Reflection
I decided to pursue a Human Computer-Interaction master's program at Utrecht University due to its flexible curriculum, giving me the ability to curate my courses to my interests and skill set. I decided to go through a more traditional User Interface / User Experience route for my primary and elective courses at Utrecht. Meaning, courses that enhance my understanding of psychology, user studies, and overall UI and physical design choices and thinking.
The Advanced Cognitive and Social Psychology course provided a foundation for understanding user and group behavior from a multitude of angles: perception of the Self, group dynamics, conformity, Social Information Processing Theory, uncertainty theories, and much more. This course gave me the opportunity to link these psychological topics to the field of HCI. Furthermore, the Multimodal Interaction course provided critical information on anatomy, sense, and perception of technology, which further enhanced my understanding of how to best design for people. In this course, many topics were discussed, but my favorite were the notions of the eyes and its influence on motion detection, the human touch and its influence on sensory information, and differentiations and similarities between Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR).
Below are some of my favorite projects.
Qualitative Research Methods:
Password Managers
Utrecht University
2024
Award
Best Presentation
Background
Password Managers (PMs)
Many users still rely on the traditional username-password combination to access online accounts, despite growing evidence that passwords are one of the most significant vulnerabilities in information system security. Though password managers (PMs) can mitigate these risks by securely storing and generating random passwords, their adoption remains limited. While the use of PMs is growing, the internal motivations for using or avoiding them are still poorly understood.
Challenge
Despite the availability of password managers, many individuals still use insecure password practices such as reusing or slightly modifying passwords and writing credential on paper.
Opportunity
By investigating users' habits and perceptions around password creation, storage, and safekeeping, we can identify behavioral patterns and barriers to adoption. These insights can inform how password managers are designed and marketed.
Research Questions
RQ1: What considerations do individuals have towards personal password security?
RQ2: What considerations do individuals have for using or not using a password manager?
Results
Using semi-structured interviews with six participants (both PM users and non-users), we identified that users who did not use a PM often expressed higher concerns about online threats, preferring offline methods (paper, local files, hard drives, etc.) due to trust and control. Conversely, users who did adopt a PM primarily cited convenience, especially autofill features and syncing across devices.
Key Findings
Convenience is the dominant driver for PM adoption, not necessarily security.
Mistrust in third-party tools and fear of dependency are main reasons for non-use.
Higher value is placed on credentials for financial and email accounts.
Interactive Technology Innovation:
Holographic Habit Tracker
Utrecht University
2024
Background
Holographic Habit Assistant (HHA)
The ITI course provided an opportunity to dive into iterative design, design thinking, and prototyping strategies with a challenge in mind: Enchanted Habits. With this theme in mind, my team worked together from A-Z to design and create a physical holographic habit tracker, from customer journey maps, mood boards, low and high fidelity prototypes, to Arduino and 3D printing.
Challenge
Most habit formation tools rely on conventional interfaces that are limited in immersion and motivation. We aimed to explore whether a holographic interface could overcome these limitations, providing not only visual feedback but also emotional attachment through the use of virtual pets.
Opportunity
This project introduced the Holographic Habit Assistant (HHA)—a physical device that is comprised of tangible controls, ambient sensors, and holographic pets to motivate users. By combining insights from behavioral psychology, gamification, and user-centered design, we created a system that goes beyond screen-based tracking and into a physical experience.
Research Questions
RQ1: Does the use of holographic displays influence users’ self-reported habit formation abilities?
RQ2: How does integrating holographic technology with virtual pets enhance emotional attachment and engagement?
Results
Through a heuristic evaluation, Think-Aloud protocol, and Likert-scale questionnaires with 9 participants, we found that:
Key Findings
Emotional engagement was significantly higher with HHA. Users connected with the holographic pets, describing the experience as “caring” and “magical.”
Participants perceived HHA as novel, however, noted there may be a steep learning curve in the tangible controls.
Average scores were high for enjoyment (4.2/5) and perceived feedback quality (4.5/5), but lower for intuitiveness (3.5/5).
Designed by Alan Castillo
