HCI 510 : HCI Methods I

1. HCI 510 : HCI Methods I User Needs

2. HCI 510: HCI Methods I • User Centered Design - Introduction • Usability • User Centered Design - Process • User Centered Design - Methods • Affordances • Norman’s Principles of User Centered Design

3. HCI 510: HCI Methods I • Learning Objectives • By the end of this class students should

4. HCI 510: HCI Methods I • User Centered Design - Introduction • Usability • User Centered Design - Process • User Centered Design - Methods • Affordances • Norman’s Principles of User Centered Design

5. HCI 510: Texts • User-Centered Design. • In Bainbridge, W., Encyclopedia of HCI. • (Abras, C., Maloney-Krichmar, D., Preece, J., 2004) • The Design Of Everyday Things (Norman, 1988).

6. User Centered Design The design of everyday objects is not always intuitive and at times it leaves the user frustrated and unable to complete a simple task. How many of us have bought a VCR/TIVO/HDR that we have struggled to used and missed recording our favorite programs because we misunderstood the instructions or had to put up with the clock blinking 12:00 because we didn’t know how to stop it? Do we have to put up with designs like these? Isn’t it possible to design systems that are more usable?

7. User Centered Design ‘User-centered design’ (UCD) is a broad term to describe design processes in which end-users influence how a design takes shape. It is both a broad philosophy and variety of methods. There is a spectrum of ways in which users are involved in UCD but the important concept is that users are involved one way or another. For example, some types of UCD consult users about their needs and involve them at specific times during the design process; typically during requirements gathering and usability testing. At the opposite end of the spectrum there are UCD methods in which users have a deep impact on the design by being involved as partners with designers throughout the design process.

8. User Centered Design The term ‘User Centered Design’ originated in Donald Norman’s research laboratory at the University of California San Diego in the 1980s and became widely used after the publication of a co-authored book entitled: User-Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction (Norman & Draper, 1986). Norman built further on the UCD concept in his seminal book: The Design Of Everyday Things (Norman, 1988). In this book he recognizes the needs and the interests of the user and focuses on the usability of the design.

9. User Centered Design Norman offers four basic suggestions on how a design should be: • Make it easy to determine what actions are possible at any moment. • Make things visible, including the conceptual model of the system, the alternative actions, and the results of actions. • Make it easy to evaluate the current state of the system. • Follow natural mappings between intentions and the required actions; between actions and the resulting effect; and between the information that is visible and the interpretation of the system state.

10. HCI 510: HCI Methods I • User Centered Design - Introduction • Usability • User Centered Design - Process • User Centered Design - Methods • Affordances • Norman’s Principles of User Centered Design

11. Usability What is Usability ?

12. Usability • Usability is the degree to which something is easy to use and a good fit for the people who use it. • It is a quality or characteristic of a product. • It is whether a product is efficient, effective and satisfying for those who use it. • It is the name for the techniques developed by usability professionals to help create usable products. • It is a shorthand term for a process or approach to creating those products, also called user-centered design.

13. Usability • Definitions (1) • Usability means that the people who use the product can do so quickly and easily to accomplish their own tasks. • This definition rests on four points: • Usability means focusing on users; • People use products to be productive; • Users are busy people trying to accomplish tasks; and • Users decide when a product is easy to use.

14. Usability Definitions (2) After all, usability really just means that making sure that something works well: that a person of average (or even below average) ability and experience can use the thing - whether it's a Web site, a fighter jet, or a revolving door - for its intended purpose without getting hopelessly frustrated.

15. Usability • Definitions (3) • It is important to realize that usability is not a single, one-dimensional property of a user interface. • Usability has multiple components and is traditionally associated with these five usability attributes: • Learnability, • Efficiency, • Memorability, • Errors, • Satisfaction.

16. Usability Definitions (4) Usability has an ISO standard (ISO 9241-11), where usability is defined as: effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction.

17. Usability Rank the following Usability quotes in the order you see as most important. Enter a number for 1 to 6, in the boxes, with 1 being the most important.

18. HCI 510: HCI Methods I • User Centered Design - Introduction • Usability • User Centered Design - Process • User Centered Design - Methods • User Centered Design – Questions • Affordances • Norman’s Principles of User Centered Design

19. User Centered Design - Process Understanding who users are and what they are doing can and should be a critical component of any HCI investigation. The techniques and methods used to obtain user and task information come from usability engineering, which is a group of development methodologies that combine engineering, psychology, computer science and usability methodologies.

