User Interface Design

ASSIGNMENT 1

Your first task in this process is to select a city to use as the basis of your design. You will also create the shell document for the final User Interface Usability Design document deliverable that you will be working on throughout the course. As you proceed through each project phase, you will add content to each section of the final document to gradually complete the final project delivery.

First, you must submit your project proposal to your instructor for approval.

Your User Interface Usability Design document shell should be as follows:

• Use Word
• Title page
  • Course number and name
  • Project name
  • Student name
  • Date
• Table of contents
  • Use an autogenerated table of contents (TOC).
  • It should be on a separate page.
  • It should be a maximum of 3 levels deep.
  • Update fields of the TOC before submitting project.
• Section headings (Create each heading on a new page with TBD as content except for sections listed under "New Content" below.)
  • Project Outline
  • User Interface Technical Requirements
  • User Interface Human Interaction Requirements
  • User Interface Design Prototypes
  • Usability Test Questionnaire
  • Usability Test Instruction Guide
  • Usability Test Results
  • Final User Interface Design

New Content for Week 1

Complete the following:

• Project Outline
  • Give a brief description of the city and tourist attractions that could be presented in a user interface. Include a list of the major categories that the user interface will support.
  • The material can be taken from the approved proposal that was submitted to your instructor.
  • Be sure this project is approved by your instructor.
• User Interface Technical Requirements
  • Document the detailed kiosk technical requirements, including screen measurements and interaction capabilities (e.g., keyboard, touch screen, voice control, and other input devices).
  • Document the detailed smartphone application's technical requirements, including display size and interaction capabilities (e.g., voice control, stylus, visual keyboard, camera, and touch).
  • Document the interaction capabilities to support potential disabilities such as visual, hearing, or physical impairments.
• User Interface Human Interaction Requirements
  • Describe how the user will interact with the kiosk user interface in terms of access and navigation based on the requirements described in the previous section.
  • Describe how the user will interact with the smartphone interface in terms of access and navigation based on the requirements described in the previous section.

ASSIGNMENT 2

For this assignment, you will be developing a prototype mock-up for both kiosk display screens and smartphone display screens. You will also include a narrative to explain how you would navigate each of the prototype options. The goal is to create a mock-up that will allow the user to perform usability testing on each of the options in Week 4. You may use a low-fidelity approach to prototyping these mock-ups, such as PowerPoint, Visio, or another storyboarding tool. If you decide to draw them on paper, then you will need to take photos and embed them in your Word document.

You will need to design the main menu for the Tourist Information Application and a lower-level menu for each item on the main menu. Be sure to apply the user interface design concepts in your layout that you researched in your Discussion Board assignment. The following are items that you will need to include in this design:

• Banner heading
• Menus and options
• Graphics
• Items that you want to hot-link to other pages
• Fill-in form layouts
• A logo that can go in the banner heading or as the backdrop
• The font and color that you intend to use throughout application
• Other options that you want to appear on every page

Complete the following for this assignment:

• Update your design document title page with a new date and project name.
• Update the previously completed sections based on your instructor's feedback.
• Complete the new content below, and copy it under the User Interface Design Prototypes section in your User Interface Usability Design document.

Include the following new content:

• Determine and utilize the method that you are going to use to produce the low-fidelity mock-up of your designs.
• Develop and copy 3 mock-up designs according to the above instructions into the master design document that you started in Week 1.
• Describe how the user navigates each of the options in each of the mock-up designs.
• Be sure to update your table of contents before submission.

ASSIGNMENT 3

For this assignment, you will be developing a usability test questionnaire and your plan for soliciting users to represent different user groups to participate in the tourist user interface usability test. Areas that you will need to include in the usability test questionnaire are as follows:

• Title, reason for questionnaire, and instructions for filling out the questionnaire while they are performing the usability test
• Section 1: User demographic information
• Section 2: Usability questions (1020 of your own original questions):
  • Use the Web resource titled IBM Computer Usability Satisfaction Questionnaires: Psychometric Evaluation and Instructions for Use.
  • Use the Web resource titled System Usability Scale (SUS).
• Section 3: Application function specific questions (510 questions)
• Section 4: Comment section for tester to give additional feedback

Complete the following for this assignment:

• Update your design document title page with a new date and project name.
• Update the previously completed sections based on your instructor's feedback.
• Complete new content below, and copy it under the Usability Test Questionnaire section in your User Interface Usability Design document.

