Home Syllabus Project Readings
Part 2
Table of contents
- Overview
- Part 2A – Proposal Ideation
- Part 2B – Design Research Plan
- Part 2C – Initial Design Research
- Part 2D – Completed Design Research
- Part 2E – Task Review
- Part 2F – Initial Design
- Part 2G – Completed Design
- Part 2H – Presentation
- Part 2I – Report
Overview
Even for a well-understood, well-motivated problem, choosing a design to invest time into is a difficult and laborious process. This group assignment, spanning multiple weeks of the course, tackles the problem of selecting the right design through design research, task development, generating multiple potential designs, and finally selecting a design to pursue.
This assignment is worth 20 of the 60 points of your course project. The following are the stages that you need to complete for this assignment:
| Part | Due Date |
|---|---|
| 2A Project Ideation (1 point) | Fri., Feb. 4 @ 11:59 pm |
| 2B Design Research Plan (2 points) | Thur., Feb. 10 @ 11:59 pm |
| 2C Initial Design Research (2 points) | Thur., Feb . 17 @ 11:59 pm |
| 2D Completed Design Research (2 points) | Tue., Feb. 22 @ 11:59 pm |
| 2E: Task Review (2 points) | Mon., Feb. 28 @ 11:59 pm |
| 2F: Initial Design (4 points) | Fri. Mar. 4 @ 11:59 pm |
| 2G: Completed Design (2 points) | Thu., Mar. 17 @ 11:59 pm |
| 2H: Presentation (2.5 points) | Mon., Mar. 21 @ 11:59 pm |
| 2I: Report (2.5 points) | Fri., Mar 25 @ 11:59 pm |
Project Description
You will brainstorm a large set of possible tasks and design ideas for your project. You will then conduct design research to learn more about your problem and the current practices of people who might use your design. You will draw upon the ideas developed in your brainstorming and the observations made in your design research to help develop a set of potential tasks your design might support. You will next sketch how a set of initial designs might support those tasks. You will choose a design to pursue in the remainder of the course and storyboard the details of your design in the context of important tasks. Finally, you will present your design process in a report. An overview of the procedures performed in Assignment 2 is as follows:
User Research
- Generate ideas for potential problems, tasks, features, and interactions using a group ideation exercise. (2A)
- Conduct design research (e.g., contextual inquiry, interviews, observations) to learn from at least three people who might use your design. (2B, 2C, 2D)
Design Sketches
Develop six tasks that might be performed with your design. Select these to capture the important aspects of the problem you are solving and to provide coverage of the designs you will explore. Create these based on your observations and analyses of existing tasks as well as your vision for new tasks enabled by potential designs. Remember that tasks say what is accomplished, while leaving open how to accomplish it. As you progress through your project, you can and should consider revising your tasks. Expect to refine or change your tasks as your understanding of the problem matures or according to feedback you receive. The tasks you report in this assignment therefore must be appropriate but are not necessarily final. (2E)
Brainstorm and sketch three very different initial designs for your interface. Each design should support four of your tasks. Do not illustrate the entire design, but instead sketch key aspects needed to illustrate the functionality. These should be rough sketches on paper (i.e., not digital mockups), including illustrations of their relations (e.g., arrows showing transitions and relationships). The purpose of these sketches is to explore the design space before you lock yourself into a single design. They must demonstrate significant consideration of substantially different approaches to your problem. (2F)
From your sketches, select one design to pursue for the remainder of the semester and two tasks that emphasize critical functionality of your design. These tasks should be non-trivial, critical to solving your problem, and should emphasize long-lived or repeated activities. In contrast, a one-time login screen for a social networking application is not worth being the focus of your project, does not define your project functionality, and is not sufficiently interesting. Storyboard your chosen design for your chosen tasks, illustrating how the tasks are accomplished in your design. (2G)
Report Presentation
- Summarize your design process in a report and presentation. (2H, 2I)
Part 2A – Proposal Ideation
Due Date: Fri., Feb. 4 @ 11:59 pm
The goal of this step is to begin thinking about how to plan effective design research to inform your design process.
Deliverable
Generate 5 to 10 different ideas related to each of the following aspects of your project proposal:
- Forms: types of technology on which a design might be developed (e.g., wearable sensors, watch/phone/tablet, desktop, appliances or other artifacts in the environment).
- Data: types of data a design might track or help a person track.
