Last Day!

We have 4 things on the agenda for today:

1) Turn in your papers on the book you choose to read

2) Present in a group what you learned from your book

3) Student Course Evaluations

4) Surprise!

Yucca Mountain

In regard to our Ikea trip. Here is a link you may want to look at:
http://www.kelake.org/archive/projects/the-ikea-shopping-experience.html


Taken from the Desert Space web site

"Introduction and Challenge

The Desert Space Foundation presented an exhibition comprised of winning designs in a variety of media that engage the challenge of creating an effective universal warning sign/permanent marker for the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mt., Nevada.

The purpose of the warning sign is to deter intentional or inadvertent human intrusion or interference at the site and to effectively communicate over the course of the next 10,000 years (the projected duration of the volatility of the waste) that the integrity of the site must not be compromised in any way in order to safeguard humanity from the release of the radiation contained within."

Just to give you an idea of scale. Bradbury Brook, a site in Minnesota, has artifacts from the Paleoindian era dating back to 9,500 BP (Before Present) and it is believed to be only a few thousand years after man first migrated to North America.

Your job is to design a warning sign for people 10,000 years from now. Consider what type of iconography will still be relevant 10,000 years from now. What language, if any, will you use?

We will break into 3-4 person groups to work on your designs. The last 45 minutes of class will be devoted to making sharing the designs class discussion.

IKEA Field Trip

Tuesday (5/1/07) we will be having class at IKEA at 6:30. We will meet at the hot dog stand near the checkout. We will spend some time going through the store (about an hour) and then we will spend some time talking about the experience. Please bring a pen and paper so you can take notes about how the store is designed, how the signs are designed and how people uses the store. Think about what the intended experience is supposed to be and how well it seems to be working for customers. By and large, are the people in the store using it the way you believe the designer intended them to? You will record what you think in your journal. What seems to be working... I would like you to offer any critiques you may have of the experience.

Final Presentation of Project 4

Today each team will present the final design of their site and findings from the second round of user testing.

Each team will need to post their site process and design on their journals.

Then we will watch "The Persuaders."

Another work day

We are racing to the finish line for project number 4. By the end of class Thursday (4/19) you should have all the changes made to your site and ready to do user testing number 2. This way you will have all weekend plus a day on either side to do your user testing. On Tuesday (4/24) you will give in-class presentations of your final design. You will also need to post the first design, summary of comments and final design on your journal sites. Thursday the 26th will be the last day of this assignment. We will be debriefing and doing some team evaluations.

Also today we looked at the usability design of H & R Blocks free, online tax site.

Work Day

Today you should be working on getting your site ready to test. As you prepare for your user testing you may want to follow this link to download a Word file with the Steve Krug's usability script. Go to the spot on the home page marked "Looking For Downloads?" and click on the link named "Sample usability test script."

Project 4 - Next Steps And Timeline

Thursday 3/29/07
If your group needs to make updates to your Site Analysis, you need to have this done by the beginning of class on Thursday.

Thursday 4/5/07
By the end of class on you should have your first version of the site edited and ready for testing. I recommend that if your group is to this point you take advantage of the weekend and start your user testing.

Tuesday 4/10/07
By the end of class on Tuesday, If you haven't already, you will need to have your user testing planned and ready to implement so that it is complete by the beginning of class on Thursday. You will need to assign roles and have users lined up. You should also have tasks planned for users to preform.

Thursday 4/12/07
Present your user testing findings to the class. Class critique and discussion of presented designs.

Thursday 4/19/07
By the end of class time Thursday, groups should have implemented changes from user testing and class discussion.

Tuesday 4/24/07
By the beginning of class, each groups second round of user testing should be complete. The groups will make a presentation of their findings.

Thursday 4/26/07
Class debrief and group analysis.

Tuesday March 27th

1) Turn in your group's Site Analysis

2) Talk about the following:

From Page 75 of Carolyn Zeisset's The Art Of Dialogue

From Page 75 of Carolyn Zeisset's The Art Of Dialogue

Project 4 detailed description

Overview:
Your group will research and select a website that offers products and services for sale.

