EXP Weekly: Redesign of the Week

Last week, you were battered with a barrage of content around HCI basics, inclusive design, and brainstorming-- and along the way, you managed to come up with some project ideas for Assignment 1a, too!

With what you know now: address one of the following prompts:

1. Take a fresh look at your 1a submissions. Even when we have good intentions, we sometimes propose design projects that, in retrospect, have their own flaws. If you find that any of your proposed 1a ideas are something you might not propose now, reflect on 1) what was wrong with the idea, and 2) why and how you might revise that idea to be a more thoughtful space to explore.
2. Week 1 Section was a whirlwind– as with any good brainstorming activity, there were probably some decent ideas that came up that "got left on the cutting room floor" (i.e., you liked them but just chose not to go with them for whatever reason). Share one or two of those ideas and talk about both 1) the merits of the idea (i.e., what would be interesting to explore with that topic?) and 2) the reasons you didn't end up going forward with it.

For either prompt, your answer should be between 1/2 - 1 page of text in PDF format.

Submit via Canvas here: Canvas - EXP Redesign of the Week

**Note: This prompt was posted a day late, so it can be submitted through the 24th instead of the expected deadline.

Last week, you proposed, critiqued, revised, and critiqued (again) project ideas, ultimately selecting one of your proposals as your project topic for the quarter.

However, just because you selected one idea doesn't mean the unselected ideas were bad! For this week's Redesign, you'll reflect on (at least) one of the topics you did NOT choose from 1b/1b_rev, and consider what it could've looked like as an actual project.

Select one of your unselected 1b/1b_rev topics and answer the following questions:

1. What was your initial interest in this topic? Was there anything about it that excited you?
2. Why did you ultimately choose the topic you did select instead of this one?
3. Suppose you did select this topic. What are 2 research questions you would want to explore in your Design Research?
4. Finally, reflecting on what excited you about this idea and the research questions you generated: what ideas from this topic can you bring with you into the design topic you DID select? For example:
• Is there a way to explore the things that excited you in this topic in your current project?
• Are the research questions you've come up with relevant to your current project?
• If there's truly nothing you want to take from this idea: what from this topic can you be sure to AVOID in your current project, to make sure you don't end up repeating past mistakes?

Your response can be one large writeup that addresses all the questions, or you can respond directly to each question. Your submission should be between 1/2 - 1 page of text in PDF format.

Submit via Canvas here: Canvas - EXP Redesign of the Week

Note: This Redesign prompt is easier to answer once you've completed all your design research sessions and completed Assignment 2d, but you can still answer it having only done part of your design research.

Welcome to the Wild World of Design Research! Design Research is certainly a learned skill, as is conducting design research sessions (interviews, CI's, etc.)-- as a result, there's plenty to reflect on around how individual DR sessions went.

For this week's Redesign, you'll be reflecting on your Design Research sessions and thinking about what worked well and what didn't.

Considering all the Design Research sessions you've been involved in, answer the following questions:

1. What session do you think was most "successful"? What defines "success" in this context for you, and what made this session particularly successful?
2. What session was least successful? What, if anything, went wrong that caused this session to be less successful than the others?
3. Consider the specific details of your methods and how you executed them. If you were to do it all over again, what changes would you make to your methods and execution to improve the quality of your research sessions?
4. Consider your recruitment and how you engaged with your participants. Were you to do it all over, would you change your recruitment in any way or change how you engaged with your participants? Is there a "dream participant" you wish you could have recruited for your research?

Your submission should be approximately 1 page of text in PDF format.

Submit via Canvas here: Canvas - EXP Redesign of the Week

Note: I'd recommend waiting until you get your 2e feedback before engaging with this prompt, though you can still answer it before receiving feedback. (But the work you do here could actually be useful if you need to update your tasks for 2f!)

Congrats on finishing up your Design Research! By this point, you should have some Tasks generated and maybe even a Design or two proposed, which is very exciting– but let's not move past the Design Research just yet.

For this week's Redesign, you'll be reflecting on your Design Research and thinking about what "didn't make the cut"– that is, what parts of your Design Research didn't get worked into your final set of Insights in 2d or didn't make it into a Task in 2e?

Considering all the raw data you acquired in your Design Research and your subsequent analysis, answer the following questions:

1. What are two insights you gained from your Design Research that got cut (i.e., you didn't ultimately select it as one of your 2d Insights OR you didn't incorporate it into a Task in 2e)? Why did this insight get cut?
2. Considering your "cut" insights from Question 1: what might it look like to incorporate these insights into your current design ideation? Are there changes you might make to your proposed tasks or designs if you were to focus on this insight?
3. What is one off topic or "out of scope" insight you could derive from your Design Research? (For instance: did a Participant indicate the need for a larger structural change beyond what you can handle in this course? was there discussion of related-but-not-quite-on-topic needs?) In what design context might that off topic insight be useful?

Your submission should be approximately 1 page of text in PDF format. Please include the name or week number of the prompt you're responding to at the top of your document.

Submit via Canvas here: Canvas - EXP Redesign of the Week

Note: we're working out some bugs in how Canvas handles multiple submissions on the same assignment; thanks for your patience on that, and please let us know if you think we missed something. In the meantime, it'd be really helpful if you could please leave a comment on the Assignment Comments when you upload your response to indicate that you submitted something.

Last week, you developed, critiqued, revised, and critiqued (again) three designs, ultimately selecting one as your design for the remainder of the quarter.

