(Floe) User states and contexts

I like this kind of visualization very much. It could be supplemented by a parallel view of the performance requirements of the task and tools. That is, for each of the "productivity engagements" in Susan's day (e.g., editing a document), the demands of the task itself and the tools used for it would be displayed in the same circle. Wherever the polygons overlapped would be a sign of jeopardized functionality.

In addition, perhaps the dots representing the user state are a bit fuzzy in the radial dimension, allowing us to illustrate not just a binary "can do" vs. "can't do" but the range of comfort and productivity inherent in having to accommodate to a less-than-optimal situation. This would show more overlaps between the user's state and the environment's demands.

AT could be represented as "pushing" the user's state further out on the radius.

Another point is that any collisions between the demands of the product in its use context, and the user's needs and preferences show up best in fine-grained analyses. That is, "driving" must be broken down into many separate tasks, so that we can see which tasks are easy for Susan with her sunglasses on, and which pose a problem. This lets us understand the performance chokepoints better, so that we can aim the solution as narrowly as possible.

I have some animated visualizations for related concepts, looking at user abilities vs. product demands: http://inclusive.com/the-design-gap/