Inclusive Design

1. Inclusive Design Fuel Friend & what it is… Incl. diagram of product Niamh Gleeson & Aaron Doyle

2. Overview • Introduction • Definition of Inclusive Design • Reason for the chosen area/product • Background Research • User Groups • Problems • Solutions • Literature • Application to Everyday Life

3. IntroductionEveryday products for everyday people “Inclusive design applies an understanding of customer diversity to the design of mainstream products to better satisfy the needs of more people” (Inclusive Design Toolkit, 2011). • Inclusive Factors • Inclusion of potentially isolated groups • Those with literacy difficulties • Help to counteract possible everyday stressors, e.g. finances/budgets • Economic downturn • Mental health & anxiety

4. Background Research • Use of Qualitative research methods in initial stages of research • Questionnaire • Phone Interview • Proposed Research Methods • Interviews – passenger perspective • Focus Group – Local Literacy Groups -NALA • Survey, e.g. on the types of icons used • Design of Questionnaire - NALA

5. Persona Paddy is in his early 70’s and has basic literacy skills, he left school and started work at 15 on the home farm. He has difficulty in understanding large amounts of text. He’s able to medicate the animals, due to his father showing him ways of measuring the dosage without reading the bottle. Paddy has difficulty with small print and often asks his neighbour to read out new information on his medication. He often puts this information into iconic format or symbols, so that he can easily understand it. Due to difficulties in the agricultural sector and his age, Paddy finds it hard to walk across the fields on a daily basis, however he also finds the price of diesel costly and is reluctant to use the tractor when travelling through the fields. He has adapted to using a Smartphone, as it enables him to learn and understand information through icons. Fuel Friend can assist Paddy with many daily stressors, like helping him budget for fuel he uses prior to undertaking his daily routine and keeping a log of it. It would also allow him to gain more understanding of minimalist text when using icons.

6. The Experts’ OpinionsNational Adult Literacy Agency • Difficulties with literacy groups • Fluctuating Profile • Difficult to include everyone • Varying degrees of literacy difficulties • “One Size Does Not Fit All” • Not all members have reading and writing difficulties

7. Advice • Keep text to a minimum • The use of generic icons very beneficial to those with literacy difficulties • Easier to understand • Focus Research around Specific Areas • Targeting hard to reach groups in the local area e.g. men and older adults • Assists in breaking the participation barrier for these groups • www.writeon.ie • Evaluated annually • This Approach could be taken toward Fuel Friend – utmost benefit to users

8. The Experts’ Opinions • Focus Group • Gain User Perspective • Help break barriers into participation • Call out/Assist participants with questions • Keep test to a minimum – interactive questionnaire • Proposed Research Methods • Interviews – passenger perspective • Focus Group – Local Literacy Groups -NALA • Survey, e.g. on the types of icons used • NALA

9. NALA Research Findings • IALS (1997) • Study showed in Ireland 1 in 4 working adults had problems with the simplest of literacy tasks • 500,000 were found to be at or below literacy 1 of a 5 level scale e.g. print on medicine packaging • Another 30% of Irish adults were at level 2, meaning they could cope with very simple material • Public shocked at these findings • Only official document of literacy trends in Ireland • Follow up of research opted out of by government • Government did however opt in to PIAAC in 2000 • Fuel Friend can help break barriers to allow these isolated groups become more included and involved when creating new technologies

10. NALA Research Findings • PIAAC (Profile of adult literacy learners in Ireland 2000 – 2009) • Almost 200% increase in the number of literacy participants over the period 2000-2008 (17,150 to 49,962). • Proportion of participants with Level 1 literacy has dropped slightly • Proportion of early school leavers (>16 years) dropped slightly. • Comparison of VECs’ referral networks and marketing strategies to participant profile to help establish best practices moving forward. • Apply principles of Fuel Friend research e.g. Marketing strategies; benefits of using generic icons in communication

12. Previous Research & Designs GasBuddy: An android application that finds cheap fuel prices from a database of petrol stations. More than 22 million people have downloaded it. Has acorresponding website and frequent updates.

13. Previous Research and Designs Logo on above slide is clean and crisp with good contrast of colour. Screenshot (right) is easy to read and navigate. GasBuddy does not however have a future- orientated function. The product we are proposing does. Gas Hog, Gas Cubby, FuelFinder, iGasUp, TripTik, Waze, Route4me, & c. all offer similar uses, but, again, none to date have had a future-orientated function.

14. *Research Findings • User Group & Trends

16. Word Cloud

17. Psychological Literature • Research suggests that economic circumstances are negatively associated with individual’s mental health and well-being. • Zivin, Paczkowski and Galea (2010) • Economic downturn and population mental health • Results consistently demonstrated that economic crises are negatively associated with population mental health. • Fuel Friend • Alleviates stressors • Prior budgetary planning • Inputted information retained in a diary format • Easily retrieved

18. Support from other research which suggests that the area of financial satisfaction is very important to people • Vera-Toscano, Ateca-Amestoy and Serrano-Del-Rosal (2006) reviewed research on Financial Satisfaction (FS) • Results showed that it provided strong arguments that FS is a specific domain of satisfaction with life. • Again Fuel Friend can help users gain satisfaction from forward planning and budgeting, while also alleviating stress factors

19. Diagrams of Data

20. Diagrams of Data

21. Further Research • Hallmark, Sperry and Mudgal (2011) • Fuel economy of hybrid-electric school buses • Found significant difference in the hybrid school buses vs. control buses • Implications of study: • Very little information about actual on-road fuel consumption or costs is available • Hybrid bus much more costly than conventional bus (initially) • Fuel Friend • Acts as a intervention for costs • Suggests most economic route • Budgeting and forward planning

22. Potential Issues with Design • Bad colour contrast • Accidental plagiarism • Unnecessary and/or over use of semiotics • Not inclusive enough • Usability (complexity) • Navigation issues

23. Feasibility of Design • Constant and quick updates to ever changing fuel costs • Vehicle database • Detailed maps and routes

24. References Hallmark, S., Sperry, B., & Mudgal, A. (2011). In-Use Fuel Economy of Hybrid-Electric School Buses in Iowa. In Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association: 61, 504 –510. Inclusive Design Toolkit. (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/betterdesign2/whatis/whatis.html#p30 Vera-Toscano, E., Ateca-Amestoy V., & Serrano-Del-Rosal, R. (2006). “Building Financial Satisfaction.” In Social Indicators Research: 77 (2), 211-243. Zivin, K., Paczkowski, M., & Galea, S. (2011). “Economic downturns and population mental health: research findings, gaps, challenges and priorities.” In Psychological Medicine: 41, 1343-1348.