Start Here — Read This First

content

Start Here

The Start Here module contains all of the important information you will need to successfully begin this course. In this module, you will find the Read This First Page (this page), in addition to the following pages:

  1. Syllabus
  2. Schedule
  3. Meet your Instructors
  4. Instructor, GTA & ULA Contact Information
  5. Communication Policy
  6. Equity, Inclusion & Diversity Statement

Let’s address one of the important questions you might have right off the bat:

“What is Usability Engineering or User Experience, and what is it good for?”

Usability and User Experience

Usability and User Experience (UX) is a somewhat measurable quality, a perceived satisfaction, and an essential component in almost any and every interface, interaction, device, app, and piece of software we all engage with on a daily basis. If the UX is lousy, the product, service, or app will likely fail as consumers will not adopt it. In simple terms, if the app on your phone 'sucks' for whatever reason, you will probably stop using it and maybe even delete it! Usability is also quite critical in secure environments, for instance, nuclear power plants, aircraft cockpits, submarines, and even spacecraft where there is little room for error!

Usability Engineering is the process of creating, measuring, and if necessary, improving the usability and UX of an interface, interaction, device, app, and piece of software.

The UX Knowledge Base Sketch #1 below introduces you to another basic but fundamentally important concept which is affordance.

A sketch titled “Affordances” on the left there is a drawing of a door handle with a sign on it which reads “Cues that suggest properties of function. How can it be used?” The door handle also has a speech bubble which says, “Pull me down to open the door!” On the right there is text which reads, “Affordance: cues or signs communicated by the objects.” There is also a drawing of a book titled “Don Norman, the design of everyday things with an arrow pointing to “Perceived affordances, does the user perceive that clicking on that element is a meaningful user action to perform?” Below the book there a 4 principles listed, “Following conventions, support visuals with text, build on mental models, use metaphors, be consistent, create a coherent model.”
Affordances are a foundational principle in UX design

Affordance

A water bucket sitting on the ground is overflowing as more water is poured into it.

Affordance can be understood as the product, device or simply 'thing' being able to communicate to the user its purpose and mode of operation. You can push a button and pull a chain. You can fill a bucket with water and then you could turn it over, pour the water out, and use the bucket as a stool. Two affordances right there. :)

Affordances are really important and we will talk about them in greater depth later in the class. For now, to give you a quick example which brings all these terms together, let’s look at this big red button below.

A control panel with multiple switches and button on it has a big red button on it

You all might know what that big red button will likely mean and how to use it. You will probably think that this button will stop something and that you have to push or press it down, right? Do you think it is a coincidence that this button is that simple to identify, to see, and to use?

Well, it is not. This button has been designed in a way to easily communicate both how to use it and what it can do to anyone who looks at it. It has been engineered and refined over many years to clearly indicate its purpose, operation, and function. And of course, this applies to interfaces, apps, and software as well.

What you will learn?

So now you hopefully have an idea about Usability and Usability Engineering. To recap, in this course, we will learn how to design a quality user experience by means of research, iterative design, and user feedback, a sometimes frustrating but ultimately rewarding and fulfilling process. We will learn what usability is and how we can measure it. We will also look at affordances, constraints, and an interactive design cycle.

A good user experience can be as simple as being able to effortlessly withdraw money from an ATM or easily purchasing a beverage at a vending machine. A great user experience can make a big difference in the success of a product, service, or app. After this course, you will be able to design a great user experience, as well as being able to test an existing product for Usability and UX.

How will you learn this?

You will conduct a term-long project in a team, quite similar to real development teams in software engineering. You will start your project by conducting research to help you understand the users, or potential users, of your future app or piece of software. You will then learn how to exploit that research to start crafting an application that the users will find useable, useful, and enjoyable. From there you will learn how to use a series of prototypes to solicit feedback from users and other teams to refine your application. By the end of the course you will present a final report summarizing all your work, and more importantly, a high fidelity prototype of your app or piece of software that clearly demonstrates how the user will experience your application (or your vision of how they will experience it).

As mentioned, you will be assigned to a group. Your group will choose a topic for your application, with the help of your grader if you choose. You will split the work up with your team members producing the required reports and prototypes each week. You will have opportunities to share your work with your classmates and provide feedback on their projects. Unlike many other courses, you will have considerable freedom in what you decide to do.

Why is this class important? Computers, Smartphones, Tablets and even things (e.g. Internet of Things capable devices) are embedded in our societies. Traditionally, software engineers consider the technological limitations, the implementation, and the algorithmic logic and programming quality in the design of an application or software. But the best and most powerful software is worthless if nobody will use it. Think of older people, technological newcomers, kids, or people with disabilities.

We want to be able to make an interface intuitive, or in other words, reduce the likelihood of errors. Look at the picture of a vending machine below:

A female looks at a soda vending machine while holding their purse.

We want to go look at the products in the machine, pick one we want, pay, and leave. Easy, quick, and maybe even enjoyable. The only thing somebody would 'need to worry about' is what to purchase. That is the ideal user experience!

We can achieve exactly that by talking to the users before, during, and after we develop the applications! By doing research before we even start designing anything and by continuous improvement and iteration.

In this class, we will learn precisely how to do that!