by georg.kiraly -

Impulse #1 Abstrakt: Ian Spalter – Digital Product Design

Couple of Months ago I watched an episode of the netflix-show “Abstrakt”. This one was about the head of design of Instagram Ian Spalter from San Francisco. He explained the history and power of user experience and user interface design.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode because digital product design is a field I’m truly passionate about. What struck me as particularly fascinating was the realization of how Steve Jobs laid the groundwork for modern digital product design, especially in the mobile realm. The iPhone’s impact on mobile UI/UX is profound, and it’s intriguing to consider how different the landscape might be without it – Instagram and many other apps might not even exist. In the realm of digital product design, there’s a continuous process of building on others’ ideas, inventions, and designs, whether it’s Ian Spalter reimagining Instagram or the very concept of a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

Ian Spalter’s approach to encouraging his team to explore bold designs resonated with me. Having been in less receptive work environments before, where change and new ideas faced resistance, I appreciate Spalter’s effective management style in fostering creativity within a product design team. The challenges Ian Spalter faced after the Instagram update, with its negative feedback, must have been incredibly stressful and discouraging. Examining Snapchat’s downfall due to a poorly received redesign highlights the critical role design plays in a product’s success. Interestingly, Instagram’s adoption of stories contributed to Snapchat’s decline, showcasing how designers can iterate on each other’s work, even though ethical concerns may arise.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, I wished for a deeper dive into product design specifics. Perhaps, having worked in the field myself, I felt the episode didn’t explore the UI/UX design process in as much detail as I would have liked, focusing instead on non-design-related aspects. Of course it’s just an episode of a netflix show and made for a broad audience but some more educational facts would’ve been nice. Anyways, this little journey into the life of a typical silicon-valley-head of design was very inspiring to watch!

by georg.kiraly -

Exposé: Master Thesis

Working title = provisional title

A user centered tool to increase the democratic awareness of children and people of younger ages (Generation Z & Alpha)

An exposé provides information about:

1. the problem (Starting point, problem description)

On the one hand, the problem is that political parties in Austria have no idea how to appeal to young voters. On the other hand, interest in democracy and politics is constantly declining. Information is often formulated in a rather complicated way and tends to deter children and young people. A component or rather proof of the lagging behind of political actors is also shown by their social media presence or the survey results of the leading female candidates among under 20-year-olds. For young people, Austrian politics often seems outdated, uninteresting and also often as if the young voter group and its issues are rather unpopular. This opens the gates and receptiveness of young people to populism and sensationalist politics. I would like to get to the bottom of this thesis with my work and find out how young people understand politics and develop and offer an interactive service design for this.

2. state of research

Unfortunately, there is not yet much specialised literature, statistics or other theses that deal with the topic of “politics and youth”.  Although I have already come across a few theses, particularly in the field of journalism and media, there are unfortunately not (yet) many large-scale studies or relevant specialised literature.

3. the question

What is the political awareness of children and young people in Austria and which parameters are decisive for the political success or failure of established parties?

4. the hypothesis resp. the objective

Firstly, I would like to find out more about the current situation and draw a picture of the present. The challenges that political actors face when it comes to the young target group will be analysed. Once the problems have been explained, I would like to present systematic solutions in the form of tools. This could be an app, a workshop idea or a board game/mini-game. It depends on the results of the empirical part of the scientific work. At the moment, I am strongly leaning towards an app that diplomatically categorises complicated political content and explains the basic cornerstones of a democracy. Due to the voting age in Austria (16 years old), I would limit the target group to 13-18 year olds.

5. the reference to theory

In my opinion, there are two fundamental problems that cross-fertilise each other. On the one hand, politics and democracy-related subjects are taught far too late. Young people learn about the Austrian state and the prevailing democratic system in primary school, but they can do little with it at primary school age and then hear nothing more about it for a relatively long time before it is usually referred to again at the age of 14/15. As a result, in addition to the basic subjects of maths, English, German and the like, a subjectively lower prioritisation towards politics and democracy develops. The second problem I see is that children and young people are often taught that politics is an “adult thing” and that most decisions are not made for them but for other age groups. I think this is understandable from a demographic point of view but more than unwise from a social point of view. Issues such as education, sustainability or security are mainly played out by political “extreme parties” (extreme right or extreme left), which I think is a shame. I would like to see political centre parties also focus more on these issues. To cut a long story short: I am curious to see whether my research supports or refutes these theses.

