This assignment is about getting some practice with applying some usability principles. Review the principles in Designing the User Interface, Section 3.3.4 “The Eight Golden Rules of interface design.” Then choose one interactive system for which you can illustrate and explain how 5 of the 8 principles apply. You will use the same interactive system for all five principles you choose. An example “interactive system” may be a Web application, a mobile phone app, a game, or even a physical device that has an interactive menu or requires buttons pushed to accomplish a goal (e.g. a DVD, radio, microwave, etc.). You have a lot of flexibility but choose an example that you can provide screen captures or photos or some real illustration of and for which you can write 5-10 sentence about how each of the 5 principles you choose apply.
Note: Because these are provided as examples, you may not use Amazon.com or Uber as the system you evaluate.
Grading rubric:
5 points for the overall assignment formatting and completeness, plus 7 points for each of the five principles (40 points total)
- 4 points: How was the principle applicable? Describe in 5-10 sentences how the principle was applied and what it reveals about the design (can be positive or negative).
- 3 points: Does the provided images or illustrations of the system show how the principle was applied? Provide a suitable image/screenshot/illustration that shows how the principle was applied. You can provide a one or more illustrations for each principle, but a single illustration can also show multiple principles.
A note about format: this should not be a simple list, but instead written as an essay or report about the system. Good submissions will provide an introduction with a brief description of the system and summary of the goals of the assignment, followed by a separate section with appropriate headings for each of the 5 principles.
A note about using illustrations: do not expect a screenshot or photo to speak for itself. A phrase like, “as can be seen in the screenshot…” is meaningless if there isn’t more detail provided. There are several ways to use illustrations well.
- Use your words. For example, I might provide a screenshot of a Canvas page and then say, “As can be seen in the blue-background area on the left side of the page, several icons are provided (e.g. Dashboard, Courses, Calendar, etc.) which provide links to different Canvas features.”
- Use annotations. Circles, arrows, highlights, and text can all be added to an image to increase its usefulness. This can be done in many programs, but I find PowerPoint to be simple and easy to use. Import the screenshot as an image on the slide, and then use the drawing tools to annotate the image. This can then be exported as an image for use in your document.
- Create a drawing that abstracts away the unimportant features and highlights the feature you are interested in. For example, a “wireframe” sketch is a way to show the content areas of a webpage without filling in all the content (see https://speckyboy.com/20-effective-examples-of-web-and-mobile-wireframe-sketches/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for examples). These can be hand-drawn or done on a computer.
