WHAT IS DESIGN?

A simple definition is:

• achieving goals within constraints

What materials must we use?

What is the purpose of the design
we are intending to produce?
Who is it for?
Why do they want it?
What standards must we
adopt?
How much can it cost?
How much time do we have to
develop it?
THE PROCESS OF DESIGN
• Requirements – what is wanted The first
stage is establishing what exactly is
needed. For example, how do people
currently watch movies? What sort of
personal appliances do they currently use?

• Analysis -The results of observation and

interview need to be ordered in some way
to bring out key issues and communicate
with later stages of design.
 • Design- Well, this is all about design, but
there is a central stage when you move from
what you want, to how to do it.

• Iteration and prototyping -Humans are

complex and we cannot expect to get designs
right first time. We therefore need to evaluate a
design to see how well it is working and where
there can be improvements.
• Implementation and deployment -
Finally, when we are happy with our
design, we need to create it and deploy it.
This will involve writing code, perhaps
making hardware, writing documentation
and manuals – everything that goes into a
real system that can be given to others
• The start of any interaction design exercise
must be the intended user or users.

Know The User

• how do you get to know your users?

• Who are they?

• Probably not like you!
• Talk to them.
• Watch them.
• Use your imagination.
 What is User-Centered Design?
• Is an approach to interactive system development that
focuses specifically on making products/web interfaces
usable.

• The quality of interaction between the person who uses

the product to achieve actual work and the product itself
is the primary goal of user-centered design.

• User-centered systems empower users and motivate them

to learn and explore new system solutions
What is User-Centered Design (UCD)?
• The user is put in the center of the design
 Why UCD?
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Increased user productivity/efficiency/accuracy
• Increased service/site usage and adoption
• Decreased support and training costs
• Reduced development time and costs
– Create only the features users need
• Reduced maintenance costs
– Do it right the first time
 User Centered System Design
• Design is based upon a user’s
– abilities and real needs
– context
– work
– tasks
– need for usable and useful product

Golden rule of interface design: Know The User

 User-Centered System Design
Requirements analysis Standards, principles, guidelines
Design experience
Task analysis Design tools

Design

Formal models Implementation

Evaluation*
*(incl. usability testing)
 1. User Needs Assessment
• Surveys
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Advanced observation techniques
– Field studies
– Contextual inquiries
– Ethnography
 2. Competitive/Comparative Analysis
• Try using similar services or products in order
to find out:
– Current trends in the marketplace
– What expectations your users will have
– What to do, what not to do
– Interface conventions
– “Must have” standard features
 3. Heuristic Evaluation
• Evaluate an existing interface (or new
interface concept) based on set of usability
criteria
• Mostly used to highlight usability problems
and deficiencies
• May or may not propose usability solutions
• Identified problem areas are addressed by
subsequent design work
• Normally done with expert evaluators, but it
can be a valuable tool for anyone
 3. Heuristic Evaluation
• Visibility of system status
• Match between the system and the real world
• User control and freedom
• Consistency and standards
• Error prevention
• Recognition rather than recall
• Flexibility and efficiency of use
• Aesthetic and minimalist design
• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover
from errors
• Help and documentation
From Jakob Nielsen, “Ten Usability Heuristics,” http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html
 4. Goals, Tasks & Scenarios
• Goals:
– Are what the user wants to do, but not how the user achieves them
• Tasks:
– Describe the steps necessary to achieve the goals
– Can vary with the available technology
– Are broken down into steps for task analysis, and are recombined
into sequence of steps for scenario development
– Designers can reorganize, combine, or remove tasks currently
performed to help users achieve their goals more efficiently
• Scenarios:
– Written description of a persona achieving a goal through a set of
tasks in a specific context
– Should start technology-neutral and become more specific as the
design progresses
 5. Design Concepts
• Start rough
• Explore!
• Use personas to keep the
users in view Design
• Use scenarios to inform Prototype
the design
• Get frequent feedback
• Note user conventions
• Make design artifacts
public
• May be expressed in a Evaluate
prototype for usability
testing

Image courtesy of James Landay

 5. User Testing
• Let users validate or invalidate the design
• Ask the user to complete selected typical tasks (from scenarios)
and think aloud while they do it
• Test early in the process
• Can test with 3-5 users (or less!)
• “Formal” testing
• Measures “success”
– Set success criteria prior to testing (best done at the project outset)
– Compare to baseline if you have one
– Have usability problems revealed in the heuristic evaluation been
addressed?
 5. User Testing
• Define what is to be tested
• Select users based on personas
• Administer the tests
• Analyze the data
• Document the findings in a brief
• Share the findings with the development team
• Determine what design changes will be made
based on test results
 User-Centered Design I
• Traditional
Tech-driven
Component-focused
Limited interdisc. coop
Focus on internal arch
No speclzn in user experience
Some competitive focus
Develpmt prior to user validation
Product defect view of quality
Limited focus on user measurement
Focus on current customers
• UCD
User driven
Solutions focused
Multidisc teamwork
Focus on externals design
Focus on competition
Develop user validated designs
User view of quality
Prime focus on user measurement
Focus on current and future
customers
--Vredenberg p. 2
 User-Centered System Design

• Task analysis tells us how people currently

accomplish a task.
• Requirements analysis tells us what a system
should do.
• Usability testing tells us whether a system
performs acceptably when a user tries to carry
out certain tasks.
User-Centered System Design brings these things
together.
 Types of User Models
• Behavioral Model
• Analytical Model
• Predictive Model
• Prescriptive Model
• Adaptive Model
• User Prototypes

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 Behavioral Model
• based on user observation
• captures only observable activities and
properties
– some aspects may only be observable indirectly
• e.g. Internet-based transactions
• does not capture aspects internal to the user
– intention, motivation, emotional status
• often created through user profiling

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 Analytical Model
• combines multiple sources of information
about users
– observation
– verbalization by users
– conversation
– questionnaires
– knowledge of experts or experienced users

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 Predictive Model
• created with the intention of predicting
actions of users in specific situations
• may be based on or utilize other types of
models
– behavioral
– analytical

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 Prescriptive Model
• describes permissible actions by the user in a
given context
– used in domains where deviations from prescribed
actions cause serious consequences
• safety, security
• legal issues
• company policies

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 Adaptive Model
• model is continuously updated to reflect
changes in the user
– task, context
– role
– behavior
– knowledge
– emotional state

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