Design How do we come up with new (good) designs for interactive systems? Why is it so difficult?

What is design? achieving goals within constraints goals - purpose who is it for, why do they want it constraints materials, platforms trade-offs

Interactions and Interventions design interactions not just interfaces not just the immediate interaction e.g. stapler in office – technology changes interaction style designing interventions not just artefacts not just the system, but also … documentation, manuals, tutorials what we say and do as well as what we make

Why is HCI Design Difficult? Difficult to deeply analyze human behavior May be too close to the domain Cost/features may be considered over good human factors Creativity is challenging!

How to be creative? How do we create and develop new interface ideas and designs? Ideas come from Imagination Analogy Observation of current practice Observation of current systems Borrow from other fields Animation Theatre Information displays Architecture ..… metaphor

Challenge: design fixation Keep an open mind Don’t get wedded to an idea Don’t let design review become about whose idea wins

The process of design scenarios task analysis what is wanted guidelines principles analysis interviews ethnography what is there vs. what is wanted precise specification design dialogue notations implement and deploy evaluation heuristics prototype architectures documentation help

The Star Model Implementation task/functional analysis Requirements specification Prototyping Evaluation UCD is a very general philosphy that instantiates itself in the context of a design project. Within HCI there have been many attempts to come up with actual life cycles where users are central. Examples include Rubinstein and Hersch successive iteration of 5 stages, info collecion, design, implementation, evaluation and deploment. The one here is taken fromHartson and Hix model came about by analysing how design takes place in practice evaluation is central: results of each ativity are evaluated before going onto next one both bottom-up and top -down required in waves software designers are familiar with this in their work and call it ‘yo-yoing’ it is important to do both structure and detail at the same time in practice this is what is done - but the end result suggests otherwise corporate requirments dictate a top=down approach which is wha gets recorded ch 5 of Developing User Interfaces (An Overview of Systems Analysis and Design) p- nice step-by-step methodology for doing user-centred design Conceptual/ formal design The Star Model (Hartson and Hix, 1989)

The Tao of UCD DESIGN IMPLEMENT USE & EVALUATE

User-Centered Design Process 1. Understand constraints/context 2. User analysis 2. Task analysis 4. Function allocation 5. Define usability criteria All of the above included in requirements definition and task analysis.

User-Centered Design (cont’d) 6. Design UI - including help and documentation Consider alternatives! Apply formative evaluation techniques & iterate 7. Build & test prototypes Apply formative / summative evaluation techniques & iterate 8. Build & test the real application Apply summative evaluation techniques & iterate 9. Release, update and maintain

Other HCI design “methods” Usability engineering Focus on usability metrics and evaluation Iterative design Participatory design User as participant in the design process Contextual design Based around contextual inquiry, focusing on the customer

Discussion What do methods have in common? Where do they differ? How would you choose or adapt a method?

SE traditional ‘waterfall’ lifecycle Requirements analysis Design Code Test Maintenance

Spiral Lifecycle model From cctr.umkc.edu/~kennethjuwng/spiral.htm

Discussion How would you incorporate HCI design into larger SE design frameworks?

Design rationale Recall: design is achieving goals within constraints How do you document the Constraints? Alternatives? Decisions?

In class exercise – observe someone On your cell phone Look up most recently called and return call Add each other’s name to the phone book Swap phones Now look up your name and call yourself

What did we learn? What was surprising? What problems did you observe? How would this be different in real world? How did you feel about being observed?

Know Thy User You want to know Who your users are What they are doing When they are doing it Why they are doing it What tools they are using How they are using them

Know They User Physical attributes (age, gender, size, reach, visual angles, etc…) Physical work places (table height, sound levels, lighting, software version…) Perceptual abilities (hearing, vision, heat sensitivity…) Cognitive abilities (memory span, reading level, musical training, math…) Personality and social traits (likes, dislikes, preferences, patience…) Cultural and international diversity (languages, dialog box flow, symbols…) Special populations, (dis)abilities

Design implications Consider the implications: Fact Implications Users 16-80 yrs Range of text sizes Range of grip strength Some French speakers Multilingual interface Astronaut users Extensive training available Military context Aesthetics less of an issue Ruggedness is critical

What are the implications? Young, busy professionals. Product for use in their home/personal lives Busy professionals. Product for use in the office, discretionary use. Range of office workers. Product for us in the office, mandatory use.

Persona Description of user and what user wishes to do Be specific/detailed, even give names and picture Three personas for ATM usage follow Adapted from User Interface Design and Evaluation, The Open University Developed by Cooper (1999)

Felix (representing teenage ATM users) Felix is 13 and gets pocket money each week. He spends it with his friends, so doesn’t make regular deposits. He does receive gifts for his birthday, Christmas, etc. and saves that money for special purchases, such as a computer games console or trendy clothes. He has an ATM card allowing him to make withdrawals when needed for his purchases.

