Human Computer Interaction G52HCI

Steve Benford & Gail Hopkins

Introduction

Goals of this module

Provide students with the knowledge and skills required to design usable interfaces

Knowledge goals Appreciate why user interface design is important Knowledge of user-centred design process especially techniques

for prototyping and evaluating interfaces Knowledge of guidelines for good interface design Understanding the future trajectory of interfaces

Practice goals Gain experience of low- and mid- tech prototyping Gain experience of expert evaluation

Transferable skills Group work Documentation

Module structure

Introduction (1 lecture) Understanding users (3 lectures) Designing graphical user interfaces (3 lectures) Participatory design & prototyping (2 lectures and 2 practicals) Evaluating interfaces (2 lectures, 2 practicals) Careers in HCI (1 lecture) The future of the interface (2 lectures)

Lectures

Wednesday 11:00 in the Exchange Building room C3 Friday 10:00 Business School South room A24

Resources

Web page for handouts & background reading http://www.mrl.nott.ac.uk/~sdb/g52hci

Recommended text Rogers, Sharp, Preece, Interaction Design: Beyond Human

Computer Interaction, Wiley (2011, 3rd edition)

Assessment Two assessed courseworks (no exam!) 70% individual work and 30% group work CW1: Prototyping (50%)

Create prototype interfaces and document in an individual report

CW2: Evaluation (50%) Perform a group expert evaluation of each others’ prototypes and document in a group and individual reports

See module web page for the coursework schedule Electronic hand-in

What kinds of interfaces are there?

What makes interfaces good or bad?

What is the best interface you have every used? What is the worst? Why?

My worst interface

Goals of designing ‘usable’ interfaces

Put the user (not the system) as the central focus: Time to learn Speed of performance once learned Rate of errors Retention over time Satisfaction

How do we design good interfaces?

Requirements

Design

Implement

Test

MaintainNot like this!

The Human Centred Design Cycle

Plan the user-centred process

Understand and specify the context of use

Specify the user and organisational requirements

Produce Design Solutions

Evaluate Designs Against User Requirements

Meets requirements

Context: Users, tasks, hardware, software, materials, physical and social environments

From: ISO 13407 0 Human Centred Design Process for Interactive Systems (1999)

First of all: Know thy users

Write down a ‘profile’ including: age, gender, physical ability, experience, culture, language, environment of use for this scenario Your local library has received funding from the city council to

place a PC in its foyer for looking up bus timetables.

This will enable visitors to find out when buses for their town stop at the library

There are currently standard paper-based bus timetables available in the foyer. However, library users who visit by bus have complained that these are difficult to read and not specific enough to the library.

Different perspectives on users

User requirements

Individual and cognitive perspectiveDraws on psychologyFocuses on individual capabilities, task performance and dialogue

Social and organisational perspectiveDraws on sociology and management

Focuses on organisational fit, environment, collaboration and legal and ethical issues

Design perspective

Draws on art and design

Considers aesthetic, cultural

and marketing aspects of

interaction design