One of the main success factors for new services, and one of the creative challenges surrounding innovation, is to imagine and design user interfaces that are intuitive, enjoyable and meaningful.
The EBU’s Audio Systems group recently ran a series of interaction design sessions with EBU members to rethink user interaction for personalised sound experiences using Next Generation Audio. NGA, which is often referred to as object-based audio and immersive audio, is a powerful technology that embraces interactivity and enables a host of conceivable service offerings and experiences that could benefit from new interfaces.
The design rationale developed in these sessions, and a description of the process used, have now been published as EBU Tech Report 061, “User Experience and Interface ideation for NGA”. The publication describes how interaction design methods such as persona design, scenarios of use, bodystorming, wireframing and other methods can, and were, used to methodically and intuitively identify appropriate directions for the user experience and interface.
All methods described in the report put the end-user at the centre of the thinking process, rather than the technology, with the aim to create interfaces that are more intuitively understood and better adapted to the end-user's daily life.
Visit the EBU Audio group’s page to discover and join a range of working groups on the topic of audio and audio experiences.