Assignment 4: Communicating Your Design

Overview

Now that you have identified a problem, selected a good design, and iterated on that design, it is time to communicate your design. This group assignment communicates your design through a website, a video prototype, a poster, and a pitch.

This assignment is worth 15% of your overall course grade:

Note Assignment 4d: Communication Critique and Assignment 4f: Poster Session are intentionally not graded.

Milestones

This is a group assignment, consisting of six milestones.

Project Description

In this assignment, you communicate your design in several forms. You will create a website, a video prototype, a poster, and a pitch to present your work from the entire quarter.

  1. Create a project website that provides an overview of the project, presents your design process, and introduces team members. At a minimum, it should include links to your Assignment 2 report, your Assignment 3 report, your video prototype, and your poster. Optionally, also include your presentations or other materials.

    Be sure you have updated any documents that course staff said needed fixed before posting (e.g., any report that accidentally included participant identifying information).

  2. Create a video prototype that illustrates your proposed design. Use the storyboards you created as a basis for your video prototype. Be sure you video conveys all of:

    • the problem
    • the design
    • the context
    • the satisfaction

    Refer to the examples provided in lecture, as well as videos from prior classes, for creating an effective video.

    It is critical that your video be short enough to remain engaging while delivering its content. Your video prototype should probably not be more than 2 minutes long.

    A modern phone can capture video of adequate quality for this assignment. However, if your group does not have access to a camera, we can loan you a low cost camera. Please contact us immediately if this is a need.

  3. Create a poster that communicates your design and your design process to a general audience. The goal is to present your work in a visual form to interested parties from across campus or from industry. You need to quickly convey the most important aspects of your work. The poster must be 32”x40” (portrait, vertical).

  4. Create a pitch that you can deliver together with your poster. This should summarize the problem and your design. It should be no more than 1 minute long. This pitch should convince the audience your problem was worth investigating and that your design effectively addresses it.

Deliverables

4a: Initial Website

Due: Uploaded the night before class Tuesday, December 1, 2015

We will use your websites to advertise the poster session. Although this is in an initial website on which you will get feedback and will be able to update, you should submit a complete and high-quality versions of your website.

Your website will be served from a subdirectory of this course website. It is also link via a thumbnail from the projects page:

Projects Page

You can build your website however you like, but everything needed for your site must be in your directory. Do not attempt to integrate with the Jekyll functionality used for this course website. Simply build your website and submit the set of static files to be served from your directory.

You will later add your video to the website.

Examples from Prior Offerings

Examples from prior offerings include:

The projects we have been posting this quarter:

Additional projects from the same prior offerings:

Submission

Submit a pull request containing your website. We will merge as quickly as possible. You can submit multiple requests if needed to fix issues or improve your website. Your request should not modify anything outside your project website. Information on building a local copy of this site, and on submitting a pull request, is here:

Development Guide

Submit simple pull requests early so that you become familiar with this functionality. Do not wait until the final moments to begin to learn how to do this.

If you are absolutely unable to submit a pull request, submit via Canvas here:

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/987987/assignments/3055624

Grading

This milestone will be graded on a scale of 8 points:

  1. Completeness of Content: (3 points)
  2. Appropriately Polished Presentation: (3 points)
  3. Submitted via Pull Request: (2 points)

Your website should be complete and will be evaluated as such. But later critique and refinement will help further improve it before the final poster session.

4b: Initial Video Prototype

Due: Uploaded the night before class Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Submit your video prototype in a portable and playable format. It should be playable on a Windows laptop and Mac OS laptop without special codecs installed (e.g., H.264 in an mp4 container). It should be sufficiently high-resolution for projection, but sufficiently compressed that it can be played on a typical laptop. It should be less than 50 MB in size.

Remember it should probably not be more than 2 minutes long.

We recommend encoding your video using open-source tool HandBrake together with its iPad preset.

If you contact us regarding early drafts of your video, we will test that they play properly.

