Smart Home Application Design Evaluation and Peer Review

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ITC504 – Assessment 3rd

Contents
Part A: Peer Review.........................................................................................................................3
a. Design Reviewer...................................................................................................................4
b. Review for the fulfilment of requirements within the design...............................................4
Requirements listing on the basis of review............................................................................4
Incomplete or complete design review....................................................................................6
Incomplete design list..............................................................................................................6
Reason of reflection for incomplete design.............................................................................7
c. Design understanding analysis.............................................................................................7
Is the design clear and easily understandable? Yes.................................................................7
Aesthetically Attractive: No....................................................................................................7
Issues identified in the design..................................................................................................7
Reason of reflection for the identified issues..........................................................................8
d. Improvements needed in the design.....................................................................................8
e. Design recommendations......................................................................................................8
Part B: Evaluation based on Heuristics.........................................................................................10
a. Evaluation is done for the design using Heuristic principle...............................................10
b. Evaluation...........................................................................................................................10
c. Reason of reflection............................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................15
Appendix........................................................................................................................................16

List of figures
Figure 1: Incomplete Login page...................................................................................................16
Figure 2: Incomplete Home page..................................................................................................17
Figure 3: Incomplete temperature control page.............................................................................18
Figure 4: Incomplete temperature display.....................................................................................19
Figure 5: Missing footer................................................................................................................20
Figure 6: Incorrect control page....................................................................................................21
Figure 7: Incorrect page for add/remove device............................................................................22
Figure 8: Incorrect header and footer............................................................................................23
Figure 9: Zone page.......................................................................................................................24
Figure 10: Control status...............................................................................................................25
Figure 11: Home page...................................................................................................................26
Figure 12: Login page....................................................................................................................27
Figure 13: Remove User page.......................................................................................................28
Figure 14: Missing linking and user freedom................................................................................29
Figure 15: Help & documentation page.........................................................................................30
Figure 16: Incorrect removal of user without any action..............................................................31
Figure 17: Dining hall page...........................................................................................................32
Figure 18: Setting page..................................................................................................................33
Figure 19: Panel settings................................................................................................................34

Part A: Peer Review
a. Design Reviewer
The report developed over the evaluation as well as a review of design has been done by:
Student Name: Student needs to fill the details.
Student ID: Student needs to fill the details.
b. Review for the fulfilment of requirements within the design
The layout created for the other member on the basis of smart-house command and customer
activities has been examined on the basis of the criteria established for the design to regulate
smart house equipment. But the demands have not been fully addressed. Some specifications
such as safety and visual monitoring of the whole building and various regions, control of entire
lightning system and air-conditioning system were lacking. These are some of the major
mistakes of this design due to which it has not provided customers with improved features for the
Smart-Home design (Korkmaz et al. 2015).
Requirements listing on the basis of review
1. Availability of different systems as well as a sub-system for the user along with effective
labelling and easy to identify.
Analysis: Satisfied
Reason of reflection: On the basis of review done over the home page of the Smart-
Home app, it has been recorded that the design meets all the requirements which must be
available on the home for the user in order to perform different control operations to
manage multiple smart equipment present in the house with a single platform but the
linking of those options and equipment missing.
2. E-lock and security of different areas and their access control.
Analysis: Not satisfied
Reason of reflection: Different pages designed for the areas such as Living room,
kitchen and other has an option to “Off/On” the lock but it failed to define the object
which user can lock or unlock in order to manage the access control for the house. It does
not provide function to open or close the gates or windows inbuilt with a smart lock
sensor.

3. Video-surveillance for different areas
Analysis: Not satisfied
Reason of reflection: Requirement of Video-surveillance is not available within the app
designed for the Smart-home and user cannot keep monitoring or surveillance over the
house and different areas. This design does not provide the control option of the camera
for the users.
4. Lightning control of various areas and rooms.
Analysis: Not satisfied
Reason of reflection: Different pages designed for different areas have Light control
option over the page but it does not provide control option for the user. Here, the user can
only switch Off or On the light from different pages but he/she can’t manage all lights
present in the house from a single page.
5. Air-condition and temperature control.
Analysis: Not satisfied
Reason of reflection: Different pages such as Living room and Bedroom has option to
select the Air-condition from “Low, Medium or High” but user can not change the
temperature according to the need or climatic condition. Also, this design does not
provide direct control option for the Air-condition through which user can manage the
temperature of different areas.
6. Add/remove Wi-Fi devices
Analysis: Satisfied but incomplete functionality
Reason of reflection: Settings page designed has “Wi-Fi” option for the user to manage
and control Wi-Fi settings as well as devices connected through the Wi-Fi along with
option to add/remove new devices to Wi-Fi but linked with incorrect page where user
have the option to control new lightning devices instead of Wi-Fi device.
7. Add/remove newly installed devices with Smart-Home.
Analysis: Not satisfied
Reason of reflection: Option to add/remove the newly installed device is not available in
the design and user can’t add/remove any device within the app developed for Smart-
Home. This requirement is missing in the design.
8. Control and management of different devices such as music, radio, etc.

