Chapter 5a:

Mobile
Application
Development
SSK4307
Semester I 2022/2023
1. User • AKA human-centered design (HCD) process.
Centered • Approach to interactive system development
Design • Focuses specifically on making systems usable.

(UCD) • Involve a multi-disciplinary activity.

… cont.

• GOAL – to make products/applications which have very high

usability.
• General phases of UCD process:
 Specify context of use:  the users
 Specify requirements:  granular requirement
 Create design solutions and development:  iterative (supporting tools)
 Evaluate product:  various testing approaches
• For details:
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/user-centered-des
ign
1.1 App Development … more than coding
2. Design Inspiration
• Learning from “people”.
 Manager
 ID – Instructional Designer
• In-situ observations of related
practices.
 Real conditions, situation,
environment
• Grounding new designs in real-
world behavior.
 E.g., My Sejahtera
 Super Apps
• … etc.
2.1 Coherent Design

• Design – a process from the

beginning.
 Ensure interaction flows for a
user.
 Especially important on a
small-screen mobile device!.
2.2 Conceptual Design, Prototypes, and
Evaluation
• Sketch out a high-level product design.
• Rapidly create visual representations (mockups) or interactive
representations (prototypes) of the product.
 Will explain/discuss in Chapter 4)
• Evaluate the usability through:
 Heuristic evaluation
 Focus groups
 Usability testing
• Iterate design with evaluation results.
2.3 The Usability Metrics

• Either Objective or Subjective

 Task Completion  Overall
satisfaction
 Task Time  Number of Clicks
 Task Satisfaction  Conversion rate
errors
 Perceived Difficulty  UI problems
(severity, frequency)
 Expected Difficulty  Errors
2.4 Build and Testing – Iterative

• Increasing fidelity with quick test

along the way.
• From paper to working in the world.
• Catch mistakes early when its easy to
change.
 • Document everything.
3. Launch • Continue to collect feedback from
and users/customers to improve the product in future
Maintenan releases.
 Surveys
ce  Focus Groups
4. Interaction Design
Principles
 Learnability
 Efficiency
 Memorability
 Error Recovery
 Simplicity
 Mapping
 Visibility
 Feedback
 Consistency
 Satisfaction
4.1 Learnability
• An interface should be easy to use from
the first time the user interacts with it.
 Size, UI components
• Amount of functionality presented to
the user should be limited to exactly
what the user requires to get to their
goal.
4.2 Efficiency

• Number of steps it takes for a user to

complete a task.
• Key tasks should be made as
efficient as possible.
4.3 Memorability – Micro
interactions

• Interface should be easier to use each

time the user interacts with it.
• Frequency of use is the key factor in
memorability.
4.4 Error Recovery

• In a perfect user interface,

users should never be allowed
to make a mistake.
4.5 Simplicity

• Usual tasks should be easy and

less common tasks should be
possible.
• Avoid unnecessary functionality
and keep the visual design and
layout uncluttered.
4.6 others …

• Mapping
 What the user expects to happen when they interact with the interface is
exactly what should happen.
• Visibility
 Important information should be the most visible and less important
information should be less visible.
 Understanding the user's goals is critical.
• Feedback
 User should always be in control of the interface and not the other way
around.
 • Consistency
 Like-items should always be displayed and act the same way
… cont. across the entire application (and even between applications).
 UI standards.
• Satisfaction
 How much the user enjoys or dislikes using the software
5. Usability Evaluation
• Conduct usability evaluation on the
final design.
• Work with the design and development
team to improve the product based on
evaluation results.
• Repeat this process (production
iteration) until the
organizational/business goals are met.
• Methods:
 Heuristics evaluation
 Cognitive walkthrough
 Pluralistic Walkthrough / Design review
5.1 Heuristic Evaluation

• Usability inspection technique.

• First developed by Jakob Nielsen and colleagues.
• Experts are guided by a set of usability principles known as heuristics.
• Experts evaluate whether user-interface elements (dialog boxes,
menus, etc.) conform to the principles.
5.2 Cognitive Walkthrough
CW – Example
• Step1: Identify task
• Step 2: Identify action sequence for task
 User action: Press the ‘timed record’ button
 System display: Display moves to timer mode. Flashing cursor appears after
‘start’.
• Step 3: Perform walkthrough
 For each action – answer the following questions
i. Is the effect of the action the same as the user’s goal at that point?
ii. Will users see that the action is available?
iii. Once users have found the correct action, will they know it is the one they need?
iv. After the action is taken, will users understand the feedback they get?
 Might find a potential usability problem relating to icon on ‘timed record’
button.
 5.3 Pluralistic
Walkthrough
Variation on the cognitive
walkthrough theme.
Performed by a carefully managed
team.
The panel of experts begins by
working separately.
Then there is managed discussion
that leads to agreed decisions.
The approach lends itself well to
participatory design.
• https://www.quiddity.ph/services/usability-inspection-6/
5.4 Formative & Summative – the evaluation

• Formative
 Problem-finding during development.
• Summative
 Measure against specific goals when development is complete.
• In practice there isn’t always a clear distinction, and you should use
quantitative metrics in both types.