The problem

Everyday, users are burdened with information overload from all their apps in the form of notifications. Add to this the introduction of wearables like smartwatches and smartglasses, the number of notifications multiplies. Notifications are not pushed to devices based on context of the user. Demanding users attention to notifications when they are occupied is not the best user experience.

How to solve the problem?

1. Find out the different categories of notifications users receive and the context in which these notifications are important to the user.
   Card sort survey was used to collect user requirements for notifications.

2. Assess all the technical possibilities with the existing systems. Find answers to the following questions :

   • Can we push device exclusive notifications?
   • Can a user transfer notifications from one device to another?
   • How much can we customize a notification form?
   • How can we provide a platform for users to customize there notifications?

   I built a sample weather app to explore are these possibilities.

Card Sort Survey

1. Jot down the different devices used by the users in the corners of a chart paper.

2. Ask the user to write down the various notification types they receive on a card and place them on the chart on top of the desired device name.

3. Take each card and turn it backwards. Here we would capture information about how they would like that notification to be materialized(visual, audio and haptics) and when(context).

Data Analysis

We had over 15 users participate in this card sort survey. The data on the cards was then analysed in the following way :

1. First, the cards were sorted according to their information categories.
2. The data about different kinds of user preferences for each information was captured in a spreadsheet. This gave us an overview of what people desired from each information category.
3. Next, the cards were sorted according to user descriptions of the notifications. Several general categories came into light with this sorting.

Patterns in Data

We had over 15 users participate in this card sort survey. The data on the cards was then analysed in the following way :

Users wanted to customize their notifications but not entirely on their own.

Notification Customization Center

We are designing a context aware notification customization center.

New Notification Designs

We are designing new lockscreen and dialog notifications as most users found these notifications to be helpful.

Note : This project is still progress. Further results will be updated soon.