Author Archives: Gene Merewether

A3 – SCORE is the worst…

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Individual Evaluations

Phil

Gene

Rodrigo

Most severe problems:

  • Login process – there are a variety of errors and options which can lead to dead-ends and complicated error messages from the system.  Most severe is the issue which tells the user that they are not authorized to login, and provides no exit from the page.  Error messages tend to be cryptic and unrelated to the actual error committed by the user.
  • Navigation issues – design hierarchy is frequently unclear, some features are very difficult to find (quintile rank). The layout is often misleading; for example, some academic features are not in the “My Academics” section.
  • Many problems involved a design that was neither aesthetic nor minimalist (H8). In order to fix these problems, SCORE designers should eliminate all non-essential menus, and streamline the page to be one top menu (easily hidden), and one layout panel that could display as a list, icons, etc., just like a file browser.


Problems made more apparent by list of Nielsen’s Heuristics:

  • Issues with being able to move back to a real main menu – made more apparent by H3.  Without this heuristic, a tester might not have thought to attempt an accidental navigation mistake that requires correction.
  • Issues with dismissing modals was made clear with H2-4. Most modals on the internet have an “X” button in the top right corner to dismiss it. In Score, you can only dismiss a modal by interacting with its contents.
  • H-9 Vague error messages, often with no way to go back
    • Some error messages offer multiple possible reasons for the error
    • Many times, there is no “Return to Home” button to allow the user to continue using the software normally.  Even when there is, the labeling is unclear and often leads the user to a menu other than the one they intended to navigate to.


Problems not listed under Neilsen’s Heuristics:

  • Good choice of general categories for navigation – for example, the user task of viewing an unofficial transcript could possibly fit under several menu options: “Academic Requirements”, “Course History”, “Grades”, or “View My Academic Record.”  Choosing good menu headings is essential to the design, as it enables simple navigation by the user.


Useful class discussion questions related to heuristic evaluation

  • Which heuristics seem the most important to user experience?
    • H-9 could be one possible answer – if the user cannot recover from an error, than it would cripple the usability of the product.
    • However, with respect to usability, H-3 appears especially important.  Having a muddled interface which is difficult to navigate will have a major negative effect on the user’s ability to benefit from the product.
  • Which heuristics are the easiest to violate?
    • H-7 could be very easily violated as more features are built.
    • H-10 could be violated frequently because it is easy to forgot to make a “help” page.
    • H-4 is very easy to violate, especially if there is a large product team.  Maintaining a consistent interface with unchanging standards can be quite difficult.
  • Which heuristic violations are the hardest to catch?
    • Anything involving errors, such as H-5. Some errors are very difficult to catch.  Along those lines, H-9 is difficult because the developers can have trouble predicting the errors a user will face.  Even after product testing, it is hard to predict what might go wrong, making it difficult to assist the user in those situations.

Assignment 2: Individual Design Exercise

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Observations:

Aaron Glasserman, 1:30 pm Wednesday 2/20/13

I asked Aaron if I could walk with him to his 6-person Persian seminar and ask him a few questions about his experience. He told me he had to stop by Campus Club to print something. I asked him whether it was readings or homework, and he replied that he would have printed out readings ahead of time and that this was homework. I also asked how he picked Campus Club, and he said that he was walking by Campus anyway and if the printer there were broken, he could always go print in Frist. When we got to Campus Club, the cluster was crowded, but no one was actively printing pages. I asked at what point he would just go on to Frist, and he said if someone were printing pages when he got there, he would go to Frist instead. Aaron began to log on, and then turned to our friend who was already logged in to a cluster computer and asked if he could print using the friend’s login. He said that the cluster computers sometimes take annoyingly long to log in. In my experience, I mostly print things from the web, rather than my H drive, so I don’t need to log in to my account, just an account. In this situation, if there were a guest account that was always logged in and could be easily switched to, that would be much easier. As he was printing, he realized that he had left some notes to himself at the end of the assignment, so he had to delete those and then reprint. Homework printed!

Then, we headed to Witherspoon’s in Frist for a coffee.

“It’s a long seminar, so I’m going to treat myself to something nicer.”

Unfortunately, there was a long line! Aaron was debating going back to Tower for a coffee, but after watching the line for a moment, we saw that it was moving pretty quickly.

