For Assignments 3-6, you will use a set of guidelines to conduct a heuristic analysis of a interface. This will be done in small steps. Before starting, you must:
Find one set of interface guidelines/heuristics to use for the remaining assignments.
There should be at least 7 heuristics in the set (7-10 is optimal, if more, choose which to aply)
Explore the guidelines to see what they entail and start thinking about how they apply to the interfaces you use To optimize your learning choose guidelines that might be applicable to future interfaces you might design/develop. Choosing guidelines that might inform your project, would also be helpful. Avoid choosing the same guidelines as others in your group to minimize the chance of an academic integrity violation.
A3 Due March 2, 2020
Write a 2-3page report about the guidelines you chose. Consider including discussions of:
o What are the guiding principles for the guidelines?
o Are they high level or do they give detail about how to implement them in an interface?
o What is their scope? (are they all purpose? For a specific kind of activity? For a specific type of user? For a specific type of device? Etc. ) o If they have been around for more than a year or two, make sure to discuss whether or not they are still relevant, and any situations that they may not cover o Use 2-3 screen shots to help illustrate your discussion. These could be provided as part of the guidelines or be screen shots of applications that you use that appear to follow one or more of the guidelines.
o Remember to appropriately cite your sources o An exceptional assignment will provide a very thorough analysis and insightful discussion
A4 Due: March 11, 2020
Find an example of an interface that BADLY implements the guidelines (or perhaps hasn’t implemented any guidelines or the wrong type of guidelines). To be clear, this should be a BAD INTERFACE that you think could be improved if the guidelines you have chosen had been followed • Write a ~2 page critique of the interface. Identify which aspects of the guidelines are implemented well, and which need to be improved upon To help organize your analysis, use a summary table with the following columns:
o Guideline, Yes, No, Partially, Comments § This will provide an at a glance view of which bits of the interface follow the guidelines (check marks under yes, no, or partially) and where improvement efforts could be directed
If you have chosen a design guide with more than about 10 guidelines, you may choose a subset of guidelines on which to focus. Justify that choice. An exceptional assignment will provide a compelling argument for each aspect of the critique and will be a comprehensive review of the guidelines. If handed to an interface designer, would they have enough guidance to understand which aspects of the interface need to be improved and how? (i.e., could they do Assignment 5 based on your report?_
A5 Due: March 25, 2020
2-3 page report Identify 3 aspects of the BAD interface from A4 that you think would be most important to improve. Justify your choice. For each aspect, provide a sketch of how the interface could be designed to better implement the guidelines
A6 Due: April 7, 2020
Create either a high-fidelity or low fidelity prototype that implements that changes you identified in A5 Demo it (do it during class time, during office hours, or email to set up a mutually agreeable time on April 7 th or 8th) Be prepared to DISCUSS with us how your interface redesign meets the guidelines you followed
give the a3 before March 2, a4 before March 11, a5 before 25