HTC Ice: Official Smartphone for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
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HTC Ice: Official Smartphone for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics HCDE 593: Capstone, Spring 2013, Seattle, WA
HTC Ice: Official Smartphone for Sochi
2014 Winter Olympics
Chih-Wei Chen Abstract
HTC Ice will be the official communication device for
University of Washington
the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The
Human-Centered Design & Engineering
purpose of this project is to understand the needs of
cweichen@uw.edu target user groups and design a User Interface (UI) for
HTC Ice to enrich users’ visiting experience of the event
through the device. In this paper, we briefly present
Yina Shin the iterative design processes we went involved in for
University of Washington
HTC Ice including user research activities, prototyping,
and usability testing. Finally, we present the Olympics-
Human-Centered Design & Engineering
exclusive UI solution for HTC Ice that incorporates user
yina@uw.edu needs and requirements that we aggregated from each
design process.
Hang Yu Author Keywords
University of Washington HTC Ice; Winter Olympics; User Interfaces
Human-Centered Design & Engineering
spellyu@uw.edu ACM Classification Keywords
Figure 1: HTC Ice User Interface
H.5.2. [User Interfaces]: Input devices and strategies.
Introduction
This paper presents the Olympics-exclusive UI solution
for HTC Ice, the official communication device for the
2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Combined with
its solid industrial design, our purpose is to enhance
HTC Ice by designing an innovative Android-based UI
solution that will fulfill necessities of all international
Copyright is held by the author/owner(s).
audiences, who will be will be visiting Sochi, Russia to
HCDE 593 Capstone Final Report, June 12, 2013, Seattle, WA.
attend the 2014 Winter Olympics.
HTC Ice: Official Smartphone for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics HCDE 593: Capstone, Spring 2013, Seattle, WA
Target Users User Research
Among the major target user groups who are involved Our user research was divided mainly into three parts –
in the Olympics event – athletes, staff, officials, literature review on previous work, secondary data
hospitality workers, and audiences, we chose to focus collection from anonymous groups of people from
on international audience. The main reason for our online forums or communities who had visited the
decision is that we noted desperate needs for a reliable previous Olympics events, and semi-structured phone
communication solution from international travellers interview on five participants who visited the previous
during their visit to the games event. According to the Olympics events, such as the Beijing 2008 Olympics
consumer survey conducted by Informa Telecoms & and the London 2012 Olympics.
Media during the 2012 London Olympics [1], 52 percent
of non-UK visitors expressed their concerns about Card Sorting Study
running up a large phone bill during the event and 47 With all the results collected from our literature review,
percent of them acquired a UK SIM card. As being the secondary data collection, and interviews, we used the
official communication device for the 2014 Winter card sorting method to categorize our user
Olympics, this will be a great opportunity for HTC to requirements into seven categories: Tickets, Game
provide an innovative communication solution for the Information, Travelling Information, Transportation
Olympics event and allure potential users with their Information, Accommodation, News, and Social
feature-enriched products. Networking Services (SNS).
Design Processes Take-away Points
There are four stages to this project, which also cover Based on our findings and card-sorting study, there are
several sub-disciplines of human-centered design four take-away points from this user research.
including user research, ideation, prototyping, and
evaluation. In the first stage, a user research was 1. Ticket related issues were the most common
conducted to understand our potential users, problem encountered for international audience. They
international audiences. In the second stage, several were in need for some kind of platform to buy, sell, and
versions of the hand-sketched (see Figure 2) and exchange event tickets. It would also be truly beneficial
computer-aided low-fidelity prototypes of the UI system if they can obtain electronic tickets (e-tickets) on their
were created. In the third stage, a usability study was smartphone.
