Conceptual Designing of a Virtual Receptionist: Remote Desktop Walkthrough and Bodystorming in VR

Abstract

Early user involvement in the design of intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) is fundamental for usability and otherwise good user experience. In this paper, we present a combination of methods used in the remote conceptual design of a virtual receptionist for a university department. The study builds on two workshops with potential users. The first was a bodystorming workshop in virtual reality (VR) with four researchers at the department, and the second was a desktop walkthrough workshop on an online whiteboard with five students at the department. Proposed solutions from the workshops were deconstructed using a morphological chart into a pentad of parameters: agent, act, scene, agency, and purpose. New design concepts were then composed by combining solutions. Sketching was used to further detail and present the generated concepts. Our analysis of the workshops indicates that the bodystorming workshop had an aesthetic perspective on embodied interaction while the desktop walkthrough workshop had a more instrumental perspective on usability. The combination of embodied but remote ideation methods with morphological chart structured by the pentad is novel to not only the IVA field, but also to interaction design in general. Finally, the conceptual design of a novel cross-platform IVA is proposed.CCS Concepts: • Human-centered computing → User centered design; Participatory design.

Designing augmented reality services for enhanced customer experiences in retail

“…Taking the customer perspective, technological capacities are subject to perception. Here design thinking emphasizes rapid prototyping to collect customer insights (Chilufya and Arvola, 2021). A profound loyalty to the customer perception is a unique aspect of design thinking that is only possible because of the initial empathy conversations.…”

“…Furthermore, design thinking that remains loyal to customers thrives on rapid prototyping to validate perceptions of technologies. However, such rapid iteration can only be accomplished if the design team works with technological expertise from the beginning (Chilufya and Arvola, 2021). An iterative process where designers for each iteration have to further investigate technological options and solicit expert opinions on expected progress, cost, security issues, and so on will lack the necessary momentum in the iteration.…”

“…An important aspect of the ideation and prototyping phases is the built-in activities that aim to question previous assumptions of what is and what is not possible. Ideation practices such as bodystorming and “How Might We” (Chilufya and Arvola, 2021) aim to give a voice to multiple stakeholders to catalyze the intersection of customer, retailer, and technical perspectives in the service design. Other activities focus on the worst possible solutions to expose feasibility barriers, and yet other activities aim specifically to question the assumptions of impossible designs (Brown, 2008).…”