Presented at UX Australia in August, 2011. To design the most appropriate products or services, designers need to understand the contexts in which the product or service will sit. With product and service design, there are levels of context to consider, creating an important framework for our research, design and implementation processes. The 1977 Powers of Ten documentary by Charles and Ray Eames inspires and illustrates levels of context well, showing a frame of focus and then zooming out by a power of ten to show that the initial frame is sitting within an even larger context, with new variables to consider at each level. Applying this zoom construct to design, each level focuses us in on different factors, and this focus impacts the type of research, design and implementation approach we need to take. For example, imagine you are asked to design a mobile application. The levels of context for consideration could be: Screen elements (ie. space constraint; screen real estate; legibility; colour) Entire application within a phone (ie. purpose of app within world of other mobile apps; phone form factor; operating system; updates; support teams) Phone within a hand (ie. computing versus talking; haptics; keyed entry versus touch) Person with phone on a bus using the application (ie. screen glare; one-handed entry and use; privacy; situations of use) Janna will demonstrate practical ways for designers to consider these levels of context from the beginning of a project and how to integrate this thinking into every facet of the project. By zooming in to different levels of context we can appropriately understand the people, organisations, settings and situations surrounding the products or services we’re designing. Understanding these levels will impact project focus, research scope, clarify design dependencies, and illustrate what is and isn’t in our control as designers.

1. LEVELS OF
CONTEXT:
The impact of zoom on the
contexts we research,
design for & implement
Janna DeVylder
Meld Studios
@jdevylder

2. levels of
context ?

3. POWERS OF TEN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

4. “What are we? Where
do we live? Who are
our neighbors?
Children and grown-
ups, we all ask these
questions.”
“We begin to
understand how big
things are and how
we are related to
them.”
Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps. Kees Boeke, 1957.

5. WHO
& WHAT
are we designing for?

6. WHAT IS
CONTEXT?
the set of circumstances the interrelated
or facts that surround a conditions in which
particular event or something exists or
situation occurs
http://www.merriam-webster.com/ | http://dictionary.reference.com/

7. BRONISLAW
MALINOWSKI
1884-1942
“In the field one has to
face a chaos of facts,
some of which are so
small that they seem
insignificant; others loom
so large that they are
hard to encompass with
one synthetic glance.”
http://www.finestquotes.com/author_quotes-author-Bronislaw%20Malinowski-page-0.htm#ixzz1VzPYV120

8. “He (Malinowski) understood that a text written
by these people into this language could not be
understood by any foreigners or by people living
outside this society even if translated into their
own languages because each message brought
more meanings than those expressed through the
words, meanings that could only be
understood if accompanied by the situation.
Thus, Malinowski introduced the notion of
context of situation, meaning by this the
"environment of the text" .” [Halliday;1989;6]

10. you!

11. HISTORY OF
THE MICROWAVE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

12. HISTORY OF
THE MICROWAVE = an accident

13. TRENDS,
POLITICAL,
SOCIOECONOMIC
http://www.arpansa.gov.au/regulation/permits/index.cfm

14. CULTURE
http://www.googlemaps.com

15. ENVIRONMENT
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorvak/15907234/

16. DAILY LIVING
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwthompson2/139445633
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leonl/5687864551/

17. IN SITU
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwthompson2/139445633/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leonl/5687864551/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unlistedsightings/5054085676/

18. FORM
ovenmicrowawe.tk

19. INTERFACE
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snarvasa/5598521591/

20. manufacture retail install
dispose use
PRODUCT LIFECYCLE http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisandbabs/305742754/
http://www.imosllc.com/about.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cpchannel/145260712/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orinrobertjohn/500200103/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ralphunden/253180223/

21. UMM, HOW CAN I
KNOW ALL OF THAT?
WHOʼS JOB IS IT?

22. IMPACT ON
OUR WORK

23. PROJECT SCOPE
which aspects of the
product/service are we
designing?
“What scale of
where does that fit in to
impact could our the larger picture?
work take on?”
what is your direct client’s
scale of responsibility?

24. what secondary research
RESEARCH and data is available to
the project?
has other primary
“What data do I research been
conducted?
need to collect,
from whom, in can this research inform
other parts of the
what situations, organisation or team?
and to what
what parts can I observe,
detail?” what must I infer, and
what should I provoke?

25. SYNTHESIS
& ANALYSIS
how does zooming in and
out impact our view of the
“At which levels data?
of context are
the insights with so much data, what
should we focus on?
emerging?”

26. CONCEPTING &
PROTOTYPING
will the product work
“What contexts within the known
should we use as contexts?
texture around are there now alternate
the product/ contexts that will help us
see the product in a
service?” di erent light?

27. BUILDING &
IMPLEMENTING
how can we show those
further down the path
“How can the what they’re building for?
detail be true to how can we ensure the
the larger implementation is
product/service context-sensitive?
context?” how do we choose
materials & systems for
the right context?

28. The details are not
the details. They
make the design.
Charles Eames
http://manhattan-nest.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Eames.jpg

29. Thank you!
Janna DeVylder
janna@meldstudios.com.au
@jdevylder