conducted to test the printed versions of our low-
fidelity prototypes. In the final stage of the project, a 2. International audience wanted accurate and
high-fidelity prototype was created using commercial customizable game information, such as the latest and
Figure 2. Hand-Sketched prototyping software, Axure. In the following sections, personalized game schedule, personal reminder,
Paper Prototype we discuss the four stages respectively. interactive site maps, real-time broadcasting, etc. The
UI system should provide detailed game information
HTC Ice: Official Smartphone for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics HCDE 593: Capstone, Spring 2013, Seattle, WA
and fulfill all users’ necessities before, during, and after e-Ticket Platform
the games. For the ticket feature, we focused on selling and buying
e-tickets. The users will have options to buy e-tickets
3. The UI system should also accommodate visitors’ either from the official Olympics site, or HTC Ice e-
daily life essentials when they are visiting foreign Ticket platform, an exclusive e-ticket marketplace only
country. The daily life essentials can be available for the HTC Ice users. This opportunity will
accommodation, travelling, transportation, and news. enable the HTC Ice users to buy game tickets possibly
Fulfilling these basic needs should enhance their visiting at a lower rate from other HTC Ice users. In addition,
experience to the host country of the event. basic ticketing features such as viewing purchased
tickets and the game/stadium information of the
4. Our participants did not emphasize on the purchased tickets are available.
importance of social networking services. A possible
reason is that smartphones and social networking Push Notification
services had not gained worldwide popularity at the Performed in conjunction with the Personalized
time of their visit. However, the connection between Scheduler and e-Ticket Platform features, the Push
smartphones and social networking services are closely Notification notifies user with upcoming events and
related nowadays and should not be ignored. suggests alternate event options if user misses their
scheduled events. The push notification also allows
Low-Fidelity Prototypes users to sell their game tickets through HTC’s exclusive
In previous user research activities, we noted high e-Ticket platform if user cannot attend the game they
participant interest in easiness of acquiring game purchased. They can also be informed if other HTC Ice
tickets and being notified with game schedules with users want to buy the tickets the user wants to sell.
accurate game/stadium information. Thus, we created
low-fidelity prototype (using PowerPoint) for two main Usability Study
features that can incorporate most of the user needs In an effort to build a solid interactive high-fidelity
we observed – Personal Scheduler and e-Ticket prototype that incorporates the two main features we
Platform with Push Notification (see Figure 3). discussed previously, we figured that the iterative
design approach would be a great practical method for
Personalized Scheduler the purpose of our project. Thus, our usability testing
The landing page for scheduler is in the format of hour- was divided mainly into three phases: pilot usability
to-hour planner, providing daily game and personal test, heuristic evaluation, and formal usability testing.
schedules, which are accompanied by game Throughout three phases in our usability study, our
information, traffic information, and directions on a goal was to identify usability problems of our low-
Figure 3. Low-Fidelity separate popup window. The scheduler also provides fidelity prototypes and generate design
Prototype of Personalized calendar and personalized game suggestions based on recommendations for subsequent prototypes.
Scheduler, e-Ticket Platform,
user inputs and locations.
and Push Notification
HTC Ice: Official Smartphone for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics HCDE 593: Capstone, Spring 2013, Seattle, WA
Quantitative Analysis Results Qualitative Analysis Results
Through our post-task survey and post-test According to the testing results and participants’
questionnaire, we collected quantitative data from our suggestions, we needed to improve our e-Ticket
participants, including satisfaction level of each feature, Platform in the following aspects:
System Usability Scale (SUS) scores for our low-fidelity
prototypes of the HTC Ice User Interface, and expected • The checkout process should be simplified and have
and experienced difficulty level on each task. less pages.
• Menus and buttons should be consistent.
The participants’ satisfaction level of each feature was • Seat number should be modified so it clearly indicates
all above 3 in a 5-point Likert scale (n = 2) and the it is clickable.
average SUS score was 83.13 (n = 4). The results • Clickable and non-clickable areas should be clearly
indicated that our low-fidelity prototypes of the UI distinguished.
system had decent usability. However, from our
expected and experienced difficulty rating data (n = 3), We needed to improve our Personalized Scheduler in
which was collected and analyzed based on the method the following aspects:
presented by Albert and Dixon in 2003 [2], several
features revealed some opportunities to be improved. • Editing and deleting schedule should be
The results were shown in Figure 4. It shows that our differentiated.
participants experienced higher difficulty levels in task • The search, add, and delete icons in the scheduler
1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 than expected. It means that we should be more self-explanatory.
needed to improve our features on searching game, • Adding schedule should be completed in two clicks
editing wish list, buying ticket, and modifying schedule. (remove unnecessary steps).