Analysis: Not satisfied
Reason of reflection: Control and management of different music devices, radio, TV and
other has been missing in this app. User can only control the volume and select either low
volume, high volume or the medium volume but can’t tune the volume manually or
control the channel and other options.
9. Availability of multiple environmental zones.
Analysis: Satisfied
Reason of reflection: Different pages designed for the app have multiple zones along
with their control and management option for the user so that user can manage different
zones of the house as per the requirement from the single platform.
10. Control and management of temperature in rooms and other areas.
Analysis: Satisfied but incomplete functionality.
Reason of reflection: Temperature control page available in the app designed for the
Smart-Home but it does not provide the control and management option for the user to
change temperature through the app. It failed to present the complete functionality for the
management of temperature of different areas within the house.
Incomplete or complete design review
The full layout is examined in accordance with the specifications for Smart-Home's
implementation and its user control. The implementation has not demonstrated or intended
different criteria identified for Smart-Home, which are not feasible for the customer through the
app created. Multiple criteria defined for the Smart-Home failed in the app due to this app needs
to be developed more to complete the design and criteria defined for the app.
Incomplete design list
Different criteria defined for the Smart-Home app which is not available in the pages of design
has been mentioned below:
1. Availability of different systems as well as a sub-system for the user along with effective.
2. E-lock and security of different areas and their access control.
3. Video-surveillance for different areas
4. Lightning control of various areas and rooms.
5. Add/remove Wi-Fi devices

6. Add/remove newly installed devices with Smart-Home.
7. Control and management of different devices such as music, radio, etc.
8. Control and management of temperature in rooms and other areas.
Reason of reflection for incomplete design
All of the above criteria mentioned were not correctly enforced or lacking in the layout created.
The model developed for the Smart-Home don’t include above-mentioned criteria for the
customer and no customer can carry out certain duties, for example AC control, complement to
fresh devices via Wi-Fi, fresh implementation schemes, light controls for distinct rooms and
many other activities, which are the main features or specifications of better Smart-Home app.
All these criteria need to be implemented within the app for the completion of functionality of
Smart-Home app (Xu et al. 2016). Different pages where issues have been identified shown in
the image (image 1, 2, 3 & 4).
c. Design understanding analysis
Is the design clear and easily understandable? Yes
The structure created by the other participant is both evident and easy, and some of the displays
that have been created within the structure have data that is inaccurate or meaningless and which
is hard for multiple consumers to comprehend and execute multiple measures on the displays via
the panel to be understandable (Ceccacci & Mengoni, 2017).
Aesthetically Attractive: No
The general layout for Smart-Home and its displays were created so that the customer can
regulate and handle various tasks. The aesthetic layout of pages and other mistakes on the page is
not complied with by distinct displays, such as the Zone selection, the Dining Hall, the Setting
page, the panel setting page etc.
Issues identified in the design
 Incorrect information on the page.
 Unwanted symbols and labels
 Unwanted and wrong functions
 Wrong/missing links on different pages
 Alteration in header & footer on different pages

 Unwanted utilization of spacing on different pages
 Missing of header/footer on multiple pages
Reason of reflection for the identified issues
The layout with right data was discovered lacking in the model along with wrong data, change in
layout as well as alignments on distinct displays, meaningless data across separate displays and
many other variables because one of the Heuristic Principles called "Aesthetic & Minimalist
Design" was not followed. Different pages where issues have been identified shown in the image
(Wilson et al. 2015). Image attached in appendix (Image 5, 6 & 7).
d. Improvements needed in the design
 Corrections to provide only required information on the page.
Description: Different pages developed for the Smart-Home app has unwanted
information showing which is not required for the user to follow the “Aesthetic” principle
and “Minimalistic” design.
 Removal of unwanted symbols and labels from the design
Description: Presence of unwanted symbols and images results in great confusion for the
users and decrease the usage efficiency affecting “Efficiency to use” principle.
 Correction of links on different pages
Description: Correct linking required to perform all the actions and control of devices
correctly to provide better “freedom & control”l for the user.
 Implementation of correct header & footer on each of the pages
Description: It helps user to perform some actions directly from the screen they are
without moving to another page or searching for the option to perform that task i.e.
“flexibility” (image 8).
 Removal of unwanted “Forward” button from each of the pages
Description: Presence of unwanted buttons, content, data and information on different
pages reduce the “Aesthetic” design of the app.
 Implementation of buttons instead of a checkbox for the users
Description: Development of buttons for the user to click over those buttons in order to
perform the task provide real experience as working with a real-world app.

