Q1 Find a product of everyday use that you find hard to use.

Discuss what usability and

interaction issues it has and how they can be solved?
Everyday product: -
Its about the website which has multiple problems as discussed below and also given the history
about Interaction. Website can be any such as Google, Yahoo etc. Mostly people are familiar
with interface of Google as compared to mostly find it difficult to use Yahoo.
Usability replaced the outmoded label “user friendly” within the early 1990s. “Usability” has had
trouble finding the definition we use now. Different approaches to what made a product “usable”
splintered between watching it with the view of the merchandise in mind (i.e., the ergonomic
design, like a curved keyboard); looking at it from the purpose of view of the user (how much
work and satisfaction/frustration he/she experiences using it); and the view of the user’s
performance, which involves how easy the merchandise is to use, if it’s to be utilized in the
important world. “Usability” refers to the convenience of access and/or use of a product or
website. It’s a sub-discipline of user experience design. Although user experience design (UX
Design) and usefulness were once used interchangeably, we must now understand that usability
provides a crucial contribution to UX; however, it’s not the whole of the experience. We can
accurately measure usability.
A design is not usable or unusable per se; its features, together with the user, what the user wants
to do with it, and the user’s environment in performing tasks, determine its level of usability.
Solution how it can be solved: -
A usable interface has three main outcomes:
1. It should be easy for the user to become conversant in and competent in using the
interface on the primary contact with the web site. If we take a travel agent’s website that
a designer has made well, the user should be ready to move through the sequence of
actions to book a ticket quickly.
2. It should be easy for users to realize their objective through using the web site. If a user
has the goal of booking a flight, an honest design will guide him/her through the simplest
process to get that ticket.
3. It should be easy to recall the interface and the way to use it on subsequent visits. So, an
honest design on the travel agent’s site means the user should learn from the primary time
and book a second ticket even as easily.
This isn’t the sole set of requirements for usability. For example, a usable interface is going to be
relatively error-free when used. We can measure usability throughout the development process,
from wireframes to prototypes to the final deliverable. Testing is often through with paper and
pencil but also remotely once we have higher-fidelity prototypes. We have to think about the
user in the least points when determining usability. If our designs are to be “usable”, they need to
pass the test with a minimum number of criteria. If our product were a mouse and not an internet
site, we’d need to make sure that it conformed to standards (to receive that all-important “CE”
imprint). For a website, it might be easier to explore how our design ranks alongside a
competitor’s. Let’s go back to the travel agent’s and see where we might improve our design.

Our design
 Users can navigate to “buy” button in 294 seconds, on the average.
 Returning users navigate to “buy” button in 209 seconds, on the average.
 18% of users bought a ticket on finding landing page.
 42% of users went no further than the landing page.
Happy Huzzah’s Getcha There, Inc.
 Users can navigate to “buy” button in 198 seconds, on average.
 Returning users navigate to “buy” button in 135 seconds, on average.
 32% of users bought a ticket on finding landing page.
 12% of users went no further than the landing page.
 Glancing at these metrics tells us something. We need to check out what “Happy
Huzzah’s Getcha There, Inc.” is doing, because something’s certainly working there!
Q2 Find another product of everyday use. discuss it can be considered as a good conceptual
model or not? Explain in what terms it can be considered as a good conceptual model. Also
define and discuss the properties of a conceptual model.
Conceptual model:
• A conceptual model is “a high-level description of how a system is organized and operates”
(Johnson and Henderson, 2002).
• Enables “designers to straighten out their thinking before they start laying out their widgets”.
Components:
• Metaphors and analogies
Understand what a product is for and how to use it for an activity.
• Concepts that people are exposed:
To through the product task–domain objects, their attributes, and operations (e.g., saving,
revisiting,
organizing).
• Relationship and mappings:
Between these concepts.
Conceptual models:
• Many kinds and ways of classifying them.
• We describe them in terms of core activities and objects.
• Also, in terms of interface metaphors.

Basic Daily life Example of Conceptual Models

An example of a conceptual model could be the idea that using a scientific calculator is difficult.
A person could have this preconceived idea, which changes once the person begins to use the
product. With a positive interaction experience, the user will then have an improved conceptual
model of the product. This will then increase the chance of the user purchasing the product or
giving a positive review about the product to a friend. The stronger the conceptual model, the
more difficult it is to change.
Discuss it can be considered as a good conceptual model or not?
Conceptual models can be difficult to predict. Many companies decide to follow conventions to
ensure positive conceptual models. The user will already have a conceptual model based on
previous experiences with similar products. If a company can replicate positive experiences, the
conceptual model may be positively influenced for the product at hand. Conceptual models can
also be influenced by the usability and accessibility of an application. User testing can also be
used to highlight weaknesses in this area.
Problems with interface (Not good Conceptual Model)
• Break conventional and cultural rules e.g., recycle bin placed on desktop
• Can constrain designers in the way they conceptualize a problem space
• Conflict with design principles
• Forces users to only understand the system in terms of the metaphor
• Designers can inadvertently use bad existing designs and transfer the bad parts over
• Limits designers’ imagination in coming up with new conceptual models

Explain in what terms it can be considered as a good conceptual model?

