Integrating contextmapping and interaction design: designing with and for small-scale urban farmers in Soweto

Abstract

This thesis describes and reflects on the effectiveness of integrating contextmapping as both a methodology and interaction design practice in order to co-­design digital products with and for developing communities. A Design as research methodology is applied in this study within the specific contexts of a co-design project involving small-­scale urban farmers in Soweto. The final design outcomes of the project are the interaction design documents reflecting the design requirements of a mobile application as well as a low-level prototype demonstrating a number of the identified requirements contained in the documentation. The study assumes a human-centred design ethos that positions problems facing users as contextual, complex and indeterminate and requiring a degree of consideration and understanding by the designer before they can be resolved. The design process applied in this study therefore focused on gaining an understanding of the farmers' life experiences in order to design effective and empathetic technological solutions that will be meaningful and useful to the farmers. For this purpose, contextmapping and interaction design theory, methods and tools were integrated. Examples of this integration include the application of Hassenzahl's Three Level Hierarchy of Needs model to guide the exploration of the farmers' experiences and contexts, the use of contextmapping's Sensitization Phase and generative tools to generate user research data and lastly, contemporary interaction design tools such as problem-­ecology maps, personas and user-journey diagrams to develop and communicate design concepts to the farmers. The study concludes that this integration of contextmapping and interaction design is effective, in particular through its enablement of community participation in contributing meaningfully to the co-­design process while further ensuring that contributions made by the participants are relevant and actionable to the interaction design.