COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

03 - Managing Design
Processes
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Lecture 03 - Overview

 Design should be based on: Careful observations of

current users, thoughtful analysis of task frequencies
and sequences, validation through early usability and
acceptance tests
 Crucial: Seek direct interaction with users during early
design phases, the entire development process, and
product life cycle
 Trends: “Usability Engineering” is becoming more and
more recognized, usability tests standardized
 Chapter 3 offers a variety of strategies and means that
facilitate important usability goals/objectives
1) The Three Pillars of Design, 2) Development
Methodologies, 3) Ethnographic Observation, 4) Participatory
Design, 5) Scenario Development, 6) Legal Issues
COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

The Three Pillars of

Design
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

The Three Pillars of Design

Overview

 In order to achieve successful UIs base your

design process on 3 issues:
 Guidelines Documents & Processes
 User Interface Software Tools
 Expert Reviews & Usability Testing
 Note: No guarantee of success is given but
relying on these issues most likely will improve
the quality of our UI
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

The Three Pillars of Design

Guidelines Documents & Processes 1/3
 Crucial: Generate a set of guidelines, possibly early in
the development process; they must be available in
written form and need to be respected and applied by
all project members
 Goals/Purpose of a guidelines document:
 Provide a social process for developers
 Record decisions for all parties to see
 Promote consistency and completeness
 Facilitate automation of design
 Should be designed in a way that separates multiple levels
(rigid, accepted, flexible)
 Should contain announcements regarding the 4Es
(governance)
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

The Three Pillars of Design

Guidelines Documents & Processes 2/3
 As always, the extent of a guidelines document
depends on the nature of the project (e.g., nature of
product, number of participants, etc.)
 Some general issues are:
 Words, Icons, Graphics (e.g., terminology, abbreviations, fonts,
colors, buttons, etc.)
 Screen layout issues (e.g., menu selection, forms, feedback,
margins, data entry- and data display-formats, etc.)
 Input/Output devices (e.g., keyboard, display, sound, response
times for tasks, alternatives for users with disabilities, etc.)
 Action sequences (e.g., DM, command syntax, semantics,
shortcuts, error handling procedures, etc.)
 Training (e.g., online help, tutorials, etc.)
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

The Three Pillars of Design

Guidelines Documents & Processes 3/3
 When preparing/working with guidelines always
consider the 4Es:
 Education: Provide training opportunities, give changes to
discuss guidelines
 Enforcement: Establish procedures that facilitate guidelines
distribution and communication among stakeholders, establish
procedures that ensure enforcement
 Exemption: Allow for exemptions, install a process that allows
for rapid adaptation if necessary
 Enhancement: Constantly improve/refine guidelines (where
appropriate and possible without affecting the progress of the
project too much)
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

The Three Pillars of Design

User Interface Software Tools
 Help to provide the user and developer with a realistic
impression of how the final product may look
like/function (e.g., a prototype for a menu system)
 Such prototypes are naturally limited (e.g.,restricted to
only 1 or 2 tasks)
 Examples: Macromedia Director, Flash, Visual Basic,
JBuilder
 Note: Don’t confuse such tools with general purpose
software development tools (e.g., Eclipse IDE).
 A more detailed discussion about UI development tools
will follow in chapter 5
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

The Three Pillars of Design

Expert Reviews & Usability Testing
 Necessary in order to ensure usability and high quality
UIs
 Examples: Early pilot testing (possibly several
components individually), expert review methods, tests
with the intended users, surveys, or automated analysis
tools
 Again, what procedures to choose and how they should
be shaped individually greatly depends on the nature of
the project (e.g, number of expected users)
 A more detailed discussion about such means of
promoting high quality UIs will follow in chapter 4
COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development
Methodologies
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development Methodologies
Overview
 Problem: Many software projects fail due to communication deficits
between developers and clients/users (gab between business/user
and IT/developer)
 Solution in the context of HCI: Apply a user-centered design,
starting in early stages of the development process. This helps
aligning the business/user needs with product functionality
 Consequence: Less problems with the system, reduced
maintenance costs, reduced time to learn, increased speed of
performance, etc.
 But how do we achieve this? Many common/traditional
development methodologies do not focus on usability
 Solution: Use a methodology that is specifically suited for user
centered design (e.g., LUCID)
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development Methodologies
LUCID
 The LUCID (Logical User-Centered Interactive Design) is
essentially a development methodology or framework for
scheduling projects, which suggests various stages of the
interface development process:
1. Stage 1: Envision
2. Stage 2: Discovery
3. Stage 3: Design Foundation
4. Stage 4: Design Detail
5. Stage 5: Build
6. Stage 6: Release
 The LUCID employs rapid prototyping and interactive usability
testing (CH 4) and heavily relies on UI building tools (CH 5)
 The six stages need to be individually adapted for every project
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development Methodologies
LUCID - Stage 1: Envision
Main objective: Develop a product concept
Tasks:
 Establish the design team, prepare a project plan and
calculate your budget
 Develop a clear, shared product vision among all
stakeholders
 Define business objectives and needs
 Manage technical constraints
 Identify and deal with potential problems that could influence
the development team’s ability to collaborate
 Begin the design process at “concept sketch level”
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development Methodologies
LUCID - Stage 2: Discovery
Main objective: Learn about the needs and skills of users
Tasks:
 Develop a clear understanding of the characteristics of each
distinct segment of the product’s user
 Understand the tasks users perform, the information they
need, the terminology they use, their priorities and mental
models
 Analyze the gathered data and create the product’s
requirements

