Smart Home Application Design Peer Review: Fall 2023

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Smart Home Application

Conduct a peer review of a given design:
Does the design satisfy the requirements given in the case study? Discuss your reasoning
for your comments
Following are the issues or the points where the design that has been created, is failing to satisfy
the requirements that has been provided.
No Registration Screen: One of the main features that is observed to be absent in the given
design is the option for the new user to register. There has been no option mentioned for a new
user to register themselves so that they can login in future as per the figure 1. If a new user is not
registered then there is no need for the login page. Either there must be an option for the new
user to register or there be no additional login option and the user must only be having the ability
to login via Facebook or Gmail (Yang, et. al.,2018).

Figure 1 No Option to register
Environmental Zones: One of the requirements that are provided by the client have clearly
stated that there must be at least 3 environmental zones that are been defined by the developer on
the main Smart home Control Panel. But no such zones have been specified. There are options in
the application that takes the user to the temperature sensor but that option is not properly made
understand to the user and seems to be quite confusing from a point of view of a new user as per
fig. 2.
Some of the requirements that are mentioned by the client are not properly executed or are left
incomplete and due to this these activities might end up leaving the user all confused about the
application, these requirements are such as:

Improper option of adding new sub system: It has been clearly mentioned in the requirements
of the whole software that the software that is being created must be having an option on the
home screen to add new systems or the new sub smart systems that might include adding any
new system that enables WiFi or any new smart home panel etc. as per fig. 3. but as per the
design there is an activity given, but there is no option in the application to get to that activity.
The particular activity is not connected to any other activity and hence it cannot be accessed in
the application.

Is the design easy to understand and aesthetically pleasing? Include your reasoning along
with references to the principles of design
It would not be a wrong thing to say that there are various instances and activities in the design
that has been introduced as the mockups, that shows that the application is not at all easy to
understand and neither is it aesthetically pleasing. There are pages and activities that are present
but having no option in the whole application to be accessed. There are pages that are not clearly
mentioned with their purpose and neither are they mentioned in the requirements. Some of those
pages are explained in brief below.
Unclear Activities: There is a plus icon present among the various options that are present at
the home screen which is also present at all the options that are present at the home screen. This
button, when selected, redirects the user to a page where there are options such as date and time,
language, privacy and it is not mentioned at all that what is the purpose of this button. There is
no mention of any such button in the requirements, there is also no clarification or any caption or
the name given to the option in the mockups that are created fig. 4.
Transition to the activity of settings: There is an activity that is present in the mockups that are
created, that is having various options such as log out, music, themes, WiFi etc., the back button
that is present there is also redirecting the user to the home screen and the logout button is also
taking the user to the log out page, but there is no option in the rest of the application that allows
the user to go to that particular page which makes the entire need of the activity questionable. As
if that activity cannot be accessed then in that case the user would also not be having any option
to logout from the application if they want fig. 5.
Improper Captioning: One of the major issues that makes the application even more complex is
that there are various icons and options in the application that are not having any explanation of
themselves with any text. The image of the icons of those icons are also not very self-
explanatory and due to this the user might get confused in knowing the actual usage of the icon
which makes the application difficult to understand fig.6, fig7.

Discuss how, and why, you think the design could be improved. Include your reasoning
along with references to the principles of design
There are various improvements that are to be made in the whole design of the application of the
Smart Home Panel. These improvements must be made in the application in order to make the
application easier to user for the user and apart from that, making sure that all the user
requirements that were provided by the client are followed properly and completely. There are
certain issues in the mockups that are in a higher need to be resolved and there are some
functionalities that are missing in the application that are needed to be added properly before the
deployment of the application.
Following are some of the improvements that must be made in the application.
1. There must be a registration page in the application or there must only be the option to
login through Facebook or Google as it would not be possible for the user to login from
any other domain if they are not having the option to register themselves. The convenient
and formal solution would be to add a registration page to the application as it would help
the application to increase the scope of its users.
2. All the environmental zones must be defined at the main Smart Home Panel as it is one
of the specifically mentioned requirements that has been provided by the client. The
options that are present for cooling or controlling the temperature as per the observation
of the cooling sensor should also be stated properly so that is can be understood by the
user.
3. All the activities of that are mentioned in the given design must be having proper
transitions and all of them must be linked to at least one activity. It must be made sure
that all the pages that are created are accessible by the user. This makes the application
easier to be understood just by looking at the design.
4. All the options that are present in the application must be having proper captions or texts
near them in order to properly explain the purpose of those icons. There were many
options in the application that only had images to explain them and those images are also
not that much self- explanatory. This will be making the application easier to understand
and the user will know the user and purpose of the button just after looking at it.

