Assignment 4: Communicating the Design Right

The goal of this milestone is to create a poster and a pitch that communicate your design to a broad audience.

Create a poster that communicates your design and your design process. Present your work in a visual form that quickly conveys its most important aspects. Your poster should include:

• Project Title
• Logo
• Your Names
• Problem
• Value Proposition
• Key Functionality
• Key Design Insights

Your poster should emphasize images and include limited amounts of text. For consistency and ease of display, it should be 32"x40" (i.e., portrait, vertical).

The staff have assembled several templates you can use as a starting point:

Figma Templates

Powerpoint Template A

Powerpoint Template B

Powerpoint Template C

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

Make sure all images you include are clear and legible (e.g., with appropriate contrast). Re-make images as necessary to ensure this (e.g., by taking new photos in better lighting, by instead using a scanner, by re-creating a piece of a paper prototype using ink that will create a better image).

During the final poster session, your team will give a one minute pitch to a small group of judges. Create a pitch that summarizes the problem and your design. This pitch should convince an audience that your problem was worth investigating and that your design suggests a compelling direction.

Submission

Due to challenges that frequently arise in printing, submit both:

• A PDF of your poster.
• The source file for your poster (e.g., a PPTX file, a text file containing a Figma link with edit access).

Be sure:

• 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.

Submit via Canvas here:

In Class

We will bring 8.5"x11" printed copies of your poster to class. You will need these for in-class critique and refinement.

Grading

Your poster should be complete for critique and feedback, but only the final version will be graded. Note that grading of the final poster does allocate points to your sufficient preparation for critique and feedback.

Critique and refinement will help further improve your poster before a final version.

Samples of Prior Submissions

Samples are intended to illustrate a variety of approaches, none of which is intended to be ideal or exemplary. Also note details of assignments may have changed since prior offerings, so these samples may not completely correspond to the current project. Be sure to understand and carefully consider project requirements and feedback from the course staff in the context of your own work.

Sample assignment4poster from BackTrack

Sample assignment4poster from BookWurm

Sample assignment4poster from Clark

Sample assignment4poster from Cup-anion

Sample assignment4poster from Dash

Sample assignment4poster from Hermes

Sample assignment4poster from Jasper

Sample assignment4poster from Laundr

Sample assignment4poster from notE

Sample assignment4poster from Pawsitive

Sample assignment4poster from Pilltender

Sample assignment4poster from SEEK

Sample assignment4poster from SimPark

Sample assignment4poster from Sprout

Sample assignment4poster from Waste Wizard

Sample assignment4poster from Wishing Well

Appropriately revise your poster according to critique and feedback.

If you are unsure what revisions are appropriate, communicate with the course staff well before the final poster is due.

During the final poster session, your team will give a one minute pitch to a small group of judges. Rehearse a pitch that summarizes the problem and your design. This pitch should convince an audience that your problem was worth investigating and that your design suggests a compelling direction.

Submission

Due to challenges that frequently arise in printing, submit both:

• A PDF of your poster.
• The source file for your poster (e.g., a PPTX file, a text file containing a Figma link with edit access).

Be sure:

• 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.

Submit via Canvas here:

We will then coordinate with you for proofreading and printing.

Grading

This milestone will be graded on a scale of 12 points:

• Content: (5 points)
  • Includes all of the key content listed above.
  • Key functionality of the design is clear.
  • Gives insight into the design process.
• Clarity and Presentation: (5 points)
  • Appropriately large images that convey key aspects of the design.
  • Text is minimal and appropriate, large and legible.
  • Colors and fonts are a pleasing combination and easy to read.
• Preparation and Process: (2 points)
  • Original poster submission was sufficient to support critique and feedback.
  • Appropriately act upon feedback to improve final poster.

The goal of this milestone is to effectively communicate your design and your underlying design process in a post appropriate for a web portfolio.

Prepare a post documenting your process of getting the right design and then getting the design right. Your post will be integrated into the course website via the Projects page, used to both advertise the course poster session and to provide an archive of course projects. Your prior milestones provide significant content you can draw upon in this post, but this post is intended for an audience of future readers reviewing your design work. Not all content from prior milestones will be included, you should update your prior work based on feedback received throughout your design process (e.g., re-making a design sketch or storyboard for clarity in this communication), and you will ultimately emphasize a few key insights that most informed your design.

Make sure all images you include are clear and legible (e.g., with appropriate contrast). Re-make images as necessary to ensure this (e.g., by taking new photos in better lighting, by instead using a scanner, by re-creating a piece of a paper prototype using ink that will create a better image).

Remember that audience is important in storytelling, and be sure your post takes a tone of "presenting" and "reflecting" on your project. You are not "selling" the resulting design, but are instead "sharing" your work with an interested audience. You can express enthusiasm, but do not let that enthusiasm undermine the substance of your content.

Your post should follow the outline below. It will be authored using Markdown and provided components for including images. Be sure to inspect and understand the template text provided in your project directory.

1. Title and Logo

   A short, creative, and marketable title capturing the key idea.

   An attractive project logo. It will be used to link to your project from the main projects page.

2. Problem and Design Overview:

   Provide a concise statement of the problem you are addressing and a brief introduction of your design.

   This might be a single paragraph or two short paragraphs. You should likely include an image to help build interest. Your goal is to set a context and then to motivate a reader to want to continue to learn about your work.