- Tasks: what a person might accomplish with a design.
- Features: a specific capability a design might have.
- Social Interactions: types of social interactions and situations a design might engage or support.
Sketch each of your ideas into 2x2 inch squares. Each idea should be either a quick doodle with a caption or a one-sentence idea. A person familiar with your project, but not in your group should be able to understand the idea each sketch conveys.
The goal is to begin exploring the space of possibilities, not attempting to polish some individual possibility. Focus on the quantity of ideas, not the quality of any one idea. You may include ideas from existing products. No two ideas should be alike. When you get stuck, find a context to inspire new ideas.
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement, as an additional page in your submission.
This statement should indicate the name of each member of your team, the percentage of effort in this specific assignment that each member contributed, and the specific activities in this specific assignment that each member contributed.
An example contribution statement is:
- Name 1: 40%, researched the background of the problem, outlined the content of the document, wrote the first version of one paragraph, selected the images to be included
- Name 2: 15%, conducted 3 interviews and took notes
- Name 3: 20%, wrote the first version of the background section, made sure the final document was submitted
- Name 4: 25%, organized the group meeting, conducted 3 interviews (with Name 2), put together the first draft of the document’s results section
Submission
Arrange your sketches and text into a PDF document.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This will be graded on a scale of 1 point. You will be graded based on a good-faith attempt to generate ideas.
Examples
Part 2B – Design Research Plan
Due Date: Thur., Feb. 10 @ 11:59 pm
The goal of this part of project is to develop an initial plan for your design research, encouraging you to work through details of how you would conduct that research and improving those details through critique and peer feedback.
For Part 2 (specifically 2C and 2D), you will be required to conduct design research (e.g., contextual inquiry, interviews, observations) to learn from at least three people who might use your design.
Deliverable
In one paragraph, describe the people who might use your design and other stakeholders for your design. Describe the particular design research methods and participants you plan to pursue, including such details as their background and the environment where you will observe their current practices. Give enough information to convince us that you can actually find and engage with your target participants in the next week.
For example, your target participants should not be “doctors” but instead a specific group of doctors (e.g., General Practitioners at BJC Healthcare). If gaining access to the target participants is non-trivial (e.g., as with busy doctors), describe the steps you have already taken to gain access and your plans to recover if you are unable to gain access. Indicate when you will be conducting your design research, being as specific as possible.
In another paragraph, describe the user research methods you will use to engage with and learn from these people. A typical expected method would be contextual inquiry with three participants. However, we encourage you to propose alternative or additional design research methods according to your needs. Please be as specific as possible, providing relevant details for you proposed methods. For example:
- If you propose contextual inquiries, discuss current behaviors you want to observe and your planned focus.
- If you propose interviews, discuss the types of questions you plan to explore.
- If you propose a diary study, discuss what type of data you plan to ask participants to bring or collect.
Finally in a separate section, provide more detail regarding your primary proposed method. For example:
- If you propose contextual inquiries, enumerate what activities you intend to observe, what focus you intend to bring to observation of each activity, and any strategies you intend to pursue for gaining insight through your observations.
- If you propose interviews, give an example set of planned talking points.
- If you propose a diary study, give details of what and how you will ask participants to diary.
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement as an additional page in your submission, just as in previous parts. This will be used to adjust your grades in case of unequal participation.
Submission
No more than one page of text in PDF format. Aim for 150 - 200 words per paragraph. Please use a sans serif font with 11 - 12-point size and avoid double line spacing. Visual aids do not count against the word limit.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This step will be graded on a scale of 2 points with the following breakdown:
- People and plan (0.5 points)
- Feasibility (0.5 points)
- Specificity and Details (1 point)
Examples
Part 2C – Initial Design Research
Due Date: Thur., Feb . 17 @ 11:59 pm
Deliverable
Perform design research with at least one participant for this part. You will hopefully learn something about the needs of people who might use your design, but also about effectively conducting your design research.
Describe your first design research participant and your findings:
- Who you observed or interviewed, their background, and the environment?
- What did you learn?
- What tasks, problems, or opportunities did you uncover?
- Did you encounter any difficulties establishing rapport or getting the information you need?
Discuss what remains to be pursued in the next phase of your design research, which is to be performed in Part 2D: Completed Design Research. In the next step, you will perform design research with additional participants. Again, it is normal to have changes, as design research can be difficult to get right and often important topics are left unresolved. So things to discuss are:
- What are your plans for the remaining participants?
