AIDOBE

project introduction image
  • Project name: AIDOBE (Redesign of Adobe Illustrator)
  • Team: 5 HCI Studnets
  • My Role: Organize the overall design process, design and animate Figma components for the video demonstration
  • Duration: 7 weeks
  • Tools: Activity cards for participatory workshops, Miro, Figma, Video Demonstrations

Motivation

Adobe Illustrator presents challenges like limited design inspiration and a complex toolset, which create a steep learning curve for beginners and can hinder productivity. AI integration could simplify the process by offering personalized guidance and inspiration, helping users unlock their creative potential.

Story Interviews

We gathered direct user insights to identify common usage patterns, pain points, and key features to prioritize. Each of us conducted two interviews with Adobe Illustrator users (or similar software) to capture detailed, step-by-step stories of their experiences.

View transcripts

Participatory Workshop

We hosted a 1.5-hour participatory workshop with four participants, including ourselves as both hosts and active contributors. The workshop featured four engaging activities designed to gather creative inspiration and insights.

Ice Breaker

Goal:

Help participants get to know each other and gather background information about their experiences and perspectives.

Resources:

Paper, pens, markers

Method Card:

personify method card

Method Result:

8 persona cards

example card

Follow the Leader

Goal:

Observe responses on different types of instructions to follow and see which ones were preferred.

Resources:

Paper, pencils, markers, stencils, models

Method Card:

folliow the leader method card

Method Result:

Observed actions, feedbacks

activity: the leader describe how to color the stencilactivity: the participants copy what the leader drawsnotes of the feedbacks received

Slice and Dice

Goal:

Understand individual preferences in UI layout and identify desired features.

Resources:

Paper, printed layout, scissors, glue/tape, pens

Method Card:

slice and dice method card

Method Result:

8 new layouts as well as video walk-throughs of each of them with explanations

provided layoutexample of participant's layout

Association assn.

Goal:

Generate a wide range of ideas and perspectives from participants and categorize them.

Resources:

Sticky notes and pens

Method Card:

association assn. method card

Method Result:

method result with sticky notes

Interaction table

object tableinteraction table

We created object/interaction tables to see the key functionalities available to users, the objects in the system, and the details of how users interact with them.

To see more in detail, click here.

Feature space

This is a radar chart to compare features in our design:

feature space

Dimensions for the chart are based on principles introduced by Professors Michel Beaudouin-Lafon and Wendy E. Mackay.

extract from the lecture slides

Other methods

Here is the summary of our design methods:

summary of methods

Click here to view more details and explore the project presentation slides.

Figma Prototype Video

Here is a video demonstration of AIDOBE.

Learning

Participatory workshop allowed us to observe users behaviors, interactions, and challenges in real time. It helped us to identify their needs and preferences in a natural and collaborative setting.

We also enjoyed applying Generative Interaction theories introduced by Professors Michel Beaudouin-Lafon and Wendy E. Mackay, particularly as we tackled a complex system like Adobe Illustrator. The interaction table was invaluable in our project, allowing us to systematically construct user-system interactions across various features and scenarios. Additionally, drawing a feature space putting several socio-technical principles as dimensions helped us to compare features more constructively, giving a grounded reasoning for each feature we included.

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