User interface design and human computer interaction Xiangming Mu

What included in interface design Design incorporates three phases: –Analysis Objective: Learn, understand, and analyze the problem domain and generate basic user and user interface requirements –Conceptual design Objective: Generate the conceptual model of the user interface –Detailed design Objective: Add all the details to the conceptual model

Design Life cycle

Design Process Analyze requirements and user needs –System model Designer’s mental model vs. user’s mental model –Who should be consulted? Users Stakeholders –What do you need to find out? Characteristics of the users Characteristics of the task

Design Process (cont’) Components of a conceptual model –Objects/parts Any object involved with the system Each object has certain attributes –Processes/actions Actions of the computer Actions of the user Each action has certain attributes –Relationships Between objects Between actions Between objects and actions

Prototype Design accomplished through prototyping –Instantiate the alternatives –Represents an initial design decision, and as additional cycles are completed, the design decisions become more fine-grained In early cycles, large-scale decisions –Overall architecture –Basic interaction style (which actions will be possible) –Appearance: Color scheme, etc. In later stage, more fine-grained decisions –Menu titles for specific actions –Appearance of buttons –Design decisions can be documented in many ways Maps, diagrams, or rationales

Evaluation Get user feedback on prototype Usability study –Conceptual design: overall framework for the design –Interaction design: a careful look at how the user will interact with the system within the conceptual design –Detailed design: the details of the appearance and the interactions