Lecture Topics in HCI, by Saul Greenberg
Contents for:	All Topics	CPSC 481	SENG 609.05	Industrial Course

Project: Iterative Design and Prototyping

Handouts

• Appendix 1: Getting to know users and their tasks
• Appendix 2: Developing and evaluating initial prototypes

Overview

This project is a hands-on exercise on iterative user-centered system design. Fundamentally, this means that you begin your design by getting to know the intended users, their tasks, and the working context of their actions. Only then do you consider what the actual system design should look like, where you would base the design on real people, real tasks, and real needs. User centered system design is not an academic process where some cookbook formula can be applied. Nor is it an intuitive process where a programmer can sit in their office and think they know what the user and their tasks are. Rather, it is a hands-on process that requires you to go out and identify actual users, talk to them about what tasks they are trying to do, and understand the entire context of their work. Because your inital designs will be crude and problem-prone, you will have to identify potential usability problems by continually evaluating your design and by crafting new designs. This is called iterative design.

You will iteratively design a particular system using task-centered system design methods, low fidelity prototyping methods, and discount evaluation methods. Its immediate purpose is to give you experience at:

• articulating good task descriptions
• using the task descriptions to decide upon system requirements,
• brainstorming low fidelity prototypes based upon the above, and
• evaluating the various prototypes through a task-centered walk-through,
• iteratively refining the design through low and medium fidelity prototyping methods, and
• evaluating these further designs through other evaluation techniques such as heuristic evaluation and observational studies.

What to design

Ideally, you have just started a system at work (or a project at the University) that has a major interface component. If possible, you would try to use that system for this assignment. If this is not the case, you can pretend you are working for a company that is developing a system based upon (say) one of the following ideas:

• A bus company wants to decrease line-ups for clerks at a bus terminal. Their idea is to allow travelers to look up major route schedules, book tickets, and pay for them via a debit card on computers located in the terminal building.
• A real estate company wants to let computer-knowledgeable customers browse through home listings from their homes. Their idea is that customers with Internet access can download a client program. The program lets customers indicate properties of homes they are interested in, view details of homes that fit these criteria, and select ones that they may be interested in visiting with a realtor.
• A theatre wants to develop a new ticketing system for their clerks. Through the clerks, customers order tickets for various events. The clerk responds to customer requests for information as well as actual ticket reservations and sales via the system.

You may suggest your own project, which requires permission of the instructor. You may also suggest projects that complement work done in other courses, with permission of both instructors. Ideal projects will have users you can talk to, and will require a modest level of design sophistication.

Teams

You should work with at least two others, who may or may not be part of this class (see the assignment details). The idea of working with others is to get alternate design ideas, alternate ways of looking at things, and more breadth at eliciting and interpreting evaluations. I would prefer it if you worked with others in the class on a joint project (where you will be graded together). Alternately, you can just use classmates or workmates as an advisory group and sounding board (where you will be graded individually).

Deliverables

At various times in the course (to be announced), you will deliver a working portfolio that describes your progress on the system's design. The portfolio will include the following sections (see assignment details for specifics):

Section 1: Tasks and requirements

1. Introduction (~1 page). Describe in general terms the background to the system. You should describe (in general) the expected users, their work contexts, and what they will use the envisaged system for.
2. Concrete task examples (~2 pages). You will list between 5-7 concrete task examples that has the properties listed in Appendix 1. Try to keep task descriptions short and to the point. Each task should be accompanied by a paragraph that describes the class of the expected user (eg, a typical customer), the relative importance of the task (eg frequently done and important, infrequently done but still important, rare and not important, etc), and whatever other nuances you feel should be included. You should also describe how the task was validated.
3. Tentative list of requirements (~1-2 pages). From the task examples, extract the major system requirements and prioritize them into a) absolutely must include; b) should include; c) could include; and d) exclude. Each category should be accompanied by a discussion as to why items were placed in that category. You will be asked to present sample tasks and requirements in lab.

Section 2: The first prototype and walkthrough

1. Prototype (storyboard or Pictive). Develop several low-fidelity prototypes of designs that you believe will satisfy the major requirements. You will show these in class, and you will include the prototypes in your portfolio.
2. Team discussions and walkthrough (several pages). Discuss the prototypes with your team and (ideally) potential users. You should be concerned here with how the general interface representation fits the users' view of their tasks. For the prototype designs that seem promising, use the tasks from Section 1 to perform a task-centered walkthrough of your prototype. In point form, list the problems and successes for each task. In essay form, summarize the major design problems that must be corrected, as well as what seems to work well.

Subsequent sections: Iterative redesign and evaluation

1. Refinement. Refine your prototype(s) by considering the nuances of each task, the functions that must be incorporated, and the expected reaction of each user. You may want to start considering the more subtle aspects of interface design at this point (e.g., psychology of everyday things, principles of graphical screen design, design principles). You will use more refined prototyping techniques as required, which could even include a working implementation of a vertical prototype.
2. Evaluation. Select an appropriate evaluation technique for evaluating your prototype as it evolves. These will probably be a mix of task walkthroughs, heuristic evaluation, and observational techniques. Evaluation must be done incrementally as the prototype evolves, rather than once at the end.
3. Documentation and presentation. Your portfolio will document the major steps in the evolution prototype, which will include the prototype, the redesign rationale, the results of the evaluation, and design implications. You will show and summarize your progress to the class at various times in the course

A note on the Portfolio. The portfolio is intended to document the progression of your design, which includes your final project. Your portfolio must be neat and well-organized. Portfolios should be constructed out of an appropriately sized 3-ring binder (I will not appreciate having to carry around overly large binders). Your portfolio should also use titled section separators (the index kind) to separate the major sections. The cover of the portfolio should include your name, the title of the project, and contact information (email and phone number). The first page should be a table of contents, which will grow over time. This is followed by the sections. Disorganized portfolios will be returned immediately without being read.

Grading

Grading will be based upon the sophistication and maturity of the work, the elegance of the designs, and the logic of the written and oral presentations.