Marcin Bober
Interaction designer

Goldfish

Goldfish is a web-based system which supports sports coaches in training planning.

The problem

Our 5 persons team was responsible for designing the interface for the system. The biggest challenge in this project was to gather and analyze the user requirements of the very specific and elite group, the top sport coaches.

Our team applied the Rapid Contextual Design process to gather and analyze the requirements. We conducted extensive user studies involving the best sport centres in Belgium and The Netherlands. We have put a lot of attention into understanding the unique nature of work and environment of the sport coaches. To get a big picture we interviewed not only the coaches at different levels of experience but also all the supporting staff, swimmers, and a sport manager.

The process

1. Market analysis. We've examined the current solutions such as personal training software.
2. Interviews. We conducted multiple with people in different locations, roles (coaches, swimmers, specialists), levels (from amateurs to country's top professionals), and environments (swimming school, research institute, etc.)
3. Analysis of current work techniques. We have analyzed the artefacts people use such as excel templates or even paper sheets.
4. Contextual inquiries were conducted to gather data about conditions, limitations, and a general nature of the coaches’ work. The coaches were observed and interviewed in their natural work environment.
5. Affinity diagrams. We used this technique to analyze the previously collected data.
6. Conceptual design mockups.
7. Focus groups to evaluate the prototypes.
8. Final prototype. We created the high fidelity web-based prototype.
9. User evaluation. We asked the coaches to try and evaluate the final prototype.

The results

Project was enthusiastically received by both the sport coaches from the National Olympic Swimming Pool Tongelreep and our supervisors from the Telematica Instituut. Our team was invited to present the project at NOC*NSF (Dutch Olympic Committee) headquarter where it was acclaimed as a highly successful.

Interaction Design for a Semantic Web

A website for a course about Semantic Web at TU/e. I tried to design a simple but visually attractive website using no graphical elements. It includes experimental image zooming effect which requires no JavaScript (CSS only).

Control panel for Tlenofon

Tlenofon is one of the most popular VoIP services on the Polish market (over 1 million registered user accounts). The system is highly customizable and offers a wide range of unique features which makes it popular not only among individual customers but also among small companies.

The problem

My task was to redesign the web-based control panel which allows the users to configure wide range of options and charge their accounts. The old one was very unintuitive and difficult for the users so the company decided to hire me to change it.

I was the first interaction designer hired by the company. At the beginning my role was seen as somebody who will convert the layouts from the graphics studio to html and marry it with the programmers output. During my work there I was trying to promote User-Centered Design in the team. I have managed to convince my bosses to invest in small usability studies. Since I was a freshman my strategy was to provide them with hard data rather than personal opinions. To achieve that I focused on quantitative usability methods such as card sorting. To support research findings I captured real user quotes and present it to the project stakeholders.

The process

1. Requirements gathering. I cooperated with the Customer Service dept. to capture the problems the users have with the old system.
2. Design the low-fidelity prototype. Powerpoint mockup was created to envision the way new panel should work. The mockup was used to provoke discussion with the project stakeholders and to make sure that the new design will correspond with the company goals.
3. Card sorting. I asked the potential users to create their own information structure using small cards representing the different parts of the interface.
4. Analysis. I used cluster analysis to get the data about the information structure and visualise the output as a dendrogram.
5. Interactive prototype. The new information architecture was used to design the first prototype (in Visio).
6. User study. I've prepared the tasks and give them to users. I have observed their interaction, and record the efficiency factors such as the time spent on the given task, succes rate, number of errors.
7. Focus groups. I discussed the first prototype with the users and ask them to suggest improvements.
8. Product specification

The results

My efforts to involve users in the design process received attention and was appreciated by the company. After three months of working there I was reporting directly to the company top management. Gradually I became responsible for coordinating other team members and recruited new employees.

EPM Center

Layout for Microsoft Enterprise Project Management community portal. Project was cancelled before the publication of the website.

Social Psychology

Website for Social Psychology: the English Master Program at my alma mater.

SPIK Institute

The website for the Institute of Social Psychology of Computing and Communication.

e-Learning with TP

Layout of the intranet for teachers involved in the educational project sponsored by TP (Polish branch of France Telecom).

Warsaw School of Social Psychology

This layout won a in the contest for the best redesign of the university's webpage.

Antisto - Interaction Design

Website for a student research group.