6. the method

Formulate the problem on the basis of existing empirical studies or call out a scientific thesis Develop a type of questionnairem or interview guide Conduct qualitative (and possibly also quantitative) surveys Analyse the results and either substantiate or modify the thesis Incorporate relevant theory (specialist literature, other statistics) Identify possible solutions as an interaction designer Develop/design tool

7. the material

Various specialised literature, surveys/statistics, reports or news articles, videos, other theses

8. (preliminary) bibliography

theres a already a lot of literature available. Detailed titles or sources will be announced soonish.

9. (preliminary) structre

Here I refer to point 6 and add the following:
1. Theory/Empiricism 2. Ideation 3. Practical Part

10. the timetable (project phases and duration)

I expect to complete my work towards the end of the summer. I would categorise the time periods as follows:  1. theory/empiricism – 300 hours 2. ideation – 100 hours 3. practical part – 300 hours

11. Projectteam

At the moment I am on my own, but I can imagine that I will work with schools, teachers or counselling centres in the future.

12. Financing

At the moment, apart from the printing of the thesis, no costs are planned.

12. Risk factors

The risks, as with presumably all scientific work, are as follows: 1. time management – do not spend too much/too little time on the research 2. quality of the work – do not neglect the precise elaboration of the empirical results due to time stress or the like 3. spectrum – it is important to depict several social strata and groups so as not to research only in certain milieus. Otherwise, the research results could be distorted.
by georg.kiraly -

Research Planning Matrix

AimsObjectivesMethodsOutcomesOutputs
To have a closer look on the current status of awareness of younger people towards democracy and develop a tool that improves the current state towards more understanding of democratic values. After the research phase it is planned to develop a user-centered tool that provides information and enhances the understanding of democracy among young or soon-to-be-voters in austria.1. Get a good overview of all the research that is already done and available.
2. Analyze the current situation and define the problem
3. Develop and design a tool that helps solving the problem.
4. Analyze and test the functionality of the developed tool to be able to improve the thesis through an iterative process.		Classic literature research, build up focus groups, eventually online testings/surveys, qualitative interviews in schools or with sociologists or politicians, marketing expertsThe research should lead to a better understanding of the situation and to undermine the idea of this thesis. I’d like to have a closer look onto teenager behaviours when it comes to politics or democratic attitudes. (not only in big scale)The research output should be the detailed definition of a problem in order to be able to start a design process of a tool that will solve or works on the solution of that problem.
by georg.kiraly -

Ontology & Epistemology

I will reflect on those two topics regarding my thesis-topic, in the following two collums.

Ontology:
Exploring the awareness of younger individuals towards democracy involves understanding how young people perceive and engage with the democratic system. It delves into their knowledge, attitudes, and participation in democratic processes. Key elements include examining the influence of factors like education, societal influences, and the political environment. Additionally, temporal aspects such as changes over time and developmental stages within the younger population contribute to shaping their awareness of democracy. This analysis aims to create a structured framework for comprehending the intricate relationships and dynamics associated with this important societal aspect. Once this dynamic or maybe problem is understand its possible work on a problem-solving educational tool.

Epistemology:
In developing a tool to enhance awareness of democracy among younger individuals, I’ll draw on a variety of scientific sources, including papers, books, articles, and statistics. I’ll critically assess the validity and reliability of these sources, considering the methodologies used in research. By integrating findings from diverse studies, I aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of factors influencing awareness. This synthesized knowledge will guide the development of the awareness tool, with ongoing feedback and iterations based on research and user responses. Ethical considerations will underpin the project to ensure accuracy, privacy, and cultural sensitivity. This approach aligns with a dynamic and robust epistemological framework.

by madeleine.hurst -

Research Planning Matrix

Aims

My theses aimes to research where UI pattern come from and if they are still the best solution. E.g. Desktop methapor as officetable.