3. Design Research Process and Key Insights:

   Design Research Process

   First provide a concise overview of your design research process in Assignment 2, including:

   • The goals of your design research (i.e., your focus, your primary need for additional understanding).
   • The methods and participants you engaged in your design research.
   • Your rationale (i.e., why you chose your specific methods and participants).

   Your goal is to set a context for the insights this process revealed.

   This might be a single paragraph.

   3 Key Insights

   Then provide 3 key insights from your design research process in Assignment 2. Your goal is to convey key insights that informed your design and how each insight is based in your design process.

   • For each insight, discuss how the insight emerged (e.g., how your understanding was shaped by design research, how your understanding was shaped by critique or feedback).
   • Use specific evidence whenever possible (e.g., quotes or stories from participants, pictures captured during observations, pivots in your approach or thinking that resulted from critique or feedback, key reasons you chose one design over alternatives, key reasons you combined ideas from multiple design alternatives).
   • Do not number your insights (e.g., "Insight 1", "Insight 2", "Insight 3"). Instead give them a descriptive title (e.g., "Minimizing Burden", "Creating Social Connections") or consider that each paragraph could begin with a single bolded sentence summarizing the insight.
   • Use images as appropriate for conveying the insight (e.g., images from your design sketches or storyboards).

   These might each be a single paragraph with a descriptive heading.

4. Iterative Design Process and Key Insights:

   Iterative Design Process

   First provide a concise overview of your iterative design process in Assignment 3, including:

   • Your design focus (i.e., the tasks on which you focused iterative design).
   • Your process (e.g., your paper prototyping, inspection, usability testing, and digital mockup).

   Your goal is to set a context for the insights this process revealed.

   This might be a single paragraph. You should likely include an overview image of your paper prototype.

   3 Key Insights

   Then provide 3 key insights from your iterative design process in Assignment 3. Your goal is to convey key insights that informed your design and how each insight is based in your design process.

   • For each insight, discuss how the insight emerged (e.g., the state of a design element prior to the insight, the activity, observation, critique, or feedback that prompted you to iterate upon a design element, an aspect of transitioning to a digital mockup that required re-working your design) and how you iterated upon the design in result (e.g., showing a design element before and after an iteration).
   • Use specific evidence whenever possible (e.g., quotes from or observations of participants).
   • Do not number your insights (e.g., "Insight 1", "Insight 2", "Insight 3"). Instead give them a descriptive title (e.g., "Simplifying Data Collection", "Improving Legibility", "Removing Gender Assumptions") or consider that each paragraph could begin with a single bolded sentence summarizing the insight.
   • Use images as appropriate for conveying the insight (e.g., images from your paper prototyping or digital mockup).

   These might each be a single paragraph with a descriptive heading.

5. Resulting Design:

   Present key elements of your final design. Convey the critical aspects of your design, including the two primary tasks demonstrated in your digital mockup (e.g., as scenarios demonstrating the task with images from your digital mockup).

   This section may primarily be a set of images, but be sure you organize those images with enough text for a reader to understand the resulting design.

Submission

Upload your draft to Canvas: Assignment 4web – Canvas

Evidence from Medium suggests that effective posts can be read in approximately 7 minutes:

https://medium.com/data-lab/the-optimal-post-is-7-minutes-74b9f41509b

Author your post such that it conveys the necessary content while remaining easy to skim and read within approximately 7 minutes. We estimate posts will be between 1500 and 2000 words in length.

Be sure:

• 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.

• Submit a Contribution Statement

• 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.

Grading

Your post should be complete for critique and feedback, but only the final version will be graded.

We will also be available to coordinate with you around integrating your post into the course website (e.g., any formatting issues).

Samples of Prior Submissions

This is a relatively new assignment, in which we have:

1. Removed submission of a report after Assignment 2 and then again after Assignment 3.

2. Instead required a single web post as part of Assignment 4.

3. Structured that post to emphasize your distillation of a handful of key insights.

Examples of reports and posts are linked from projects in prior offerings, but be sure your submission is designed for the new format and emphasis of this assignment:

Winter 2023 Projects: https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse440/23wi/projects

Spring 2022 Projects: https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse440/22sp/projects

Winter 2020 Projects: https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse440/20wi/projects

Winter 2019 Projects: https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse440/19wi/projects

Autumn 2017 Projects: https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse440/17au/projects.html

Winter 2017 Projects: https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse440/17wi/projects.html

Appropriately revise your web post according to critique and feedback.

If you are unsure what revisions are appropriate, communicate with the course staff well before the final web post is due.

Submission

Be sure:

• 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.

• Submit a Contribution Statement

• 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.

Your post should be complete and will be evaluated as such. We will then coordinate with you around any modifications as we integrate your post into the course website (e.g., to correct any formatting issues).

Submit your web post as a ZIP file here:

Grading

The content for this post will be graded on a scale of 32 points:

1. Title: (1 point)
2. Project Logo / Thumbnail: (1 point)
3. Team Member Images and Names: (1 point)
4. Problem and Design Overview: (2 points)
5. Design Research Process: (2 points)
6. Design Research Key Insights: (3 x 2 points)
7. Iterative Design Process: (2 points)
8. Iterative Design Key Insights: (3 x 2 points)
9. Resulting Design: (3 points)
10. Clarity and Presentation: (4 points)
11. Preparation and Process: (4 points)
    • Original post was sufficient to support critique and feedback.
    • Appropriately act upon feedback to improve final post.