MDA
A virtual reality UX design solution to enhance cognitive performance among the Canadian Forces personnel
Background
To enhance the cognitive capabilities of the Canadian Forces (CF) personnel in complex environments, MDA partnered with the Integrated Sciences Lab at Simon Fraser University on a project introduced by the government of Canada.
In 6 months, our team conducted research and designed a virtual reality (VR) environment for the CF personnel to improve cognitive measures when completing complex tasks requiring extended cognitive abilities.
Role
As a UX design/research intern, I was responsible for:
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Planning and conducting user research on the best practices used in virtual reality environments in collaboration with product managers at MDA
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Designing wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes
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Creating a UX design strategy
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Using the human cognition approach in re-designing the VR interfaces to minimize extraneous cognitive load in the users
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Conducting usability tests and cognitive walkthroughs to examine the cognitive load on the CF personnel, along with semi-structured interviews
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Analyzing the participant responses through thematic analysis (through open, axial, and selective coding), descriptive statistics and data coding
Challenge
Every individual has a limited capacity to understand their environment. CF personnel are expected to deal with extraordinarily complex information environments or environments that exceed human sensory capabilities on a routine basis. To address this challenge, MDA had previously designed a VR solution. The initial design experience did not meet the success criteria. As a result, our team at SFU was tasked with reimagining the entire experience by applying human-centred design and research methods.
Links
Duration
May 2021 - Oct 2022
6 months
Team
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2 Project Managers (MDA)
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2 Designers (SFU)
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1 Researcher
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1 Consultant
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1 Professor
Empathy Map
Scenario: David is part of the Canadian Forces and has received a command to find a target person in the city of Burnaby. He has given some descriptions of the person and some information about the area.
Human cognitive capabilities such as task performance, dynamic workload, and memory are challenged in real-world settings.
Research Questions
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What are the CF personnel’s pain points in complex information environments?
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How does cognitive load impact the productivity and performance of the CF personnel?
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What factors contribute to a lower cognitive load for the CF personnel in complex information systems?
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How can VR design be leveraged to enhance cognitive performance?
Design Goals
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To minimize motion sickness and create a virtual setting that resembles the real world, I designed 360º environments with head tracking.
Minimizing motion sickness
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Since Head Mounted Devices (HMDs) have a limited Field of View (FoV), in immersive experiences designers try to increase the users' FoV by widening the scenes. To do so, I designed all the windows to have a curved User Interface (UI).
Increasing field of view (FoV)
03
To enhance the usability of the game and reduce the users' cognitive load, I designed the onboarding experience that appears prior to the main game environment. The onboarding experience includes:
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The welcome message - To engage and and receive a personal note
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Tutorial and learning environment - To get familiar with the environment
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Settings - To customize the settings (right-handedness, …) to suit their comfort
Reducing the cognitive load
The role of cognitive load
Considering users' cognitive load has been an inevitable part of the design process. Complex immersive VR situations could potentially generate a high cognitive load, which would negatively impact learning and performance. In this project, we aimed to create a design that minimizes the users’ cognitive load in complex information environments.
Design Iterations
Initial Design
This is the initial design I received. This design was not interactive, and the buttons were not intuitive or visually appealing. With this design, the users would not receive any descriptions of the tasks they need to do which would cause them to feel confused, lost or trapped in the journey. My initial heuristic analysis indicated that this design does not have a good user experience.
Iteration 1
The design goal was to transfer the elements and the map onto a table in a room that resembled a real-life strategy room in the CF’s facilities.
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The buttons and switches were designed on a control panel attached to the table to organize them with adequate proximity.
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Green line indicators were designed as a form of feedback once a user makes a selection.
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A description window was designed in front of the users’ field of view. The task prompts and messages would appear in this window and would stay throughout the task to rely less on the users’ memory and reduce cognitive load in the users.
Iteration 2
Design 1 was tested with 2 experts in the field, and feedback was received. Based on such comments, environment 2 was designed. To give users a sense of control, I designed this environment to allow users to switch between different scenes, go back, or exit the game at all times.
Design Research
Heuristic Analysis
I conducted 2 heuristic analyses with VR experts for each of the initial and the latest design to compare and assess the usability of each based on the VR metrics.
Usability Tests
To further understand their experience using the newest designed environment, I conducted 5 usability studies with participants. The goal was to investigate the app's usability, performance, and effectiveness. The sessions consisted of scenario-based usability studies followed by semi-structured interviews.
Data Evaluation
We used thematic analysis (through open, axial, and selective coding), descriptive statistics and data coding to analyze participant responses. We also analyzed the data via various “lenses,” e.g., theories and perspectives, where we saw how actual behaviour matches or differs from predicted expectations. In the analysis phase, we highlighted the important sections and added some comments or memos to each code. After finishing the Open Coding, we did Axial Coding by analyzing the codes to find the similarities between the codes. Then, we grouped the codes into categories based on their common properties under a selective name.
We applied four metrics, including usability, equitability, enjoyability, and usefulness, to measure the overall usability of the design.
Outcome
My fellow designer and I prepared the project report and presented it along with our design to one of the generals in the Department of National Defense. We received strong enthusiasm and positive feedback.
I’m very excited about this environment and love how this group came together to bring the CF values to life through this experience!
This will be a beginning of a whole new training experience for years to come
Reflection
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I learned about the importance of storytelling in creating an impactful design experience:
Effective storytelling goes beyond just the narrative; it also encompasses clear objectives, compelling characters, engaging themes, meaningful dialogue, and captivating spectacle.
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VR design is quite sensitive as it may cause users to experience motion sickness. Therefore, considering the cognitive load of the users is even more important when it comes to the design of VR.
