Administrivia  Feedback from the mid-term evaluation  Insights from project proposal

Administrivia  Insights from project proposals –Executive Summary –User-centric rationale  Rationale –Support the problem –Support the solution (design)  Why?  Because…

Design Rationale  We observed a problem with people clicking the Add to Rater List button before clicking the Search button because the Search button is not in the natural path that people in our culture process information (left-to-right and top-down). We propose a solution of adding a Search button to the right side to group associated items in the interface together, and to bring the Search button into the natural information processing path. Since people overlooked the Search button, we also recommend making it more prominent by increasing the size and contrast.  We observed people having trouble attaching documents, so we will provide a wizard to help them so that it will be easier for them to attach documents.

Administrivia  Business document –Also for demonstrating learning  Setup Software story (Elisabeth)

Project Sharing  Team discussions –Share results of design work –Discuss your choice of methods and results  Class-level discussion –Each spokesperson share  One challenge  One surprise  One lesson learned

Discussion of Readings  Insights from supplemental readings.  Facilitate class discussion of topics / ideas / themes garnered from the online discussion, related to assigned readings. –Discussion Leaders 1. Geoff Harrison 2. Alan Rosenthal 3. Darren Ellis

Topic G: User-centered evaluations: Heuristic evaluations and inspection methods Driving Questions:  What methods can a UCD designer draw on in order to evaluate their solutions? What in entailed in using these methods and presenting the results? Who are the consumers of the evaluation results?  Why is empirical evaluation of design such a critical aspect of user-centered design?  How can UCD designers ensure that evaluation activities are incorporated early into the design process?

Heuristics  Basis  Evaluators –Qualifications –Training  Preparation –Scenario  Results –List of problems –Severity –Group synthesis

A Wealth of Heuristics –Nielsen, 1994 – general HCI –Williams – Display Design –Spyradakis – Understandable Content –Farkas – Navigation Design –Mullet – Visual Design –Simpson, 1985 – general HCI –Schneiderman, 1992 – general HCI –Dumas, general HCI –Redish, 1988 – document design –Horton, 1990 – online documentation –Xerox Heuristic Evaluation Checklist

Heuristics 1. Visibility of system status 2. Match between system and real world (speak users’ language) 3. User control and freedom (emergency exit) 4. Consistency and standards 5. Error prevention 6. Recognition rather than recall (make objects visible) 7. Flexibility and efficiency of use (accelerators for experts) 8. Aesthetic and minimalist design (avoid irrelevant information) 9. Help users recognize, diagnose and recover from errors (error messages) 10. Help and documentation (information focused on tasks, concrete steps)  Nielsen’s List

Cognitive Walkthrough –Focus on Learnability –Define Inputs  Users  Sample tasks and action sequences for completing tasks –Walk through with questions in mind  Will user try to achieve the right effect?  Will user notice that the correct action is available?  Will user associate correct action with effect she is trying to achieve?  Will user see that progress is being made toward solution of the task?

Activity – Heuristic Evaluation  Cell Phone –Groups work on step 1 (heuristics, evaluators, tasks) –Groups work on step 2 (Individual evaluation) –Groups work on step 3 (Group synthesis) –Share results and discuss

Activity – Heuristic Evaluation Discussion Topics  What are important decisions?  What types of variations could you imagine?  What are the complexities– what makes it hard?  What factors are important for achieving success with this method?

Project Exercise Heuristic Evaluation  Design and execute a heuristic evaluation of your prototype.  Prepare a one page description summarizing –Heuristic evaluation approach –Results of your evaluation –Potential implications for redesign  Bring copies of the exercise to class (one copy for each member of the team, one copy for the instructor) and also post it to your design portfolio.  Due next Thursday

Looking back / Looking ahead Where we’ve been  Topics – Readings and discussion –What is UCD? –Collecting and summarizing info about users, tasks and context –Problem definition –Design  Project –Insights about users, tasks, and contextual issues –Actual data from observing real users –Problem definition –Proposal –Design Where we’re going  Redesign: –Represent design –Support and justify  Readings: –On evaluation and guidelines  Upcoming Exercises: –Usability Study –Final Design Solution  Issue Statement: A reminder 1. Danny Kelly 2. Anastasia Paushkina