Agenda

• How Project 1 will work
• What you’re expected to deliver
• Our schedule for the week
• How you’ll be assessed
• The brief!

Overview

This project is about rapid prototyping. By the end of the week, you’ll be presenting an interactive prototype of a mobile application and explaining to the class how you got there.

Every day we’ll explore a UX technique which will help you in your design process. There will also be workshop time for you to further your project.

Class and workshop time is mandatory. You should expect to spend some time outside of class making this project great as well.

What you’ll create

• An interactive prototype of your current design iteration based on hand-drawn sketched interfaces

• Photo documentation of the artifacts you’ve created during the design process, including:

  • User flows (1 to 2 final flows, plus any previous versions)
  • Notes from user interviews
  • Sketches (rough and final)
  • You (and your users) in action!

• A 7-minute presentation outlining your problem statement, process, current design iteration, and next steps

What your presentation will show

• The problem you are addressing
• The trends and behaviors you discovered and how you designed for them
• How you iterated your design in response to user testing
• A demonstration of how someone would use your app (using your prototype)
• The overall story of your process, including selected action photos and artifacts

Our schedule this week

Project Brief

• You will be designing a mobile app in one of the following categories:
  • News Aggregator
  • Weather
  • Messaging
  • To-do List
• You will interview three people about their pains, pleasures, contexts (time and place), and behaviors to inform the design of your app.

An Example

Category: Alarms

Interview Findings

• “I never know when to leave the house to get to class on time.”
• “I wake up tired and stressed.”
• “I always end up staying up later than I want.”
• “I adjust my alarm every night based on my workout plans.”
• “I can never remember what day to take out the trash.”
• “Getting my kids up and ready for school in the morning is stressful.”

Problem Statement

From my interviews, I’ve learned that a common problem among the users I interviewed is that they wake up tired in the morning because they’re staying up late playing games and checking social media.

Design

In the quick couple of days we had to research, test, and draft prototypes, I proposed an idea for an app to help people take control of their evenings in order to ensure productivity and get a good night’s rest. It includes a way to block distracting applications at night, set an alarm, and tell users when to go to bed so they can get enough sleep.

TK: image of sketches

What we’re looking for

• Have you identified your target user type? (e.g. “The Regretful Night Owl”)
• Have you understood your users' problems, contexts, and behaviors?
• Does your proposed design address the problems effectively?
• Have you validated your proposed design with users?
• Have you responded to user feedback with design improvements?
• Can you communicate your idea effectively?

Tips

• Keep it simple
  • A simple idea executed will is better than an ambitious idea executed poorly.
• Stick to a single idea
  • Beware of the ‘one-stop shop’ or Swiss Army knives.
• Tell us the story
  • “Sell us the house, not the light switch.”

Post-presentation requirements

• Upload a single PDF to Google Drive by Saturday, TK by 3pm
• Your PDF should include:
  • Your presentation slides (with a clickable link to your prototype)
  • Photo documentation of the artifacts you’ve created during the design process, including:
  • User flows (1 to 2 final flows, plus and previous versions)
  • Notes from user interview
  • Sketches (rough and final)
  • You (and your users) in action!