You can EITHER:
- select a site that currently allows users to shop for a product/service, make product selections, and complete a purchase transaction (EX: Amazon, Land’s End, Tire Rack)
- select a site that offers products or services for sale, but their site does NOT CURRENTLY offer transactions over the Internet. Your task will be to design and integrate e-commerce capability for this site.

You are expected to analyze the specific TASKS of completing a transaction, formulate a redesign plan for the website, and execute the actual redesign process: creation of overall layout, cutting up of graphics and coding the final pages. A round of user testing and further design tweaks will follow the initial design phase. The final step in this assignment is to UPLOAD all of the functioning HTML pages to your personal web space.


Basic Steps:
1. Site Selection: Spend time surfing around to find a site that suits your personal interests or shopping habits. Make sure the site has the product and content depth that will provide you with enough material to study. Please email me with the link to the final site that you've selected for this assignment.


2. Assign Roles: Each person in the group will be assigned to a specific role. (EX: content, programmer, designer, project manager, etc.) Another way to approach this project is to spread each of the aforementioned roles across everyone in the group. It really depends on the group dynamics and how you want to structure it. Whatever way you decide to organize yourselves, each of you will be responsible for each role.


3. Site Analysis and Report: Get intimately familiar with your selected site and begin collecting and recording data about the site. This information will be used to create your report that analyzes the successes and failures of the site. Additionally, your report needs to include an "action plan" of how you suggest the site or portions of the site gets redesigned.

Information that should be contained in the report:
1. Lists of individual tasks for conducting transactions
2. Discussion of the navigation model
3. Screen shots of the site
4. Analysis of competitors in the same market niche
5. Aesthetic design analysis and usability
6. Detailed plan for redesign



3. Initial Redesign: After reviewing your site analysis report, I will meet with your group to go over the scope of what you plan on redesigning. I do not expect you to redesign the entire site, but rather tackle portions of the site that focus on the completion of specific user tasks. Using PhotoShop, ImageReady or Illustrator, AND Dreamweaver you will redesign, reconstruct, or start entirely from scratch a new version of the website that you selected.

Specific Canvas information:
The dimensions for your interface should not exceed 800 pixels in width.


4. User Testing: Once the first round of designs is complete you will conduct user testing research on your design. During the user testing phase you are expected to have a list of specific tasks for the user to complete in addition to a list of general aesthetic questions that you will be asking the user. Plan on meeting with at least 4 to 5 individual users. I will hand out a sheet that your individual users will sign and date. Please recruit users that are NOT your classmates.

During the user testing sessions you are expected to record any and all data that will provide you with further direction on how to enhance and fix your design. Please keep your notes. I will collect them at the end of the assignment.



5. Round 2 of Redesign: Based on the findings that you gathered from the user testing, you will go back into your design and fix the items that came up in your user testing and discovery phase.




Summary:
- We will have at least 2 in-class presentations of your group’s work.

- Documents that your group will turn in:

1. Site analysis report
2. Designs: initial round of design (probably 1-2 static JPEG’s), and finally the working HTML pages
3. Organized user testing notes
4. User testing sign in sheet

- Concepts to think about in organizing your tasks and content:
- What are the top 5 tasks a user wishes to accomplish on this site? Rank them in level of importance.
- How will you group your content?
- Task?
- Time?
- Topic?
- All of the above?
- Things to think about regarding transaction capability: accepts credit cards, collects billing and shipping information, etc.

Introduction to Project 4

While we are waiting for the rest of the class check out this site:
http://www.1-to-you.com/

Spend about 10 minutes on the site and then we can talk about your usability findings.

When everyone is here we can go over Project 4.

Here is a great example of a project from a previous class:
http://www.faculty.cva.edu/cd224/ikea_final/ikea_home.html

After The Snow

Today we will resume where we left off. I would like people to show their updated web sites and talk briefly about what their user testing revealed.

