SOEN 357: User Interface Design
The Process of Interaction Design
Based on Chapter 9 of the textbook
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process
What is involved in the
process of interaction design
Identifying needs and establishing
requirements for the user experience
Developing alternative designs to meet
these requirements
Building interactive prototypes that can
be communicated and assessed
Evaluating what is being built throughout
the process and the user experience it
offers
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 1
What is involved in
Interaction Design?
It is a process:
a goal-directed problem solving activity informed by
intended use, target domain, materials, cost, and
feasibility
a creative activity
a decision-making activity to balance trade-offs
Generating alternatives and choosing between
them is key
Four approaches: user-centered design, activity-
centered design, systems design, and genius
design
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Importance of involving users
Expectation management
Realistic expectations
No surprises, no disappointments
Timely training
Communication, but no hype
Ownership
Make the users active stakeholders
More likely to forgive or accept problems
Can make a big difference to acceptance
and success of product
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 3
Degrees of user involvement
Member of the design team
Full time: constant input, but lose touch with users
Part time: patchy input, and very stressful
Short term: inconsistent across project life
Long term: consistent, but lose touch with users
Newsletters and other dissemination devices
Reach wider selection of users
Need communication both ways
User involvement after product is released
Combination of these approaches
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 4
What is a
user-centered approach?
User-centered approach is based on:
Early focus on users and tasks: directly studying
cognitive, behavioral, anthropomorphic &
attitudinal characteristics
Empirical measurement: users’ reactions and
performance to scenarios, manuals, simulations &
prototypes are observed, recorded and analysed
Iterative design: when problems are found in user
testing, fix them and carry out more tests
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 5
Four basic activities
There are four basic activities in
Interaction Design:
1. Identifying needs and establishing
requirements
2. Developing alternative designs
3. Building interactive versions of the
designs (Prototyping)
4. Evaluating designs
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 6
Some practical issues
Who are the users?
What are ‘needs’?
Where do alternatives come from?
How do you choose among
alternatives?
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 7
Who are the
users/stakeholders?
Not as obvious as you think:
those who interact directly with the product
those who manage direct users
those who receive output from the product
those who make the purchasing decision
those who use competitor’s products
Three categories of user (Eason, 1987):
primary: frequent hands-on
secondary: occasional or via someone else
tertiary: affected by its introduction, or will
influence its purchase
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 8
Who are the stakeholders?
Check-out operators
• Suppliers
• Local shop
owners
Customers
Managers and owners
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 9
What are user ‘needs’?
Users rarely know what is possible
Users can’t tell you what they ‘need’ to help
them achieve their goals
Instead, look at existing tasks:
their context
what information do they require?
who collaborates to achieve the task?
why is the task achieved the way it is?
Envisioned tasks:
can be rooted in existing behaviour
can be described as future scenarios
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 10
What are
the users’ capabilities?
Humans vary in many dimensions:
size of hands may affect the size and
positioning of input buttons
motor abilities may affect the suitability of
certain input and output devices
height if designing a physical kiosk
strength - a child’s toy requires little
strength to operate, but greater strength
to change batteries
Disabilities (e.g. sight, hearing, dexterity)
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 11
Where do
alternatives come from?
Humans stick to what they know works
But considering alternatives is important to
‘break out of the box’
Designers are trained to consider
alternatives, software people generally are
not
How do you generate alternatives?
‘Flair and creativity’: research and synthesis
Seek inspiration: look at similar products or look
at very different products
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 12
How do you
choose among alternatives?
Evaluation with users or with peers, e.g.
prototypes
Technical feasibility: some not possible
Quality thresholds: Usability goals lead to
usability criteria set early on and check
regularly
safety: how safe?
utility: which functions are superfluous?
effectiveness: appropriate support? task coverage,
information available
efficiency: performance measurements
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 13
Lifecycle models
Show how activities are related to each
other
Lifecycle models are:
management tools
simplified versions of reality
Many lifecycle models exist, for example:
from software engineering: waterfall, spiral,
JAD/RAD, Microsoft, agile
from HCI: Star, usability engineering
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 14
A simple
interaction design model
Exemplifies a user-centered design approach
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 15
ISO 13407 (Human-Centered Design
Process for Interactive Systems)
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The Star Model
(Hartson and Hix, 1989)
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 17
The Star lifecycle model
Suggested by Hartson and Hix (1989)
Important features:
Evaluation at the center of activities
No particular ordering of activities;
development may start in any one
Derived from empirical studies of interface
designers
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 18
How to integrate interaction
design in other models
Integrating interaction design activities in
lifecycle models from other disciplines needs
careful planning
Several software engineering lifecycle models
have been considered
Integrating with agile software development is
promising
stresses the importance of iteration
champions early and regular feedback
handles emergent requirements
aims to strike a balance between flexibility and structure
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 19
Summary
Four basic activities in the design process
1. Identify needs and establish requirements
2. Design potential solutions ((re)-design)
3. Choose between alternatives (evaluate)
4. Build the artefact
User-centered design rests on three principles
1. Early focus on users and tasks
2. Empirical measurement using quantifiable &
measurable usability criteria
3. Iterative design
Lifecycle models show how these are related
SOEN 357, Winter 2019 Interaction Design Process 20