Possible means for stage 2: Participatory design sessions,

workflow scenario construction
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development Methodologies
LUCID - Stage 3: Design Foundation
Main objective: Provide an early “key-screen” prototype
Tasks:
 Develop and validate the basic conceptual design of the
product
 Develop a visual look for the product
 Present the completed design as a key-screen prototype

Note: A key-screen prototype incorporates the main

navigational paths of the system. Its goal is to
demonstrate the proposed system to the user, allow for
feedback and refinement. Key screen prototypes may also
be used for usability testing.
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development Methodologies
LUCID - Stage 4: Design Detail
Main objective: Particularize the UI design
Tasks:
 Complete a style guide containing both the graphic design
and UI policy decisions
 Flesh out the high-level design into a complete specification
 Conduct usability evaluation of specific screens or workflows
 Create detailed layouts for each screen and detailed
specifications for each element of each screen

Important means for stage 4: UI development tools

 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development Methodologies
LUCID - Stage 5: Build
Main objective: Build the actual and final product
Tasks:
 Answer questions and support developers during coding,
redesign screens if necessary
 Conduct usability evaluation of critical screens - if needed
 Support the build process through review and late-stage
change management
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development Methodologies
LUCID - Stage 6: Release
Main objective: Release the final product
Tasks:
 Develop a rollout plan to support the new product
 Conduct usability evaluation of “out of the box” or installation
experiences
 Measure satisfaction

Important means for stage 6: Surveys, interviews,

observations, etc.
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Development Methodologies
LUCID - Focus: Review
LUCID focuses on a review approach. Following is a list of
issues/artifacts (examples) that need to be reviewed
during the development process:
 Product definition (high concept for managers)
 Business case (e.g., pricing, ROI, competition)
 Resources (duration, personnel)
 Usability (set measurable goals, conduct tests, refine)
 Functionality (what is offered to the user)
 Design guidelines (modify, extend)
 ...
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Other Issues/Methods
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Ethnographic Observations

 ≈ a specific form of user observation; based on the believes that interface

users belong to unique cultures
 Ethnographers observe people in their home or work environments, listen,
ask questions, participate in activities
 Similar: UI designer must gain insights into the individual behavior and the
organizational context with a focus on interface design and with the goal of
improving the interface
 Main goal: Obtain information that influence the UI design
 Problem: Miss-interpretation, disruption, overlooking of important issues
 Solution (no guarantee!): Follow a Ethnographic procedure that includes
developing guidelines for: the preparation of the observation, the
execution of field test, the analysis of results and the presentation of
results
 Note: Consider differences in user communities
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Participatory Design

 Strong user involvement in the design process

 Pros: Provides more accurate information about tasks
and brings opportunities for users to influence the
design decisions
 Cons: Extensive user involvement may be costly and
lengthen the development process, sometimes forces
designers to compromise design due to incompetent
users
 Particular challenges are: select the right users (skills,
motivation, etc.) or user groups (e.g., homogenous vs.
diverse), size, or to consider social/organizational
impact (e.g., threat of change, novelty)
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Scenario Development

A) Redesign of an existing product or automation of a

proven manual procedure
 Reliable data about task frequencies and sequences is
available or can be obtained easily (e.g., interview, logging)
 Means: Build a table associating users with tasks and task
frequencies, build a table that displays dependencies of
tasks (sequence of tasks), use flow charts or transition
diagram
B) Novel products
 No data available
 Means: Write a scenario of usage (e.g., for common,
exceptional or emergency situation)
 Note: Scenarios are higher-level than tasks
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

Legal Issues

 You need to be aware of legal issues that may

affect your design, implementation or
marketing
 5 main issues:
 Privacy
 Safety and Reliability
 Copyright or patent protection for software
 Copyright protection of online information, images
and music
 Freedom of speech in electronic environments
 Other issues: Different laws in different
countries, universal access
 COMP 388/441 HCI: 03 - Managing Design Processes

The End

Questions?