Assessing and Enhancing RoadRunner Usability
Over my 3-year tenure at MathWorks, I drove a multi-phased project to enhance the user experience within RoadRunner, a platform for designing complex 3D scenes for autonomous driving simulation.
The Challenge
RoadRunner users typically follow an unstructured, non-linear workflows. Through contextual analysis, I conducted a detailed analysis of these workflows, breaking usage patterns down to individual mouse-clicks, modifier keys and keyboard shortcuts.
I planned a series of projects to design and ship gradual changes to RoadRunner's UX to maximize impact and minimize disruption to existing user.
The Goal
PART 1
Standardizing keyboard and mouse interactions
Interactions in RoadRunner involve complex, long-duration tasks in a 3D workspace.
The goal was to enhance the overall efficiency of interactions while adhering to both internal Roadrunner norms and external industry standards.
PART 2
Design system for color and other visual signifiers
PART 3
Establish patterns for complex, non-linear workflows
Key Outcomes
Part 1: Researching standard keyboard and mouse interactions
RoadRunner users typically follow an unstructured, non-linear workflows with broad goals. Interaction patterns in the 3D canvas needed to be intuitive and efficient.
Through contextual analysis, I conducted a detailed analysis of these workflows, breaking usage patterns down to individual mouse-clicks, modifier keys and keyboard shortcuts.
Measuring interaction complexity
To begin with, I created a comprehensive rubric to gauge interaction complexity.
This allowed me to understand and communicate the complexity of the user's keyboard interactions through a measureable metric.
Researched current interaction patterns
To avoid disrupting existing users' patterns, I documented the visual language of the existing application, ie. the entire system's feedback mechanisms, especially visual status-signifiers.
I also paid attention to environmental cues like participants posture and arm placement through contextual inquiry.
Benchmarking for interaction patterns
There were no established standards for interaction patterns either internally or externally (like WCAG Guidelines).
I examined and compared interaction patterns across various contexts, including the following:
Other MATLAB Tools used alongside RoadRunner
To match the interaction patterns across MATLAB tools that users would use in connection with RoadRunner.
Third-party tools that users are already familiar with
To match conventions and preferences established in the industry at large.
Graphical software with similar selection workflows
To get inspiration from software outside of RoadRunner's immediate domain that shares similarities in selection workflows.
Part 2: Color and other visual signifiers
Color and visual design emerged as solutions to pains users felt while interacting with RoadRunner's interface. I revamped the visual design by incorporating color schemes that comply with available accessibility standards and included icon signifiers for visual feedback.
There was also an opportunity to strengthen brand recognition and improve learnability by incorporating the MathWorks visual language into RoadRunner's interface.
Phase 1 : Text on UI panels, menus and widgets
This was a high-impact but low-effort solution was therefore targetted first for improvement. WCAG Guidelines was applied for all text, buttons and input fields to improve readability.
Phase II : Interactions in the RoadRunner 3D canvas
The 3D canvas presented more challenges because standard guidelines did not exist for these patterns.
I introduced variant interactive states to provide visual feedback that helped users see the results of their actions. I made use of distinct shapes and sizes to enhance clarity and navigation, rather than relying on color alone to distinguish between states.
The information we gathered about use patterns in the research phase allowed us to understand which critical elements needed to be visually salient, and when (i.e., standing out from surrounding elements).
Part 3: Establishing patterns for complex, non-linear workflows
Designing for a broad range of uses, multi-step and long-duration processes
RoadRunner was created to accommodate a broad range of uses in 3D simulation. This diversity of usage scenarios makes RoadRunner very powerful but also very cluttered. Building new features meant accommodating for the following factors:
Multiple expertise levels
ensuring accessibility for all users regardless of experience.
Large data sets
Safe exploration and navigation within large data sets.
Safe interruptions and breaks in workflow
RoadRunners users, having unstructured workflows, tend to jump between tools within RoadRunner, or in between applications.