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Slide by James Landay
What is HCI?
A discipline concerned with– design– evaluation– implementationof interactive computing systems for human use
The study of major phenomena surrounding the interaction of humans with computers.
What is an Interface?
Difficult to defineThe window through which the human interacts with some application on the computer.But … – really it is more complex than this– part of a larger context of interacting with other
applications, other people, and the physical world.
Slide by James Landay
User-centered Design
Take into account– Cognitive abilities– Organizational constraints– Customs and precendent
Keep users involved throughout project
Slide by James Landay
Who builds UIs?
A team of specialists (ideally)– graphic designers– interaction / interface designers– technical writers– marketers– test engineers– software engineers
User-centered Design
Standard Approach:– Needs assessment– Task analysis– Initial design
More modern approach (from Cooper’s Inmates book):– Needs assessment– Persona creation– Goal creation– Scenario and task creation– Initial design
Using Personas
Focus on specific aspects of a specific user’s characteristics, needs, and goals– The persona becomes as understandable as a
character in a book or movieAvoid “elastic user” Design for the center of the distribution– The perpetual intermediates– Don’t focus on the edge cases
Designing for Goals
Goals are what one wants to doGoals seldom changeTasks are steps to get to the goals– Tasks change with the technology– Sometimes tasks are the opposite of goals
• To get agreement, the lawyer argues• To achieve peace, the country sends in troops
Focusing on technology results in designing for tasks rather than goals.
Slide by James Landay
Rapid Prototyping
Build a mock-up of designLow fidelity techniques– paper sketches– cut, copy, paste– video segments
Interactive prototyping tools– Visual Basic, HyperCard, Director, Flash, etc.
Evaluation
Test with real users (participants)– Formally or Informally
“Discount” techniques– expert evaluation (heuristic evaluation)– walkthroughs
Build models– Less common
Why is Usability Important?
Good design promotes– Effectiveness and efficiency– Feelings of satisfaction, enjoyment
Bad design threatens– Safety– Accuracy
Good vs. Bad Design
It is important to avoid bad design– It is often easy to detect a bad design – just try it with a few users– It can be fun to spot the flows
• UI Hall of Shame http://homepage.mac.com/bradster/iarchitect/shame.htm
It is much harder to teach / learn good design– Look at & appreciate good examples– Follow best practices– Be willing to redesign– Get lots of practice!
Good vs. Bad Design
UI design is humbling– Your attempt may work right, look great– But … users may not be able to use it– Don’t take it personally! That’s why we iterate!
Studying Good Examples
Some sites just do things well– Amazon has pioneered many excellent interaction
designs for the web• Suggesting related products in an effective way• Useful and timely content• Tabs to organize main kinds of content• 1-click purchasing• Good checkout mechanism
– However, UI quality has degradated in some respects
Studying Good Examples
Recipe/Lifestyle Sites:– http://eat.epicurious.com– http://www.marthastewart.com
A good source: Webby Awards– http://www.webbyawards.com/– /
Assignment: Project Proposal
Decide on project goals and members– Use class list to exchange ideas
Recommendations:– Find a project for which you have ready access to people who
would be real users of the system– Look at the projects from last time to get a feeling for the
scope.Due date:– Proposals due Tuesday Jan 30th (< 2 weeks)– We’ll give feedback and might ask you to revise it.
Class Projects
Design, prototype, and evaluate an interface– Iterate four times– Emphasis on web-based interfaces– Ok to redesign an existing interface
MUST work in groups of 3-5 people– Team structure– Students will assess amount of work being done by others in
the groupLast year’s:– http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is213/s06/projects.html
Slide adapted from James Landay
Teams vs. Managed Groups
Managed Groups– strong leader– individual accountability
– organizational purpose– individual work products– efficient meetings– measures performance
by influence on others– delegates work
Teams– shared leadership– individual & mutual
accountability– specific team purpose– collective work products– open-ended meetings– measures performance
from work products– do real work together
Slide adapted from James Landay
Team Action Items
Meet and get used to each otherFigure out strengths of team membersAssign each person a role– responsible for seeing work is organized & done– not responsible for doing it themselves
Roles– design (visual & interaction)– software– user testing
– group manager (coordinate big picture)
– documentation (writing)
Next Week
Jan 23:– Project idea discussion– Sullivan case study
Jan 25:– User centered design– Project team coordination