- How do you propose to change your design research plan based on what you learned with your first participant?
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement as an additional page in your submission, just as in previous parts. This will be used to adjust your grades in case of unequal participation.
Submission
No more than one pages of text in PDF format. Pictures and tables do not count against the limit. Please use a sans serif font with 11 - 12-point size and avoid double line spacing. Names of participants should be replaced with pseudonyms in all documents. It is important to protect participant anonymity, even in the case that reporting seems harmless.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This step will be graded on a scale of 2 points with the following breakdown:
- Information from first participant (1 point)
- Plan for remaining participants (1 point)
Examples
Part 2D – Completed Design Research
Due Date: Tue., Feb. 22 @ 11:59 pm
Deliverable
Identifying Themes
Complete your design research with at least three participants (you may include your participants from the Initial Design Research). Discuss your process and what you learned:
- Who you observed or interviewed, their background, and the environment.
- Note anything unique about each participant and comment on the rationale behind these observations.
Across your participants, we expect some emergence of common themes, problems, and practices.
- Identify high-level themes and problems the participants share in their practices.
- Do these themes, problems, and practices suggest tasks to important to design for?
If you are having trouble identifying high-level themes, problems, and practices, it may indicate a need to develop additional understanding through more design research. Because your findings at this point are critical to setting a foundation for your project, ensure your design research has provided you the insights and perspective you need to proceed.
Task Analysis Questions
Informed by your design research, provide brief answers to the following questions. These should help you begin to identify tasks essential to your design.
- Who is going to use the design?
- What tasks do they now perform?
- What tasks are desired?
- How are the tasks learned?
- Where are the tasks performed?
- What is the relationship between the person and data?
- What other tools does the person have?
- How do people communicate with each other?
- How often are the tasks performed?
- What are the time constraints on the tasks?
- What happens when things go wrong?
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement as an additional page in your submission, just as in previous parts. This will be used to adjust your grades in case of unequal participation.
Submission
No more than four pages of text in PDF format:
- Infomred summary of key findings or takeaways (one paragraph at beginning)
- help design research participants (less than one page)
- design research themes (less than one page)
- task analysis questions (less than two pages)
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This step will be graded on a scale of 2 points with the following breakdown:
- Description of Participants and Quality of Themes Developed (1 point)
- Answers to Task Analysis Questions (1 point)
Examples
Part 2E – Task Review
Due Date: Mon., Feb. 28 @ 11:59 pm
Deliverable
Building on what you learned in your design research, design six tasks that you believe are integral to your overall design goal:
- You should include existing tasks (i.e., tasks people already do) and new tasks (i.e., tasks that will be enabled by your design).
- These should be real world tasks that have details (e.g., instead of “programming a DVR”, details like “programming a DVR to record the Simpsons on Sundays”).
- These tasks should not have any specific relation to the exact design sketches you will brainstorm next.
- Your six tasks should span a wide range of functionality and difficulty, from easy to hard tasks.
Each task should be described with a paragraph of text. Tasks say what is accomplished, leaving open how to accomplish it. So be sure that your task conveys a problem and what is accomplished, rather than a step-by-step walkthrough of scenario with a particular design.
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement as an additional page in your submission, just as in previous parts. This will be used to adjust your grades in case of unequal participation.
Submission
At most 2 pages of text in a PDF document. Each of the six tasks should be described by one paragraph of text.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This section will be graded on a scale of 2 points:
- 6 tasks (0.33 points for each task)
Examples
Part 2F – Initial Design
Due Date: Fri. Mar. 4 @ 11:59 pm
Deliverable
You have identified and described six important tasks for your design problem. You will now brainstorm and sketch three very different initial designs for your interface:
- Each design should support four of your tasks, but they do not necessarily need to all support the same four tasks.
- Sketch key aspects needed to illustrate the functionality in your four tasks. A design may imply additional tasks, but do not illustrate the entire design.
- These should be rough sketches on paper (i.e., not digital mockups), including illustrations of their relations (e.g., arrows showing transitions and relationships).
The purpose of these sketches is to explore the design space before you lock yourself into a single design. They must demonstrate significant consideration of substantially different approaches to your problem.