Provide a list of recommendations for improvement, based on your comments above, in
order of priority
As mentioned above, one of the most important improvements that must be made in the
application are the ones that fulfills the requirements that are provided by the client to the
developer. These improvements must be kept on the top priority as the first thing that the client
checks after the deployment of the application are the basic functionalities that they provided
prior to the initial stage of the project and if they did saw that even of the requirements are
missing, that does not creates a good impression on the client for the organization. In this
application also, the requirements that are provided by the user are kept at the top most priority
and hence if there is any improvement that can be made in order to obtain and fulfil those
requirements in a better way, it should be done as soon as possible (Wemo, 2019).
Therefore at the topmost priority, the tasks that must be done in the terms of improvements in the
application of Smart Home Panel are the tasks such as, proper addition of the option of adding a
new sub system, properly mention of the environmental zones and their options such as cooling
and temperature control. The registration option must also be dealt with properly.
All the principals that are created as per the standard design of any application must also be
followed and none of them must be avoided. There are many instances in this applications that
are not following those principals such as there are some activities that are made in the design of
the application and are not having any connectivity to any other activities that means there is no
way to access that activity in the actual application (Wemo, 2019).
Another improvements that must be made in the application as soon as the requirements are
properly dealt with is the understandability of the application. One of the most basic feature that
must be present in any application is that those application must be very easy to understand and
any new user must be having the ability to understand the application properly and it should be
made sure the language and the user interface of the application must be as user friendly as
possible. Same is required for the improvement of this application of Smart Home Panel. In this
application there are several activities and options whose purpose and task in the application is
very confusing and it must be a high prioritized task to make those activities easier to understand
as soon as possible.

Conduct a usability evaluation of the given design using the Neilsen heuristic. This
evaluation is to be a maximum of 6 pages which details:
Each heading in the heuristic should be listed followed by a discussion of the related issues
found in the design.
Following are the issues that are located in the design of the application of Smart Home Panel in
terms of the principles provided by Neilsen heuristics.
1. System Status Visibility: There is no activity mentioned in the design of the application
that tells about what would be displayed on the screen of the user while a page is being
loaded. If there is a slow internet connectivity in the area where the application is being
uses, then in that case the page will take time to open, and if there is nothing on the scene
till then then the user would be losing interest in using the application as he won’t be
having any idea about what is going on in the application at that time. This might reduce
the impression of the application for the user. If the language of the application would not
be user friendly then the user will have many issues in understanding the application
properly and that will give a bad impression to the user. The priority of these types of
issues is moderately low as even if it is face by any user, it won’t affect the user from
using the application in the future. There must be loading bar or a at least a text that tells
about what is going to be loaded at the screen so that the user is not irritated or confused
while using the application (Shakeel, 2018).
2. System and Real World Matching: Some of the activities that are present in the design
of the application such as the activity that is accessed by clicking on the plus icon present
on the home screen. The activity does not explains what happens in it and even the
options that are provided on that activity are not clear as per fig. 4. If the language of the
application would not be user friendly then the user will have many issues in
understanding the application properly and that will give a bad impression to the user.
This is considered to be an issue of a very high priority as it can make the user quite
using the application. The language of the application must be as simple as possible for
the user so that the user can properly understand the whole application and does not face
any types of complexity or any type of confusion (Shakeel, 2018).