Then we will work on a little exercise designed to help us get ready for our group project (Project 4).

If you haven't already please read 9-12 of Don't Make Me Think

Snow Day

Enjoy the day off! We will resume on Tuesday, March 6th.

On Tuesday, at the beginning of class, you should have redesigned your website based on feedback from the class and your user testing. You should also conduct a second wave of user testing with 5 different subjects. This time, present your users with definitions of the different elements they should be looking for. Look on the previous post for definitions.

Review Trunk Tests

1) Review Attendance Policy
2) Talk about Site/Page Analysis reports
3) Review Trunk Tests
4) Work on Redesigns

For Thursday:
At the beginning of class, you should have redesigned your website based on feedback from the class and your user testing. You should also conduct a second wave of user testing with 5 different subjects. This time, present your users with definitions of the different elements they should be looking for. Here are some suggestions for definitions, but feel free to write your own:

- Site ID - The name of the site

- Page name - The title of the individual page you are looking at

- Sections (main navigation) - These are the main areas of the site, like main topics of a menu "Breakfast, Lunch Specials, Dinner, Deserts"

- Local navigation (secondary navigation) - Using the menu metaphor, this would be ice cream deserts vs. desert cakes.

- "You are here" indicator(s) - Some indicator on the navigation or otherwise that tells you where you are in the site relative to other parts of the site. An example might be highlighting the section you are in on the navigation.

- Search - A function used to find content deep within the site. Usually consisting of a form field and a button that says "search"

The Trunk Test

Find 5 people (who are not in this class) between now and next Tuesday (2/27/07) and preform the "Trunk Test with one of the interior pages of your design.

You will do this by:

1) Opening your page in Photoshop and applying a Gaussian Blur with a radius of 1.5 pixels.
2) Print out the page and hand it to your victim and ask them to circle each item on this list.

- Site ID.
- Page name
- Section and subsections (main navigation)
- Local navigation (secondary navigation)
- "You are here" indicator(s)
- Search

3) Time them while they preform these tasks - you're watch must have a second hand.
4) Report the time in seconds it took your test subjects to find all the pieces and record it in your journal.
5) Ask the participants to talk out loud while they search for the items and take notes on their comments. Record it in your journal.

2/22/07

Today, we critique project 3, Site Redesign. You will need to present your work to the class, explain your design decisions and then we will start the next phase of the design process.

Work Day... mostly

Today, a little design talk. Starting with a tangent about the Open Source car.

Also, we will look at some of your fellow students usability discoveries.

Finally we will have time to work in class on the redesign projects.

For Thursday:
A class critique and begin the steps for an "extra special" step in the design process.

TANGENT ALERT:

From this month's Fast Company: Open source car... what could this mean for the automobile? Who knows, but when you think about the paradigm of the automobile, other than incremental changes in technology and safety advances, cars are pretty much what they have been for decades. For the most part they have 4 wheels (the front two turn), a combustion engine, rack and pinion steering, disk and/or drum breaks and mechanical systems for acceleration, breaking and steering.

What kind of innovation would occur if you had a couple thousand designers working on a car design rather than a few dozen? What if these designer were both industry insiders and people who simply have a passion for cars? Chaos? Maybe, but it works pretty well for software. It's almost Darwinian, in that the best ideas survive the scrutiny of brother and sister contributors. The ideas have a better chance of surviving based on the merit of their worth. So, OScar, I'll be rooting for you.

Project 3 - Thursday 2-15

1) Pop Quiz! Come on, you're not really surprised are you?

2) Behold, the beauty of the Eyeblaster Expand-O-matic:



Find out more about it by clicking here.

3) We will have time today to finish up your report for Project 3. You will need to hand it to me before you leave class tonight.

For Next Tuesday (2-20-07)
You will have some time in class to work on your web site redesign. The designs need only be Photoshop, Imageready files or JPGs/PNGs. By the end of class on Tuesday you should be done with the Design Phase of project 3.

Also, Bring to class 1 real-world usability issue you run across during the weekend. Write about it in your journal and be ready to talk about it in class.