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement as an additional page in your submission, just as in previous parts. This will be used to adjust your grades in case of unequal participation.
Submission
At most three pages of text in PDF format:
- six task descriptions (same as previous section, but can be updated as needed to match the understanding of your design)
- for each of three initial designs
- the high-level idea of the design (one paragraph)
- scanned images of the design (sketches, not digital mockups)
- how to complete each the four sketched tasks (e.g., a list of steps, one or two sentences per task)
Images do not count against your page limit, and are therefore effectively free. You should embed images throughout your PDF, keeping them near the text that references them. The limit applies to the approximate amount of text you would have if all images were removed.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This section will be graded on a scale of 4 points:
- 3 designs (1.33 points each for design)
Examples
Part 2G – Completed Design
Due Date: Thu., Mar. 17 @ 11:59 pm
Deliverable
The goal of this section is to choose a design idea to pursue for the remainder of this course.
From your design sketches, select one design that you will refine in the remainder of this course. Then select two tasks that will be the focus of your design refinement. The selected tasks need to be representative of the experience of using your design. Prepare one paragraph describing why you selected the design you did. Draw upon feedback from critiques and data from your design research.
- Why this design and these tasks?
- What makes the design better suited to the people for whom you are targeting your design?
- Why are these tasks more compelling than the others?
Convey a strong understanding of which design you chose, which tasks you chose, and why you chose them.
Then create a storyboard of each task for your selected design. These should be done on paper, then scanned (i.e., do not create or recreate them in a drawing package). They should clearly indicate the functionality of the design and what the interface will be like, conveying the major aspects of the design in enough detail that a person not in your group can understand how the design supports each task. As needed, add descriptions that explicitly reference the storyboard, add more sketches, or annotate them in multiple colors.
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement as an additional page in your submission, just as in previous parts. This will be used to adjust your grades in case of unequal participation.
Submission
No more than one page of text in PDF format:
- discussion of your design and task choices (one paragraph)
- scanned images of your storyboards and associated descriptions
Images do not count against your page limit, and are therefore effectively free. You should embed images throughout your PDF, keeping them near the text that references them. The limit applies to the approximate amount of text you would have if all images were removed.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This section will be graded on a scale of 2 points:
- Rational for choosing design and tasks (1 point)
- 2 storyboards (1 point, 0.5 points each)
Examples
Part 2H – Presentation
Due Date: Mon., Mar. 21 @ 11:59 pm
Deliverable
The goal here is to effectively communicate your design research. Prepare a presentation of your process in getting the right design. It should encompass all of your work in Part 2, from parts 2A to 2G.
- Two members of your team should deliver the presentation, each speaking to relatively equal portions.
- A seven minute time limit will be strictly enforced, with additional time for questions. If you are over time, you will be cut off.
- Individuals who present for Part 2 cannot present for Part 3, unless they are a group of three.
A suggested organization of this presentation is:
Title Slide: A short, creative, and marketable title capturing the key idea. Include team member names. Be clear which team members are presenting.
Overall Problem: Convey that your problem is both important and appropriate for a design investigation. Motivate your audience to be interested in your problem. Consider using data or statistics regarding importance of the problem. Consider using a scenario or story to convey an emotional or human perspective on the problem. Be sure to avoid simply reading slide bullets, as you need to develop a connection to your audience.
- Design Research: Convey what design research you conducted. Consider including images that give your audience a feeling for your work. This should include:
- your methods (i.e., what design research did you do),
- your participants (i.e., what participants did you engage),
- your key findings (i.e., what key things did you learn that will inform your design).
6 Tasks: Convey the breadth of tasks you have considered, in at most one sentence per task.
3 Design Sketches: Convey the breadth of designs you considered. Be clear what is the key idea or difference in each of your three designs.
- Selected Design Storyboards and Tasks: Present your storyboards, ensuring they effectively illustrate your selected design and tasks. Convey your rationale for choosing this as a design focus.
Make sure to practice your presentation as much as possible.
Note that there is no recommendation for the number of slides needed for the presentation. You can deliver your presentation using as many or as few slides as you want, as long as you successfully address the above points and the presentation falls within the time restriction.
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement as an additional page in your submission, just as in previous parts. This will be used to adjust your grades in case of unequal participation.
Submission
Please submit your presentation using one of the following formats: PPT, PPTX, PDF.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
Altogether the presentation is worth 2.5 points. The following is the breakdown of points.