 I asked Aaron if there were any tasks he needed to do for class or wanted to do for fun that he’d like to do while walking between classes. He said that for Persian class, he has to pull vocabulary words from recent news headlines. Also, he likes to read the news. He mentioned that for Chinese language classes, a three-sided “flashcard” with english, pinyin, and characters would be cool.

Sean Power, 2:30 pm Wednesday 2/20/13

Sean was waiting for someone that he was going to walk to class with, but then it turned out his friend was in Frist and they would just meet at class. He said that usually it’s a coincidence if he walks to class with someone. He doesn’t have any readings to print out for this class, because he splits up the readings in a group. Before class, the person responsible for that week’s readings emails out a summary to the group. Sean doesn’t always have time to read the summary before class, so he sometimes reads it during the first few minutes of class. Sean helps run Orange Key, so he gets a lot of emails. He’s also obsessive about keeping his inbox clean. He has a hard time emailing while walking, because he can’t get enough words written. Instead, he usually texts the author of the email. Often he finds that he’s deleted or archived an email, and then forgotten to take care of what he needed to. He makes one to-do list on his phone for urgent things, and another on the Stickies app on his computer for medium-term things.

Alex Judge, 3:30 pm Wednesday 2/20/13

Alex was really bored between the end of his class at 3 pm and the start of precept for that class at 3:30 pm. When I met him at 3:15, he was moving a mouse randomly around his screen, trying to find some more fun way of procrastinating. He said that he usually comes to Tower between those two classes to read emails, surf the web, and check Facebook. He spent most of the time on Facebook chat or talking to friends. In order to get to class on time, Alex sets his watch fast. Although, we ended up getting to class about 2 mins late when Alex lost track of time.

Brainstorming

Collaborated with Phil Oasis, Aaron Glasserman, Paige Tsai, and Megan Karande

  1. 3-sided “flashcard” app (character drawing, pronunciation, english) for use before Chinese language classes with tone and drawn character recognition
  2. Guest accounts always logged in on cluster computers that would keep people from having to log in when all their files are on the web anyway
  3. Wait time measuring stations at print clusters, food places, etc that you could subscribe to on an app (like weather forecasts almost) and then prioritize where to go when
  4. Social walking app that uses your current location and calendar (for destinations), and communicates with the app on friends’ phones to coordinate walking together
  5. App that lets you reply to emails with texts, and loads them into the Gmail conversation
  6. Browser plugin that lets you move emails from your inbox to a to-do list, and helps you copy only the pertinent information
  7. Voice dictation hardware that is more stylish or makes talking to yourself more socially acceptable
  8. Interface that helps you procrastinate – when you stop giving the computer useful input (mouse clicks or keyboard commands), it starts serving you popular content
  9. Glasses that display text/media you’re trying to read overlaid on the real world so you can walk while checking your email
  10. Smart to-do list that orders items based on your estimate of how long it will take to do them, and your available time based on your calendar
  11. App that parses emails from the FreeFood listserv, and shows you the locations, time stamps, and food items
  12. Alarm for class that won’t stop until you begin walking, and are heading in the correct direction for class
  13. Sensor for when your Frist mailbox isn’t empty and texts you
  14. Mobile ordering system for the Tower lunch grill; lets you place orders while walking from class to Tower, and tells you expected wait time
  15. Portable clock projector that displays the time on the wall in classrooms without a clock; helps make sure class starts and ends on time

Two Favorite Ideas

Three-sided “flashcard”

My conversations with Aaron and other students of Chinese convinced me of how useful the character and pronunciation training would be and how the current solutions fall short.

Mobile Grill Ordering

Tower lunch has an open grill that gets overcrowded at the 12:20 pm rush – this app lets people see if they have time to get food between classes or put in an early order.

Paper Prototypes

Mobile Grill Ordering

Main Screen If you want to look at the menu, click the green Menu button. That takes you to the Menu Page. If you want to expand one of the panes there that isn’t shown, click on it. Then click on any grill item to order it. Ordering from the menu. To order from one of the blue items on the main screen (your most commonly ordered items), simply press it. Or, if you’re in the mood for a surprise, choose that! When you order any item from the menu or the main screen, you have the chance to put in Special Requests, which you type into the box shown. Once you hit okay, you have a chance to Confirm Your Order. At this point, the order is sent to the grill staff via a screen behind the bar (interface not designed). When your order is ready and the grill staff delete your order from their on-screen queue, you get a Notification from the grill app. If you’ve already ordered a smoothie today and you try to order another, or if you’ve ordered a food item and try to order another, this Popup shows. If you’ve got extra food or are still hungry, press the pink Share button on the main screen. Press and drag with your finger to scroll through the list of shared items. You can Post your food on the sharing board, and you can Choose whether you want to give up half of your item or the whole thing. The app posts the item that you previously ordered in the amount you specify. To pick up someone else’s shared item, simply click that item, then Confirm that you . The person who shared that item will get a Notification.