• Schedule conflicts with game times should be
notified.
We also needed to improve our Push Notification
feature in the following aspects:
• Clear guidance is needed to proceed to next page
from push notification.
• Notification description should be rephrased so it is
more informative to follow.
Figure 4. Expected and Experienced Difficulty on Tasks
(1=Very Easy; 5=Very Difficult)
HTC Ice: Official Smartphone for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics HCDE 593: Capstone, Spring 2013, Seattle, WA
High-Fidelity Prototype color make HTC Ice the first Olympics official
The major transformation we made between the low- communication device that is enriched with the
fidelity prototype and the high-fidelity prototype is Olympics-exclusive features and designs.
enhancing the prototype with colors, design themes
and logos from the Sochi Olympics, and interactions. Discussion and Conclusion
The high-fidelity prototype has been implemented using In this paper, we presented the UI solution for HTC Ice
Axure to ensure smooth transition between the UI that is concentrated in the two main features, e-Ticket
screens and features. Platform and Personalized Scheduler enriched with Push
Notification that we implemented according to our user
Features and Interactions research findings. The features and their functionalities
Based on the usability testing results, the major were tested by seven participants and evaluators and
insights we observed from our participants were, UI the average SUS score for the overall impression of the
should be simple and self-explanatory. Thus, we HTC Ice UI was 83.13, which indicates “good” UI
merges one or two steps during the buying ticket System (as suggested [3]). None of them experienced
process into one page and simplified some of the any high level of difficulties completing the tasks during
features in the scheduler such as daily tasks and the usability testing and heuristic evaluation. They also
today’s game list. We also implemented consistent commented that the features are intuitive and useful
menu bars at the bottom of all screens for easy and definitely serve the purpose for the Olympics
navigation and a quick access to main menus in each event. Additionally, they answered they are willing to
feature. Lastly, in an effort to provide self-explanatory use HTC Ice during their visits to Sochi.
UI, we added color-coded strips in the daily task screen
to differentiate different types of tasks, and icons Possible future work may include expanding the
during the buying ticket process to emphasize clickable number of features to the full spectrum at five to six to
fields (see Figure 5). compromise other user needs and requirements we
observed from our user research activities, which had
Design Theme to be eliminated due to the time constraint. In addition,
The colorful patchwork design theme from the official as brought up in the User Research section, the social
website of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics was networking app for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
adopted into the UI for HTC Ice as shown in the third designed by the HCDE undergraduate students, would
image of Figure 5. We especially focused on the color be another great addition to HTC Ice. The full spectrum
blue since blue belongs to the cool shade that of features combined with the socializing feature would
represents water and ice. In addition, we designed the further elevate the quality of HTC Ice as the first official
Figure 5. High Fidelity home screen menus different from other Android Olympics communication device that is loaded with true
Prototype of Personalized platforms, featuring the three-dimensional ice cube Olympics-exclusive UI.
Scheduler, e-Ticket Platform,
menu that can roll by swiping the shape on the screen
and Push Notification
(see Figure 1). This kind of unique design theme and
HTC Ice: Official Smartphone for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics HCDE 593: Capstone, Spring 2013, Seattle, WA
Acknowledgements
We thank our instructors Julie Kientz and Andrew
Davidson, HTC’s point of contact Yihsiu Chen, and our
teaching assistant Katie Derthick for their valuable
advice and constant help and support on this capstone
project. We also thank our participants, evaluators, and
peers for their suggestions and feedback during user
research, mid-term critique, heuristic evaluation,
usability test, UW HCDE Open House, and final
presentation.
References
[1] High customer satisfaction during London Olympic
Games. Informa Telecoms & Media.
http://www.telecoms.com/77241/high-customer-satisfaction-
during-london-olympic-games/
[2] Bangor, A., Kortum, P. T., and Miller, J. T. An
empirical evaluation of the system usability scale.
International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction
24, 6 (2008), 574-594.
[3] Albert, W. and Dixon, E. Is this what you expected?
The use of expectation measures in usability testing.
In Proceedings of the Usability Professionals Association
Conference (2003).
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