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Michaela McParland

Hi, I'm Michaela. I am a product designer with a background in visual communication. Working previously as a UI and UX designer gave me the drive to persue a master's in the field and really delve into the world of user experience. I believe all design should not only be usable and functional, but beautiful. My research project explores how emotionally designed elements effects our cognitive performance.

Abstract: My major research project examines if positive emotionally designed elements when applied to a Technology Enhanced Learning Environment (TEL), would create a positive affect on participants which potentially could support learners to retain information easier and solve tasks faster, than if they were not applied.

Research Areas: The key areas for this research are: Technology Enhanced Learning Environment (TEL), Emotional Design, Affective Design and Cognitive Performance.

Key Areas: Emotional design is the concept of creating designs that evoke emotions. ‘‘Affect’’ refers to the representations associated with emotions. When these emotions affect our cognition, it is called an emotional affect. Affect influences how well we can perform tasks. While negative affect helps us narrow our focus and concentrate. Positive affect helps us broaden our focus, and increases our creativity.

Key Findings: Positive affect could contribute to learner performance, it could be evoked by implemented design principles and goals. and users must be presented with a task. Studies show disengagement and anxiety in students as well as major usability problems on Blackboard. Studies show Blackboard makes a positive impact on student's grades and the more attracted the student is to their VLE, the more time they may spend on it, improving their activities.

Design Process: The Stanford D-School Design Thinking Framework is split into phases to suit the process for this study, including the goals and deliverables for each phase.

Framework: A framework was developed for this study, adapting Van Gorp’s Design Goals and Emotional Design Model. It includes findings from the literature review and primary research to ensure the areas of the artefact are implemented by how it looks, how it functions and how it impacts.

Persona: Anna was created to encapsulate findings from primary and secondary research, based on the role of a student.

Journey Map: A ‘to-be’ journey map was created to identify the phases Annas needs to reach her goals, what actions she makes, the touchpoints she interacts with, the thoughts and feelings she has and the possible opportunities.

Colour: A combination of colours was selected using Plutchits’ colour wheel of emotion

Design System: Aligning to my Emotional design framework - You can see the implementation of colours from the Plutchits emotional colour wheel, the round edges on the cards, icons and buttons, the friendly language and our character. Slacks toolkit, material design and font awesome were used as references for the design system.

Wireframes: Emotionally Designed Learning Environment

Wireframes: Neutral Designed Learning Environment

Major Research Project

Title: Exploring the effect of emotional design features in technology-enhanced learning environments on learner performance.

Emotions and moods influence how we interact with products and brands. My major research project examines if positive emotionally designed elements when applied to a Technology Enhanced Learning Environment (TEL), would create a positive affect on participants which potentially could support learners to retain information easier and solve tasks faster, than if they were not applied.

User Experience Design

2021 2022 2023 2024

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