Interface Design - DMS 446/DMS 546
Department of Media Study, SUNY at Buffalo
SPRING 2008
Class: MW 5:00 - 6:50
Instructor: Al Larsen
Office Hour: 4:00-5:00 Mondays (CFA 288)
alarsen * at * buffalo * dot * edu
SCHEDULE (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Monday January 14
TOPIC: history/introduction
LECTURE:
"Overview/History of Computer Interfaces" and "Milestones in HCI Technology" (link:
Lecture Slides)
Wednesday January 16
TOPIC: HCI and human-centered design practices
LECTURE:
"Usability, HCI and Human-Centered Design Methodology" (link:
Lecture Slides)
Monday January 21
NO CLASS
Wednesday January 23
TOPIC: evaluating interfaces
INTRO: getting away from the mouse/keyboard interface
READ: Bruce Tognazzini (link:
"First Principles of Interaction Design")
READ/REVIEW: book chapter 1: User-Centered Website Development (link:
PDF download) (Much of the 1/16 lecture was based on this chapter - this will give you a chance to review and refer to these concepts)
LECTURE/DISCUSSION: Bruce Tognazzini's "First Principles of Interaction Design" (link:
Lecture Slides)
(Developing a Vocabulary for Discussing Design Interaction)
IN CLASS PROJECT: Interface Design Critique
Monday January 28
TOPIC: evaluating interfaces
DISCUSS: FITTS'S LAW (link:
Fitts's Law Applied to Website Development)
IN-CLASS PROJECT: Interface Design Critique (continued from Wednesday)
Wednesday January 30
TOPIC: designing interfaces
LECTURE: Memory, Perception, Cognition (
Lecture Slides)
LECTURE: Task Analysis (
Lecture Slides)
READING ASSIGNMENT: Chapter 1 of The Design of Everyday Things (will discuss Monday)
ASSIGNMENT 1: Task Analysis, Functional Analysis, Performance Usability Goals - due 2/11/08
Monday February 4
DISCUSS: Chapter 1 of
The Design of Everyday Things
DISCUSS: schedule graduate student oral presentations
READING ASSIGNMENT: Read Chapter 1 of Designing Interfaces (Tidwell) we will discuss it Monday 2/11
Wednesday February 6
LECTURE: Content Organization (
Lecture Slides)
IN-CLASS: groups report on progress - identify any problems
IN-CLASS: card-sorting project
Monday February 11
ASSIGNMENT 1 DUE
DISCUSS: Chapter 1
Designing Interfaces (
Slides)
Wednesday February 13
TEST 1: covering material from readings and lectures to date
IN-CLASS: refine task analysis, turn into finalized documents
two groups, one facilitator per group, discuss, divide up work, final task analysis to be posted to the website
LECTURE (if time permits): Visual Organization (Lecture Slides)
Monday February 18
DISCUSS: Chapter 2 and 3
The Design of Everyday Things
DISCUSS: Chapter 2 of
Designing Intefaces
Which patterns from Tidwell ch 2 (see page 30) will be appropriate to use for which parts of the media player project? Be prepared to discuss in class.
VIDEO: paper prototyping usability test
VIDEO: Hanmail Paper Prototype
VIDEO: Paper Prototype
VIDEO: Trouble Paper Prototype
VIDEO: The Science and Art of User Experience at Google
Wednesday February 20
VIDEO: example of a usability test using screen capture with a highlight over the mouse and a video of the user
Usability test for Cyworld Tw: Task 1
VIDEO: example of a usability test using screen capture, video of user and eye tracking software
Music Mayday Usability Test
LECTURE: Paper Prototyping (
Lecture Slides)
VIDEO: usability testing with appear prototypeGuelph CIS Project
Monday February 25
LINK: http://producten.hema.nl/
DISCUSS: Chapter 3
Designing Interfaces
Wednesday February 27
ASSIGNMENT 2 DUE (PAPER PROTOTYPE)
Monday March 3
ASSIGNMENT 2 USABILITY TEST RESULTS DUE
DISCUSS: Chapter 4, 5
The Design of Everyday Things
ubmail critique update
youtube warp... endless.com... visual thesaurus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK1lBHA2SUw
Culture-mining: Time-based cultural documents and online meaning-based reSearch Tools
lecture - using color
discuss new assignment
Wednesday March 5
DISCUSS: Tidwell Ch 4: "Oranizing The Page"
NEXT ASSIGNED READING: Tidwell Ch 9 "Making It Look Good: Visual Style and Aesthetics" & Norman, chapters 6, 7
LECTURE TOPICS: Issues with Color and Fonts
LINK: serif vs sans-serif fonts on the web save as - edit alexpoole.css
LECTURE: Color (Lecture Slides)
REVIEW: Visual Organization (Lecture Slides)
LECTURE: Web Architecture pt 1
LINK: Stylesheet Demo index 1 | index 2 | index 3
LINK: AJAX Image-Swap Demo files
Monday March 10
NO CLASS
Wednesday March 12
NO CLASS
Monday March 17
REVIEWING INTERFACE DESIGN PATTERNS: Amazon
LINK: Tools for Visualization
DISCUSS: Tidwell Ch 9: "Making It Look Good: Visual Style and Aesthetics "
Presentations:
Pamela - Universal Usability
Tom - Site Metrics, Analytics
Wednesday March 19
DISCUSS: Norman, chapters 6, 7
Monday March 24
ASSIGNMENT 3 DUE (SECOND PROTOTYPE) DUE
Presentations:
Eileen - Interface design for younger vs. older users.
Wednesday March 26
Presentations:
Nick Mason - Search Engine Interfaces
Yuke - Banner Blindness
Monday March 31
Presentations:
Elaine - Seamless interface, surface computing
Wednesday April 2
Presentations:
Natalie - Typography and Interface Design
Work-in-progress discussion on Assignment 4
- capturing DMS screens
- Flash player integration
Final project discussion/check-in
Heads-up on upcoming test
Monday April 7
ASSIGNMENT 4 DUE
DISCUSS: FINAL PROJECTS
Wednesday April 9
TEST 2
GUEST: Marilyn Freeman, project planning and management
Monday April 14
FINAL PROJECT PROPOSALS DUE
Wednesday April 16
WORK DAY/LAB DAY
Monday April 21
DMS TEACHING EVALUATIONS
PRESENTATION: Dustin - new directions in tabbed browsing
Wednesday April 23
Monday April 28
FINAL PROJECT DUE
FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
Wednesday April 30
no class