Analysing current design pattern on their usefuleness.

Objectives

I will search in literature for the history of certain patterns. I will analyse the pattern and maybe show alternatives but i will most likely not create new patterns, as planed originally. I will put more effort in analysing and also testing the old pattern with users.

  • Literature research on history of pattern and kultural background of certain UI pattern/interaction pattern
  • Classify UI Pattern (like Mobile, Web, HMI)
  • Identify pattern that are no longer approbriate or pattern that could use a makeover
  • Context Analysis: Analyse what´s not good about this pattern
  • Make some user interview/testing what people think about this (maybe love/hate letters from other UX Designers and normal users.
  • Offer suggestions for a better solution (maybe)

Methods

  • Find information on that topic
  • Interview people how they experience a pattern
  • Analysing

Outcomes

  • Get an inside where changing a pattern might be useful.
  • Knowledge about where and when a pattern is outdated and should be renewed

Outputs

  • Criteria catalog for validating a pattern
by daniil.ivanov -

Change of direction in Master Thesis

In the last week of the 3rd semester, I received a huge amount of insights related to the topic of my master’s thesis. Therefore, I decided to change the vector a little. I would like the practical part to prevail in my work. I compared feasibility, my own desires and interests, my skills and decided to focus on practice.

Recently I have spoken with Mrs. Lagger, Mr. Kipcak, Mr. Baumann and Mr. Kaltenbrunner about the framework for my future work.

Therefore, now in the near future I will take the following steps:

  1. I will compile all the information that I received from the professors into one document, which also includes a mood board for a future potential exhibition.
  2. I will formulate the exact purpose of the exhibition and what topic it will be created on.
  3. I will accurately formulate the topic, title of the work and question.
  4. I will rewrite the Expose in accordance with all the changes that my topic has undergone.
  5. I will explore all the opportunities that the city of Graz provides for such independent art exhibitions, be it art venues, museums or Leerstand.

All these steps will certainly be completed by me in the near future, so that I can begin the theoretical part of the study as soon as possible.

by daniil.ivanov -

Impulse #8 – Exhibition at ESC

At the end of the 3rd semester we organized our final exhibition in the ESC Kunst Labor space. This event had quite an impact on me, so much so that I was able to decide on the exact direction of my Master Thesis. I got great pleasure from the process of preparing and creating complex technical exhibits, from all the difficulties that this brought.

It was very inspiring to see how visitors came and interacted with real interest with the exhibits that we created with our own hands, how our ideas came to life and really brought some emotions to real people.

I came to the exhibition every day 20 minutes before the opening to launch the main exhibit “Portfolio machine” and every time small difficulties arose and were constantly different, which was especially interesting. Sometimes during the exhibition my colleagues had difficulties and then I always responded to help. I really enjoyed this work and would be very happy to do this in the future.

by daniil.ivanov -

Impulse #7 – The use of AI-based image generators.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am the organizer of the LARP games. For this activity, I decided to use AI image generators to visualize the rules more clearly.

I created a page on the Notion platform and created different sections, for rules, for character descriptions and so on. The only question was which neural networks to use. We used three and I will describe my experience below.

Lime Wire

Lima Wire is a free neural network that can generate pictures based on promt. It is worth noting that the quality of the generated content is not that high at all, this is due to the fact that the service is free and still in the active development stage.

Artbreeder

Artbreeder uses a slightly different model. We used it to generate character portraits. It doesn’t use promts, rather it generates images based on existing ones, can compile multiple ones, and offers to change parameters, allowing for unique results.

Midjourney

Midjourney is perhaps one of the most famous image generators. For a subscription it allows you to generate images of quite high quality, although some things the neural network still doesn’t understand. For example, I needed an image of a drakkar, the platform didn’t understand the word at all and drew me a dragon. Anyway, we used this very service to design the rulebook.

by daniil.ivanov -

Exposé

Working title

Meaningful application of high technology in design

1. the problem (Starting point, problem description)                                             

Which theoretical, practical, social, etc. problem is the starting point of your thesis?

