An Instructor’s Outline of

Designing the User Interface

4th Edition

by Ben Shneiderman & Catherine Plaisant

Slides developed by Roger J. Chapman

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 Chapter 3

Managing Design Processes

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 Organizational Design and
Support Usability
• Design is inherently creative and unpredictable.
Interactive system designers must blend
knowledge of technical feasibility with a mystical
esthetic sense of what attracts users. hared
language
• Carroll and Rosson design characterization:
– Design is a process, not a state.
– The design process is nonhierarchical.
– The process is radically transformational.
– Design intrinsically involves the discovery of new
goals.

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 The Three Pillars of Design
• Guidelines documents and processes
Each project has different needs, but guidelines should
be considered for:
• Words, icons, and graphics
– Terminology (objects and actions), abbreviations, and
capitalization
– Character set, fonts, font sizes, and styles (bold, italic,
underline)
– Icons, graphics, line thickness, and
– Use of color, backgrounds, highlighting, and blinking

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 The Three Pillars of Design (cont.)
• Screen-layout issues
– Menu selection, form fill-in, and dialog-box formats
– Wording of prompts, feedback, and error messages
– Justification, white space, and margins
– Data entry and display formats for items and lists
– Use and contents of headers and footers
• Input and output devices
– Keyboard, display, cursor control, and pointing
devices
– Audible sounds, voice feedback, touch input, and
other special devices
– Response time for a variety of tasks

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 The Three Pillars of Design (cont.)
• Action sequences
– Direct-manipulation clicking, dragging, dropping, and
gestures
– Command syntax, semantics, and sequences
– Programmed function keys
– Error handling and recovery procedures
• Training
– Online help and tutorials
– Training and reference materials
– Command syntax, semantics, and sequences

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 The Three Pillars of Design (cont.)

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 Developmental Methodologies

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 Developmental Methodologies
(cont.)
The Logical User-Centered Interactive Design
Methodology (LUCID) (Kreitzberg):
– Stage 1: Envision
– Stage 2: Discovery
– Stage 3: Design Foundation
– Stage 4: Design Detail
– Stage 5: Build
– Stage 6: Release

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 Developmental Methodologies
(cont.)
The Twelve areas of the LUCID Management Strategy
1. Product Definition
2. Business Case
3. Resources
4. Physical Environment
5. Technical Environment
6. Users
7. Functionality
8. Prototype
9. Usability
10. Design Guidelines
11. Content Materials
12. Documentation, Training, and Help

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 Ethnographic Observation
• Preparation
– Understand organization policies and work culture.
– Familiarize yourself with the system and its history.
– Set initial goals and prepare questions.
– Gain access and permission to observe/interview.

• Field Study
– Establish rapport with managers and users.
– Observe/interview users in their workplace and collect
subjective/objective quantitative/qualitative data.
– Follow any leads that emerge from the visits.

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 Ethnographic Observation (cont.)
• Analysis
– Compile the collected data in numerical, textual,
and multimedia databases.
– Quantify data and compile statistics.
– Reduce and interpret the data.
– Refine the goals and the process used.

• Reporting
– Consider multiple audiences and goals.
– Prepare a report and present the findings.

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 Participatory Design

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 Participatory Design (cont.)

Controversial
• more user involvement brings
– more accurate information about tasks
– more opportunity for users to influence design
decisions
– a sense of participation that builds users' ego
investment in successful implementation
– potential for increased user acceptance of final
system

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 Participatory Design (cont.)
• on negative side, extensive user involvement may
– be more costly
– lengthen the implementation period
– build antagonism with people not involved or whose
suggestions rejected
– force designers to compromise their design to satisfy
incompetent participants
– build opposition to implementation
– exacerbate personality conflicts between design-
team members and users
– show that organizational politics and preferences of
certain individuals are more important than technical
issues

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 Participatory Design (cont.)

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 Scenario Development
Day-in-the-life scenarios:
• characterize what happens when users perform typical
tasks
• can be acted out as a form of walkthrough
• may be used as basis for videotape
• useful tools
– table of user communities across top, tasks listed
down the side
– table of task sequences
– flowchart or transition diagram

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 Social Impact Statement for
Early Design Review

Describe the new system and its benefits

• Convey the high level goals of the new system.
• Identify the stakeholders.
• Identify specific benefits

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 Social Impact Statement for Early
Design Review (cont.)
Address concerns and potential barriers
• Anticipate changes in job functions and potential layoffs.
• Address security and privacy issues.
• Discuss accountability and responsibility for system
misuse and failure.
• Avoid potential biases.
• Weigh individual rights vs. societal benefits.
• Assess trade-offs between centralization and
decentralization.
• Preserve democratic principles.
• Ensure diverse access.
• promote simplicity and preserve what works.

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 Social Impact Statement for Early
Design Review (cont.)
Outline the development process
• Present and estimated project schedule.
• Propose process for making decisions.
• Discuss expectations of how stakeholders will
be involved.
• Recognize needs for more staff, training, and
hardware.
• Propose plan for backups of data and
equipment.
• Outline plan for migrating to the new system.
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 Legal Issues
Potential Controversies
• What material is eligible for copyright?
• Are copyrights or patents more appropriate for user
interfaces?
• What constitutes copyright infringement?
• Should user interfaces be copyrighted?

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