Examples from Prior Offerings

Examples from prior offerings include:

The projects we have been posting this quarter:

Additional projects from the same prior offerings:

Submission

Submit via Canvas here:

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/987987/assignments/3056710

Grading

This milestone will be graded on a scale of 6 points:

  1. Conveys Problem, Design, Context, and Satisfaction: (3 points)
  2. Appropriately Polished and Timed: (3 points)

Your video prototype should be complete and will be evaluated as such. But later critique and refinement will help further improve it before the final poster session.

4c: Poster Critique and Pitch

Due: Uploaded the night before class Thursday, December 10, 2015

Your poster should include:

  • Logo
  • Project Title
  • Problem
  • Value Proposition
  • Key Functionality
  • Design Process and Iteration

Your poster should include images and limited amounts of text.

An effective poster size is 32”x40”. A PowerPoint template available here:

Cow Project PowerPoint template

You should significantly modify the template to be unique and represent your project.

During the final poster session, your team will give a one minute pitch to a small group of judges.

Be prepared to give this pitch in class. Course staff and other students will give feedback so you can improve before the final poster session.

Examples from Prior Offerings

Examples from prior offerings include:

The projects we have been posting this quarter:

Additional projects from the same prior offerings:

Submission

Submit your poster via Canvas here:

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/987987/assignments/3056711

Your poster may be in PPT, PPTX, or PDF format. We have a color plotter that can print posters this size. Your source file is due as above, we will then coordinate with you for proofreading and printing.

Be prepared to give your elevator pitch in class.

Grading

This milestone will be graded on a scale of 6 points:

  1. Initial Poster: (3 points)
  2. Initial Pitch: (3 points)

4d: Communication Critique

Due: Completed in section on Friday, December 11, 2015

This is a flexible critique day. The purpose of this day is to help you refine whichever of your remaining deliverables you feel needs feedback. Be prepared to present your video, website, and/or poster at the critique. This is the last opportunity for you to get in-class critical feedback, so use it wisely.

Submission

Bring at least one of your artifacts to class (e.g., be prepared to show them on a laptop).

4e: Final Poster, Final Video, Final Website

Due: Uploaded the night before Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Course staff will have previously coordinated with you to finalize your poster.

Finalize your video prototype and website so we can finalize grading.

Submission

Submit a pull request containing your website. We will merge as quickly as possible. You can submit multiple requests if needed to fix issues or improve your website. Your request should not modify anything outside your project website. Information on building a local copy of this site, and on submitting a pull request, is here:

Development Guide

Submit simple pull requests early so that you become familiar with this functionality. Do not wait until the final moments to begin to learn how to do this.

Depending on how you embed your video in your website, it may or may not be part of the pull request. For example, embedding a YouTube or Vimeo player does not give us your video. We therefore ask that final videos also be submitted via Canvas here:

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/987987/assignments/3056712

Grading

Your final video, final website, and final poster will each be graded on a scale of 10 points.

Poster

  • Content: (5 points)
    • Includes all of the points listed above.
    • Key features of the design are clear.
    • Gives insight into the design process.
  • Presentation: (5 points)
    • Large images that show the key parts of the design.
    • Only minimal and appropriate use of text
    • Text is large and legible
    • Colors and fonts are a pleasing combination and easy to read

Video Prototype (10 points)

  • Content: (7 points)
    • Conveys the problem addressed by the design
    • Conveys the design itself
    • Conveys the context of interaction
    • Conveys the satisfaction of the design
  • Presentation: (3 points)
    • Reasonable level of production value
    • Appropriately edited and paced

Website (10 points)

  • Content: (5 points)
    • Includes all of the points listed above.
    • Key features of the design are clear.
    • Gives insight into the design process.
    • Links to your reports and video prototype.
  • Presentation: (5 points)
    • Looks professional and is something you would consider including in a design portfolio

4f: Poster Session

Attend 10:30 to 12:20, Thursday, December 17, 2015.

Come to the poster session to show off your work and engage with your classmates. Present your pitch to a team of judges.

We will not be conducting any evaluation at the poster session itself. Take the opportunity present your work, chat with judges, engage with other students, and reflect on a busy and productive quarter.