20. User Centered Design - Process In broad terms, User Centered Design (UCD) is a design philosophy and a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of end users of a product, interface or document are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process. User centered design can be characterized as a multi-stage problem solving process that not only requires designers to analyze and foresee how users are likely to use an interface, but also to test the validity of their assumptions with regards to user behaviour in real world tests with actual users. Such testing is necessary as it is often very difficult for the designers of an interface to understand intuitively what a first-time user of their design experiences, and what each user's learning curve may look like. Example : Texting

21. User Centered Design - Process The chief difference from other interface design philosophies is that user-centered design tries to optimize the user interface around how people can, want, or need to work, rather than forcing the users to change how they work to accommodate the developers approach.

22. User Centered Design - Process One of the international standards that is the basis for many UCD methodologies (ISO 13407: Human-centered design process) defines a general process for including human-centered activities throughout a development life-cycle, but does not specify exact methods.

23. USER CENTRED DESIGN – WORKSHEET 02 Put the text in the correct boxes to define the development life cycle Specify Requirements Evaluate Designs System Satisfies Specified Requirements Specify Context of Use Identify Need for Human Centered Design Produce Design Solutions

24. User Centered Design - Process

25. User Centered Design - Process 1. Specify the context of use Identify the people who will use the product, what they will use it for, and under what conditions they will use it. 2. Specify requirements Identify any business requirements or user goals that must be met for the product to be successful.

26. User Centered Design - Process 3. Create design solutions This part of the process may be done in stages, building from a rough concept to a complete design. 4. Evaluate designs The most important part of this process is that evaluation - ideally through usability testing with actual users - is as integral as quality testing is to good software development. • User Centered Design - Introduction • Usability

27. User Centered Design - Models • User Centered Design Models • Cooperative Design: involving designers and users on an equal footing. This is the Scandinavian tradition of design of IT artifacts and it has been evolving since 1970. • Participatory Design (PD): a North American term for the same concept, inspired by Cooperative Design, focusing on the participation of users. Since 1990, there has been a bi-annual Participatory Design Conference. • Contextual Design: “customer-centered design” in the actual context, including some ideas from Participatory design

28. User Centered Design - Process A Typical User Centered Design Methodology Most user-centered design methodologies are detailed in suggesting specific activities, and the time within a process when they should be completed. The following shows a typical UCD process. In this version, the UCD activities are broken down into four phases: 1. Analysis, 2. Design, 3. Implementation and 4. Deployment,

29. User Centered Design - Process A Typical User Centered Design Methodology 1. Analysis Phase • Meet with key stakeholders to set vision • Include usability tasks in the project plan • Assemble a multidisciplinary team to ensure complete expertise • Develop usability goals and objectives • Conduct field studies • Look at competitive products • Create user profiles • Develop a task analysis • Document user scenarios • Document user performance requirements

30. User Centered Design - Process A Typical User Centered Design Methodology 2. Design Phase • Begin to brainstorm design concepts and metaphors • Develop screen flow and navigation model • Do walkthroughs of design concepts • Begin design with paper and pencil • Create low-fidelity prototypes • Conduct usability testing on low-fidelity prototypes • Create high-fidelity detailed design • Do usability testing again • Document standards and guidelines • Create a design specification

31. User Centered Design - Process A Typical User Centered Design Methodology 3. Implementation Phase • Do ongoing heuristic evaluations • Work closely with delivery team as design is implemented • Conduct usability testing as soon as possible 4. Deployment Phase • Use surveys to get user feedback • Conduct field studies to get info about actual use • Check objectives using usability testing You may notice that “usability testing” appears several times throughout the process, from the first phase to the last. Providing a positive user experience is an ongoing process.

32. HCI 510: HCI Methods I • User Centered Design - Introduction • Usability • User Centered Design - Process • User Centered Design - Methods • Affordances • Norman’s Principles of User Centered Design

33. User Centered Design - Methods USERS It is necessary to think carefully about who is a user and how to involve users in the design process. Obviously users are the people who will use the final product or artifact to accomplish a task or goal. But there are other users as well. The people who manage the users have needs and expectations too. What about those persons who are affected in some way by the use of the artifact or use the products and/or services of the artifact? Shouldn’t their needs and expectations be taken into consideration in the design process?