Good Conceptual Model Implementation and Best Practices
Due to the broad spectrum of concepts and inherent abstractness that it can represent, conceptual
modeling is used in a wide range of projects, across dozens of fields. Within the realm of
software development, as we illustrated above, conceptual modeling is most commonly used as a
form of data modeling; representing abstract business entities and the relationships therein. The
rise of rapid application development represents another very common implementation of
conceptual modeling, which uses abstract models to represent development processes that are
rapidly changing and being iterated upon. Furthermore, within each phase of rapid application
development, conceptual models are typically used to communicate sub-concepts as well.
Even fundamental modeling practices are, by their very nature, forms of conceptual models. One
such example is the Unified Modeling Language, which was created in the mid-90s, and is a
general-purpose modeling language that attempts to provide a standard method to visualize
system design.
Throughout all the various implementations of conceptual models, a few best practices have
emerged. A conceptual model should:
 Be available to all team members, to facilitate collaboration and iteration.
 Be easily changeable, as a continuous reflection of up-to-date information.
 Contain both visual and written forms of diagramming, to better explain the abstract
concepts it may represent.
 Establish relevant terms and concepts that will be used throughout the project.
 Define said terms and concepts.
 Provide a basic structure for entities of the project.
In spite of the name, conceptual models are not merely conceptual, they are frequently put to use
in real-world scenarios. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) used conceptual
modeling to develop Emergency Response Management systems, as have other vital institutions
including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the National Institute of Standards and
Technology.
In what terms it can be considered as a good conceptual model?
Since conceptual models are merely representations of abstract concepts and their respective
relationships, the potential advantages of implementing a conceptual model are many, but largely
depend on your own ability to devise a strong model in the first place. Generally speaking, the
primary advantages of a conceptual model include:
Establishes Entities: By establishing and defining all the various entities and concepts that are
likely to come up throughout the course of a software development life cycle, a conceptual
model can help ensure that there are fewer surprises down the road, where entities or
relationships might otherwise have been neglected or forgotten.
Defines Project Scope: A solid conceptual model can be used as a way to define project scope,
which assists with time management and scheduling.
Base Model for Other Models: For most projects, additional, less abstract models will need to
be generated beyond the rough concepts defined in the conceptual model. Conceptual models
serve as a great jumping-off point from which more concrete models can be created, such as
logical data models and the like.
High-Level Understanding: Conceptual models serve as a great tool by providing a high-level
understanding of a system throughout the software development life cycle. This can be
particularly beneficial for managers and executives, who may not be dealing directly with coding
or implementation, but require a solid understanding of the system and the relationships therein.
Discuss it can be considered as a good conceptual model or not (Not Good).
Since a conceptual model is so abstract, and thus, is only as useful as you make it, there can be a
few disadvantages or caveats to watch out for when implementing your own conceptual model:
Creation Requires Deep Understanding: While conceptual models can (and should) be
adaptive, proper creation and maintenance of a conceptual model requires a fundamental and
robust understanding of the project, along with all associated entities and relationships.
Potential Time Sink: Improper modeling of entities or relationships within a conceptual model
may lead to massive time waste and potential sunk costs, where development and planning have
largely gone astray of what was actually necessary in the first place.
Possible System Clashes: Since conceptual modeling is used to represent such abstract entities
and their relationships, it’s possible to create clashes between various components. In this case, a
clash simply indicates that one component may conflict with another component, somewhere
down the line. This may be seen when design or coding clash with deployment, as the initial
assumptions of scaling during design and coding were proven wrong when actual deployment
occurred.
Implementation Challenge Scales with Size: While conceptual models are not inherently ill-
suited for large applications, it can be challenging to develop and maintain a proper conceptual
model for particularly complex projects, as the number of potential issues, or clashes, will grow
exponentially as the system size increases.
Define and discuss the properties of a conceptual model.
 The Properties of the conceptual model include:
 An overall view of the structure of the data in a business context.
 Features that are independent of any database or physical storage structure.
 Objects that may not ever be implemented in physical databases. There are some
concepts and processes that will not find their way into models, but they are needed for
the business to understand and explain what is needed in the enterprise.
 Data needed to perform business processes or enterprise operations.
 The conceptual model is a tool for business and IT to define:
 Data requirements scope.
 Business terms and measures across different business units and those that are agreed
upon for enterprise-wide usage.
 Names, data types, and characteristics of entities and their attributes.