1.

In your own words, what is the difference between the following two terms: user
experience and usability? (2 pts)

Answer:

User Experience refers to the overall mood/feeling/perception/response of a particular

user before, during and after when they have used a website. It majorly refers to the
feel of the website, or impression of the website in its entirety formed on the user.
Usability usually refers to how seamlessly or easily can a user complete a particular task
on the website, for example, booking a flight ticket, checking out of shopping cart etc. It
refers to how effortless it is to complete a singular task with respect to least learning of
the design required, optimal use of design by the user, re-learn capacity of the design
for the user, how easily can users get side-tracked or error prone while trying to
accomplish the task and overall satisfaction of using the system to accomplish the task.

2. Provide an example of how fundamental attribution error can occur during the iterative
development process. (2 pts)

Answer:
A prime example of the Fundamental Attribution Error is what happened that led to the
Kegsworth Air Accident. The pilots completely missing out on the vibration gauges was a
result of the designers not accommodating the well-developed mental models of pilots
(prime users of the B737-400 cockpit). With respect to the Iterative Design Process, the
User Analysis and Interface Evaluation were not carried out effectively with improper
experimentation on the prototypes also a result of the fundamental attribution error.

3. There are many UX Laws and principles. List and describe any three of them. Provide a
concrete example for each on how they can be applied in HCI with an example using an
interactive computing environment. (6 pts)

Answer:
Miller’s Law: The capacity of the working memory of an average person in terms of
keeping track of a no. of items is 7 +/- 2, which means it can range from 5 to a possible
9.
Chunking is used in grouping similar elements into smaller chunks for easier cognitive
processing and understanding, especially when there are more elements to be directly
processed into the working memory.
Example: This law is used in displaying items in a display tray in e-commerce websites
where items are especially limited to no more than 9 items for a particular category, for
example on amazon.com. Even phone numbers are usually displayed like this:
‘(480)-123-4567’, rather than this: ‘4801234567’, to apply chunking for easier
readability.
 Jakob’s Law: User’s usually have some experience with navigating other websites and
have specified design patterns/interactions/behaviors integrated in their mental model
especially for standard tasks. Hence, familiarity is a key driver in simplifying the learning
process for using our website using familiar design patterns hence users can anticipate
similar responses rather than learn a new interaction.
Example: Most users expect the Navigation menu to be placed on the top of a website,
and in some cases on the left. For smaller screen sizes, they generally shift out to a
menu icon, which is usually represented by horizontal, parallel bars. Now for some
reason, a designer decided to be creative and re-invent the wheel by providing a
completely new way of navigation by providing the menu icon at the bottom-right
corner of the screen (thinking it’s closer to people’s fingers on touch screens) as a popup
button, it might not sit well with users already accustomed to having navigation on the
top-right corner and will ask them to re-learn to navigate on this particular website
which is counter-productive.

Law of Proximity: This law states that objects/elements which are closer to each other
than other elements tend to be grouped by the naked eye into one specific group. This
can be especially helpful in intent to group particular objects together and represent
different clusters to users while viewing at a glance for easier more structured
processing.
Example: In e-commerce websites, similar items on the catalogue are grouped to
provide a complete gist of items in different clusters on the homepage, for example, the
different groups might represent men’s clothing, women’s clothing, children’s clothing,
electronics etc. We would not see for example, men’s clothing and electronics to be in
proximity with each other which would violate this law.

4. Explain why a teacher breaks a complex task down into a series of sub-tasks, and
gradually builds the students’ skills at solving each sub-task before eventually combining
the sub-tasks together to form the whole task using concepts from CLT including the
concepts of schema automation and schema construction. Also explain three types of
cognitive load associated with this theory. (5 pts)

Answer:
Our memory stores can be broadly categorized into short-term or working memory
which is severely limited and the bottle neck to cognitive processing, and long-term
memory which can help in reducing the load on the working memory. As per Cognitive
Load Theory, information is organized in the long-term memory in the form of Cognitive
Schemata. These are construction in the long-term memory which essentially service
into reducing the load on the working memory by categorizing and processing multiple
elements into a single element into the working memory from the long term memory.
The process of building Cognitive Schemata is call Schema Construction. Skilled
Performance is essentially a result of the combination of many elements of lower level
 schema into higher level schema as this helps in simplifying complex information (as its
said, that the ability to explain something in simple terms is an indication of the level of
clarity achieved in that concept). Schema Automation is essentially the process of
performing Schema Construction with ease and minimal effort. This results from
practice.
Hence, we observe our teachers breaking down complex tasks and allowing us to
develop proficiency in performing those sub-tasks. Then the skill to perform these
subtasks is combined to perform a higher-level task. We are repeatedly asked to build
Schema Constructs into long term memory and practice to make the process effortless
by Schema Automation, all this to reduce the load on the working memory. This is
essentially the process adopted to develop any skill.

