person has when interacting with a product or a system!

Thus I will be using these 3 criterias to judge the bad design that I have chosen:

o Functionality, usability (ease of use)
o Aesthetics / sensorial design (visual attractiveness)
o Hedonic quality/ pleasurable to use (emotion, branding, marketing, business strategy –perceived pleasure quality)

The product that I have chosen for my BAD DESIGN:

Nokia N-Gage (Engage)

The Nokie N-gage phone is not simply a mobile phone used for making calls.

Main functionality:

1. Powerful 3D gaming capability
2. MP3 Player
3. Mobile web browser

The gaming industry in thriving. The gaming population is increasing as can be shown from console and gaming hardware sales. Nokia being the market leader in terms of handphone technology has come up with a Nokia N-Gage phone so as to get a share in the gaming industry. Its target consumers are mainly gamers who wish to be able to play games anywhere anytime. This is possible as the games are integrated into the handphone. This seems to be a good design at first because gamers are no longer confined to a physical space when they feel like gaming. The portability of a handphone allows gamers to game even when they are on the move. However, due to the integration of gaming systems into the handphone, it has resulted in the Bad design of the mobile as the design and the user-friendliness of the phone is affected.

These are the main features of the phone:

1. Wireless Multiplayer Game Play
2. Killer game titles from top publishers
3. Supports 3D Graphics
4. MP3 Player & FM Radio
5. N-Gage Arena

Capturing User Reaction:

User profile: Edwin Yeow

Name: Edwin Yeow
Age: 23/Male

Occupation: Student

Interest: Gaming and hanging out

I picked my guy friend who games as a tester for my bad design. He has high computer literacy skills. He has never used the Nokia N-gage mobile phone before. I feel that these criterias would therefore give a very neutral perspective on the user experience of the phone.

First Impression

Nokia N-gage

First impression:

Aesthetic Design: (Please refer to the picture above)

• A little too bulky
• It would fit into his jeans but it would be very uncomfortable.
• Looks like a technological tool
• Looks like it has great gaming capabilities.
• There are however too many buttons on the phone.
  

First try: (Figuring out how to use the phone)

Trying out the phone for the first time

• Confusion due to the amount of buttons on the phone
• He had to play around with the buttons several times just to get to the menu
• Navigation around the menu was hard because he could not remember what buttons lead to which area.
• Finding the function in the phone was hard
• On the left hand side of the phone, the buttons were not placed in a manner that is comfortable for the hand to position itself.
• Within the categories of the phone, there were many sub-categories which makes it hard for the users to find the functions that they were looking for.
• Time-consuming for first-time users to get the hang of the phone.
  

Experience of playing games:

Because this is a gaming phone, we decided to try out the experience of playing games in the phone. In order to play the games, users need to buy additional memory card and game cards.

Game played: One game

Reaction:

• There was no lag while playing the game
• The experience is not comparable to actual gaming on a PC or console.
• Small screen and soft volume made the experience less enjoyable.
• The buttons are also very small. Therefore it makes it uncomfortable to control the movements.
• Can be a source of entertainment when he is bored outside.
• Nokia N-gage cannot be a substitute for online gaming on PC due to the lack of interactivity while playing the game.
• Main difficulty: Finding out where the games were stored. He had to scroll through the menu several time and through different folders in order to find it.
• Do not see the point of buying extra game cards and memory card just to play the games. He feels that Nokia should have included a few games in if they wanted to invent a gaming phone.
• However, it must be mentioned that the 3D effect of the games are considerably impressive.
  

Using the phone to make a call:

The main function of any mobile phone is for a mobile phone user to be able to make calls when they are out so as to communicate with other people. Therefore, Edwin is asked to test the usability of this function.

The wrong way of using Nokia N-gage

The correct way of using Nokia N-gage

Edwin is successful in making the phone call to his friend. However he encountered a problem when the call is connected. He held the phone face down which is how a normal mobile phone is usually held. However, he appears fidgety as he is talking. When asked what is the problem, he said that it does not seem like this is the correct position to hold the phone as the volume is very soft. After which I told him that the phone is indeed not designed to be hold in this way and i asked him to try finding the correct speaker. He fiddled with the phone for quite a while without a solution. In the end I had to tell him that the speaker is actually at the side of the phone. He is a little surprised with the design as the area for the speaker is very narrow and very small. Moreover, it is not aesthetically pleasing when he is holding the phone and talking in that posture. I asked him to try calling his friend again. He commented that this is the worst feature of the phone as it feels "weird and uncomfortable."Moreover, the volume is very soft and he cannot hear his friend as comfortably as a normal mobile phone. This is due to the small speaker hole of the phone. He commented that it is going to be torturous to talk on this phone if he was to have a long conversation with his friends.

