Assignment #3 - Iterative Design Project - User Interface Engineering

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Assignment #3: Iterative Design Project
EM220.3: Experience Design Management
at the Gordon Institute
Jared M. Spool Assignment #3 Due: March 31, 2008
User Interface Engineering
510 Turnpike Street, Suite 102
North Andover, MA 01845
978 327-5561
jspool@uie.com (Put ‘[TGI]’ in the subject line of all correspondence.)
http://www.uie.com
Blog: http://www.uie.com/brainsparks
Assignment Overview
A critical skill for Experience Design Management involves creating a prototype of a
design and collecting feedback from users.
In this assignment, you’ll:
• Create a working prototype of a design
• Ask two users to use the design
• Observe problems the users encounter
• Revise the design
• Ask two more users to use the revised design
• Observe if the original problems were sufficiently addressed and if any new
problems occurred
• Write a report describing what you learned from each iteration of the design
The deliverable for this assignment is an executive-quality proposal detailing each of
the items above. You’ll be graded on:
• The rigor behind your iterations
• The depth of the problems you discovered
• The quality of your writing
EM 220.3 Experience Design Management Assignment #3

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Assignment Detail
For this assignment, you’ll need to choose something to design. You’ll want to choose
something that you have an interest in the result.
Your project needs to have an interactive component that is easy to prototype.
Ideally, this will be some sort of software, hardware, or web site. Services are a
possibility if they are easy to model and modify.
You can use the product or service from your group project or you can do something
completely differently. In past years, students have done:
• Problem tracking systems
• Engineering reporting systems
• A company phone book
• A sewing machine interface
• An interface for a plastic
extrusion device
• Packaging for sterile catheters
• Instructions for drill press
operation
• A web site for Korean students
attending school in the US
• A web site for First Night
activities
• An interactive map of Tufts
• An interface for a blood-gas
monitor
You don’t need to implement the entire thing. You just need some facet that you can
have users work with for 15 to 20 minutes in a usability test. For example, you
wouldn’t implement the entire problem tracking system, but you could evaluate the
data entry screen or reporting subsystem. Your prototype has to be something
people can use. Your users will need to complete multiple tasks.
You’ll create the first implementation using a simple prototyping method. You can
use the paper prototyping technique we’ll do in our classroom exercise. Or you can
create the prototype using any other materials or electronically. Just make sure you
choose a technique where you can easily change the prototype for the second
iteration.
In addition to creating the prototype, you’ll need to create tasks for the users to
perform. You should have enough work that would keep someone busy for 15 to 20
minutes. (It’s always a good idea to have a couple extra “backup” tasks, in case your
users are super efficient and get things done quickly.)
You’ll need to recruit a minimum of 4 people to use your prototype. Two will use the
first iteration and two will use the second. (The more users the better, so if you can
recruit more than four, I highly recommend it.) The users should be representative of
people who will actually use the finished design.
You’ll conduct a minimum of 2 rounds of testing. The first round, using the first 2
users, will uncover any problems with your design. You’ll then make changes to the
prototype and conduct the second round, with 2 new users.
EM 220.3 Experience Design Management Assignment #3

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Note: Your users actually have to use the prototype you create. Just asking their
opinions, without completing a task using the design, is not sufficient for this
assignment.
Written Assignment
What you’ll turn in is a three-page (maximum) report. The report is to contain the
following:
1. A brief description of the design
2. A brief description of the people you recruited
3. A brief description of the tasks you asked the users to perform
4. A detailed description of the findings from the first iteration
5. A brief description of the changes you made to the design
6. A detailed description of the findings from the second iteration
7. A detailed assessment of how quick iterations would or would not improve the
products/services of your organization (or future organizations).
Grade Assessment
This assignment is worth 35% of your overall grade for this course.
I will grade your assignment using this rubric:
• Content/Correctness (60%): Obvious main point, well-organized, fulfills
assignment, and is interesting to read
• Grammar/Mechanics (20%): Solid sentence structure, flawless spelling, and
excellent punctuation use.
• Clarity/Style (20%): Writing is clear, writing is concise, paper is appropriate
for the audience, and author's language is professional and vocabulary is
appropriate.
Second-Chance Policy: It’s important to me that you leave this course really
understanding the fundamentals taught in this course. When you receive the graded
assignment back, you will have the option to make modifications and resubmit it. For
your final grade, I’ll use the better of the two grades.
Submission Instructions
Assemble the document as a Microsoft Word or PDF document. It must be no longer
than three pages.
Make sure your name and email address is on the first page of the assignment. I will
email your grades and my comments back to that address.
Name the document as follows: “LASTNAME - Assignment 3.doc” (or “.pdf”). For
example, if I were to do this, I would name it “Spool - Assignment 3.doc”.
EM 220.3 Experience Design Management Assignment #3

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Mail it to tgi@uie.com with the subject line: “[TGI] Assignment 3 Submission” (Do
not use this subject line if you have questions about the assignment. See instructions
below.)
The assignment is due by the end of the day on March 31, 2008.
Thoughts or Questions?
If you need me to respond immediately, feel free to send me an email at
jspool@uie.com. Please put [TGI] in the subject line, so I can keep my aggressive
spam filters from trashing your message.
Alternatively, you can reach me at my office at 978 327-5561. (Please note that I
travel quite frequently, so email may work better.)
EM 220.3 Experience Design Management Assignment #3