| CPSC 481: Foundations of HCI |
James Tam (instructor) |
The term project is a continuation of the interface you started developing in Assignment 1. You will be working on two or more design evolutions (i.e., Part I & Part II of the project at a minimum):
- With the first part of the Assignment: You will create a horizontal medium-fidelity prototype by creating screen snapshots as well as writing up a re-design rationale (this the part that you present to your TA's in tutorial).
- With the second part of the Assignment: You will create a moderately robust system that implements vertical functionality, which may include performing a heuristic evaluation and writing up a short design critique of the overall system (you will hand this in to me and present it at the end of the term). You are to hand your portfolio in the main Computer Science office (ICT 602). End of term demonstrations will occur in the regular lab room.
The project's main purpose is to give you hands-on experience applying some of the design concepts you have been taught in class, and to give you experience developing a moderately robust interface. As part of this project, you will learn how to program using a graphical user interface toolkit, and perhaps gain practical experience in conducting a heuristic evaluation.
To give you an idea of what students have done in the past, here is an example. It's a walk up and use Dinosaur information system (there are two snapshots of it: screen one and screen two; and another group created a Home Finder system that allows people to search for homes to buy in the city of Calgary.
Final reminders: Unless your group first clears it with me you must implement your project using the same development language that everyone else is using. While it is not impossible to get permission to use something different, it is typically to your benefit to use this language. I have found from past experience that groups that choose a different language often find themselves in trouble at the end of term because it is too hard to implement or change things in their interface. Also groups are not only allowed to ask my advice on the design of their system they are strongly encouraged to do this before they hand their projects in. It's better to hear the critiques and comments ahead of time when you can still do something about it than when the project is actually being graded.