Sandra (representing young adults thru middle age) Sandra is 30, is married to Jason, has two children Todd(6) and Carly (18 months). They live in a subdivision that is about three miles from the town center, where the bank and stores are located. Jason uses the car for work, and works long hours, leaving at 6:45 am and returning at 8:00 pm. Sandra does not drive, so has to use public transportation. She tries to run errands and shop while Todd is in school, so she only has to take Carly to town with her. She typically needs to make two trips to town each week to get everything done. She uses a stroller with Carly, and the bank is one flight up via escalator, so she prefers to use the ATM outside the first floor, even though there is no canopy to protect customers from bad weather.

Grandpa Marvin (representing middle age to senior citizens) Marvin is 68 years old, and his social security is deposited into his bank account at the start of each month. He goes to the bank every week, withdrawing enough cash for the week - for miscellaneous expenditures. Regular bills are paid by check. He stands in line for a live teller, as he prefers the social interaction to using an ATM, even though his new artificial hip makes standing in line uncomfortable. He does not have an ATM card.

Example: bus stop kiosk Make a persona

Interacting with Users Observation Think Out Loud Cooperative Evaluation Questionnaires Interviews Focus groups Ethnography - learn by immersion/doing Ethnography is emphasis here. Jeff - please say somemore about 2 and 3 and more about diff with 1

Observation & Thinking Out Loud Watch user(s) doing activity of interest to you Video or audio record (with permission) Think out loud - encourage user to verbalize what they are thinking Not everyone is good at this Hard to keep it up for long time while also doing something; need breaks

Observing Tips Carefully observe everything about users and their environment Think of describing it to someone who has never seen this activity before What users say is important, so are non-verbal details

Cooperative (Participative) Evaluation Sit with user doing activity of interest to you Talk with user as the do their activity Ask questions Why are you doing that? How did you know the result was what you wanted? Are there other ways to achieve the same goal? How did you decide to do things this way? Relaxed version of thinking out loud Observer and participant can ask each other questions

Example: bus stop kiosk What things could you observe? How could you use think aloud or coop eval? What kinds of information would you be looking for?

Interviews Structured Unstructured Semi-structured Efficient Require training Unstructured Inefficient No training Semi-structured Good balance Often appropriate

Semi-Structured Interviews Predetermine data of interest - know why you are asking questions - don’t waste time Plan for effective question types How do you perform task x? Why do you perform task x? Under what conditions do you perform task x? What do you do before you perform…? What information do you need to…? Whom do you need to communicate with to …? What do you use to…? What happens after you…? What is the result or consequence of…? What is the result or consequence of NOT…?

Example: bus kiosk Who could you interview? What information would you be looking for? What would you ask them?

Focus Groups Get at people’s desires, motivations, values and experiences Group of individuals - 3 to 10 Use several different groups with different roles or perspectives And to separate the powerful from those who are not Careful about few people dominating discussion Use structured set of questions More specific at beginning, more open as progresses Allow digressions before coming back on track Relatively low cost, quick way to learn a lot Audio or video record, with permission

More practice Pair up with someone from your group Create a small set of interview questions to gather information about user(s) of your project Interview a pair from another group Group, or one at a time, your choice Impressions? What did you learn?

Questionnaires General criteria Make questions clear and specific Ask some closed questions with range of answers Sometimes also have a no opinion option, or other answer option Do test run with one or two people

Questionnaires - Example Seven-point Likert Scale (use odd #) Could also use just words Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree

Typical Open-Ended Questions Why do you do this (whatever the task is you are studying) How do you do this? Gets at task-subtask structure Then ask about each subtask Why do it this way rather than some other way? Attempts to get user to explain method so you can assess importance of the particular way of doing task What has to be done before you can do this? To understand sequencing requirements

Other Typical Questions Rank the importance of each of these tasks (give a list of tasks) List the four most important tasks that you perform (this is an open question) List the pieces of information you need to have before making a decision about X, in order of importance Are there any other points you would like to make? (open-ended opinion question; good way to end)

Typical Open-Ended (cont’d) Please show me the results of doing this Do errors ever occur when doing this? If answer is ‘yes,’ then learn why occur How do you discover the errors, and how do you correct them? (Adapted from Nielsen et al, CHI ‘86)

Example: bus stop kiosk Questionnaire: what could you do with this? Tradeoffs of interview, focus group, questionnaire

Ethnography Deeply contextual study Immerse oneself in situation you want to learn about (has anthropological and sociological roots) Observing people in their cultural context Behavior is meaningful only in context For UI designers: improve system by finding problems in way it is currently being used

Field Tools and Techniques In person observation Audio/video recording Interviews “Wallow in the data”

Observations Things of interest to evaluator Structure and language used in work Individual and group actions Culture affecting work Explicit and implicit aspects of work Example: Office work environment Business practices, rooms, artifacts, work standards, relationships between workers, managers, …

Why is Ethnography Useful? Can help designer gain a rich and true assessment of user needs Help to define requirements Uncovers true nature of user’s job Discovers things that are outside of job description or documentation Allows you to play role of end-user better Can sit in when real users not available Open-ended and unbiased nature promotes discovery may yield more unexpected revelations

Drawbacks of Ethnographic Methods Time required Can take weeks or months for large systems Scale Most use small numbers of participants just to keep somewhat manageable Type of results Highly qualitative, may be difficult to present/use Acquired skill – “learn by doing” Identifying and extracting “interesting” things is challenging