Analytical Evaluation and Oral Reports
Objectives:
Overview:
The previous phases have focused on the design of your interfaces. This phase will now leverage the prototypes you have created and will allow each team to do an analytical evaluation on another team’s prototype. Each team will then inform the rest of the class of this effort in an oral report.
What to do:
1. Use the following heuristics to analyze the assigned user interface:
a. Appropriate color schemes can be used for supporting information
understanding. Try using cool colors such as blue or green for background
or borders. Use warm colors like red and yellow for highlighting or emphasis.
b.
Layout should reflect the information
according to its intended use. Time based information should use a
sequential layout; topical information should use categorical, hierarchical, or
grid layouts. Screen space should be delegated according to information
importance.
c.
Judicious use of animation is necessary
for effective design. Multiple, separate animations should be avoided.
Indicate current and target locations if items are to be automatically moved
around the display. Introduce new items with slower, smooth transitions.
Highlighting related information is an effective technique for showing
relationships among data.
d.
Use text banners only when necessary. Reading
text on a large screen takes time and effort. Try to keep it at the top or
bottom of the screen if necessary. Use sans serif fonts to facilitate reading,
and make sure the font sizes are big enough.
e.
Show the presence of information, but
not the details. Use icons to represent larger information structures, or
to provide an overview of the information space, but not the detailed information;
viewing information details is better suited to desktop interfaces. The
magnitude or density of the information dictates representation mechanism (text
vs icons for example).
f.
Using cyclic displays can be useful, but
care must be taken in implementation. Indicate "where" the
display is in the cycle (i.e. 1 of 5 items, or progress bar). Timings (both for
single item presence and total cycle time) on cycles should be appropriate and
allow users to understand content without being distracted.
g.
Avoid the use of audio. Audio is
distracting, and on a large public display, could be detrimental to others in
the setting. Furthermore, lack of audio can reinforce the idea of relying on
the visual system for information exchange.
h.
Eliminate or hide configurability
controls. Large public displays should be configured one time by an
administrator. Allowing multiple users to change settings can increase
confusion and distraction caused by the display. Changing the interface too
often prevents users from learning the interface.
2. Each team member will analyze the assigned interface according to the following assignments:
Team # Evaluates team #...
1 4
2 3
3 5
4 2
5 1
Each team member will evaluate the interface based on the prototype you sent to Pardha in the last phase. The prototypes will be made available from the internet for access.
3. Each team member should record any usability problems found from the heuristic evaluation they performed on their own. Then, each team will combine the individual member’s results, and create a usability report based on the combined work. Each team member will need to keep a record of their evaluation as that will be sent as part of this phase’s requirements.
To summarize, each individual person will evaluate the prototype assigned to their team, and then the team will get together, and discuss each individual’s results, to come up with a general solution.
4. Prepare your oral reports.
a) Give a brief overview of the prototype that your team was assigned to evaluate, including functionality (3 min max)
b) Specify what users/experts will/would do with the interface.
c) Describe how your team combined the individual results into the team results.
d) Describe the results you found as a team (not individual results) (10 minutes max)
e) Conclude with re-design suggestions your team found based on your results.
You will be presenting this material in class on Friday August 1, 2003. We will go with the standard method of 1-5 based on groups. That means group 1 goes first, 2 second, etc. You need to email me (jsomerve@vt.edu) a PowerPoint slide show by 11:57 pm on Thursday July 31, 2003.
5. Write a 1(min)-2(max) page critique of the listed heuristics (#1, a-h above), in terms of how they helped you with evaluating your assigned interface. Focus on questions of how thorough the heuristics are, how easy they are to understand, how applicable they are to the interface. Don’t limit yourself to these questions either; tell me what you really think of these heuristics and how they apply to large screen display design. To this report, attach your own evaluation of the interface to which you were assigned (not your group’s combined results). Email me (jsomerve@vt.edu) these reports by 11:57 pm on Friday August 1, 2003.
Grading:
Individual critiques (#5 above): 10%
Individual evaluations (#3 and 5 above): 5%
Oral reports (#4 above):
o Presentation style: 20%
o Content
(#4 a-e above): 65%