Tuesday, 10 March

Usability, Ethnography, Wireframes, Fun design, Feedback 

Ethnography a branch of anthropology that studies people in their normal environment

Wireframes examples from Mentor Karthik Rao's in-class presentation

Thank you for your Reflections! They are very helpful to us.

Reflection is a key quality in HCI/d

Key themes in your submissions seemed to include:

• A better sense of what the field of HCI/d as a whole is
• A more detailed awareness of the nature of our interactions with technology (and how poorly designed many things are from this point of view)
• Designerly presentation and sketchnoting skills
• The applicability of many of the skills being learned here to other classes and to your future career as a whole (re: student CVs)
• Others?

I would add that you are developing not just your awareness and presentation skills, but also:

• Design thinking skills/active learning through the project work
• Good work habits and the right attitude
• The ability to work effectively in groups 
• Familiarity with the methods and protocols learned in the field and, ultimately
• The ability to engage in user-center design itself.

Other thoughts?

Review Reading Responses 8 Questions:

1. How, according to the authors, does one “design” a fun experience? Cite an example from your own experience.
2. What is usability a “measure of,” according to the authors?
3. What is the value of simplicity in UXD? Cite an example from your own experience where it is present and where it is not; what are the consequences of each?
4. What, according to the authors, is the importance of feedback in a design and what happens if appropriate feedback is not present?

Are there overall questions on Project 3: Usability Testing?

What is the main thing you've learned so far?

How different was the user experience of the website and app?

Presentation of interim work

Notes:

• No one from your team can be the subject of your study

• Your subject may not use the search function while conducting the study

• You may use standard, not reduced size, PDFs if you need to for quality reasons (so long as the file can be uploaded to Oncourse)

More principles from Steve Krug:

Krug's three laws of usability: 

1. Don't make me think!
2. It doesn't matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice
3. Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left.

Krug's first law of usability testing:
Testing with one user is 100% better than testing with none

Krug's "Trunk Test" answer, quickly, the following questions:

• What site is this? (Site ID)
• What page am I on? (Page name)
• What are the major sections of this site? (Sections)
• What are my options at this level? (Local navigation)
• Where am I in the scheme of things ("You are here" indicators)
• How can I search?

Review Next Steps in Project 3 Evolution

Questions on the Mid-term Study Questions?

Mentor Jeffrey Gadzala to present on "Interaction Design in the 'Real World'" -- Thoughts on Interactions 2015 in San Francisco

Team Meeting Opportunities 

Homework for Thursday, 12 March:

• Prepare for Mid-term Exam
• Continue work on Project 3 
• Interim Project 3.1 due date extended until noon on Friday, 13 March