Project Assignment (3000 words)

This assignment covers the material in Chapter 5 of part 2, and the whole of part 3. It is worth 30% of the project for the course and should take about 10 hours to complete. The total word count should be about 3500 words or less.

*NOTE FROM COURSE STAFF: As we are finishing grading project one, we ask that in future project submission you break up each question by including the question in your report. This allows for grading to go quicker and ensure that you answer each part of the question"

In this assignment, you redesign the user interface of your system in order to improve the problematic task you identified in Assignment 01.

This redesign is intended to be a reflective exercise based upon the theory, principles, and guidelines presented in Chapter 5 of part 2, and part 3. We are as interested in the process of design as in the design decisions that you make, so you must justify your approach throughout. We suggest that you read the whole assignment before starting the redesign.

Question 1: Introduction - [about 200 words, 3

points]

Write a brief introduction, that:

(i) places the report in context as the second assignment for this course, with respect to Assignment 01 and the course as a whole.

(ii) summarizes the purpose and content of the report.

Question 2: Work re-engineering - [about 600

words, 12 points]

Work re-engineering is explained in Chapter 8.

2.1 (4 pts) Create a use scenario that describes how the redesigned user interface will support your selected task. Be sure to thoroughly explain how the new design will be an improvement upon the original/ current design of the system.

2.2 (8 pts) Create an essential use case for the use scenario. Justify how the different tasks have been allocated between the user and the system.

Question 3: Conceptual design - [about 900 words,

18 points]

Conceptual design is explained in Chapter 8.

There are examples to the below 3 questions in the textbook and/or the slides.

3.1 (4 pts) Create a concrete use case corresponding to the essential use case. Mark up the concrete use case, indicating the task objects and attributes.

3.2 (6 pts) Based on the concrete use case and the work you carried out for Assignment 01, create an object–attribute–action table for the primary task objects.

3.3 (8 pts) Create a detailed content diagram for the part of the system you described in your essential use case. Explain the content diagram in relation to your system.

Question 4: Prototype of the re-designed interface -

[about 400 words, 20 points]

Prototyping is explained in Chapter 6 and in various places in part 3.

Create a prototype of a re-designed interface for the system you are studying. You can choose to create:

• a low-fidelity prototype, either using paper, screen dumps, or drawings using software tools of your choice.

• a high-fidelity prototype using the prototyping tool included with the course, or another tool of your choice.

Describe the new interface in your assignment. Provide sketches or screen dumps to illustrate how the users interact with the interface, and how it deals with the previously problematic task you identified in Assignment 01. This description should match the use scenario in Question 2.1 above. If it does not, explain why the two are different. You do not need to be concerned about producing a 'perfect' design at this point, as you will be undertaking a practical evaluation of the usability of your re-design, with users, for Assignment 03. Our suggestion is to use Invision, https://www.invisionapp.com/ because it will be very useful for your evaluations later in Assignment 3.

In your prototype, you can include images and other software components from sources such as the web, CD-ROMs, and others, but you must reference these in your assignment. Do not submit any software with your assignment. Even if you decide to create a high-fidelity prototype, you must find a way to create a self-contained report. Typically, this will involve taking screen dumps from your prototype and including these close to the relevant sections in your assignment.

Question 5: Justification of the redesigned interface

- [about 1200 words, 40 points]

5.1 (4 pts) Explain how your design uses the information in the content diagram from the conceptual design you created in Question 3, above.

5.2 (6 pts) Choose either (a) or (b) below.

Metaphor and interaction styles are described in Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 respectively.

(a) Identify a metaphor used in your redesign. You could choose a small part of the interface, such as the symbol used on a particular icon, or you could choose a wider metaphor, such as the overall interaction style. Describe the metaphor and its use in the re-designed system. Explain how the metaphor promotes an appropriate user mental model. You may find that the steps of the human–action cycle are helpful here.

(b) If you did not use any metaphorical elements in your redesign, perhaps because you chose a command-line interface, explain how you arrived at this decision. Explain how your new design will promote an appropriate user mental model. You may find that the steps of the human–action cycle are helpful here.

Simplicity, structure, consistency, and tolerance are explained in Chapter 9.

5.3 (8 pts) Justify your design in terms of the four design principles, aiming for about 4 sentences each :

• simplicity • structure • consistency • tolerance.

The choice of interaction devices is explained in Chapter 12

5.4 (9 pts) Justify your choice of interaction devices for your redesign. Explain how your choice was influenced by the following considerations.

(a) The users, tasks, environment, and domain for this system. You will need to refer back to the work you carried out for Assignment 01 in order to do this.

(b) The technical characteristics of the devices.

(c) Organizational and financial constraints.

Your discussion must include a discussion of at least one device that you considered but was found not to be feasible. Explain your reasons for rejecting it.

The psychological principles and software components are explained in Chapter 5 and Chapter 13 respectively.

5.5 (9 pts) Select three of the components listed below.

• Text • Color • Images • Moving images • Sound • Layout

For each of the components you selected above, justify the use of the components in your interface with reference to all of the following psychological principles:

• users see what they expect to see • users have difficulty focusing on more than one activity at a time • it is easier to perceive a structured layout • it is easier to recognize something than recall it

You may find it helpful to contrast your improved choices with the use of software components in the original system.

Design areas are explained in Chapters 16, 17, and 18, which we do not cover explicitly in class. You will have to do some independent reading on this topic.

5.6 (4 pts) Identify the design area(s) you have chosen for your redesign. State which guidelines are appropriate to these design areas, and why. How have these specific guidelines influenced your redesign?

Question 6: Conclusion and quality of the report -

[about 200 words, 3 points for the conclusion, 4

points for quality]

Write a conclusion that:

(i) describes what you have achieved in the report

(ii) re-states the main points of your work including any recommendations and proposed future actions.

Your report will also be assessed for its overall quality – its consistency, coherence, completeness, and legibility.