i213 Spring 2011: UI Design and Development

February 22, 2011

Balsamiq Prototype Assignment

by Tapan Parikh

Due: Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at Noon

Objective: In this assignment, you will test your low-fidelity prototype(s) and use the results to inform the design of the first interactive prototype for your final project.

What to do:

  1. Select the low-fidelity prototype(s) that you would like to start with. The prototype(s) should support walking through at least three of the tasks described in your scenarios.
  2. Each member of the design team should evaluate the low-fidelity interface with regard to the design heuristics (both Neilsen’s and Norman’s) we have learned in class. These evaluations should be done independently of one another, making sure to take detailed notes of your observations.
  3. Select one other person to “test” your low-fidelity prototype. Ideally this would be someone from your proposed user group, or at least someone not from the design team (for example, another member of the class).
  4. Ask the test user to step through at least three of the tasks outlined in your scenarios using the low-fidelity prototype. Utilize the “Think-Aloud” protocol described in class. Once again, take detailed notes of the pilot user’s observations.
  5. Schedule a design team meeting to integrate your observations and the observations from your initial user study. The output of this should be a set of revisions / suggestions / design directions to be implemented in your first interactive prototype. Make sure to note the source of each of these revisions / suggestions / directions, whether they came from one or several of the heuristic evaluations conducted by the design team members, from your initial user study, or emerged during the brainstorming.
  6. Design the prototype using Balsamiq Mockups. (This software has a 7-day free license.  You can ask the professor for a key if you need it for longer then that.)  You are free to use another tool (Powerpoint, Flash, HTML, etc.) if thats easier for you.  Once again, the prototype should be sufficient to at least “walk through” three of the tasks that you have included in your final project proposal. Utilizing wizard-of-oz techniques is fine, and recommended when you have not implemented some of the underlying functionality.
  7. In class on March 10th, be ready for your interactive prototype to be tested. This includes providing enough guidance, documentation and/or supporting material so that the user can understand the intent and operation of the prototype.

What to turn in:

The preferred method of turn-in is a PDF document, including each of the following components. To avoid a late penalty, e-mail a link to your group’s submission to the professor and TA before 12:00 PM (Noon) on Thursday, March 10th:

  1. Cover sheet including yourself and your partners’ names, and your chosen focus. Note the time, duration and attendance of each brainstorming session. Include a paragraph about what each person contributed to the assignment [1/2 page].
  2. If your revised and/or developed new lo-fi prototypes, please provide new pictures. These pictures should include enough detail and supporting text so that we can understand how the eventual system is intended to work [2-3 pages].
  3. The final integrated list of your revisions / suggestions / design directions. Make sure to indicate the original source of each of them, whether they came from one or several of the heuristic evaluations conducted by the design team members, from your initial user study, or emerged during the brainstorming [1-3 pages].
  4. Provide a link to your Balsamiq prototype.  Include directions of how to install and/or run it if it is not done using Balsamiq.  Supplement with screen shots if helpful [1-2 pages].
  5. Describe the tools you used to develop your prototype, how they helped and/or created additional obstacles [1/2 page].
  6. Be ready with supporting material and your interactive prototype to be tested in class on March 10th.

The total length of your report should be less than 6 pages (not including any revised lo-fi prototype pictures). Brevity, clarity and focus on the goals of the assignment will be rewarded.

Please contact the professor or the class TA if you have any questions with this assignment.

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February 18, 2011

Changing office hours

by Tapan Parikh

I am changing my office hours (in South Hall 303B) to Mondays 230-330 to allow more people to make it.  Hope to see some of you there!

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February 10, 2011

Lo-Fi Prototyping Assignment

by Tapan Parikh

Due: Thursday, February 24th, 2011 at Noon

Objective: In this assignment, you will build on your user research to start visualizing solutions. You will begin by refining your personas. Using these personas as “actors”, you will create three storyboards or scenarios, each depicting a task that your system will support. Finally, you will mock up at least three low-fidelity prototypes of possible solutions you could develop.

What to Do:

  1. Schedule a group meeting. Most of the tasks described below should be completed during one or two collaborative brainstorming sessions including the entire design team.
  2. Starting with the personas you made for the last assignment, decide the primary user personas that you are aiming to satisfy. Define each of their primary goals in using your system. Further refine each persona, by providing additional details and/or pictures. By the end, they should be full-featured descriptions that can be used as a reference by the design team. Aim for a total of 3-5 personas, identifying 1 (or 2) of them as the primary focus for your project.
  3. Starting from the primary persona’s goals, decide three key tasks that your system will support. Tasks are specific sets of actions that will allow users to achieve their goals. These tasks should address a broad set of important user priorities. Using your personas as actors, depict in a scenario how your system would be used to achieve each of these tasks, preferably using a storyboard representation. (Use graphics, even if you can’t draw or sketch! Stick figures are awesome and encouraged!)
  4. Using paper, index cards, post-its, cardboard, tape, glue and anything else you can imagine, build at least three paper prototype alternatives that can be used to mock “perform” the tasks depicted above. Use the reading for motivation, and again, be creative!