There are 3 types of Cognitive Loads:

Intrinsic Cognitive Load: The best explanation for this is the ‘bare minimum’ cognitive
load of any content/information/concept which cannot be altered or otherwise
interfered with to ease out the load on the working memory. It consists of both lower
and higher level elements and their interactivity with each other and is essentially
experienced when learning something into the working memory.
Extraneous Cognitive Load: This load is essentially the load arising from how a particular
information or list of tasks are presented to a user. There is usually a case of split-
attention affect when a user is to integrate information from multiple visual sources
which cannot be isolated to process. There is a process of integration for merging
information from all sources to learn something.
Germane Cognitive Load: This is the load arising from Schema Construction and
Automation in order to learn something to build Cognitive Schemata into long-term
memory. This required working memory capacity and results in understanding
information presented.

5. The “Story of the Ribbon” describes how the Microsoft UI team developed and tested a
variety of conceptual prototypes (“The Configurator, Fluid Menus, The Strawman, Full-
Page UI, Ring Task Guide”) during their redesign process. Please describe two of these
conceptual prototypes and identify what the team learned from it. (5 pts)

Answer:
The Strawman: This prototype consisted of a parking space where we could choose
menus to put into. There was also an option for ordering all the menus alphabetically.
But this introduced ambiguity into the list of already complex menu items as every user
might have a different perception for a naming convention in order to find a particular
menu item.

Ring Task Guide: This prototype created a separate window which very
comprehensively displayed the menu item with history of use, an alphabetical list of
 items and so on. This was not a good design as it required a lot of re-learning and an
impractical cognitive load.

It was learnt that all the designs focused mainly on effectively cataloguing the menus
items efficiently which in any case would require a significant intrinsic cognitive load in
understanding how to use the menus before actually using Microsoft office.
The ribbon worked well as it seamlessly combined groups of menu items by
representing them seamlessly adhering to the Gestalt principles for Menus especially
the Law of Proximity along with the Laws of Locality and Common Region. In this case,
there was a minimal relearn and helped to integrate the high number of functionalities
with the particular action being performed.

6. Briefly explain 4 Rules used in Intuitive UX design along with examples. (6 pts)

Answer:
4 Rules for Intuitive UX:
1. Obey the Law of Locality
This rule entails with finding the most optimal position where an
interface element can affect change. This essentially translates to when
users would like to affect change, they usually glance at the point where
they would like to or assume for the change to take place. There are
additional guidelines to the rule that state that, if a control affects
change to a large enough area, it makes sense to put the control at the
top of the area. Another guideline states that that farther the control is
from the area it affects change, the more frequently it’s supposed to
pop.
Example, is providing an ‘add new playlist’ option on a list of playlists in a
music app. This is done by spotify where the add button is placed at the
top of the lists.
 2. ABD: Anything but Dropdowns
Dropdowns add an extra click to get to the assumed result and hence are
to be avoided where possible. The primal cases of alternating to a more
suitable control are when the option are limited and/or can be
presented in a more interactive way. The idea is to reduce the effort
(clicks) to the destined option. The temptation of using dropdowns arises
from reducing complexity on the open screen but results in
inconvenience for the user.
The more interactive way of adding no. of tickets is to provide a stepper
control instead of a dropdown of nos.

3. Pass the Squint test

When a user squints, the most important task of the page should be
most visible to the user. The squint test usually helps in finding the
purpose of the page. Emphasis is to be placed on the most used item on
the page and lease emphasis is to be placed on the less important item
on the page.
Here we see the sign-up button to be the most visible control on
squinting.

