General Information


Instructor
Dr. Franz J. Kurfess, Cal Poly Computer Science Department (http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~fkurfess/)
Office Hours
Office hours: TBA in class
Office: R4.033
Class Times
  • Lecture: Th 13:30 - 15:00 in R0.009 (R3.019)
  • Lab: Th 15:15 - 16:45 in R3.019 (R0.009)
Course Description
In this course, you will learn how to design technologies that bring people joy, rather than frustration. You'll learn several techniques for rapidly prototyping and evaluating multiple interface alternatives — and why rapid prototyping and comparative evaluation are essential to excellent interaction design. You'll learn how to make paper prototypes and low-fidelity mock-ups that are interactive -- and how to use these designs to get feedback from other stakeholders like your teammates, clients, and users. You'll learn principles of visual design so that you can effectively organize and present information with your interfaces. You'll learn principles of perception and cognition that inform effective interaction design. You’ll be able to understand standards and recommendations for good user interfaces.
Students should be familiar with basic Web design and programming. Experience in the usage of the following Web design tools and technologies is advantageous:
  • Design tools such as Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Balsamiq, Xcode Interface Builder.
  • Advanced markup languages based on XML.
  • Web scripting and programming methods such as Javascript, HTML5, CSS, CGI, PHP, ASP, JSP.
Goals and Objectives
The goal of this course in user interface design and development is to acquire human-centered design skills, based on principles and methods to create efficient and usable user interfaces. While the course was originally intended for graphical user interfaces, we will examine and incorporate more recent developments, such as touch- and gesture-based interaction, user experience (UX), and interaction design (IxD).
Overview of Topics
I am planning to cover the topics below. Some adjustments in the sequence and coverage may be made as the quarter progresses.
  • Introduction: What are User-Centered Design (UCD) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)? What are important components of UCD and HCI?
  • Human Aspects of UCD and HCI: Cognitive Frameworks for HCI; Perception and Representation; Attention and Memory Constraints
  • Technology Aspects of UCD and HCI: Input and Output Devices and Methodologies; Interaction Styles
  • Interaction/Interface Design: Principles of User-Centered Design; Methods for User-Centered Design (User Analysis, Task Analysis, Environment Analysis); Guidelines: Principles and Rules
  • Interaction/Interface Evaluation: The Role of Evaluation; Collection of Usage Data; Methods for Conducting Usability Studies

  • Textbooks
The following text and reference books will be used in this course. The course schedule identifies the chapters in the main book (“Interaction Design”) that correspond to a topic discussed in class. The textbooks are recommended, not mandatory, and most of the material is addressed in the slides. Of course, you’ll find more details and additional material in the books.
A book with a more practical emphasis that will be useful for the project work is
  • UX Design by Ross Unger and Carolyn Chandler. New Riders, Berkeley, CA, 2009, second edition.
For further reading, here are some more textbook and reference book suggestions:
  • Smart Things by Mike Kuniavsky, Morgan Kaufmann, Elsevier, Burlington, MA 2010.
  • Enchanted Objects : Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things by David Rose. Scribner, New York, 2014.
  • The Resonant Interface: HCI Foundations for Interaction Design by Steven Heim; Addison-Wesley, 2007. ( link to Amazon)
  • Designing Interactions, by Bill Moggridge. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2007. ISBN: 978-0262134743.
  • User Centered Web Site Design, by D.D. McCracken and R.J. Wolfe. Pearson Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2004. ISBN: 013041161-2.
  • The Web Wizard's guide to Web Design, J.G. Lengel, Addison-Wesley, 2002. ISBN: 0201745623.
  • Human-Computer Interaction, Alan Dix, Janet E. Finlay, Gregory D. Abowd, Russell Beale; 3rd ed., Prentice Hall, 2004, ISBN 0-13-046109-1.
  • Things That Make Us Smart: defending human attributes in the age of the machine, D. Norman, Perseus Books, 1993.
  • User-Centered System Design: new perspectives on human-computer interaction, D. Norman and S. Draper (eds.); Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986.
  • The Psychology of Everyday Things, D. Norman; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986. Re-issued in paperback as "The Design of Everyday Things" by Currency Books, 1990.
  • Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer-Interaction, B. Shneiderman; Addison Wesley; 4th edition, 2004.
  • From Computing Machinery to Interaction Design, T. Winograd. http://hci.stanford.edu/~winograd/acm97.html.
Course Work
The main work in this class consists of several assignments, and one project.
Assignments
Much of the work in the assignments will be done in teams, although some assignments may have individual components.
The assignments are designed to give you some practical experience in the use of tools, literature review, and techniques such as interface storyboarding and usability evaluation. The assignments are intended to provide an introduction to skills needed to design and evaluate good interfaces, which will lead to effective human-computer interaction. The requirements may include written reports and/or summaries to be posted on the class web site as well as oral presentation of results and relevant discussion in class. There will be some freedom in the choice of tools, methods, or topics, and you are encouraged to coordinate the work on the assignments with the work on the project.
Design Project
Student teams will have several project topics to choose from, with an emphasis on mobile devices. Some of the projects will be done in collaboration with outside partners. The project work should focus on the user interaction with a device or system. The teams are expected to design and implement different versions, ranging from design sketches and storyboards to partial implementations. Much of this work can be coordinated with the assignments. Usually the project outcomes will be shown in a display around the mid-quarter point and one at the end of the quarter. Details will be discussed during the first or second week of the quarter.
Class Presentations and Participation
This class will rely on interactive classroom activities, such as participation in group discussions, presentation of ideas and results (from textbook, class or assignments), providing written summary materials (as web files via Piazza or Moodle), etc. Success in this class depends on regular attendance, preparation of assigned readings and homework exercises, as well as a level of professionalism in the class presentations and displays. Peer evaluations may be included as part of the grade.
Policy on Late Work and Extensions
Much of the graded work in this class depends strongly on presentations and documentation material. Once a team or individual has committed to a date for the presentation, extensions or changes in the dates will only be permitted for documented medical or documented emergency reasons. Such changes may also have to be coordinated with the project contacts at the outside partner.
Grading Policy
I will use the following allocation of scores for the calculation of the grades.
  • Exam: 60%
  • Assignments: 40%
  • A more detailed allocation will be discussed in class, in particular regarding the team project work. The project and most of the assignments will be done in teams. My evaluation will consider the performance of the team as a whole unless there is a clear disparity in the contribution of the individual team members. Should this be the case, I may ask for additional documentation like work sheets, email messages, or draft copies of documentation to evaluate individual contributions.
For the team grades, feedback through peer evaluations will also be considered (although I will not use it directly in the calculation of the score).