What To Turn In:

The preferred method of turn-in is a PDF document, including each of the following components. To avoid a late penalty, e-mail a link to your group’s submission to the professor and TA before 12:00 PM (Noon) on Thursday, February 24th:

  1. Cover sheet including yourself and your partners’ names, and your chosen focus. Note the time, duration and attendance of each brainstorming session. Include a sentence or two about what each person contributed to the assignment [1/2 page].
  2. A list of core user personas. Include pictures, demographic details, and any other details that you feel are necessary to make the persona come to life and serve as a useful resource for the design team. [2-3 pages].
  3. At least three storyboards depicting the tasks that your proposed system will support. These can either be scanned in, or composed electronically [2-3 pages].
  4. Pictures of your low-fidelity prototypes. Bring it in to show during class on Feb 24th [2-3 pages].
  5. Reflect on the experience of prototyping. What was easy for you? What was hard? Was it fun? [1/2 page]

The total length of your report should be less than 10 pages. Brevity, clarity and focus on the goals of the assignment will be rewarded. Illustrative graphics are welcome and encouraged!

Please contact the professor or the class TA if you have any questions with this assignment.

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February 1, 2011

Participant Observation Assignment

by Tapan Parikh

Due: Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 at Noon

Objective: In this assignment, you will be conducting a contextual interview with a prospective set of users, and deriving a set of work models and notes based on that experience.

What to Do:

  1. Identify 2-5 different users, covering each of your user / stakeholder categories, and ask each for their permission to interview them. If they agree, set an appointment to interview them in a location where they currently perform the task that you wish to study. Before starting the interview, you may want to have them complete the informed consent form (example here). If you also intend to capture video/audio/photos, have them complete a record release form (example here).
  2. Conduct the contextual interview, following the master and apprentice relationship model. For each interview, one group member should be the apprentice, while the others take notes (larger groups should split up into groups of 2-3). You can also use a voice recorder (with the subject’s permission). Alternate roles for each subject. Each interview should last between 30-90 minutes.
  3. During a group interpretation session, generate an affinity diagram and at least 3-4 distinct five work models drawing from your users. These should be at a level of detail appropriate to the task you are studying and the data that you have collected. Do this as soon after the interview as possible (up to a maximum of 48 hours), to make sure that the observations are fresh in your mind.  Choose the most useful and appropriate models for your project.
  4. Create 2-5 personas, representing each kind of potential user. Typically, each persona will consist of a textual description, supplemented by graphics if necessary. The persona should include details like their age, education, professional history, access to technology, idealized goals and current difficulties with regard to the task in question.
  5. List a set of current task scenarios and a set of hypothetical usage scenarios that you would like to support in your eventual system design.
  6. Prepare a presentation to introduce your project to the rest of the class. Start with your focus, personas, and any supporting observations from the contextual inquiry that motivate your problem. Then walk the audience through some or all of the tasks described in your scenarios. Aim for a 5-minute presentation (with an additional five minutes for questions), to be made in class on Tuesday, February 15th.

What To Turn In:

The preferred method of turn-in is a PDF document, including each of the following components. To avoid a late penalty, e-mail a link to your group’s submission to the professor and TA before 12:00 PM (Noon) on Tuesday, February 15th:

  1. Cover sheet including your names, and your chosen focus. Also include 1-2 sentences about what each person contributed to the assignment. [1/2 page]
  2. Summary of each contextual interview, including the person’s gender, approximate age (20s, 30s, etc.), job title, the location of the interview, who conducted and who took notes, how long it took to complete, etc. For privacy, don’t use people’s real names or any other uniquely identifying information. Also, include any difficulties you had or surprises you encountered in conducting the contextual interview.  If you used another method discussed in class, describe the results of that as well. [2-3 pages]
  3. A picture of your final affinity diagram.
  4. A copy of each work model that you generated. Use one page for each model, aiming for the level of detail shown in the examples in the book. These can be done either using pen and paper, or a drawing program on a computer. On a separate page, include a 1-2 paragraph description of each model, including key points, surprises, potential ambiguities, and any difficulties you encountered in constructing the model.
  5. The list of current scenarios, and those that you would eventually like to support in your future design. One paragraph for each scenario should be enough. Aim to document between 4-8 current and future scenarios.
  6. The list of personas that you will use to motivate your eventual design. For now, about a half-page should be enough for each persona. Aim to document between 2-5 personas.
  7. Reflect on the experience of doing a Contextual Inquiry. What was easy? What was hard? What did you expect? What was surprising? Did you ask too many questions? Did you ask too few? What types of questions worked best? Which lead to poor answers? Which lead to in-depth answers? Which work models were difficult to produce? Which were easy? Which helped most in developing your understanding? Which helped least? [1 page]
  8. A copy of the presentation that you will make to the class. Come ready to present on February 16th.

The total length of your submitted report should be less than 10 pages. Brevity, clarity and focus on the goals of the assignment will be rewarded. Illustrative graphics are welcome and encouraged!

Please contact the professor or the class TA if you have any questions with this assignment.

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