User Experience Design

All User Experience (UX) Design starts from a human-centred approach. UX Design is a design process focusing on enhancing the user’s interaction and experience with a product. UX Design research focuses on generating design problem hypotheses, structured design process plans, persuasive arguments for redesign, and compelling UX deliverables. UX research projects draw from expertise in innovative web and mobile design, interactive storytelling, advertising and PR, 3D animation, journalism and more—and in all areas, usability is at the forefront. Partners discover insights about their client base through usability testing and prototyping; students can apply classroom learnings to real-world contexts and build design portfolios that will help them launch careers as UX design professionals; and faculty members can expand their research offerings in a quickly evolving field of study. These projects yield benefits for all parties.

Projects

  • Affordable Housing Needs in South Etobicoke

    Funder: NSERC | Program: CCSIF | Salomeh Ahmadi / Faculty of Social & Community Services

    Sky-high rent, condo developments, no rent control, evictions and unstable housing are all issues standing in the way of affordable housing in South Etobicoke, Toronto, and major urban cities across the globe. The increase in cost of living coupled with a rise in rent, and stagnant wages, poses threats to those who are facing poverty, health challenges or more disfranchised populations such as students and seniors. What is the cost of living issues for low-income and working-class citizens, and how can a Community of Practice be created to sustain advocacy efforts to support new models for affordable housing through social policy change? The Affordable Housing Needs in South Etobicoke project is a partnership between the LAMP Community Health Centre and Humber College. With this research project we will uncover the cost of living issues through community based participatory research (CBPR) in South Etobicoke to develop a baseline of housing affordability; gather input from community members most marginalized to assess the impact of displacement and further marginalization; identify proactive measures to inform decision-making on issues across the 'cost of living' spectrum; contribute to the fight against homelessness; create inclusive and accessible communities; develop a strategy to co-develop and share possible solutions; and advocate for the building of affordable housing through social policy change.

  • Community Agency Partnerships: Best Practices for the Creation of Healthy Communities

    Funder: NSERC | Program: CCSIF | Ann Wallington / Faculty of Social & Community Services

    Humber College in partnership with John Howard Society of Saskatchewan and Street Culture Project Inc. will be examining the characteristics of effective community agency partnership networks. Community Agency Partnerships: Best Practices for the Creation of Healthy Communities, will analyze an existing community agency partnership network to identify best practices in creating and maintaining these types of partnerships. Additionally, the study will evaluate existing programs aimed at youth 15 - 29 who are involved with the criminal justice system, or at risk of becoming involved, to determine whether they meet agency commitment to being trauma informed, culturally sensitive, free from systemic racism, and aligned with agency commitment to reconciliation. The overarching objective of this project is to help reduce youth crime, particularly gang violence, in Canada

  • Community Agency Partnerships: Best Practices for the Creation of Healthy Communities

    Funder: SSHRC | Program: CCSIF | Ann Wallington / Faculty of Social & Community Services

    Humber College in partnership with John Howard Society of Saskatchewan and Street Culture Project Inc. will be examining the characteristics of effective community agency partnership networks. Community Agency Partnerships: Best Practices for the Creation of Healthy Communities, will analyze an existing community agency partnership network to identify best practices in creating and maintaining these types of partnerships. Additionally, the study will evaluate existing programs aimed at youth 15 - 29 who are involved with the criminal justice system, or at risk of becoming involved, to determine whether they meet agency commitment to being trauma informed, culturally sensitive, free from systemic racism, and aligned with agency commitment to reconciliation. The overarching objective of this project is to help reduce youth crime, particularly gang violence, in Canada.

  • Engaging & Educating Young-Adult Cannabis 2.0 Consumers

    Funder: SSHRC | Program: CCSIF | Daniel Bear / Faculty of Social & Community Services

    We will conduct a mixed methods, three phase project over the course of three years that will engage and educate young-adult cannabis users (18-30), the age group most likely to consume cannabis, and the age group most likely to consume cannabis on a daily or near daily basis. By targeting this age group we hope to impact long-term cannabis consumption practices, thereby having the best potential for improving public health and wellbeing outcomes for decades to come. In Phase One we will gather the data necessary to understand what new public education materials need to be developed by conducting an online survey and a series of focus groups across the country. In Phase Two, we will work with Humber College advertising students, or partner organizations, and cannabis consumers to develop new public education materials focused on effectively engaging consumers with harm reduction information about cannabis 2.0 products. In Phase Three, we will launch the new materials, and being an evaluation of their efficacy before updating the materials to respond to any shortcomings identified in our evaluation. Our partners on this project include the Association of Canadian Cannabis Retailers (ACCRES), the National Institute of Cannabis Health and Education (NICHE), Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP), and Auora Cannabis Inc.

  • Experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration: Foundations for a consumer-informed compassion-based human services delivery framework in a Canadian context

    Funder: CIHR | Program: CCSIF | Sara Nickerson-White / Faculty of Social & Community Services

    The experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration: Foundations for a consumer informed compassion-based HS delivery framework in a Canadian context Human Services (HS) is a broad multidisciplinary field that is held together conceptually by the overarching goal of improving the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities in and through service delivery participation provided in public and non-profit organizations. Problematically, though, the HS field remains without an evidence base that can inform a guiding framework to root service provision principles across its multidisciplinary workforce and varied institutions. This study seeks to collect co-created lived experience narratives from human service Canadian consumers and providers about their lived experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration in the course of HS service delivery. Four HS organizations with local, regional and national service coverage are partnering in this study for the purpose of deepening our understanding of how HS provision can foster the aspirations and preferences in ways that strengthen consumers' abilities to lead self-directed lives. Ultimately, this three-year research study will establish a consumer-informed foundation for a much-needed consumer-informed guiding framework that can aid Canadian HS organizations and service providers in their ability to be responsive to the aspirations and preferences of consumers in ways that strengthen their ability to lead self-directed lives. It will do so by bringing together community engaged scholars and applied researchers, along with a vibrant team of local and national community partners.

  • Experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration: Foundations for a consumer-informed compassion-based, human services delivery framework in a Canadian context

    Funder: CIHR | Program: CCSIF | Tina Lackner / Faculty of Health Sciences & Wellness

    The experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration: Foundations for a consumer-informed compassion-based HS delivery framework in a Canadian context Human Services (HS) is a broad multidisciplinary field that is held together conceptually by the overarching goal of improving the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities in and through service delivery participation provided in public and non-profit organizations. Problematically, though, the HS field remains without an evidence base that can inform a guiding framework to root service provision principles across its multidisciplinary workforce and varied institutions. This study seeks to collect co-created lived experience narratives from human service Canadian consumers and providers about their lived experiences of hope, self-compassion and authentic collaboration in the course of HS service delivery. Four HS organizations with local, regional and national service coverage are partnering in this study for the purpose of deepening our understanding of how HS provision can foster the aspirations and preferences in ways that strengthen consumers' abilities to lead self-directed lives. Ultimately, this three-year research study will establish a consumer-informed foundation for a much-needed consumer-informed guiding framework that can aid Canadian HS organizations and service providers in their ability to be responsive to the aspirations and preferences of consumers in ways that strengthen their ability to lead self-directed lives. It will do so by bringing together community engaged scholars and applied researchers, along with a vibrant team of local and national community partners.

  • Measuring the Impact of 21st Century Experiential Learning on new Immigrants Workplace Performance

    Funder: SSHRC | Program: CCSIF | Ginger Grant / Office of Research and Innovation

    Canadian employers have consistently identified that internationally trained professionals (ITPs) are not hired for three key reasons: (1) lack of familiarity with Canadian workplace practices; (2) inability to effectively assess the relevance of work and education experience obtained abroad; and (3) lack of experience working in a typical Canadian team/matrix workplace environment. These barriers create significant underemployment for these highly skilled professionals who have immigrated to Canada, and this project is focused on overcoming these three identified barriers. ACCES Employment (ACCES) assists ITP's who are facing barriers to employment that prevent them from integrating into the Canadian job market into their field of work that reflects their past experience. The challenge faced by ACCES is how to measure the impact of both implemented and planned experiential learning opportunities on the employment readiness and actual employment of the ITP's who participate in their bridging programs. The key objective of this study is to develop an evidence-informed base of information which will help measure the impact of both implemented and planned experiential learning opportunities on the employment readiness and actual employment of the ITP's who participate in ACCES' bridging programs. This project is intended to research and measure the impact of these learning experiences to determine efficacy and effectiveness from both an ITP and employer perspective, and to use this data to inform decisions about which are and which are not effective.

  • Metaverse-Based Virtual Simulations for Virtual Production and Customer Engagement, Education and Training

    Funder: NSERC | Program: ARTP-1 | Eva Ziemsen / Faculty of Media & Creative Arts

    PG Media wishes to engage in research with Humber College to explore applied research related to metaverse-based virtual simulations of their LED tile technology in the context of a simulated virtual VP volume, for the purposes of training or demonstration for improved customer engagement, education, and training. APG Media seeks Humber’s expertise in computer programming and architectural design to help digitally build interactive virtual models of these assets to support their efforts in expanding their market base in the educational sector, where simulations, data visualization, and demos are needed.

  • Spain Project

    Funder: NSERC | Program: IE Build | Mihai Albu / Faculty of Applied Sciences & Technology

    SpainProject is a subproject under the ATSC 3.0 Lab Threshold Testing Description Sinclair Broadcast Group. 

    Series of tests to be performed on ATSC receivers to verify that consumer grade receivers perform as expected. This series of tests is not comprehensive and is a spot check on some of the more critical receiver performance areas. Most of the tests are for ATSC 3.0 receivers with one of the tests also testing ATSC 1.0 Receivers.