HCI 510 : HCI Methods I
• User Needs
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
HCI 510: HCI Methods I
Learning Objectives
By the end of this class students should
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
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).
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?
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.
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.
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.
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
Usability
What is Usability ?
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.
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:
(1) Usability means focusing on users;
(2) People use products to be productive;
(3) Users are busy people trying to accomplish tasks; and
(4) Users decide when a product is easy to use.
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.
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.
Usability
Definitions (4)
Usability has an ISO standard (ISO 9241-11), where usability is defined as:
effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
USER CENTRED DESIGN – WORKSHEET 02
Put the text in the correct boxes to define the development life cycle
Specify Requirements
Specify Context of Use
Evaluate Designs
Identify Need for Human Centered Design
System Satisfies Specified Requirements
Produce Design Solutions
User Centered Design - Process
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.
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
• User Centered Design The most important part
of this process is that evaluation - ideally through
Introduction
usability testing with actual users - is as integral as quality testing is to good
software development.
• Usability
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
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.
2.
3.
4.
Analysis,
Design,
Implementation and
Deployment,
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
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
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
User Centered Design - Methods
Worksheet 3
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
AFFORDANCES
AFFORDANCES
AFFORDANCES
AFFORDANCES
Carelman’s Tandem
AFFORDANCES
Carelman’s Coffee Pot for Masochists
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
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.
Norman’s Principles
• Make it easy to determine what actions are possible at any moment.
Norman’s Principles
• Make things visible, including the conceptual model of the system,
the alternative actions, and the results of actions.
Norman’s Principles
• Make it easy to evaluate the current state of the system.
Imagine trying to draw a picture with a pencil that left no mark on the paper.
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Norman’s Principles
• 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.
NORMAN’S AFFORDANCES
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.
Glass vs Wood - Smash vs Write
NORMAN’S Assignment
Think like a usability engineer. Select an
object from your home.
Analyse it as a usability engineer would.
Not the whole object …
Just one or two functions.
How do you determine what actions are
available at any moment with this object ?
How is feedback provided ?
What is the conceptual model of the system ?
What are the affordances of the object ?
Due on February 9th 2010