Designing for User Experience

2020/2021

Учебный год

ENG

Обучение ведется на английском языке

5

Кредиты

Кто читает:

Департамент программной инженерии

Статус:

Курс по выбору

Когда читается:

3-й курс, 3, 4 модуль

Преподаватель

Манахов Павел Алексеевич

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Central to this course is the answer to the question: Can we design user interfaces of digital products so that they support particular experiences? For this purpose, after learning the foundations of interaction design students will be introduced to the following topics: • Computational Design in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) • Traditional user interfaces • Tangible user interfaces • Speech & conversational user interfaces • Measuring User experience • Gamification at work • Accessibility The practical part of the course includes individual assignments as well as assignments designed for teams. The assignments are concerned with designing and prototyping various user interfaces such as text entry methods, chatbots, etc.

Learning Objectives

• Acquire an initial understanding of the scope of HCI
• Acquire practical skills in designing and evaluating different types of user interfaces
• Appreciate the role of UX Design activities within the whole product development lifecycle

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Know the history of Human-Computer Interaction
• Know current research areas within Human-Computer Interaction
• Understand the concept of the user interface
• Understand the context of use concept
• Understand the concept of usability
• Acquire an initial understanding of the concept of user experience
• Acquire an initial understanding of Human-Centered Design (HCD) process
• Understand the principles of HCD
• Understand the concept of usability problems
• Know different types of interaction problems
• Appreciate the difference between qualitative and quantitative usability data
• Understand the concept of usability goals
• Be prepared to derive usability goals
• Understand the scope of creative approach to UX design
• Understand the concept of the design space
• Appreciate the need of exploring a number of design alternatives
• Know how to apply different creativity tools
• Be prepared to conduct a brainstorming session
• Acquire practical skills in designing a text entry technique
• Know different forms of design representation
• Understand the classification of design tools
• Acquire practical skills in prototyping a text entry technique
• Understand the classification of usability evaluation methods
• Know different empirical and analytical usability evaluation methods
• Be prepared to create personas
• Be prepared to write usage scenarios
• Be prepared to conduct scenario-based walkthrough
• Acquire practical skills in conducting scenario-based walkthrough
• Acquire practical skills in reporting results of usability evaluation
• Know the peculiarities of conversational UI design process
• Appreciate the need of building the discourse model
• Understand Grice's maxims
• Acquire practical skills in designing conversational user interfaces (CUI)
• Understand the classification of CUI prototyping tools & techniques
• Be prepared to create prototypes of CUI
• Acquire practical skills in prototyping CUIs
• Know the peculiarities of CUI evaluation
• Be prepared to conduct a Wizard of Oz testing
• Know the origins of tangible user interfaces (TUI)
• Understand the scope of TUIs
• Understand the concept of accessibility
• Know different assistive technologies
• Be prepared to evaluate accessibility
• Acquire practical skills in conducting an accessibility evaluation
• Acquire practical skills in writing accessibility evaluation report
• Understand different perspectives on user experience
• Know different time spans of experience such as anticipated, momentary, episodic, and cumulative
• Understand the scope of gamification
• Acquire an initial understanding of player-centered design
• Know different game mechanics

Course Contents

• Human-Computer Interaction: An Introduction
  Definitions of HCI. Differences with related fields. Where HCI came from. An overview of HCI research areas. The structure of the course.
• The Essentials of UX Design
  The concept of the user interface. The concept of the interaction. The context of use concept. The concept of user experience. The concept of usability. Human-centered design process. The place of UX design activities in the whole product development process.
• Usability Problems and Metrics
  The concept of usability problems. Interaction problems of other kinds. Usability metrics and how to derive them.
• Creative Approach to Design
  The concept of the design space. Why an exploration of design alternatives is necessary. An overview of some creativity tools. Selecting design alternatives.
• Computational Approach to Design
  A brief history and the current state of computational design. Defining design problems as combinatorial optimization problems. Objective functions and optimization methods relevant to HCI design problems. Interactive optimization.
• Prototyping Screen Interfaces
  An overview of various forms of design representations. Functions of representations. An over-view of modern 2D prototyping tools.
• Overview of Usability Evaluation Methods
  What is the evaluation all about? A classification of usability evaluation methods. An overview of the methods.
• Experimental Research in HCI
  Basics of experimental research. Research hypotheses. Experimental design. Statistical analysis and significance tests.
• Usability Inspection
  Usability inspections methods. Personas and scenarios. Scenario-based walkthrough. Analyzing usability data.
• Designing Conversational User Interfaces
  Is conversation the right fit? Peculiarities of conversation design process. Building the discourse model. Designing the flow & crafting the dialog. Grice's maxims. Selected design patterns and guidelines. The question of style.
• Prototyping Conversational Interfaces
  A classification of prototyping tools & techniques. An overview of digital prototyping tools for CUIs.
• Evaluating Conversational Interfaces
  Usability evaluation methods. Wizard of Oz testing. Peculiarities of CUI evaluation.
• Tangible User Interfaces
  Origins of TUIs. Overview of systems with a tangible UI. Pros and cons of TUIs. Selected de-sign patterns.
• Accessibility
  The concept of accessibility. Dimensions of diversity. An overview of assistive technologies. Evaluation of accessibility. Overview of tools and techniques to ensure accessibility of a digital prod-uct.
• User Experience & Experience Design
  Overview of modern theories about experience. Properties of experience. Qualities of experi-ence. Evaluating user experience.
• Gamification at Work
  When to use gamification. Examples of app gamification. Player-centered design. An overview of game mechanics.
• Usability Inspection (4 модуль)
  Usability inspections methods. Personas and scenarios. Scenario-based walkthrough. Analyzing usability data.

