Design Project 2

Syllabus

This course requires m1 students to design, prototype, develop and evaluate an interactive system that will be part of their BDLabs course (for M1 HCID students) or that will be a continuation of their Design Project 1 work (for M1 HCI students)

For students in M1 HCI, this course will also be the basis of what they will develop for the TER.

Students will work in groups of 3 or 4.

Deliverables:

The deliverable will consist of original software, three intermediate reports, a final paper and defense.

The final documentation is a paper that describes, analyzes, and discusses the design choices embedded within the system, conceptually, technically, and critically, and the resulting user evaluation.

Intermediate Reports: We will distribute the load of documentation of the work over the six weeks through intermediate reports that are due on the Friday of the next class: 

    • 1st report: 17/03 
    • 2nd report: 31/03 
    • 3rd report: 14/04 

Paper: The formal writing of their project should be in the form of an HCI paper, preferably in the CHI format.

Throughout all the classes, students need to advance in the writing of the paper, using the material they wrote about in the report 1, 2 and 3, including the design choices, the implementation and the user testing results. They should also write a good discussion with future works, and possible improvements.

Reference: Galvan, J. (2006). Writing literature reviews: a guide for students of the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.

Defence of the Design Projet : 21 th of April at 10 AM for the M1 HCI students (TER defense) and 2PM for the M1 HCID students

Grading Criteria: Students will be graded on the quality of the work, the written paper, and oral presentation of the project.

The criterion will be the effective understanding and application of Design and HCI concepts in designing developing, and evaluating their interactive system. The user evaluation will rely on qualitative or quantitative methodologies of the student’s choice and is mandatory.

If appropriate, students should also prepare a video of their project, preferably with narration.

Learning Outcomes

The students will be able to:

  • Apply HCI and Interaction Design principles in the design, development, and evaluation of their interactive system.
  • Prepare and deliver a 10 min oral presentation and written paper demonstrating their application of the HCI principles in the design and evaluation of the interactive system.
  • Conduct an in-depth project about the design and evaluation of an interactive system.

Design: The material for framing the Design Process is based on the design of interactive systems bootcamp

Course of the month’s classes

Week 1: 10/03 :  From Brainstorming to Low Fi Prototype

  • During:
    • Brainstorming, select your project focus and describe it to us.
    • Possible proposal topic + plan of attack.
    • Feedback, refine proposal + plan of attack.
  • After : report 1: Design rationale – due on 17/03 
    • Send us the concept + plan of attack + a beginning low-fi version of your system.

Define the problem: Develop a deep understanding of your users and the design space and, based on that understanding, come up with an actionable problem statement: your point of view.

Week 2 and 3 : 17/03 and 24/03 : From Low Fi to High Fi Prototype

The objective is to go from a low-fi to a High-fi prototype. We will give you feedback and highlight problem areas to work on

  • Before:
    • the concept + plan of attack + a low-fi version of your system
  • During:
    • Testing the prototype
    • Feedback, refine proposal + plan of attack
    • Refine & reiterate on the prototype
  • After: report 2 : Implementation – due on 31/03
    • Write a brief report on the low to high-fi prototype, and the results/decisions based on user testing.

Prototype: Get ideas and explorations out of your head and into the physical world. Use post-it notes, a role-playing activity, a space, an object, an interface, or even a storyboard. This should be a low-fi resolution. In early explorations, keep your prototypes rough and rapid to allow yourself to learn quickly and investigate a lot of different possibilities.

Generate radical design alternatives: Explore a wide solution space. From this vast depository of ideas, you can build prototypes to test with users.

Test: It is the chance to get feedback on your solutions, refine solutions to make them better, and continue to learn about your users. The test mode is an iterative mode in which you place your low-resolution artifacts in the appropriate context of the user’s life. Prototype as if you know you’re right, but test as if you know you’re wrong.

Week 4: 31/03:  From High Fi Prototype to Interactive System 

The objective is to go from a high fi prototype to an interactive system.

Prototypes are most successful when people (the design team, the user, and others) can experience and interact with them.

We will give you feedback and highlight problem areas to work on 

  • Before:
    • The high-fi prototype of the system 
  • During:
    • Testing the prototype
    • Feedback 
    • Refine & reiterate on the High-fi prototype
  • After: document your choices and decisions based on user testing that allow you to have an almost finished version of your interactive system.

Week 5 and 6: 7/04 and 14/04 user testing 

The objective is to test your solution with real users, be them students in the class or external people. 

  • Before:
    • Prepare for user tests
  • During:
    • Feedback on user tests
    • Run user testing
    • After: report 3 – user testing – due on 14/04
      • Write a brief report on the results of your user testing.
        • For evaluating the system, you can use:
          • Structured interviews
          • Observational task analysis
          • Ethnographic field studies
          • Controlled experiments
          • Surveys and Questionnaires
          • Think‐aloud / Wizard of Oz
          • Field Testing