However, just because you selected one design doesn't mean the unselected designs were bad! For this week's Redesign, you'll reflect on the two designs you did NOT choose from 2f/2f_rev, and consider what aspects of it you might want to carry into the design you did select.

For each of your unselected 2f designs, answer the following questions:

Note: if you ultimately combined multiple 2f designs into your 2g design, answer these questions for two of your original 2f designs of your choice.

1. Briefly describe the design, what it did, and what it accomplished that your selected design did not.
2. Why did you ultimately choose the design you did select instead of this one?
3. Discuss two design tradeoffs. Is there a way you can you account for this tradeoff in your selected design?
• Need a refresher on tradeoffs? Check out L02 (Slides)

Your submission should be approximately 1 page of text in PDF format. Please include the name or week number of the prompt you're responding to at the top of your document.

Submit via Canvas here: Canvas - EXP Redesign of the Week

Note: we're working out some bugs in how Canvas handles multiple submissions on the same assignment; thanks for your patience on that, and please let us know if you think we missed something. In the meantime, it'd be really helpful if you could please leave a comment on the Assignment Comments when you upload your response to indicate that you submitted something.

This week, you made a paper prototype! This will be a valuable tool in your Usability Testing, but naturally, paper has its limitations.

For this week's Redesign, you'll be thinking "Beyond Paper": namely, you'll explore what aspects of your design you'd like to be able to explore more deeply that aren't quite explorable in a lo-fi paper form.

Answer the following questions:

1. What are 2-3 aspects of your envisioned design that you feel can be meaningfully evaluated in your lo-fi paper form?
• For instance: will you be able to receive meaningful feedback on form? are the core input interactions able to be represented through paper?
2. What are 2 aspects of your envisioned design that you worry cannot be meaningfully evaluated in your lo-fi paper form? (Alternatively, aspects you think will be difficult to evaluate.)
3. For each of the aspects that are difficult to evaluate: propose something that could allow you to evaluate that aspect in your design, while still maintaining the ability to rapidly iterate on your prototype.
• For instance: if you're designing an AR interaction that relies on external context, could you make up a lightweight slideshow of different settings that could help evaluate the relationship to the environment?

Your submission should be approximately 1 page of text in PDF format. Please include the name or week number of the prompt you're responding to at the top of your document.

Submit via Canvas here: Canvas - EXP Redesign of the Week

Note: we're working out some bugs in how Canvas handles multiple submissions on the same assignment; thanks for your patience on that, and please let us know if you think we missed something. In the meantime, it'd be really helpful if you could please leave a comment on the Assignment Comments when you upload your response to indicate that you submitted something.

This week's Design Rant and Redesign submissions are one and the same. You can answer this one question for the full 1 EXP.

This week's EXP is to answer the prompt: "What is one thing you've learned from this class that you've found particularly valuable and want to bring with you into future CSE classes / your career / the future?"

Note, that this question is the last question from the exam. If you already answered this question during the exam you do not have to submit to this assignment, you already earned the full 1 EXP for week 8. If you did not take the exam, please submit a one page response to this prompt in the Design Rant assignment.

Your writeup should be between 1/2 to 1 page long, in PDF format. Please include the name or week number of the prompt you're responding to at the top of your document.

Submit via Canvas here: Canvas - EXP Rant of the Week

Note: we're working out some bugs in how Canvas handles multiple submissions on the same assignment; thanks for your patience on that, and please let us know if you think we missed something. In the meantime, it'd be really helpful if you could please leave a comment on the Assignment Comments when you upload your response to indicate that you submitted something.

This week's Design Rant and Redesign submissions are one and the same. You can answer this one question for the full 1 EXP.

Fun Fact: 440 is getting a serious makeover this summer, and the team of 440 instructors are going to be working hard to update the course to be more flexible and scalable. (There are a variety of motivations underlying these changes, which I'm happy to talk about in OH, if anyone's interested!) But among the reasons for the update is just to practice what we teach: iteration, design research, experimentation, and critique can all contribute to creating a high-quality design.

In particular, this quarter of 440 has been a 'test run' for a lot of potential new features that may or may not be incorporated into future iterations of the course (leave it to the upstart games-loving PhD student to create a bunch of experimental design probes...), and who better to contribute to the course's design research than the students who took the class themselves?

For this week's Rant/Redesign, we're getting a bit meta and asking for feedback on the course itself. Select 3-4 of the topics below and provide some meta-critique on your experience with it: what worked, what didn't, and how would you want to see it evolve in future offerings?

Topics:

1. The Exam: Did it feel useful? appropriately difficult? Was it structured in a way you felt you could actually study for?
2. Sections/Critique: What contributed to the best Critique experiences in Section? Are there particular approaches you took to Crit that you found especially good/bad?
3. Lecture Topics: Are there particular topics you wish we'd spent more time on? Topics not covered that you'd like to see in the course?
4. Presentations: Did you find the 2p milestone valuable? What presentation format did you opt for, and do you think this format should be an option going forward?
5. EXP: What was your experience like interacting with optional assignments throughout the quarter? Are there specific revisions you'd like to see in the objectives?
6. Assignments: What were the best and worst assignments? Were there particular high points and low points across the project sequence?

Your writeup should be about 1 page long, in PDF format. Please include the name or week number of the prompt you're responding to at the top of your document.

Submit via Canvas here: Canvas - EXP Rant of the Week

Note: we're working out some bugs in how Canvas handles multiple submissions on the same assignment; thanks for your patience on that, and please let us know if you think we missed something. In the meantime, it'd be really helpful if you could please leave a comment on the Assignment Comments when you upload your response to indicate that you submitted something.