Assessment Elements

• Quiz 1 (Q1)
  This is an individual assignment which implies taking the "Interaction Design: An Introduction" quiz online.
• Team project 1 (TP1)
  To complete this assignment a student has to team up with four other students. The project implies designing a text entry method for a given context of use. Upon the completion of this assignment each team has to submit several alternative designs of the entry method and a justification for the de-sign the team considers the most promising, as well as make a presentation which, alongside with the designs, sheds lights on the process the team has employed to come up with the solutions. Teams should bear in mind that the solutions they propose are benchmarked against a baseline solution given by the professor in the next assignment. Results of the benchmark influence a grade of the next assignment, hence, it is of great importance to design a text entry method with particular usability goals in mind. Design concepts are prepared by every team and presented on the 2nd seminar, otherwise the grade for practice activities is reduced.
• Team project 2 (TP2)
  This team project is a continuation of the previous one. It implies preparing an interactive prototype of a proposed entry method and conducting an experiment which designed to benchmark the proposed and baseline designs against each other. It is allowed to test several designs proposed by a team. To complete the assignment each team has to find participants, conduct an experiment, and analyze gathered data. The experimental plan is provided by the professor.
• Quiz 2 (Q2)
  This is an individual assignment which implies taking the "Usability Inspection Methods & Intro to Usability Evaluation" quiz online.
• Homework 1 (HW1)
  This individual assignment implies conducting scenario-based walkthrough and writing a report which contains all discovered usability problems. A user interface and personas are given as a part of the assignment. A draft of the report is prepared by a student and presented on the 7th or 8th seminars, otherwise the grade for practice activities is reduced (PA). During the seminars the professor discusses the draft with a student and gives tips on how to improve it which is quite important because results of this assignment cannot be resubmitted.
• Team project 3 (TP3)
  To complete this assignment a student has to team up with four other students. The project implies designing a chatbot and implementing it in the form of an interactive prototype on the platform of the team's choice. Recommendations regarding the platform are given by the professor. Also each team has to present its design during a presentation on the 10th seminar. Design concepts are prepared by every team and presented on the 9th seminar, otherwise the grade for practice activities is reduced (PA).
• Homework 2 (HW2)
  This individual assignment implies conducting an accessibility evaluation and writing a report which contains all findings. A user interface (mobile or web) and a sequence of user's actions (evaluation scenario) are given as a part of this assignment. A draft of the report is prepared by a student and presented on the 11th or 12th seminars, otherwise the grade for practice activities is reduced (PA). During the seminars the professor discusses the draft with a student and gives tips on how to improve it.
• Final exam (FE)
  Oral examination, 2 questions. Экзамен проводится в устной форме (2 теоретических вопроса) с помощью Microsoft Teams (https://tinyurl.com/rn2d8g5). Номера билетов распределяются случайно и будут сообщены преподавателем в момент начала экзамена. При подготовке ответов на вопрос студенты могут пользоваться любыми источниками, при ответе — ничем. На подготовку первому человеку дается 20 минут, далее студенты отвечают по очереди (о последовательности выступлений будет сообщено отдельно). Если студент не подключается через 1 минуту после ответа предыдущего, он отправляется в конец списка. Если студент не подключается через 5 минут после ответа последнего студента, это считается неявкой. Компьютер студента должен удовлетворять требованиям: наличие рабочей камеры и микрофона, поддержка MS Teams. Для участия в экзамене студент обязан: явиться на экзамен согласно расписанию и следить, когда подойдет его очередь отвечать; при ответе включить камеру и микрофон (не касается тех студентов, с которыми отсутствие такой возможности было обговорено заранее). Кратковременным нарушением связи во время экзамена считается нарушение связи менее 5 минут. Долговременным нарушением связи во время экзамена считается нарушение 5 минут и более. При долговременном нарушении связи студент не может продолжить участие в экзамене.
• Practice Activities (PA)

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (4 module)
  0.3 * Final exam (FE) + 0.12 * Homework 1 (HW1) + 0.12 * Homework 2 (HW2) + 0.1 * Practice Activities (PA) + 0.03 * Quiz 1 (Q1) + 0.03 * Quiz 2 (Q2) + 0.1 * Team project 1 (TP1) + 0.1 * Team project 2 (TP2) + 0.1 * Team project 3 (TP3)

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Hartson, R., & Pyla, P. S. The UX Book: Process and guidelines for ensuring a quality user experience, Elsevier, 2012

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Cooper, A., Reimann, R., Cronin, D., & Noessel, C. (2014). About Face : The Essentials of Interaction Design (Vol. Fourth edition Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin, Christopher Noessel). Hoboken: Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=827342
• Harris, R. A. (2005). Voice Interaction Design : Crafting the New Conversational Speech Systems. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=189655
• MacKenzie, I. S., & Tanaka-Ishii, K. Text entry systems: Mobility, accessibility, universality, Elsevier, 2010
• Norman, D. A. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things : Revised and Expanded Edition (Vol. Revised and expanded edition). New York: Basic Books. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=658202
• Wilson, C. (2014). User Interface Inspection Methods : A User-Centered Design Method. Waltham, MA: Morgan Kaufmann. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=516198