CSE 440 - Introduction to HCI - Autumn 2024

Assignment 3.2: Design Review

Due: Monday, October 28, 3:00pm

This assignment is a component of Milestone 3. Be sure you have reviewed that larger context for this assignment.

The goal of this assignment is to develop distinct design ideas that address your tasks.

You have identified and described six important tasks within your design problem. You will now brainstorm and sketch three substantially different potential designs:

  • Each potential design should be able to support at least four of your tasks. Some tasks may not be supported by a specific approach to a design, and your different designs therefore do not necessarily all need to support the same tasks.
  • Describe why each design idea is distinct. Sketch key aspects of the design needed to illustrate its approach and functionality across four tasks. A design may imply support for additional tasks, but your sketches do not need to illustrate the entire design.

The purpose of these sketches is to explore the design space before you lock yourself into a single design. Designs therefore must demonstrate significant consideration of substantially different approaches to your problem.

Potential designs should be communicated in rough sketches, and can include illustrations of relationships among components (e.g., arrows showing transitions and relationships). Develop many sketches throughout your exploration, then pivot to curating and refining sketches to communicate your potential designs. Do not yet develop full scenarios detailing end-to-end support for your tasks. Such additional detail will be developed in later assignments focused on a single design.

We recommend you work on paper, then capture high-quality images (e.g., avoid shadows). You may alternatively use an informal drawing tool, but be sure you do not adopt a tool that will start to embed unnecessary assumptions or decisions in your design process.

These sketches and this assignment will directly support presentation and consideration of your designs. The assignment therefore also includes presentation of background for understanding and considering your designs:

  • Your current design problem. This may be taken directly from your Milestone 2 report, or it may be updated if your framing of the design problem has evolved in defining tasks and exploring designs.
  • An overview of your design research methods and participants. This will be a concise consolidation of overviews provided in your Milestone 2 report, It may also be updated with any additional design research you decided to conduct.
  • A total of 8 findings that represent the strongest insights you gained through your design research. These may be taken directly from your Milestone 2 report, or they may be updated because your understanding of insights has evolved in defining tasks and exploring designs.
  • The 6 tasks that your designs explore. These may be taken directly from Assignment 3.1, or they be updated based on feedback or understanding developed in exploring designs.

Submission

Due: Monday, October 28, 3:00pm

Within the Drive folder for course project files:

  • Identify the Slides deck corresponding to this assignment for your group. The deck provides a template for this assignment. Edit the deck in-place, so that you can easily share it in critique.

  • Prepare a Slides deck with the following structure:

    Design Research Background

    • 1 slide: Current design problem.
    • 1 slide: Overview of design research method and participants.
    • 4 slides: 8 design research findings (i.e., 2 per slide).

    Key Tasks

    • 1 slide: 6 tasks that your designs explore.

    For each design (3 total):

    • 1 slide: Design title and brief description of its key idea or approach.
    • 1 slide: Sketches illustrating the overall design approach.
    • 2 slides: Sketches illustrating design approach to key tasks (i.e., 2 per slide).

Reminders and requirements:

  • Submission via Canvas is also required, in support of grading.

    • Remove instruction slides and template markings from your deck before submission.

    • Export a PDF of your deck, via the menu: File -> Download -> PDF Document (.pdf).

  • This is a group submission. Ensure your section and names of all group participants are appropriately clear.

  • Review and follow guidance on Clarity and Presentation.

  • Names of participants should be replaced with pseudonyms in all documents. It is important to protect participant anonymity, even in the case that reporting seems harmless.

The Drive folder for course project files is here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Sm12CpuMNsKBqk6E_Ri875hfFs0A-IRS?usp=drive_link

Submit via Canvas here:

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1746586/assignments/9764927

In Class

Be prepared to discuss your design research, tasks, and designs as part of Assignment 3.3.

Completion Grading

This assignment will be graded on completion of the following components:

  1. Current Design Problem

    This may be taken directly from your Milestone 2 report, or it may be updated if your framing of the design problem has evolved in defining tasks and exploring designs.

  2. Design Research Methods & Participants Overview

    This will be a concise consolidation of overviews provided in your Milestone 2 report, It may also be updated with any additional design research you decided to conduct.

  3. 8 Design Research Findings

    These may be taken directly from your Milestone 2 report, or they may be updated because your understanding of insights has evolved in defining tasks and exploring designs.

  4. 6 Tasks

    These may be taken directly from Assignment 3.1, or they be updated based on feedback or understanding developed in exploring designs.

  5. 3 Proposed Designs

    Each Design should consist of:

    • Title and brief description of its key idea or approach.
    • Sketches illustrating the overall design approach.
    • Sketches illustrating design approach to 4 key tasks.

  6. Clarity and Presentation

Prior Samples

Samples are from prior offerings that had different requirements. Samples are also intended only to illustrate a variety of approaches, and were not selected to be ideal or exemplary. These may help to see how prior students approached elements of a project, but be sure to understand and consider requirements and feedback in your own work.