Interaction Design and Prototypes
Objectives:
Overview:
The group projects for this semester involve designing and developing novel notification systems for large screen displays for showing news related content. In the requirements phase, your main goal was to develop a shared understanding (i.e., as a group) of the needs, concerns, and opportunities reflected in your users' current activities. Activity and information design required you to build on the requirements and develop a solution to the problem. In this phase your main goal will be to synthesize and develop the interaction design necessary for your solution, as well as create a prototype to illustrate the activity, information, and interaction design your group has developed.
What to do:
1. Summarize phases 1 and 2.
Assuming a new reader, briefly describe what you have done up to this point. Reuse parts from phase 1 and 2 as necessary.
2. Synthesize interaction scenarios and claims:
Your group’s solution should be formed in your minds and you should have a good idea of what your interface is going to look and feel like. You now need to illustrate how a user would be able to perform the new activities with your design. This involves creating interaction scenarios from your information scenarios. These scenarios depict your stakeholders executing the steps required to complete the activities you have designed for the new interface. The information design tells the users what actions are available and how to operate the various controls. The new interaction design shows them executing the steps required to accomplish those tasks.
For each stakeholder you created in phase 1, pick one information scenario from phase 2 and augment it with interaction aspects, (2 “new” scenarios) illustrating the stakeholders performing the activities with your system. These scenarios can rely on your prototypes and should refer back to them as well.
How to create your scenarios:
·
Keep the
· Create tables showing one activity from phase 2, and how both the Gulf of Evaluation and Gulf of Execution are done with your interface.
o List each step in the Stages of Action (both Gulfs) (7 in all including the task goal).
o Describe each step for your interface and activity.
o Note: this is similar to the quiz we had on the Stages of Action
·
The
Analyze 2 claims for each scenario, focusing on the interaction design (at least 4 claims total). Indicate in your scenarios through text formatting how the interaction parts are new and different from the existing information scenario.
3. Create a prototype of your system. It should capture the information design you described in phase 2 and support the activities you developed in that phase. The interaction scenarios you create should be related to your prototype in that if someone took your scenario, they could “walk through” your prototype as if they were the actor in your scenario and thus could accomplish the goal.
· Your prototype should be based on the CNN content available from http://research.cs.vt.edu/ns/data
·
There are 8 (eight) folders in that directory
labeled by the time they were created. For example, 1.30 means the data in the
folder was taken at
· You do not need to parse the data, only extract what you need for your prototype (headlines, pictures, stories, etc.), focusing on the required transitions to achieve the necessary look and feel you are going for. This means you need to explore the data and determine how your screen would change at the 30 minute intervals based on how the content has changed. All you need to do is illustrate those changes in your prototypes.
· As discussed in class lectures, you can use any prototyping tool you wish (Flash, Java, Visual Basic, PowerPoint, Tcl/Tk, etc.), the only caveat is that your prototype should run standalone for at least 30 minutes on the large screen display in 104C, simulating the change in content from the data files.
· You should send this prototype as a separate, functional, stand alone program to Pardha with your phase 3 report. This could be as simple as a PowerPoint file or as complex as a Java or Visual Basic program. Remember; only simulate any processing necessary, all we need to see is how the interface would update as the CNN content changes.
4. Prepare your phase 3 report:
The phase 3 reports should have the following labeled sections. Number all pages that follow the Table of Contents to make the report easier to browse and review.
a) Cover Sheet: label the phase as "Interaction Design and Prototypes", and include group number, team member names and student numbers, and due date
b) Table of Contents: list page numbers for each required element
c) Overview: a 1-2 page introduction to this phase, introducing your system, and previewing your interaction design.
d) Review of phase 1 and 2 results. Just to refresh us about what you found in requirements analysis and how you addressed the design problem up to this point through activity and information design. (1 to 2 pages max)
e) Interaction scenarios and claims: the two scenarios and claims for each. This section should also include your table of the Stages of Action for your activity.
f) Prototype: screen shots or drawings of your interface (any drawings should be neat, and clear). Sequential shots illustrating your interaction scenarios (these can be separate from the scenarios if you clearly label them so we can refer to them correctly) are an effective way to illustrate the interaction and state transitions.
g) Bibliography: cite any sources (printed matter or the Web) you used in preparing your analysis. Make sure you mention any of the cases we have talked about up to this point if you base any of your ideas on what you have seen in them.
In the end, it should be clear that the prototypes you have developed and the interaction scenarios came from your requirements analysis, activity, and information scenarios. We should have no trouble tracing your design process throughout your phases.
You can send these reports to the GTA (
Scenario writing tips:
Each scenario should have a brief but evocative name. These scenarios should have a realistic feel to them (i.e., they should be believable), but need not be based on actual episodes observed or described to you. The point is to write scenarios that illustrate the user interacting with your interface. Remember that it is OK (often essential) to include multiple actors in a scenario, but the story is told from one actor's perspective.
Claims tips:
Each claim included should have at least one positive consequence and one
negative consequence. Use the VSF examples of scenarios and claims in the book
and those in the case study library
Grading:
Overview (c): 5%
Review (d): 5%
Interaction scenarios and claims (e): scenarios 5%, claims 5%, Stages of Action Table 10%
Prototype (f): descriptions 10%, screenshots 10%, sequencing of screen shots to illustrate transitions 10%, scenario machine (i.e. your prototype) 35%
General Composition (all letters): 5%