Interactions - September/October 2010

As a researcher and evaluator more so than a designer, I identified most strongly with the tension between testing (or clinical trials) and feeling. In a discussion about prototyping beyond the object to get at fitness of use, Pullin dis-cusses experience prototyping—engagement, experience, and emotion—as it relates to the first prototypes of digital cameras. It was curious to me that those designers seemed to think of a prototype as something to show rather than something to interact with.

In the world of user interface design, we’ve been working with interactive prototypes for a long time. However, Pullin implies designers might not see the importance of testing, especially in very formative stages of design. I found it fascinating that his audience might not have thought about getting people to try designs, and I’m pleased to see the idea of testing design for disability included in this book. Pullin does the idea justice in his description of testing prototypes using the “Wizard of Oz” method—an evaluation technique commonly used in technology user interface design.

One of the most helpful accounts in the book highlights design testing for people who have dementia. Researchers found that testing early, rough prototypes was disorienting and disturbing to people with dementia. Instead Pullin recommends first doing this testing with the people who care for those with dementia. Only after the prototype can look, feel, and behave realistically, then is it the time to do necessary testing with people with dementia.

Pullin goes on to briefly explain the differences between formative and summative testing, concluding that testing in the home over time is the best way to learn of a design’s flaws and successes. Intriguingly, he rarely uses the word “usability,” except to describe an attribute of a design. I liked that.

In the second half of the book, he imagines what would happen if high-profile designers took on specific design challenges in designing for disabilities. Though he has spoken with many of the designers he writes about, this section of the book is more of a museum. If Pullin could curate a show of all the great designers and their works, this would be the catalog for the show. It is compelling, but to me, ultimately dissatisfying because the imagined designs are never

made, only contemplated, talked about, or storyboarded. (I found the few storyboards included to be some of the most engaging artifacts in the book—potential examples for design students to examine and perhaps emulate.)

What is instructional and useful, though disconnected from the first part of the book, is how Pullin gives us glimpses of how different designers approach design. We get a peek at where they start, how they think, and what their processes are. Though the process may not be open to introspection by an individual designer, looking across the chapters, we can see a wide range of philosophies and approaches in use.

Overall this is a beautiful and thoughtful book full of ideas and aspirations that lives in a world between textbook and coffee-table book. The purpose of this book is to help designers remember, as Pullin says:

“In the context of an environment or society that takes little or no account of impairment, people’s activities can be limited and their social participation restricted. People are therefore disabled by the society they live in, not directly by their impairment.”

It’s a call to action against an old way of thinking, in which design for disability is solving a medical engineering problem rather than meeting a cultural, societal challenge. As Jared Spool has said, “Too often, we choose a design because it’s doable, not because it’s the best we could do.” I’d love to see what Pullin could do with voting systems.

AbOut the AuthOr Dana Chisnell has
helped hundreds of people learn how to make bet-
ter design decisions by giving them the skills they
need to gain knowledge about users—especially
voters and older adults. She is an independent
researcher and consultant who founded
Usability Works. Chisnell has observed hundreds of study partici-
pants for dozens of clients to learn about design issues in software,
hardware, websites, online services, games, and ballots. She has
helped companies like Yahoo!, Intuit, AARP, Wells Fargo, E*TRADE,
Sun Microsystems, and RLG (now OCLC) perform usability tests
and other user research to inform and improve the designs of their
products and services. Chisnell is a fellow of the Society for
Technical Communication and a longtime member of the Usability
Professional’s Association and ACM’s SIGCHI, IEEE, and AIGA.
She’s the co-author, with Jeff Rubin, of Handbook of Usability
Testing, second edition ( Wiley, 2008).