The content of this presentation will be graded on a scale of 2.0 points:
- Presentations should not have an outline slide. They are short enough to be told as a story of your process, and your outline is the same as every other presentation. Instead use that time to tell us about your project.
- The problem should be presented in a manner that is compelling and achievable.
- Design research should be carried out and presented in an appropriate manner. This should include methods, participants, and key findings.
- Tasks should provide coverage of envisioned functionality and be motivated by the design research.
- Design ideas should be distinct and have a connection to results of design research.
- The selected design and task storyboards should be compelling and have a connection to results of design research.
- Presentations should show appropriate preparation, with slides that are legible and content that is effective, properly prepared, and properly employed.
- Presentations should cover the required scope within the allowed time.
The delivery of this presentation will be graded on a scale of 0.5 points:
- Presenter projects their voice well and is audible.
- Presenter feels casual and engaged with the content, not just reading it.
- Presentation covered the required scope within the allowed time period.
Examples
Part 2I – Report
Due Date: Fri., Mar 25 @ 11:59 pm
Deliverable
Prepare a report documenting your process of getting the right design. Your report should follow the outline below, and will be graded using the guidelines that follow. The provided page allocations are estimates, intended to help convey how to divide up the space.
If you completed all prior steps, you will have all the necessary content for this report. However, it is important for you to revise and update that content as necessary. You have received feedback throughout your design process, as such evaluation of your report will include how you have addressed and incorporated that feedback to improve your report relative to your previous submissions:
- Title: A short, creative, and marketable title capturing the key idea.
- Each Team Member’s Name and Role(s)
- Problem and Solution Overview (1 paragraph): A concise statement of the problem you are tackling and a brief synopsis of your proposed solution.
- Design Research Goals, Stakeholders, and Participants (1 page): Describe your design research, including the participants, their background, and their environment. Describe why you chose the particular methods and participants in your design research.
- Design Research Results and Themes (1 page): Discuss common themes, problems, and practices that emerged in your design research. Include any updated themes that emerged when considering your design research in your design process.
- Answers to Task Analysis Questions (2 pages): Provide brief answers to the task analysis questions. These should be updated according to your evolved understanding of the problem and your design.
- Proposed Design Sketches (1 page): Present scanned images of your three initial designs in the context of their four tasks. Include one paragraph for each design, discussing how it supports your tasks. Include one paragraph discussing your choice of design and tasks to further pursue.
- Written Scenarios (1 page): Convert your two tasks into written scenarios for your design. Scenarios include the steps a person will go through to accomplish the task, including references to your design. Scenarios do not need to detail every little step, but should be realistic, should be dependent upon the design you have chosen, should appropriately reference elements of your design, and should communicate how a person will accomplish the task using your design.
- Storyboards of the Selected Design: Include updated storyboards of your design. Reference these appropriately in your scenarios.
- Appendix of Feedback Sessions and User Research: Compile your activities from the Feedback Sessions for User Design Research, Task Analysis, and Initial Designs and attached them to the end of your report. Also include your User Design Research interviews or any other material that you used to obtain feedback from participants.
Ensure your report is appropriately clear and easy to read. This includes:
- text should be clear and concise
- use section headings as appropriate
- include images in the body of the write-up with appropriate figure numbers and captions
- refer to the figures in the body of your text
- check for typos, spelling, and grammar errors
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement as an additional page in your submission, just as in previous parts. This will be used to adjust your grades in case of unequal participation.
Submission
At most 8 pages of text in a PDF document that follows the above outline. Images do not count against your page limit, and are therefore effectively free. You should embed images throughout your PDF, keeping them near the text that references them. The limit applies to the approximate amount of text you would have if all images were removed.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This section will be graded on a scale of 2.5 points:
- Title: (0.1 point)
- Team Member Names and Roles: (0.1 point)
- Problem and Solution Overview: (0.2 points)
- Design Research Goals, Stakeholders, and Participants: (0.2 points)
- Design Research Results and Themes: (0.3 points)
- Answers to Task Analysis Questions: (0.3 points)
- Proposed Design Sketches: (0.3 points)
- Written Scenarios: (0.3 points)
- Storyboards of the Selected Design: (0.3 points)
- Appendix of Feedback Sessions and User Research: (0.1 point)
- Report Clarity: (0.3 points)