Chinese Language “Flashcards”

First, choose a Vocabulary List. Then, on the Start Page, drag the pin to the side of the flashcard that you want to be provided with (you’ll be tested on the rest). If you’ve previously worked on this list, you’ll have the option to Resume. Once you’ve chosen one of those options, you’ll be tested on the three sections that aren’t pinned. In this case, you start with English. Hit the Done button to check your answer. If you got it right, you’ll see the next testing page. If not, you’ll be told you were Incorrect, and you’ll be given the chance to see or hear the correct answer. Other testing modes are Speaking/Pronunciation and Character Drawing. In any of these testing screens, hit the pin to go back to the Start Page and choose a different side of the flashcard to be presented with. For example, display the Chinese Characters.

Feedback

Aaron Glasserman

At first, I thought Aaron understood moving the pin in order to select the front side of the card. Then he drug the pin over to pinyin, wrote the pinyin, drug the pin over to the character panel, and wrote the character. If this had been a real app, nothing would have happened when he tried to write/draw on the home screen.

He was confused by the speaker/microphone tab as well. He drug the pin to the speaker icon, and expected the app to pronounce the word. He then moved the pin to the microphone icon, and pronounced the word.

Also, he thought that the vocabulary list name was the front side of the card, so he wrote, drew, and said the pinyin, characters, and sounds for the word “family.” After testing was over, he said that most people learn characters by writing them over and over, so a “drill” function would be really useful. Regarding the word list, he said that I should make the text smaller or put it in parentheses to emphasize that it is not a flashcard.

Sam Zeluck

After working with Aaron, I added a prompt to the screen where users choose the “front” side of the flashcard. Sam had no problem with the screen after that. After she pressed the start button to begin the flashcards, she did need prompting before she typed the pinyin. Drawing the characters was more intuitive. The start button on the speak screen wasn’t obvious to her. She mentioned that since you don’t need the screen space for anything, that a prompt would be useful. She kept forgetting to press the Done button to move to the next “side” of the flashcard, so I just waited for her to remember each time.

She said that a card summary feature that displayed the english, pinyin, character, and spoke the word would be really useful. Also, Sam said that preloaded language packs for each chapter of a book that came with the language book would be a great addition. One of Sam’s friends in a summer language program had a flashcard app that she found very useful, and Sam liked the added ability to draw the character on the screen in my app.

Paige Tsai

Paige often stopped and asked for clarification or explanation of screens on the app. She said that popup prompts for most screens the first time a user opened the app would be a good addition. I found it difficult not to take the place of those prompts by giving instructions when she seemed stuck.

Paige requested several features:

  1. Ability to flip a card and look at the answer
  2. Ability to select which “reverse” sides of the card to be tested on, because some classes don’t require people to learn pinyin, for example

Insight

When making a paper prototype that will allow people to draw on the screen, find some way to make nothing happen when the user is in the wrong app state. In other words, if the user is drawing with a pen, have them draw what they would on another piece of paper, and then only transfer the drawing to the app screen if that actually would have happened.

Although the app components made from sticky notes did allow me to reuse pieces and move them around during the design process, they were not as effective during testing. I was inspired by the paper prototyping video we watched in class with the accordion fold pieces, scrolling, etc. However, it took to long to move the pieces around in response to the actions of the users. Next time, I will use only flashcards with each screen filled out completely in advance. Then, I’ll make many photocopies of each screen so that users can draw on the screens. Especially for a mobile app that users would use while walking/standing up, this makes more sense.

One possible way of adding only necessary prompts would be to take your almost-ready interface, show it to users, and wait until they need prompting or help. Then, add a prompt that pops up on the first several uses of the app that contains a minimal message communicating that same help. I personally dislike popup prompts, and I let that prejudice influence my design.

I didn’t think enough about the role of text size. The distinction between vocabulary list selection and front side of the flashcard wasn’t clear to my users. I think that fonts are not important in a paper prototype, but text size definitely is.