On Thursday we will have a class critique and begin the steps for an "extra special" step in the design process.

For Today - Into to Project 3

1) Real world usability examples, including this:



2) Intro to Project 3 "Site Redesign"

3) Work on finding a site to redesign. It must be a site big enough to need a search function.

4) Show me your site of choice

5) Get started!

6) If you haven't already, read Chapters 6-8 of "Don't Make Me Think" for Thursday

For Thursday

By the end of class on Thursday you should have your Journal web site finished and updated with changes based on class critique of your site.

Also we will go over some more real-world examples of usability problems, including the topic of this article by Don Norman:
http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/simplicity_is_highly.html

Also you may want to take a look at the following articles:

http://www.asktog.com/columns/070iPhoneFirstLook.html

Writing for the Web

On Tuesday we will be reviewing your "Writing For The Web" projects. You should have this ready to present at the beginning of class. Have both a "before" and "after" version of your page to show.

We will also take a look at this and have a class dialogue around visual representation of data.

If there is time, at the end of class you may work on your joural site.

Workday!

First things, first... we will go over the Pop Quiz from Tuesday.

We will also spend some time working on project 2, writing for the Web. This is what you will need to do:

1) Choose one of the links below

http://www.cs.umn.edu/

http://www.celebrateourlives.com/

http://www.analysts.com/pages/SupplementalStaffing.aspx

http://www.bostonscientific.com/

http://west.thomson.com/westlaw/default.aspx


Or if you have an example of a really bad web site that you would like to work on, let me know and we can check it out together.

2) Next work on editing the text down to it's essentials. Remember people don't do a lot of reading on the web, they scan (more about this in chapter 5 of Don't Make Me Think).

3) If you have time left over, take another swing at your journal Web site. I would like you to update your site by Thursday, February 8th.

4) Finally, if you haven't already done so, please email me the address to your journal so I can link it off this blog.

For next week:

1) Finish your "Writing for the Web" exercise for Tuesday. Be ready to show your work with both a before and after version of the site.

2) Edits to your journal site need to be done by Thursday of next week (2-8-07)

Don't Make Me Think 1-5 - Journal Site

Today:

1) Pop Quiz! - Chapters 1-5 of Don't Make Me Think.

2) Class review of Don't Make Me think.

3) Class review of Journal Web Sites:


Additional things to ponder:

What do you think about Blogger's/Typepad's/whatever's user interface?

Who are these tools designed for?

4) Get Started on Writing for the Web:

http://www.cs.umn.edu/

http://www.celebrateourlives.com/

http://www.analysts.com/pages/SupplementalStaffing.aspx

http://www.bostonscientific.com/

First week

Well, we made it through... almost one class. Just so you know, leaving early won't happen all the time.

One thing we forgot to do before you left was take a poll on who will be buying what book for their book report.

Today:

1) If you are setting up a blog, using an online tool, you should be done with it tonight. If you are designing your site from scratch, I need to see a prototype by the end of class and you need to be finished by next Tuesday.

2) We will listen to the following podcast "Rules Of Thumb" from UXpod - User Experience Podcast Website by Gerry Gaffney

3) Class discussion about podcast and about this:



4) There will be some time to work on your journal site

5) Poll on what book you will do for your book report

Looking ahead...

1) Next week we will start to critique our journals.

2) Read Chapters 1-5 of "Don't Make Me Think" by Tuesday

3) If you are working on a journal site from scratch, you need to have a working site by Tuesday.

Welcome to Principles of Usability

If you haven't already purchaesd Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2nd Edition) by Steve Krug, you will need to do so as soon as possible. You can find it at almost any book store or you can order it online. Here is more detail about the book:

ISBN 0321344758
New Riders Press; 2 edition (August 18, 2005)

While you're at it, you may also want to buy one of the following. You will need one of them later on in the course:

Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data
by Stephen Few
ISBN 0596100167
O'Reilly Media (January 1, 2006)

The Design of Everyday Things
by Donald Norman
ISBN 0465067107
Basic Books; Reprint edition (September 17, 2002)

Finally, fill out this form and hand it to me by the end of class.