What do you think is the real cause of the problem?

In the last few years, technology has made huge leaps and we are on the verge of a technological revolution comparable to the advent of the steam engine. This cannot but affect various fields of labor, and some professions may cease to exist in the next decade. Some fear that the design profession (in various iterations, from graphic designer to product designer) may be replaced by Artificial Intelligence. This is a topic of great interest to me, as I myself am studying towards Interaction Design and plan to continue my career as a UX Designer. That’s why I wanted to explore this topic.

2. state of research

What is the state of research on this problem? What findings are available? What has not yet been (sufficiently) addressed, clarified or contradicted? How does your own work relate to the existing research?

At this point, I wouldn’t say there are a lot of different studies regarding this topic. Many papers are appearing right now, as the topic became relevant just a couple of years ago. So I keep my finger on the pulse and check to see if new research is emerging.

3. the question

Which question(s) should be answered in your master thesis? What is the main question?

Consequences of AI on the traditional UX/UI design

4. the hypothesis resp. the objective                                               (max. ½ page)

What do you want to prove, disprove or design, programme, … in your Master’s thesis?

Target catalogue

I’d like to answer the question of how much the latest technology will affect the design field. I will probably consider two scenarios: utopian and dystopian.

5. the reference to theory

Which explanatory approaches or theories are referred to?

What is your point of view? What is your position?

I also want to look at previous cases of technological revolutions, how they occurred in a historical context, and what input they had on disappearing or highly changing fields of labor. I would also like to look at how AI works, what it can do, and what the potential outcome of its development might be.

6. the method

What is the methodological procedure (work steps, approach)? Which methods and instruments do you want to use in the project? What does a possible solution path or procedure methodology look like? How should the problem be solved, the question answered, how should the sources be analysed?

Speculative design, expert interviews

7. the material

What material and sources are available on the topic?

Which sources (data, videos, comparative material, …) are available, which need to be identified, collected?

There are many interviews with famous visionaries (Ilon Musk, Bill Gates and others) about AI and its possible impact on the industry, many designers share their opinions and experiences on various portals, there are already some statistics on layoffs from large companies. All this is to be collected and analyzed for relevance. I also want to do some interviews with experts and process them.

8. (preliminary) bibliography in compliance with the rules of citation

I can’t give a preliminary list of references yet, as the topic is quite specific and evolving dynamically

9. (preliminary) structre

Which aspects should be dealt with and in which order?

I would definitely like to include a historical overview, the nature of AI, how it works and what it can do, expert interviews and 2 scenarios at the end, a utopian and a dystopian.

10. the timetable (project phases and duration)

How much time is needed for the most important work steps (research, data collection, data evaluation, creation of the work piece, writing the raw text, revision, layout, final correction)? – Milestones

When should the work be finished?

During spring I would like to collect all the theoretical material, in summer I am going to process it and conduct expert interviews. By the end of August I would like to finish it.

by daniil.ivanov -

Impulse #6 – Creating rules for a LARP game using ChatGPT.

I’m in the field of creating and organizing LARP games as my Hobby and I decided to try using AI to help me in this activity. My task was to write a list of rules, regulations for a game event, namely for a conference that took place within the game. These rules were to include a rather lengthy list of rules and prohibitions, but had enough loopholes that players could use them in the game format if they wanted to. It would have been a challenge to create such a large amount of text on my own, so I decided to take advantage of new technologies and involved ChatGPT in this task.

At first things did not go smoothly, the neural network did not fully understand the task and the specifics of the RPG setting, so it did not give me the results I wanted, but later, when ChatGPT got a sufficient amount of context, it gave me roughly the results I wanted. I discussed some points with the AI separately, asked to change nuances and in the end I was happy with the result.

After I showed the result to my team, they were impressed that I had created this with AI, but they still had questions about the rules, so I took the second round and came to ChatGPT to work on some parts. Since the neural network was already aware of the whole context, it was not very difficult to correct mistakes, I find the memorization functionality within one dialog box very handy.

In the end, I posted these rules for the players and they were more than happy with the result of the work I had done.