Through this process, I realized that “clever” interface tricks are not so clever. The pin for selecting the side of the flashcard that the user sees confused people. In the future, I’ll stick to more familiar paradigms.

Team GARP – Project 1

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Team Members

Gene Merewether

Alice Fuller

Rodrigo Menezes

Phil Oasis

Brainstorming

  1. Device for determining friends’ drunkenness by making them perform motor tasks and gauging their responsiveness
    1. decreased respiratory rate – breath sensor
    2. loss of balance – stand on one foot, sense movement of person holding it
    3. slurred speech – record speech….
    4. depressed pulse –  test pulse
    5. erratic behavior – checklist of irrational behavior friends can check off
    6. loss of fine motor control – similar to baby toy of putting shapes into the correct locations, the move the sensor along the wire without touching it, simple game
  2. Baby toy to teach shapes with different shaped (polygon etc) blocks and appropriate holes for the blocks that recognize them and light up correct parts
  3. LED strip from “cold” (blue) to “hot” (red) that senses proximity to a tagged object and displays appropriate colors, to help make finding your keys fun
    1. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_S-8qAp4jyc3dZb2RQZjh1RVU/edit?usp=sharing
  4. Transparent DJ table that allows the audience to see the DJ’s work. Ordinarily, the audience does not see the work a DJ puts in.
  5. Keyboard that lights up when you are supposed to press a key. Preferably, something that can rollover an existing keyboard with a nifty interface to allow you to choose songs to play. Some implementations of this exist, but they suck.
  6. a device than can test the security of rock or ice before stepping on it.
  7. Device that allows you to tilt and turn your hands to control a remote control airplane or Quadcopter. Less scary/more natural for kids than a remote control
    1. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_S-8qAp4jyWDFzTmZNUk93SUE/edit?usp=sharing
  8. An insulin needle with instruction that project or display before/during use.
    1. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_S-8qAp4jyODc3Tk52ZjM4Szg/edit?usp=sharing
  9. A ring that allows you to control your iPhone or mobile phone. Has a digital display that allows you to see your current song or text so you don’t have to pull it out. Essentially, the Pebble watch, but as a ring.
  10. massage display that projects lights onto the persons back indicating where and with what pressure to massage the person.
  11. A robot that plays ping pong. Instant ping pong partner.
  12. ring that integrates with google calendar/phone/blackboard and lights up as a reminder
  13. Cup with automatic drink instructions, and maybe shake/stir mechanism.
    1. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_S-8qAp4jydWtXakVURXcyeFU/edit?usp=sharing
  14. Opera/Movie glasses that display the subtitles and allow you to zoom in and out. Some people love subtitles, other hate them and this would solve that problem so both people can watch.
    1. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_S-8qAp4jyUFFCajF4TG9IT3c/edit?usp=sharing
  15. A clipboard that digitizes notes.
  16. A device that a choreographer could use. First walk around the perimeter of the room to set the spacal place, it will then record the spatial locations of the choreographer as he/she moves, allowing them to look back at a recording of the movement patterns they made.
  17. A bag that will measure the weight of its contents. Memorizes previous weights and will tell you if you forgot something.
  18. A RFID pin that you can easily put on important objects that allows a bag or container to determine if you’ve forgotten to bring something.
  19. Shoes for elderly people to keep them from tripping. They have ultrasonic range-finders on them that see upcoming objects and start a cell-phone vibrate motor in the shoe to alert the operator
    1. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_S-8qAp4jyZkxJS21xZzk1WDA/edit?usp=sharing
  20. a coffee cup that indicates the temperature of the contents, preventing people from burning their tongues or taking a sip of cold gross coffee.
  21. A sensor connected to your legs that can sense if you ACl or achilles tendon is about to break and it will indicate that you need to stop exercising and stretch
  22. Connect a telephone to an elderly person’s hearing aid that turns on and calls the ambulance when an impact is sensed in the hearing aid.
  23. Jigsaw puzzles that allow you to change the background as you’d like.
  24. A training racket or watch that critiques your tennis/squash swing.
  25. A silent training violin