34. User Centered Design - Methods USERS Eason identified three types of users: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary users are those persons who actually use the artifact; Secondary users are those who will occasionally use the artifact or those who use it through an intermediary; Tertiary users are persons who will be affected by the use of the artifact or make decisions about its purchase. The successful design of a product must take into account the wide range of stakeholders of the artifact. Not everyone who is a stakeholder needs to be represented on a design team, but the effect of the artifact on them must be considered.

35. User Centered Design - Methods Background Interviews and Questionnaires: Collecting data related to the needs and expectations of users; evaluation of design alternatives, prototypes and the final artifact at the beginning of the design project. Sequence of Work Interviews and Questionnaires: Collecting data related to the sequence of work to be performed with the artifact early in the design cycle. Focus Groups: Include a wide range of stakeholders to discuss issues, share their thoughts, feelings, attitudes, ideas, and describe their requirements early in the design cycle. It's often necessary to have an experienced moderator and analyst for a focus group to be effective. On-Site Observation: Collecting information about the environment and context in which the artifact will be used early in the design cycle.

36. User Centered Design - Methods Participatory Design: Participatory design actively involves users in the design and decision-making processes. This often takes the form of a mini-project to generate prototypes to feed into a project design process. Participatory design sessions require an experienced moderator. This usually occurs early in the design cycle. Role Playing, Walkthroughs, and Simulations: Evaluation of alternative designs and gaining additional information about user needs and expectations; prototype evaluation. This usually occurs early to mid way through the design cycle Usability Testing: Collecting quantitative data related to measurable usability criteria in the later stages of the design cycle. Final Interviews and Questionnaires: Collecting data related to user satisfaction with the artifact in the final stages of the design cycle.

37. User Centered Design - Methods Worksheet 3 The following table lists a range of user centered design techniques. Fill in the cost, output type and sample size for each of these techniques.

38. User Centered Design - Methods Worksheet 3

39. HCI 510: HCI Methods I • User Centered Design - Introduction • Usability • User Centered Design - Process • User Centered Design - Methods • Affordances • Norman’s Principles of User Centered Design

40. AFFORDANCES An affordance is a quality of an object, or an environment, that allows an individual to perform an action. The term is used in a variety of fields: perceptual psychology, cognitive psychology, environmental psychology, industrial design, human–computer interaction, interaction design and artificial intelligence. Psychologist James J. Gibson originally introduced the term and explored it more fully in his book The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception in 1979. He defined affordances as: “All ‘action possibilities’ latent in the environment, objectively measurable and independent of the individual's ability to recognize them, but always in relation to the actor and therefore dependent on their capabilities.” For instance, a set of steps which rises four feet high does not afford the act of climbing if the actor is a crawling infant. Gibson's is the prevalent definition in cognitive psychology.

41. AFFORDANCES Two different affordance definitions have developed. The original definition describes all action possibilities that are physically possible; A refinement to that definition describes action possibilities of which the actor is aware. In a further shift of meaning, the term has come to be also used in the HCI context as indicating the easy discoverability of action possibilities.

42. AFFORDANCES Two different affordance definitions have developed. The original definition describes all action possibilities that are physically possible; A refinement to that definition describes action possibilities of which the actor is aware. In a further shift of meaning, the term has come to be also used in the HCI context as indicating the easy discoverability of action possibilities.

43. AFFORDANCES Norman says : Consider a pair of scissors: even if you have never seen or used them before, you can see the number of possible actions is limited. The holes are clearly there to put something into, the only logical things that fit are fingers. The holes are affordances: they allow the fingers to be inserted. The size of the holes provide constraints to limit the possible fingers: the big hole suggests several fingers, the small hole only one.

44. AFFORDANCES

45. AFFORDANCES

46. AFFORDANCES

47. AFFORDANCES Carelman’s Tandem

48. AFFORDANCES Carelman’s Coffee Pot for Masochists

49. HCI 510: HCI Methods I • User Centered Design - Introduction • Usability • User Centered Design - Process • User Centered Design - Methods • Affordances • Norman’s Principles of User Centered Design

50. Norman’s Principles Norman offers four basic suggestions on how a design should be: • Make it easy to determine what actions are possible at any moment. • Make things visible, including the conceptual model of the system, the alternative actions, and the results of actions. • Make it easy to evaluate the current state of the system. • Follow natural mappings between intentions and the required actions; between actions and the resulting effect; and between the information that is visible and the interpretation of the system state.