e. Design recommendations
1. There must be buttons available on-page instead of the checkbox to perform the activity.
Improvement Description: Use of buttons on area selection page provide better working for
user instead of going through a checkbox.
Priority: Minor
2. There must be same footer & header on each of the pages.
Improvement Description: Use of same footer & header on the different page provide better
visualization and easy control option.
Priority: Significant
3. There must be a page of the new user registration and to reset or change the password.
Improvement Description: Development of new user registration page to help new user to
register themselves in order to use the app and reset the password for the existing user.
Priority: Significant
4. There must be security and video-surveillance available with the app.
Improvement Description: Video-surveillance and security management plays one of the
most important functions or the key function for the Smart-Home app so that the user can
achieve maximum security for the complete house as well as devices.
Priority: Significant
5. There must be various control panels or the options for the user to control multiple types
of equipment.
Improvement Description: Development of new pages for the control of multiple types of
equipment available and connected with the Smart-Home app so that user can operate
multiple types of equipment manually such as lightning control function of complete house
from same page, management of temperature of complete house from the same page.
Priority: Minor

Part B: Evaluation based on Heuristics
a. Evaluation is done for the design using Heuristic principle
Following a good peer review for the layout that has been established in attempt to verify the
compliance of Smart-Home specifications within the layout so that all the specifications and the
full layout for the consumer can be enhanced, an assessment of the current layout has been
carried out according to distinct rules set by heuristics. Various layout displays were assessed on
the base of the 10 Heuristics rules to identify various errors for a complete error adjustment
depending on the usability for the customers of the implementation. It was performed to verify
whether the fundamental conditions of implementation for the command of intelligent apps are
addressed completely or not (Khan et al. 2018).
b. Evaluation
1. Consistency and standards.
Problem: Meaning of design, images, buttons should be the same on each of the pages so
that user don’t need to search for the meaning of different things used on different pages.
The screen where problem identified: Zone page, Living-room page, Control status
page, Dining hall page, User account page, Verifying the status page
Description: Missing of back button over multiple pages, change in labels for buttons on
multiple pages, change in footer & header on different pages and many more resulted in
development of different meaning for the same thing over different pages (image 9).
Priority: High
Remediation: Development of consistency and standard design for each of the pages.
2. Match with system and the real world.
Problem: Designing of the app must be followed similar to the real-world app so that
user will have real experience while using the application (Kim et al. 2017).
The screen where problem identified: Home page, Control status page, Favorite page,
Wi-Fi Setting page, Control Temperature Sensor page
Description: Unavailability of the back button, incorrect linking and wrong navigation
over the “Home Page”, utilization of input box on “Contol Temperature Sensor” page and
many more failed to match with the existing real-world designs (image 10 & 11).
Priority: Moderate

Remediation: Designing of above pages with correct buttons and boxes so that use has
real feeling while using the app or the functions the same as the real-world.
3. Error prevention.
Problem: Installation of advance mechanism to produce alert or pop-up for the users in
wrong situation or error is done by the user to correct that error found missing in the app
(Hermawati & Lawson, 2016).
The screen where problem identified: Login page, Add user page
Description: Availability of “Forward” button, headers on the “Login” page allow user
to access the entire application even without login to his/her account which is one of the
major error with the design (image 12).
Priority: High
Remediation: Removal of “Forward” button, headers and correct title as “Sign In” on the
login page instead of “Sign Up”.
4. Recognition rather than recall.
Problem: Development of same meaning and purpose of different images, pages for the
app must be available so that user don’t need to remember each & everything while using
the application (Alaa et al. 2017).
The screen where problem identified: Login page, Controlling the device page,
Remove user page
Description: Incorrect title over the “Login” page as “Sign Up” and linking of multiple
control option with same “Controlling the device” page resulted in error and complexity
for the user and user needs to remember those function to perform different actions
(image 12 & 13).
Priority: Low
Remediation: Correction of link and title along with designing of new pages for the
control option of different equipment.
5. Visibility of system status.
Problem: Display of correct information in order to aware the user about the operations
running over the designed page must not have alteration or modification over the other
pages which has been found in this app.
The screen where problem identified: Controlling the device page, Control status page

Description: On the “Controlling the devices” page, alteration in footer and header
found, the status of Wi-Fi is missing and many more resulting in decreased visibility of
the system status (image 10).
Priority: High
Remediation: Display of correct and current status of running operation or the page for
the user.
6. User control and freedom.
Problem: Navigation plays important role in the control of designed app for the user or
the designer to develop the best app for the defined purpose which has been found
lacking (Palanca et al. 2018).
The screen where problem identified: Favorite page, Wi-Fi Setting page
Description: Multiple control options have been missing over the above pages designed
for the app resulting in limited navigation and restrict the user from multiple actions
(image 14).
Priority: Moderate
Remediation: Implementation of control and navigation over the complete app for the
user.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use.
Problem: Effective flexibility for the user required for the design so that user can swing
anytime to any page depending upon the mood or the requirement which found missing.
The screen where problem identified: Zone Update page, Setting page, Control Status
page, Home page
Description: Different pages have multiple options displayed but don’t have linking over
them or the control missing so the user can’t use that function.
Priority: High
Remediation: Implementation of control and linking for the defined functions for the
user.
8. Help and documentation.
Problem: It also plays key factor for the design & development of the app to display
correct help options for the user and option available on every page for the user to opt for
help anytime.