  26. Watch that measures pulse and motion and determines the right time in your sleep cycle to wake you up
  27. A belt of shirt that can help correct your posture helping to prevent back injuries and promote proper form while working out. It could send signals to your ipad or something to show what corrections need to be made to your posture.
  28. A coin that is needed to unlock your phone, like a physical key.
  29. A way to unlock your phone using a 3-D signature.
  30. A training flute that lights up when you need to press a note.
  31. A pen which digitizes what you’re writing, as you’re writing it
  32. A baseball or tennis ball that gives you information about its trajectory and path
  33. A fencing sword that shows how fast/bent the sword got in a bout and other information.
  34. Assisted driving gloves for the deaf that vibrate the hand that is in the direction of the next turn more as the turn approaches
  35. A device in a refrigerator that will text you when food is rotting.
  36. A toothbrush that glows if it goes over an area in your mouth that you should brush more.
  37. Multi-purpose two factor authentication apps. Authentication apps are becoming increasingly common on the app store for different services (GMail, etc.) and it would be useful to have one that is tied to your identity, so services only ask you to use one app.
  38. Building off of 16, a set of joint position sensing sleeves for knees, elbows, etc that remember body positions of dancers, martial artists, performers etc throughout a piece
  39. A clock that tracks and plots your sleeping habits
  40. A pillow or blanket that senses the occupants body temperature and adjusts its heat so as to optimise the person’s temperature. It could track the information and allow you to look back at the data. It will always be the cold side of the pillow.
  41. Similar to 14, a collaborative movie watching experience where people can post stuff on another screen next to the TV so people (especially parents/younger siblings) don’t talk to ask questions about plot etc.
  42. A scanner which you upload your grocery list to, and removes them from the list as you then scan items that you get
  43. Shoes that measure your gait and critiques it/helps it.
    1. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6XMC9ryo5M5R1FiaXBvQk5PdDQ/edit?usp=sharing
  44. A training drum kit that glows with the beat and tells you how off you are. Or something you can add to a drum kit that does this.
  45. Automatic gavel for a meeting. If it gets too loud, it will gavel automatically.
    1. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_S-8qAp4jyZ2Z4VEd5ZmVJams/edit?usp=sharing
  46. Stethoscope for taking a patient’s pulse/blood pressure in loud environments that changes the brightness of lights based on sound level in the earpieces
  47. A soccer ball that detects when it has crossed a line, and lights up to indicate that
  48. A watch that if you lick it will let you know if you are dehydrated.
  49. Game controllers that make it harder to play if you’re winning, and easier if you’re losing
  50. A heat resistant temperature sensor that changes color based on the temperature of the object it is touching
  51. A bar that has weight sensors under each of the bottles. It can tell you how much you have left of everything and it automatically gives inventory metrics.
  52. Electronic labels for stores that allow you to change prices throughout the day. Comes with inventory software so you can code how the prices change with how much quantity is left.
  53. A ring or other object that monitors a stock price and changes colors unobtrusively to indicate price changes so you can look during a meeting
  54. A breadboard that lights up with instructions when you input a wiring diagram
  55. Attachment for the phone that can analyze blood in different ways – insulin, oxygen content, disease, etc.
  56. A watch that will not let you fall asleep. Detects drowsiness and gives the wearer and nice shock.
  57. Digital chips that let you spatially organize emails or texts
    1. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4_S-8qAp4jyZUlEb0tYMEZSZGM/edit?usp=sharing
  58. Headphones that sense when you’ve fallen asleep, and can be used for noise cancelling or to wake you up after a fixed amount of time
  59. An interface to flip through ebooks using a kinect.
  60. A coatrack that tells you which coat you should wear today via a light up hanger / that gives you metrics on which clothes you use and which ones you don’t.
  61. A laundry bag that texts you when it is full
  62. Building on 60, an automatic coat checker! No humans required, very efficient and secure.
  63. Kinect application to sort through emails spatially
  64. A digital chip and map based application which gives you streetview or a picture from where you put the chip

