Concepts, principles, and techniques to:
i) design and research interactive systems centered on the User Experience (UX)
ii) work in user-centered design (UCD) processes, which include: study of the design context and field studies; ideation and generation of design concepts; prototype creation, development, and evaluation.
This knowledge draws from diverse multidisciplinary areas, such as: Interaction Design (IxD); Human-Computer Interaction (HCI); User Experience (UX) design and research; and Design Research.
1. Introduction
Description:
Introduction to designing and researching interactive systems, and to interaction design processes. Introduction to multidisciplinary areas relevant to design and research interactive systems, and to work in user-centered interaction design processes (e.g. IxD, HCI, Design Research); and key concepts (e.g. usability, user experience or UX).
Detailed content:
- Definition of interactive system, user experience (UX), usability, and other key concepts (e.g. affordance, mapping).
- Design and research in the area of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Phases and different paradigms, concepts, methods, contributions, and specific values.
- The user-centered design (UCD) process. Phases: study of the design context and field study; analysis and establishing requirements; design; evaluation.
2. Study of the design context and field work
Description:
Techniques to understand users and to study and characterize the situation, phenomenon, practice or activity to design for. IxD and HCI techniques to design studies and collect data.
Detailed content:
- Study techniques: documentation, interviews (structured, semi-structured, non-structured), questionnaires (closed, open), observation techniques (direct, indirect), focus groups.
- Study design: Study protocol creation, and key considerations to collect data.
- Documentation and data collection techniques.
3. Data analysis.
Description:
Techniques to analyze and present data.
Detailed content:
- Kinds of data and analysis: quantitative, qualitative, mixed.
- Introduction to quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques.
- Obtaining and presenting results and insights.
4. Requirements and design drives.
Description:
Techniques to present and transform results into requirements and design drives.
Detailed content:
- Stories, scenarios, personas, user stories, use cases, storyboards.
- Requirements: characteristics and types.
5. Interaction design and prototyping.
Description:
Techniques to explore the design space and to conceptualize and materialize designs. Innovation, ideation, and design techniques.
Detailed content:
- Double diamond design model for the design process: divergent and convergent design.
- Traditional and innovative techniques to generate and conceptualize designs.
- Prototype and sketch: Characteristics and differences.
- Kinds of prototypes and tools to prototype and evaluate designs.: low-fidelity prototypes (e.g. paper prototypes), and high-fidelity prototypes (e.g. functional prototypes), wireframes, mockups, Wizard of Oz technique.
- Introduction to advanced concepts and techniques to design interactive systems. Persuasive and embodied design.
6. Evaluation.
Description:
Techniques to study and evaluate the interaction and experience with designs and prototypes.
Detailed content:
- Evaluation: benefits and impact.
- Diverse objects and kinds of evaluation: formative and summative evaluation; with and without users; inspection methods, and predictive models and evaluations; experimental evaluations.
- Evaluation environments.
- Study and evaluation protocols.
- Evaluation methods: predictive modeling, A/B testing, Heuristics, Cognitive Walkthrough, usability and user experience studies, embodied evaluation techniques.
- Techniques employed in evaluation studies: observation techniques, think aloud, established questionnaires.
