The first part of research I conducted was into audio cues. The reason for the focus on audio cues is future interfaces are expected to rely on voice activation and smart devices such as Apple Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. I thought looking at audio cues in an app would be a good lead in for me to understand how users respond to audio and what they are looking for.
This article talks about how sound should and shouldn't be used in UX/UI of course rules like this are to be broken as well in university so that I can understand why these rules exist. I found this article an interesting read because it explores several issues that I want to avoid in my app. In my app the sound design has a very specific reason for it being there. it is to allow the user to put down their device and be more active in the gym following the audio cues to direct their training. The article talks about the balance between ergonomic design of sound and the aesthetic of the sound. For this app I decided to focus on the ergonomic design of sound. This was to insure that the information is clearly given to the user so that they can understand what they are meant to be doing.
The next thing I found interesting to consider after reading this article was not every facet of the UI/UX should have sound. I decided that it was important to limit the sound to spoken audio cues for exercises only. The next step for me was to develop a quick rough cut of a sample audio so that a user could follow through a program to see if it was beneficial to use in the gym. Below is a video of me listen to the audio cues in the gym:
This was good as it allowed me to identify weaknesses in the design that specifically affect me in the gym. The next step is to give this audio file to other users and ask for their feedback on the audio cues. This would allow them to identify issues that they have with the audio design.
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