Include the following new content:

• Develop a usability test questionnaire per the above instructions.
• Develop a usability test plan for representing various user groups.
• Be sure to update your table of contents before submission.

ASSIGNMENT 4

For this assignment, you will be conducting the usability test utilizing the usability questionnaire that you developed in Week 3. First, you will need to select 45 testers. Craft a Usability Test Instruction Guide that contains all of the tourist user interface prototype screens that you created in Week 2. Also include a disclaimer that the participants' identities and participation will not be shared with a third-party organization. Send it to the testers via e-mail along with the usability questionnaire. Please request that they return the questionnaire in 45 days so that you have time to tally the results before this assignment is due. Thank them for their participation. You may want to engage some of your classmates and your professor as potential testers because they understand the time constraint.

To tally the results, you will need to aggregate the following:

• Compute the average for each of the usability questions in section 2, and present it in a results spreadsheet. Include a couple of analysis statements discussing the results. What changes will you make based on these results?
• Compute the average for each of the function questions in section 3, and present them in the same results spreadsheet. Include a couple of analysis statements discussing the results. What changes will you make based on these results?
• Evaluate the demographics to see if that had an impact on individual results.
• Summarize the comments at the bottom of the usability questionnaire, and discuss any changes that you will make to the prototype design based on this feedback.

Complete the following for this assignment:

• Update your design document title page with a new date and project name.
• Update the previously completed sections based on your instructor's feedback.
• Complete the new content below and copy it under the Usability Test Instruction Guide and Usability Test Results sections in your User Interface Usability Design document.

Include the following new content:

• Usability Test Instruction Guide
  • Create instructions on how to walk through the low-fidelity prototype screens that should be copied in this guide.
  • Include a disclaimer that the participants' identity and participation will not be released to anyone.
  • Include the deadline of 45 days, and thank them for their participation.
• Usability Test Results
  • Create a table with the averages for each question in section 2 with an evaluation of the results.
  • Create a table with the averages for each question in section 3 with an evaluation of the results.
  • Include the demographic impact analysis.
  • Include a comment recommendations summary.

Be sure to update your table of contents before submission.

ASSIGNMENT 5

In the previous weeks, you selected a city and the functions for a tourist information and reservation user interface that runs on both a kiosk and as a smartphone application. You determined the technical and human interaction requirements for both the kiosk and smartphone app. Next, you designed low fidelity mock-up prototypes for both the phone and the kiosk. You created a usability test questionnaire for potential users to test your user interface mock-up and evaluate aspects such as usability, navigation, quality considerations, and overall look and feel. You then developed and conducted your usability test and compiled a final report of the usability test results and analysis.

In this final assignment, you will modify your prototypes (one for the kiosk and one for the smartphone) based on the usability test results, incorporating design recommendations for improvement and enhancements to address lower performing usability questions.

Complete the following for this assignment:

• Save your final selected mock-up prototypes with refinements based on usability testing feedback in the Final User Interface Design section.
• Update your User Interface Usability Design document title page with a new date and project name.
• Update the previously completed sections based on your instructor's feedback.
• Be sure to update your table of contents before submission.
• Name the document "yourname_CS346_IP5.doc."

QUESTIONS

1. What are some of the key points to look for when designing better interfaces from the start?

2. When you think of Web site interaction style, would it be direct manipulation, menus, an adaptive tool bar, or something else?

Please explain in detail to support your claim, and write 24 paragraphs.

3. What are the most common types of disabilities that might have a problem accessing Web sites?

4. Mention 34 disabilities and the commonly-used techniques to make Web sites more user friendly.

Explain in detail to support your claim

5. What is the central point to all four phases?

6. What are the general principles of refinement, and how do they apply to user interface design?

Explain in detail to support your claim.

7. What are the characteristics of a good user interface?

8. Solutions and usability recommendations usually follow guidelines from experts. While working on a good user interface, some of the characteristics may create problems with achieving others. Give an example of a scenario when balance is difficult to achieve.

Explain in detail to support your claim.

9. What are the inherent limitations of smartphones?

10. Mobile users are doing more on smartphones, and the usage of apps is growing. How can an app developer improve the mobile user experience?

Explain in detail to support your claim.