Wasim Nagpuria

Introduction:I wrote the instruction step by step while the making the airplane myself. I realized that certain step were difficult to describe in words like STEP 2, STEP 4 and STEP 5. So I thought to explain those steps in more detail with the help of pictures. To make it quick and easy process, I came up with few steps.

Initial Instructions:    

STEP 1

Take plain sheet of paper. Fold the upper right corner diagonally towards the opposite side of paper. Crease well and unfold it. Repeat the step for the top left corner of the paper. As a result, crease should form 3 triangle located on left, top and right of the paper. 

STEP 2

Fold the top triangle towards you while folding the other two triangle inwards. Collapse the left and right triangle underneath the top triangle and crease well.   

 

STEP 3Take the left flap corner to the topmost point of the triangle and fold it. Do the same with the right flap corner. As seen in the picture, the result of this step should form layered diamond shape on top.

STEP 4Fold the whole top part such that the topmost point touches the center of diamond. Crease it well. Since the top part is multi layered, this will create pockets on its left and right side. 

Step 5Tuck the top left flap into the left pocket and similarly the top right flap into the right pocket and crease it well.

STEP 6

Fold over the tabs of the wings inward about half ½ inch. Crease and then unfold such that it forms 90 degrees angle. 

STEP 7Hold the part that looks like tie knot with your thumb and forefinger to launch the airplane.  

DATA:Subject 1: -          21 year old male, Major in Economics.-          Approximate time: 10 min.-          Simplicity:  Step 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 mainly due to pictures directions.-          Difficulty: Step 2 created confusion. Couldn’t form the triangle on top and Step 5 with triangle pockets.-          Suggestion: break down step 2 into two or may be three simple steps. Subject 2:-          20 Year old female, Major in History.-          Approximate time: 8 min.-          Simplicity:  Step 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 mainly because of both written and picture instruction.-          Difficulty: in Step 2 didn’t know how to fold all at the triangle at the same time.  -          Suggestions:  find an easy way to step 2.Subject 3:-           22 year old male, Major in Computer Science.-          Approximate time: 3 min.-          No problems: Step 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7.-          Problem: Step 4 and 5 needs more picture.-          Suggestion: all the pictures did a good job except the one involved with step 4 and 5.

 

        

Conclusion:Based on the suggestions and observation,  step 2, step 4 and step 5 needs to be fixed. The way I thought I should better these step is by describing steps more clearly and also adding diagrams in picture. Since other steps were pretty clear to all the subjects, I am going to keep them unchanged.  RevisedInstructions:

STEP 1      

Take plain sheet of paper. Foldthe upper right corner diagonally towards the opposite side of paper. Creasewell and unfold it. Repeat step for the top left corner of the paper. As aresult,  2 crease should form 3 triangleon left, top and right of the paper.

 

 STEP 2

Form another horizontal crease that passes through theintersecting point of previous creases by folding the top part of the paper awayfrom you.   

 

STEP 3

Take the left and the right side towards the intersecting point. Press and hold down the top part forming just one top layered triangle. Creaseit well.

 

 

STEP 4

Take the left flap corner point to the topmost point of the triangleand fold it. Do the same with the right flap. As seen in the picture, theresult should form diamond shape on top.

 

STEP 5

Fold the whole top part such that the topmostpoint touches the center of diamond. Crease it well. Since the top part ismulti layered, it will have pockets on its left and right side.

 

 

STEP 6

Tuck the top left flap into the left pocket and similarlythe top right flap into the right pocket and crease it well. 

 

STEP 7

Fold over the tabs of the wings inward about half ½ inch.Crease and then unfold such that it forms 90 degrees angle with the surface.

 

 

STEP 8 

Hold the part that looks like tie knot with your thumb andforefinger to launch the airplane.

DATA:

Subject 1:

-          22 year female,  major in English.

-          Approximated time: 3 min.

-          No problems: all the steps.

-          Problem: got slow in step 6 when she had to tuck the flaps into pockets.

-          Suggestion: every step was clear to understand either by words or picture.

Subject 2:

-          23 year male, PhD in Micro Biology.

-          Approximate time: 5 min

-          No problems: all steps except step 8.

-          Problems: step 8 because the tie looking knot turned out little out of shape.

-          Suggestion: excellent job.

Subject 3:

-          20 year female, major in Management.

-          Approximate time: 7 min

-          No problems: all steps except 2

-          Problems: step 2, coudnt form a sharp nose which later created problem in step 5 where the sharp nose point needs to be fold to the center of the diamond.

-          Suggeston: should find better way to assure more sharp corner triangle.

 

Conclusion:  Taking into consideration all the problems the first 3  subjects had, I was able to come up with the better instructions. The revised instruction allowed the later 3 subjects to carry out the process much smoothly and quickly. The steps that were problamtic were broken in to two step and additional pictures. Step 3 still was found confusing as it requires folding of 3 traingles at the same time from one origin point. 

Location: Campus Center Parking Garage – Entry/Exit Door.

Data Collected:

Time and Date- 2:28 pm to 3:20 pm, Friday 09/26/2008.

Observation:

Total Users: 27 People.

Success: 11 ( 8 Male, 3 Female )

Failed: 16 ( 4 Male, 12 Female )

Analysis of Data:

Problem While Exiting Door:

1. Very small window which has white paint on it making it blurry and difficult to see through on other side. Out of 27 only 2 of them tried to used window.

2. Short people were having problem using the window because it placed high in the top center part of the door.

3. Since there is a wall right in front of the door outside from inside it appears like there is nobody behind the door. ( as seen in Picture )

4. Door is quite heavy. Most of the users were struggling to open.

Problem While Entering the Door:

1. Very narrow passage to open and enter the door.

2. Wall right in front of door allowing no space for user to stand while opening the door. In other words user needs to stand totally on the right side of the door. 11 out of 16 users had trouble opening the door with their left hand and then using the right hand to put enough strength to support.

3. Door lever required to push and hold down in order to pull the door open.

4. Inconvenient to use window while opening the door from all the left.

Norman’s Design principal:

Visibility: Door is really not visible from outside the garage because of the wall in front and narrow passage. Bad square shaped and top centered positioned window. Window is almost useless since both entry and exit users can’t really use it. No sign outside about how to open the door although there is “door closer” visible on top of the door which does hint the way door opens, if you care enough to look it.

Natural Mapping: Exiting the door is quite understandable from inside since it has push bar handle. The way the door window appears from inside makes it look like there is no one behind the door which potentially could create a shocking accident given the fact that there would be no space left to back up between door and the outside wall. Entering the door is confusing because the way door handle is design it could be either pushed or pulled to open. 3 out of 16 failed users did that mistake.

Constraint: Push bar handle sets a really good example since it only present one approach of opening the door and thereby eliminating error chances. For the outside door lever it is certainly not true because it could be used either to pull or push. Furthermore, the lever needs to be turned and hold down open which allows many more errors to occur.

Feedback: The feedback that user gets while entering is really frustrating. It could make one think that the door is locked. For instance when user fails to open the door by pushing and tries to pull, it still won’t open. It may require multiple feedback for users in order to figure how exactly to open the door.

Solution:

As clearly as we can see the solution is quite straightforward. First of all the idea of having a wall on either side of the door is just not practical particularly for the busy public building like parking garage. Second, place the glass window on the door in a way that could be advantageous to users and reduce confusion, in this case it should be little above the door lever. Also rather than having square shape window , horizontally rectangle glass window would be more useful to spot different height users. Putting up sign could be very helpful to lot of users. Nonetheless, using the smart design shaped door handle instead of lever, for case in point, could eliminate lots of confusion.