4. Teach by example
Explaining something by examples is more catchy and interactive to
users instead of large portions of text. Users usually like listening to
stories rather than explanations. We see IFTT instead of explaining their
deliverable of building effective services provides an example of one.
 7. During a job interview, you learn that the company you are applying to is actively
looking for applicants that can assist with usability testing. The interviewer inquires
about your background in this area. In an effort to convey your understanding of
usability testing, you share with the interviewer a general description of what it entails
along with a description of its three basic components. (4 pts)

Answer:
Usability Testing is the process of evaluating a product by testing it on real users.
The basic Components are:
Learnability: This indicates how straightforward, seamless or easy it is for a
subject to accomplish tasks on the website for the first time. This determined the measure of
learnability a website entails to for a user.
Efficiency: This indicates how effortlessly, quickly without interruptions is a user
able to complete tasks after the learning phase.
Memorability: This indicates how intuitive is the design by observing how a user
interacts with the website after staying away and returning back to the interface. How quickly
are they able to re-establish proficiency of use of the interface is measured by this aspect.

Errors and User Satisfaction are what describes these components and how well are they able
to depict the flaws in the design for an improvement.

8. We have discussed the Information Processing Model in our lecture. Provide a diagram
for the same and explain its components. (10 pts)

Answer:
Also called the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model, this model explains how we process in the human
brain.
The Sensory Register receives a huge amount of information which is lost in a few seconds.
Attention is the bottle-neck to information processing as brain is seen as a limited capacity
processor. This step sifts through the huge information acquired from sensory inputs by focus
on limited elements.
Perception explains how we perceive information for what we think it is rather than what it
actually is based on biases and assumptions.
The working memory is a storage system which can store limited amounts of information for
limited amount of time (a few seconds). The represents the information during the current
conscious thought process. The capacity is usually limited to 5 to 9 bits of information and the
longer an element stays in working memory, the more it has chances of being transfered to
long term memory.
The Long term memory is theoretically permanent memory, which can hold information for
long periods of time. This memory mainly consists of Episodic, Semantic or procedural memory
which refers to the types of long term memories. Episodic memory is a memory of personal
experiences. Semantic memory is a memory of facts and generalized information along with
problem solving skills and strategizing skills. Procedural memory provides contrast in realising
difference in knowing how and what for a perceived piece of information.
Meta-cognition is a very unique capacity or capability to thing about our own process of
cognition or information processing or retrieval.
The process of Rehearsal and Coding helps in transfering working memory information to long
term memory schema constructs and Retrieval helps in using Schema Constructs in long term
memory couples with constructs in short term memory to provide a response.

9. Explain a scenario where it would be appropriate to use severity ratings. Justify your
answer including the different levels of severity that you would choose to use. (4 pts)

Answer:
Severity Ratings can be decided upon in the planning stages of a Usability Testing
Experiment. While there has been discourse between Problem Frequency vs Severity
Scale, This scale can be used across the project for standardization. For the usability
testing of an e-commerce website, I would choose to use a 3-fold scale namely, Low,
Medium, High.
Low can entail to minor cosmetic issues or a minor interaction issue which can be given
a low priority.
Medium can entail to significant difficulty in performing a task impacting effectiveness,
efficiency and ultimately user satisfaction. This can help in characterizing issues which
lead to significant cognitive load as users find alternate ways of accomplishing a task
which in itself is not good but does not lead to a complete task failure.
High can entail to an issue which leads to a task failure and is of the highest priority
demanding immediate attention without which the product cannot be released.
 The reason why I like to keep the no. of ratings short is to avoid too much complication
and only help in prioritizing issues into a list to solve above overcomplicating with
defining the type of issues in the perspective of project planning and execution.

10. Eye-tracking is a technology widely used in usability testing. What metric would you use
from eye-tracking data to analyse efficiency? Explain the different components of the
metric. Also, provide an example where you think this metric would be most useful. (4
pts)

Answer:
I find Fixation to be the most common and useful metric in Eye Tracking data.
The different components comprising of this metric are Percentage Fixated, Time to
first
Fixation and Sequence of Fixations. These components together help in giving a very
comprehensive summary for a usability test.
Percentage Fixated is a very useful for finding the no of participants who fixated at an
area of interest, a popup or any a call to action. This helps in finding the immediate
success rate of the interaction.
Time to First fixation can have 2 indicators. It can help in finding out if a particular
response was instantaneous if its needed to be by comparing the metric with other
areas of response/interest on the same page.
Sequence of fixations can help in measuring the efficiency of completing a task by
finding out diversions to attention.

11. Celia Hodent in the presentation titled The Gamer’s Brain introduced the concept called
the FFF Rule. What is this rule? (2 pts)

Answer: The FFF rule is ‘Form follows Function’. This rule says that the shape of an objects
(or icon) primary function is to establish its function.