3. Freedom and Control of the User: There are no breadcrumbs used as per the design of
the application, if a user wishes to go on a particular activity from the current activity,
they are not having such option. Absence of the breadcrumbs takes away the option from
the user to get back to a page that they started with at once if they realize that they are at
a wrong page or the activities that they are on is not what they were looking for and the
user would have to press back button many times. The priority of these types of issues is
moderately low as even if it is face by any user, it won’t affect the user from using the
application in the future. There must be some breadcrumbs used in the application, it
would be recommended that all the activities must be introduced with breadcrumbs so
that along with jumping from one activity to another, the user would also be having the
ability to know the current page
4. Avoiding or Fixing Errors: There is no activity mentioned in the designed in the
application that indicates the message in case any error is occurred in the application or
the user is having an option to get back from an unintended selection or not. An error
message for any application is highly important as it must be known to the user if they
have encountered with an error and if the error message is not displayed then the
application would most likely get closed and this might irritate the user. This is
considered to be an issue of a very high priority as it can make the user quite using the
application. There must also be a proper layout in the application in order to display any
kind of error for any error (Shakeel, 2018).
5. Helping user find and resolve the error: There is no activity that has been mentioned in
the design that deals with the errors that might occur in the application while it is being
used. If there is any error then it must be dealt with immediately after it has been
occurred, but if it is not properly dealt there must at least be an understandable message
that help the user to remove it or at least understand it. This is considered to be an issue
of a very high priority as it can make the user quite using the application. It must be tried
hard to catch all the errors that might occur in this or at least help the user to identify
those errors.
6. Consistencies and Standard: There is no consistency application at all as even on the
main screen or the home screen there are some option that are having captions while
other are just images as per fig. 6. An inconsistent application always has a very bad

impression on the user as all the activities and the options on those activities are different
than the other one which makes that user confused and wonder if they are using the
application correctly or not. This is considered to be an issue of a very high priority as it
can make the user quite using the application. The applications must be consistent and all
the options present on a single page must be displayed in a similar manner so that the
user does not get confused regarding the significance of the option that is present
(Liyanage, 2016).
7. Instead of recalling, recognize: The options that are mentioned at the bottom might not
be understood by any new user as they are just images and no caption is provided as per
fig. 8, therefore they might end up selecting them for any other purpose which would not
work out for them and this would lead to a bad impression of the application. Even
though the bottom options are quite self-explanatory, if there is even a single user who
faced difficulty finding the options in the application that are one out of those 3, the issue
is a big deal. The priority of these types of issues is moderately low as even if it is face by
any user, it won’t affect the user from using the application in the future. All the options
at the bottom of the screen must be properly captioned with a name that completely tells
the purpose of those options too so that the user does not have to go anywhere else to
accesses any of those options (Liyanage, 2016).
8. Flexible and Efficient: The page after selecting the plus icon on the homes screen has no
links over the labels and seems to be very confusing for a new user. No labels means the
user would be stuck on that page and would be having no idea about what to do next.
This is considered to be an issue of a very high priority as it can make the user quite
using the application. It would be recommended to the developer that that page must be
recreated properly and the purpose of that page must be also tried to be explained in a
proper manner.
9. Aesthetic as well as minimized structure: The design of the application is not at all
aesthetic or minimalist as there are so many unwanted mockups and unclear activities
that are present in the design of the application such as the settings activity, the “plus”
sign option etc. A difficult and a non-aesthetic design makes the user quite the
application instantly and also makes the usage of the application very complex. This is
considered to be an issue of a very high priority as it can make the user quite using the

application. All the pages must be having proper transition and all the icons that are
complex must be properly captioned.
10. Helping and Documentation: There is no feedback activity mentioned in the design of
the application or any page on which the user can properly search for the information
regarding the application. Improper documentation and help option might be needed if
the user wants to know about the various features of the application. The priority of these
types of issues is moderately low as even if it is face by any user, it won’t affect the user
from using the application in the future. Proper documentation and help activity must be
created in the application (Liyanage, 2016).