Project Choice

We will be building a pressure-sensing insole for running shoes. We will place several force sensors on the footbed, and use the output to coach runners on proper gait. It is common for runners to require additional weight or support on either the inside of the sole or the outside of the sole. This project could be used in shoe stores to allow vendors to advise potential customers on the best type of shoes to wear.  Currently, in order to get gait analysis, you must go to a specialty running store, which will videotape you while running in order to analyze which parts of your feet hit the ground first.  With a pressure-sensing insole, this analysis can be done much more accurately, allowing runners to select insoles or shoes which best suit their gait.  Furthermore, the inclusion of live feedback would allow a runner to dynamically modify their running technique to best use energy.

We picked our idea because we have a specific user type, helping us narrow down the idea. Also, we felt it was the right scope for our group project. We also believe that starting simple is a good goal and the potential expansions to different areas are intriguing. This could also turn into a balance trainer using vibrating motors to give feedback on balance, for example.

We also think that there are a lot of directions to expand from this project – we can expand to other sensors in the leg and provide deeper diagnostics. We’re interested in making an intuitive user interface for people not experienced with computers. Presenting the collected data in an easy-to-understand way will also be a challenge. Existing solutions have a complex and unfriendly user interface that isn’t attractive to less computer-savvy users.

Detailed Description

Target User Group

Our target user group is employees and customers of Princeton Running Company, who we will have access to through in-store visits. Customers want to compare different models of shoes during a short in-store experience. They hope to find a pair of shoes that will be healthy for their feet. Customers also enjoy involving technology, and will enjoy the experience of “seeing” comfort or discomfort. Employees want to show their expertise to help put the customer at ease, and give the customer additional basis for making their decision.

As well, we may test the device with students using treadmills in Stevens Fitness Center, or with trainers associated with Varsity teams. Princeton students love analyzing things, and so will like making their run more comfortable with technology. Trainers will appreciate being able to visually demonstrate to their athletes when they are running.

Problem Description and Context

The employees of the Princeton Running Company will want a product that will help them sell shoes and be a trusted company. To do this they will need a product that is accurate so that customers leave happy. They will need something that does data analysis quickly so that the client does not need to have any extra wait time. They will want something aesthetically pleasing and easy to use so that they can quickly understand how to use it as well have something that the customer will want to look at. The customer will want something that feels comfortable and does not affect the way they run. They will want a visual result that they can easily understand so that feel that they are learning something about how they run as well as have trust in what the employee is telling them.

Trainers are likely to have similar desires as the store employee, but they will be more focused and accurate and in depth results. If they are actually trying to help improve an athletes running style or figure out what areas of the body the athlete need to strengthen they will need a very clear look of the precise areas that are receiving pressure. They might also want a comparative diagram or color system that shows how different the athletes pressure dispersion is from where it should be.

It is difficult to analyze gait and running form in a quantitative manner. This problem arises in many different scenarios: coaches looking to advise their athletes, shoe store customers looking for shoes with the right support, and doctors looking to provide more information to physical therapy patients. Many solutions to this problem still involve videotaping, which is inexact and inaccurate. Some products have recently entered the market with pressure sensor soles, such as the Tekscan F-Scan In-Shoe Plantar Pressure Mapping System, but it remains a largely unsolved problem for everyday use. Also, this system does not allow handheld/portable feedback, which would allow easy integration into sports.

The best possible scenario is to allow the system to provide easy-to-understand instant feedback. Hopefully, this would allow the user to play with the device and associate how different movements put pressure on their feet on the fly. It would also allow vendors to allow customers to A/B test shoes and make the system require less effort to use.

Appropriate Technology Platform

We are planning on making an Arduino-based system. The primary hardware element of the our project is pressure sensors, which can be easily linked to an Arduino. The data from Arduino can be easily read into a system and we can choose from a variety of different platforms to show data.  Because of the small form factor of the Arduino and associated parts, we envision the prototype including an ankle strap to hold those components.

Ideally, this would be able to provide live feedback to the user as they were running.  This would have the benefit of allowing the user to dynamically adjust their running style.  While this would be technically difficult, it might introduce another use for the product by allowing the user to change their gait mid-run and use less energy.  However, in order for this to be a viable product in that sense, it might be necessary to manufacture multiple models of insoles with different types of support.  This idea would add another level of complexity, but would also allow the insoles to be worn on a regular basis.

We envision that the greatest benefit of the product would be in post-run analysis.  The pressure sensors could act as a sort of pedometer, and help judge when new shoes are required.  Furthermore, after a run, the user could receive feedback on how their running style changed as they tired, and on what types of shoes they should purchase for running.  While these reports may seem trivial, they would help runners reduce injuries and accurately select shoes that best fit their running style.

Photos

Product in Use:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6XMC9ryo5M5MVY1NmFwRy01WHM/edit?usp=sharing

Sensor Layout:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6XMC9ryo5M5bkt1ZEVveklYNEk/edit?usp=sharing

Display Watch:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6XMC9ryo5M5NFVZWGpOWFgxODg/edit?usp=sharing