Home Syllabus Project Readings
Part 1
Table of contents
Overview
You are to propose a problem and an approach that could form the basis of a project for this course. Successful projects will observe the need for good human-centered design in an interactive computing system, analyze the needs and opportunities in the problem, explore potential designs, and propose a compelling solution.
This part of the project is worth 5 of the 60 points of the overall project:
- 1A: Proposal Brainstorm (1 point)
- due Wed., Jan. 17 @ 11:59 pm
- 1B: Project Proposal (4 points)
- due Mon., Jan. 22 @ 11:59 pm
Project Description
This semester’s project theme will be “Improve something out there.” This means you will have a unique chance to pick some interactive piece of tech that already exists and re-think it to make more appropriate and usable. Although you can start with something you know and love (or hate) you will also need to design for another group of people who is different from yourself. We will aim to make a really exciting design contribution to a product or service that will improve the user experience for different groups of people.
As part of your project, you will start from a design domain that you are really interested into, for example, traveling, gaming, health care, etc. Then, you will need to define what are the specific user needs your project will support and what activity you would like to design that will help address these needs. Think about how that activity is currently supported, what doesn’t work about current ways of supporting it, and how your solution will do this better. The specificity of addressing particular groups of people allows you to deeply think about what makes each group unique and how your solution will best support them. So, dive in and see what you can come up with!
Thinking Broadly
Think about the problems that people face in their lives, how we can approach those problems, and the role for interactive technology. Your proposal MUST go beyond a technology-centric proposal of a webpage, phone application, or interaction. This first assignment is your opportunity to think broadly about identifying a real and relevant problem. Subsequent assignments will provide opportunities to focus on designing a specific technological solution to a specific set of tasks.
Do not start with a focus on concrete one-time tasks (e.g., logging into your bank account). Instead identify problems in long-lived activities that span many different social or technological contexts. If you want to help people manage their money, do not immediately propose a website that addresses one specific task. Instead consider the range of other opportunities (e.g., personal mobile devices, shared family computers, point of sale systems).
Focus on improving a specific application or service that addresses the issues of specific people. You must be able to create and evaluate a design within the timeframe of this course, so consider whether you can reasonably gain access to the necessary people.
We encourage you to think big, expanding your thinking to include new ideas for interaction techniques or technology platforms. Do not feel constrained by current devices, but instead aim to explore an exciting design that could potentially motivate the development of new enabling technology.
Part 1A – Proposal Brainstorm
Due Date: Wed., Jan. 17 @ 11:59 pm
In lecture we will focus on brainstorming potential project directions. You will get started on thinking what your project proposal will be about. You will use the results from the activity to complete part 1A.
Propose three sets of domains, problems, and goals you would like to tackle in this course.
Deliverable
By domain, we mean an aspect of daily life. Domains include:
- Traveling
- Shopping
- Gaming
- Health care
- Working
Be sure to focus on problems and goals, not potential design solutions. One way to help yourself identify a hierarchy of problems and goals is to ask “why?”. For example:
- Why do my friends prefer Apple Maps instead of Google Maps?
- Why is social media so overwhelming?
- Why is my grandfather unable to play shooter games?
Each idea should be a single sentence, identifying the domain and the problem or goal. At most one of your ideas may come from any of the domains above. Your other two ideas should be from domains not in this list, in order to broaden the brainstorm. Ensure the ideas are significantly different, not small variations on the same idea.
Submission
Collect your text and any other supporting documents (such as pictures of your whiteboards) into a PDF.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This part of the project will be graded on a scale of 1 point:
- 0.33 points for each unique proposed idea (i.e., do not submit small variations on the same idea).
Examples
Part 1B – Project Proposal
Due Date: Mon., Jan. 22 @ 11:59 pm
Propose and analyze a problem that could form the basis of a design project for this class. (Making use of high-quality references is strongly recommended.)
Deliverable
In one paragraph, describe the problem you want to tackle and motivations behind it. This description should convince the reader that this is a difficult and interesting problem, worth spending a quarter considering. State what the problem is and why it is a problem, or describe a new idea and why it will enhance an existing application or practice.
In another paragraph, analyze the problem or idea to give more background and context. Do not just focus on the negative aspects of the current situation, but also identify some positive aspects that may be beneficial to retain. A few salient examples from existing systems or practices could be used to support those claims. If appropriate, you may conduct this analysis by describing a scenario that illustrates how someone might encounter and resolve the problem.
In a final paragraph, explain how the feedback activity helped you to refine your proposal idea. This discussion should include what your initial idea was and how it was updated. Also indicate, the groups that you gave and recieved feedback from.
Each paragraph should be ~200 words.
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
Be sure your presentation looks good:
- choose appropriate colors, fonts, and styles
- make liberal use of whitespace
Remember to make use of the feedback you got during lecture on Wednesday.
Contributions
Your submission must also include a team contribution statement for all the parts completed in Part 1, 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
This contribution statement is intended to support your own reflection as a team as well as the instructor and TA’s awareness of your efforts. You should therefore discuss and agree upon this statement of what each of you contributed and how much this contributed to the overall assignment. The instructor and TA do not expect each person to contribute equally to each assignment, but you should work as a team to support each other, and we expect all members will contribute over the semester. We also understand that percentages are incomplete and subjective, so we gather them only as a summary indication.
Submission
Collect your text and any other supporting documents into a PDF (such as your raw feedback notes). Also make sure to include the Contributions section.
You will submit through Blackboard.
Grading
This proposal will be graded on a scale of 4 points:
- Problem and Motivation: (1 points)
- Analysis of Problem: (1 points)
- Novelty and Creativity: (0.5 points)
- Feedback changes explained: (1 points)
- Report Clarity and Presentation: (0.5 points)
Examples
The examples may not be an exact representation of the expectations for this semester, but are fairly close.