Our class has promoted an approach to design that involves sketching as part of a “design funnel” that iteratively alternates elaboration (concept generation) and reduction (controlled convergence). In your somewhat self-referential assignment, you will be using this approach in the initial phases of developing a paper prototype for an application that supports users in carrying out this sketch-based approach.
Your paper prototype will address the design of the user interface for SketchM, a fictitious system that enables a physically co-located team of users to create and manage sketches on individual tablets, submit sketches to appear on a common work surface, organize sketches on that surface, and delete sketches from that surface. Please assume that the work surface will appear on a large (think big!) high-resolution touchscreen, visible to the entire team, whose single specific position and orientation are up to you: vertical wall-mounted and horizontal tabletop are just two possibilities. Given the plethora of research systems and commercial products that support individual and collaborative sketching in private and shared workspaces, none of your use scenarios should involve the process of creating a sketch. Instead, your work on this assignment should address managing and submitting sketches on a tablet, and organizing and deleting sketches on the large touchscreen, in implementing the design funnel. (What does managing sketches on a tablet mean? Think about the things that a tablet user would like to do to make sense out of their work if they have created a lot more than a single sketch.)
To simplify your scenarios (and make life easier for your human computer), please assume that two people are interacting: one using the large touchscreen and the other using a tablet, both sufficiently close to each other so as to not require acrobatics from your human computer. When you test your system in Part 2 (see below), one user will be played by a member of another team, and the other user will be played by a member of your team. Finally, please assume that all of the interactions needed to connect the devices securely and reliably with each other have already been accomplished and that your users do not need any computer-mediated voice or video communication since they are near each other. You should aim to design a user experience that is efficient, understandable, and enjoyable.
We have chosen a domain that we assume you will be able to address from the standpoint of a potential user. However, since this is a rather broadly and fuzzily defined idea, you will need to narrow things down to something that is both doable and interesting.
There are four parts to this assignment:
Each part will be written up as part of a combined document that your team will author and submit.
You should develop a design that supports the tasks listed above, bearing in mind the usability heuristics discussed in class (J. Nielsen, Ten Usability Heuristics) and using the sketching and paper-prototyping approaches defined in class and in the readings. To guide your thinking about how to go about the design process, you may also wish to look at H. Beyer and K. Holtzblatt, “Contextual Design,” ACM Interactions, 6(1), January/February 1999, 32–42.
During your team's initial brainstorming sessions, you should create a small set of use scenarios and personas and iterate using quick sketches (applying the “design funnel” approach discussed in your readings and in class, in which you iteratively create many quick sketches, cull them to the most interesting, and then create new sketches based on the most interesting of your ideas), all before constructing the first versions of your paper prototype. As you start feeling the ideas that will underlie your prototype solidify, you should decide on a set of at least three use scenarios and at least three unique personas, design output data for the use scenarios, assign team roles for testing (greeter/facilitator, computer, observer(s)), and practice. Please have your use scenarios cover at least some aspects of each of managing, submitting, organizing, and deleting sketches.
Each of your at least three use scenarios should have one persona using the large touchscreen and one persona using a tablet, where both devices will be updated by your human computer. Unlike some of the prototyping approaches mentioned in class, your paper prototype should be created entirely “by hand,” rather than using computer-based tools.
In the pdf document that your team turns in, your initial design should be represented by a written description of your general approach to the assignment, a description of each of your use scenarios and personas (see above), copies of your sketches (with an explanation of your process), a description of the paper prototype you decided to develop, and a storyboard for each use scenario for that prototype. The storyboard should be created using your paper prototype, showing it as each user operation is performed in the process of accomplishing the task (i.e., executing its scenario) at this stage of the design. Please use a camera (e.g., a phone, tablet, or webcam) to take photos of your sketches and photos of your prototype as each operation in the scenario is performed by one of your own team members acting as user. Each image should be accompanied by a succinct verbal description. For your sketches, you are welcome to include more than one sketch in a photo, but do make sure that the sketches are legible. Your description of the general approach to the assignment should include references to any sources of inspiration and how they influenced you.
We will assign all members of another team to test your team's prototype. You will need to arrange and perform your tests, noting that all members of your team and exactly one external user from the other team must be present in the room during each test. Please modify your prototype after (or, in the case of quick minor modifications, during) testing with each one of the assigned team members, based on their use of your prototype.
The document your team turns in should record this part of the assignment by providing, for each test, copies of the observation index cards written during that test, and a brief overall summary of that test.
Analyze the results of your tests, as discussed in class and in the readings, determining any changes to be made to your prototype. You will have n evaluations (for the n members of the other team, where n will be four, in most cases). Each evaluation should be represented by an annotated copy of the portions of your paper prototype addressed by that evaluation session, imaged together with your index-card (or Post-it note) annotations describing problems in place, and with a brief overview explanation. Please make sure that your annotations are legible.
Revise your prototype—as before, entirely by hand—based on the changes that you have determined need to be made. (You will perform n revisions, interleaved with the testing and evaluation process.) Document each revision by imaging any portion of a storyboard that has been modified, describing how that change addresses the issues noted in your evaluation. Your documentation of the incremental revision process should be followed by a complete set of revised storyboards (created after all your revisions have been performed in response to all of the other team's members testing your prototype) . If there are new sources of inspiration, please refer to them, and describe how they influenced you. Then, using the approach discussed in class, make a brief (please try to make it at most five minutes in length) video of your final paper prototype, with your team members acting as the personas in your three use scenarios.
The two documents your team turns in should be a .pdf file with embedded images and a video; for the pdf, please use the best quality settings provided by whatever tool you use to create the file, to help ensure that the images are legible.. Please name your files "yourteam" (where "yourteam" is the name that you have given your team and emailed in response to the request for your team's name from the TAs). We will provide information shortly about how we would like you to upload them.
Please be sure to note the deadlines listed at the top of the assignment. You will need to develop a design through sketching, develop scenarios and pesonas, develop a prototype, practice using it, run tests, evaluate the results, incrementally revise your prototype based on those results of each test, write up your assignment, and record a video, all within a limited period of time. Because this assignment is not merely being done as a team project, but also involves the participation of members of another team, there is simply no way that you can wait until the last minute to get it done.
Randy Pausch at CMU compiled a great list of tips for working successfully in a group. Please read it!
Since your team is turning in a single document and video, each late day used (if any) will apply to each team member. Please be sure to determine well in advance before submitting whether each of your team members has enough late days and is willing to use them on this project!
The best evidence that we will have of your process and results will be what you turn in, so please be sure to document, document, document!
Your participation in the testing process of another team is a required part of the assignment; problems will be dealt with on an individual basis, and will affect your own personal grade for the assignment. Please be a good citizen!
Please watch Using Video to Support Interaction Design for hints on creating video prototypes.