Where the speaker hole is located

Feeling towards Nokia N-gage:

Aesthetic Aspect:

• Acceptable design even though it is not a beautiful phone.
• Too many buttons which makes it complicated to use and confusing as it is hard to navigate around the menu.
  

Gaming Aspect:

• It would be nice to have a phone with gaming features as it is cool and can be a source of entertainment when he is bored
• Graphics and interface is nice
• However, gaming on PC is still more enjoyable as playing on a mobile phone lacks an element of real-ness when playing the game.
• Screen is too small and volume is too soft. (Less excitement)
• However, pricing for memory card and game cards are a little too steep especially if he wants to have variety in games.

Making a phone call:

• This is the main problem with the phone.
• It is impossible to find the correct speaker hole without prompting and even so it seems weird to talk on the phone like this.
• The volume is too soft and not condusive for talking.
  

Overall reaction:

When asked whether he would buy the phone, my friend said that he will never buy this phone as it does not serve the main purpose of a mobile phone which is to make calls. Neither does the gaming aspect satisfy him as much as he had expected. There are better alternatives to do when he is bored outside as compared to gaming on the phone. Moreover it would cost alot to have variety of games on the mobile phone. The functions and navigation are too complicated and is not user-friendly at all.

Lessons he learnt from this interaction:

As a gamer, he used to think that this phone is quite cool as it allows him to game even on the go. However, he learnt that one feature of gaming is not as important as the usability of the whole phone. If the basic function of making a call is accomplished with such difficulty, the phone will not satisfy him as a mobile user. He also mentioned that a phone is not better just because it has more functions. The design of the phone must be user-friendly enough so that it is easy to use.

Their impression on brand:

With regards to branding, Edwin has always been an avid supporter of Nokia as he believes that they design great phones which is very durable. His impression of the brand is not tarnished just because of a bad design of Nokia N-gage. He reasoned that because this is just a courageous venture on the part of Nokia into a market which they are not that familiar with, it is not surprising that they end up with a bad design. He will still continue to buy a Nokia phone in the future.

My reflections: (On product and user reaction)

o Functionality, usability (ease of use)

In terms of fuctionality, the Nokia N-gage is definitely low on the scale. The design of the buttons are not intuitive to the user and the confusion was apparant on his face while he was trying to figure his way around the mobile phone. The phone had alot of functions like MP3 player, internet browsing and gaming functions. However, if the user is not able to find these functions in an effective manner in the first place, the user would have lost interest as they get too frustrated with the phone to enjoy the experience of using the phone in the first place.

o Aesthetics / sensorial design (visual attractiveness)

In terms of aesthetic design, the phone is too bulky for a user to comfortably bring it around. For girls especially, the phone is too big for their jeans or skirt pocket. The design is built in a musculine structure in dark grey and black colour. I guess this is due to the assumption that the gaming population consists mainly of males and they are the main target audience for Nokia-Ngage. There are also too many buttons on the phone which will lead to confusion. However, it does look like a gaming equipment even from a user's first impression.

o Hedonic quality/ pleasurable to use (emotion, branding, marketing, business strategy –perceived pleasure quality)

Nokia designed this phone with the aim of delivering a hedonic pleasure of gaming on the go experiences for gamers. People will trust in this phone before buying it as its makers Nokia are established phone makers who have hardly gone wrong in phone design. In terms of branding, the advertisement shows a guy in a virtual world of gaming characters. Therefore its strategy is to attract the niche market of intense gamers who wants to game everywhere they go. However, users who buy the phone before understanding it in the first place will realize that the pleasure might not be delivered as they have to spend money on the game cards and memory card in order for the games to function.

Overall:

I think that this is a bad design but the fact that Nokia is a manufacturer of it means that the product comes with a branding trust for consumers which is why a lot of consumers are willing to risk trying out the phone even though this is a first-of-its-kind phone. The core purpose of calling is not served by the phone.The costs of enjoying games on the phone makes it impractical to spend so much money on it when gamers have other ways of gaming via computers or consoles. Seeing a user trying to figure their way through the buttons and trying to internalize the functions is also frustrating.

The End...