Project 5

Group Paper on Usability

Weeks 14 and 15

1. Read one of the following books:
   - The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
   - Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few
2. Each student will write an 4-6 page critique
3. Include both a summary and an analysis
4. The analysis should include at least the following:
   - New insights, information or interpretations about design
   - Description of the main points of the book
   - Your opinion on the validity of the points made in the book
5. Make a group presentation to the class
   - You will need to divide the presentation duties among the group
   - Your group will have half of the class period to present what you have learned, what the main points of the book are and your opinions about the book.
   

Project 4

Group Project - New Web Design

Weeks 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11

- Review Chapters 9-12, Don’t Make Me Think

Group Roles and Responsibilities:

Each group must designate a person(s) to fill the following roles:

• Project Manager
• Art Director/Designer
• Programmer
• Research
• Usability Tester
  

This assignment will require Time Tracking from each student.

Site/Page Analysis Report:

• Investigate a market niche and product. Put together demographic data and formulate a design plan for this product/service.
• Program: Microsoft Word

Design Phase:

• The initial design phase will involve the creation of a site content map, construction of a page design grid, and final page design in it’s fully fleshed out form.
• Programs: Microsoft Word, Photoshop, ImageReady, and Dreamweaver

Critique:
In-Class

User Testing:

• User testing can be performed using either paper models or working HTML pages.
• Reports will be written based upon the user testing data that was recorded
• Programs: Microsoft Word

Final Design Phase:

• The “final” design phase will involve the reworking of items and pages that continue to have usability problems that became apparent from the user testing.
• Programs: Photoshop, ImageReady, and Dreamweaver

Critique:
In-Class

Project 3

Site Redesign

Weeks 4, 5 and 6

- Review Chapters 6-8, Don’t Make Me Think

Site/Page Analysis Report:

• Critical review of selected website.
• Put together a report that examines the positives and the negatives of the site’s design, navigation, and structure.
• Visual samples of the site must be included.
• Program: Microsoft Word

Design Phase:

• The redesign phase will involve the reworking of pages that eliminate the original usability problems.
• Programs: Photohop or Imageready

Critique:
In-Class

Final Design Phase:

• The “final” design phase will involve the reworking of items and pages that continue to have usability problems that became apparent from the in-class critique.
• Programs: Photoshop or Imageready

Project 2

Writing for the Web

Weeks 2 and 3

- Review Chapters 1-5, Don’t Make Me Think
- Investigation of writing techniques
- Selection of text that students will rewrite based upon the studies of writing for the web.

Project 1

Online Journal

On-going

Maintain an online production journal throughout the entire semester. This journal will primarily act as a practice/staging area for coding and testing of interface ideas. In addition to uploading your coursework, the journal may also contain links to favorite websites, personal writing, portfolio, etc.

CVA CD 225 Principles of Usability - Survey

Please fill out the following form and return it to me by the end of class.

Name: ______________________________

Major: ______________________________

Email: ______________________________


Have you taken Intro to Digital Media (Computer 2)?
_____Yes _____No

Please rate your level of experience with the programs listed below.
_____ Photoshop
_____ ImageReady
_____ Dreamweaver
_____ Microsoft Word
_____ Various Web browsers (IE, Safari, Firefox)

Please rate your level of experience in writing HTML (Raw HTML or WYSIWYG editor).
_____ Scale of 1 - 5 (1 = little experience, 5 = very experienced)

What program have you used to write basic HTML? ______________________

How would you rate your web surfing experience and habits? Select one.
_____ Novice (Just starting to use the Web, use a couple times a month)
_____ Intermediate (Use once a week)
_____ Intermediate/Avid (Uses 2 - 3 times a week)
_____ Avid (Uses daily)

Have you ever designed a Website?
_____ Yes _____ No

Have you ever built a Website?
_____ Yes _____ No