Design Methodology

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Design Methodology

• October 23, 2003 Intelligent System Design,
  IT-university Maria Håkansson

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Goals for today

• To get an insight into the HCI design process
• To know some important issues when designing
  interactive computer systems
• Discuss an example ActiMates Barney
• To know some useful data gathering methods
• To try out a rather unusual design technique

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Methodology

• A methodology can be seen as
• An aid to structure the process
• An aid to organize activities and results
• An aid to make progress
• An aid to plan a project (sub goals, deliveries
  etc)
• Not a simple recipe for success has to be used
  with good judgement

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HCI design principles

• Design should
• be user-centred and involve users as much as
  possible so that they can influence it
• integrate knowledge and expertise from the
  different disciplines that contribute to HCI
  design
• be highly iterative so that testing can be done
  to check that the design does indeed meet users
  requirements

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User-centred design

• Analysis of users, tasks and context
• Identification of requirements
• Design
• Prototyping
• Testing and evaluation with users

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An iterative process

• To repeat the different steps and make
  improvements on the design using the feedback
  from the previous step(s)

Analysis
Identification of Requirements
Evaluation
Design and prototyping
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Same ideas, different models
An interaction design model according to Preece,
Rogers and Sharp (2002)
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When does it stop?
The only factor limiting the number of times
through the cycle is the resources available, but
whatever the number is, development ends with an
evaluation activity that ensures the final
product meets the prescribed usability
criteria. (Preece, Rogers and Sharp 2002)
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Analysis of users, tasks and context

• Who are the users?
• Particular characteristics (e.g. expertise, age,
  background)
• Special needs? Requirements?
• Work or leisure?
• Attitudes?
• Infrequent or frequent user?
• Results
• User profile a collection of attributes for a
  typical user

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Analysis of users, tasks and context

• Task description
• To describe and analyse the main task or activity
  of the product/system to be designed
• What elements does the task consist of?
• How are these performed today?

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Analysis of users, tasks and context

• Where and when?
• Work or entertainment?
• At home, at work, mobile?
• Environment (e.g. light conditions, spatial
  requirements)
• Frequency?
• Social context?

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Data gathering

• Gather data (data gathering techniques), analyse
  it, extract requirements
• Techniques, some examples
• Questionnaires/Interviews/Focus groups
• Observations/Ethnography
• Scenarios (for task description)
• Cultural probes

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Data gathering

• Questionnaires
• good if people are spread out, answering specific
  questions
• Interviews
• Un-, semi- or structured, exploring issues
• Focus groups
• group interview, collecting multiple viewpoints
• Observation
• To observe work as it happens, in its natural
  setting, understanding context

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Data gathering

• Scenarios
• An informal narrative description (Carroll,
  2000)
• Cultural probes
• Alternative approach to understanding users and
  their needs, developed by Gaver (1999)
• Important to think about the user is the expert,
  not you!

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Identification of requirements

• A requirement is a statement about an intended
  product that specifies what it should do and how
  it should perform
• An example time to download any complete page is
  less than 5 sec (website)
• What is the goal?
• to produce a set of stable requirements that
  form a sound basis to move forward in thinking
  about design.

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Different requirements

• Functional requirements
• Environmental requirements
• Physical, social, organizational, technical
• User requirements
• Usability requirements

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Lost? We are here! -)
Analysis
Evaluation
Identification of Requirements
Design and prototyping
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Design

• Design activities begin once a set of
  requirements has been established
• Conceptual vs physical design
• Design should be evaluated by users and in order
  to do so, users need an interactive version of
  the design ideas a prototype

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Prototyping

• What is a prototype?
• From paper-based storyboards to complex pieces of
  software 3D paper models, cardboard mock-ups,
  hyperlinked screen shots, video simulations of a
  task, metal or plastic versions of the final
  product

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Prototyping

• Why prototype?
• Useful aid when discussing ideas
• Useful for testing with users
• Useful for clarifying vague requirements
• What kind of prototype you build depends on what
  aspect of the product you want to test

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Low-fidelity prototyping

• Beginning of design process
• Simple, quick and cheap
• Encourage exploration and modification
• Two examples storyboarding and Wizard of Oz

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Storyboarding

• Often used in conjunction with scenarios
• Series of sketches showing how a user might
  progress through a task using a device being
  developed

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Wizard of Oz

• Requires a software-based prototype
• The user interacts with the software but the
  softwares responses are simulated by a human
  operator

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High-fidelity prototyping

• End of the design process
• Uses materials that you would expect to be in the
  final product
• Complete functionality
• Takes long time to build, expensive

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Generating ideas

• Generate MANY ideas!
• Generate, structure and review
• Look for inspiration similar products, fantasise
• Kill your darlings! -)
• Brainstorming methods, scenarios

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Methods for inspiration

• Personas
• Scenarios
• Interaction Relabelling
• Possible interactions with a known mechanical
  device are mapped to the functions of an
  electronic device to be designed
• Extreme characters
• Fictional users with exaggerated emotional
  attitudes are taken as the basis of design to
  highlight cultural issues

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Evaluation

• Why?
• Following design guidelines doesnt guarantee
  good usability
• Problems are fixed before the product is shipped,
  not after -)
• Formative vs summative evaluation

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Evaluation

• What to evaluate decide setting
• Laboratory is ok for evaluating a website
• Natural setting is required when testing e.g.
  toys
• Evaluation doesnt always involve users!
• Experts might evaluate the product using special
  guidelines heuristics

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Evaluation methods

• Heuristics
• Experiments
• Questionaires
• Interviews
• Observations
• Think-aloud

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Interaction relabelling and extreme characters
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