Chapter 3:

Interaction Design Process

The Resonant Interface: HCI 1

Foundations for Interaction Design -
Overview

 Interaction Design
 User –Centered Design
 Interaction Design Models
 Overview of interaction design Models
 The Design Process Model

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Interaction design
• Interaction design is an iterative process.
• One step forward , two steps back
• Iterative Design:
 Let’s take writing an essay as an example
• list of the topics that you want to cover ( Outline)
• Writing a rough draft
• You might go back to the outline ( iteration between the draft and the
outline)  the outline as a dynamic tool
• The draft might be edited by someone else - the draft as a dynamic
tool
• Finalize the document and distribute it

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User Centered Design (UCD)
• How do designers come up with an interface without wasting
your :
 Time
 Effort
• The objective of (UCD) is to develop a design framework that
enable interaction designers to build more usable systems.
• Design should emerge from the user’s
 tasks
 goals
 environment
• Focuses on human-centric issues
 cognition
 perception
 physical attributes and conditions
• user
• environment 4
User Centered Design (UCD)
• UCD projects generally involve the following methods:
 User Participation
 Particular users become part of the design team.
 Focus Groups
 Used to conduct structured interviews with various
stakeholders. Designers  communicate with diverse users
 observe how they interact with each other.
 Questionnaires
 Questionnaires and surveys can be used to elicit
information from large and geographically dispersed user
groups.
 Ethnographic Observations
 It takes place at the location where the work is performed.
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User Centered Design (UCD)
 Walkthroughs
 Is performed by deciding on the user goal or task and
then walking through a design proposal to see whether
that task can be accomplished.
 Expert Evaluations
 This evaluation is approached from the viewpoint of the
user who has been documented by the design team.
 Usability Testing
 Can take many different forms:
 Expensive usability laboratory , video cameras , tracking software
 Without any technology , Paper prototype , an observer

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Interaction Design Models
• Waterfall Model
• Spiral Model
• Dynamic Systems Development Method
• Prototype-Based Models
• Discount Usability Engineering
• Contextual Inquiry

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Interaction Design Models - Waterfall Model

• Waterfall Model emphasizes a liner , sequential approach to

software development.

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Waterfall life-cycle
model
Interaction Design Models - Waterfall Model

• Waterfall model is not a user-centered model.

• Analysis and Coding
• Small projects
• Programmers are the users
• Requirements are fixed
• Advantages of waterfall model :
• Highly disciplined process of documentation
• Easily observable development progress
• Easy to create budget
• Consistent review process

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Interaction Design Models - Waterfall Model

• Disadvantages of the waterfall model:

• Document centric; can be difficult for customer to

understand
• Not user centered
• Makes assumptions about requirements that are
inflexible

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Interaction Design Models - Spiral Model

• The Spiral model is more complex

• More flexible
• Encourage iteration.
• It is centered on risk reduction and breaks up the project into
subprojects identifying specific risks :
• Budget and schedule predictability
• System integration problems
• User interface errors
• High-level improvements that are incompatible with the client
culture
• Mismatches to the user project’s needs and priorities

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Interaction Design Models - Spiral Model

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Interaction Design Models - Spiral Model

• Advantages of the spiral model include the following:

• Appropriateness for large-scale enterprise systems
• Flexibility in terms of its sensitivity to the dynamic nature of
the software industry
• High sensitivity to risk at each stage of development

• Disadvantages of the spiral model include the following:

• Complex nature makes it difficult for customers to grasp
• Requires extensive information regarding risk assessment
• Undetected risks can be problematic

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Interaction Design Models -Dynamic Systems Development
Method (DSDM)

• Other approaches to standardizing interaction design include

user-centered models, such as the rapid application
development (RAD)
• www.dsdm.org

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Interaction Design Models -Dynamic Systems Development
Method (DSDM)

• Time-sensitive
• Business-centered
• Main focus – on-time delivery of high-quality software for current
business needs
• Time frame and allocated resources are fixed
• Three stages
• Pre-project, feasibility study, and business study phases
• Iteration between the functional model iteration, design and build
iteration, and implementation phases
• Post-project phase

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Interaction Design Models -Dynamic Systems Development
Method (DSDM)

• The DSDM framework recognizes nine principles:

1. Active user involvement is imperative.
2. The team must be empowered to make decisions.
3. The focus is on frequent delivery of products.
4. Fitness for business purpose is the essential criterion for acceptance of
deliverables.
5. Iterative and incremental development is necessary to converge on an
accurate business solution.
6. All changes during development are reversible.
7. Requirements are baselined at a high level.
8. Testing is integrated throughout the life cycle.
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9. Collaboration and cooperation among all stakeholders is essential
Interaction Design Models -Dynamic Systems Development
Method (DSDM)

• The DSDM Core Techniques

• Facilitated Workshops
• Timeboxing
• Investigation
• Refinement
• Consolidation
• MoSCoW (prioritize requirements)
• Must have
• Should have
• Could have
• Won’t have
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Interaction Design Models -Dynamic Systems Development
Method (DSDM)

• The DSDM Core Techniques

• Modeling
• Prototyping
1. Business—Demonstrate the business processes being
automated.
2. Usability—Demonstrate how the user interacts with the
system.
3. Performance and Capacity—Test for system robustness.
4. Capability/Technique—Test conceptual designs.
• Testing
• Configuration Management
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• Advantages of the DSDM:
• Provides a technique-independent process
• Flexible in terms of requirement evolution
• Strict time and budget
• Incorporates stakeholders into the development process

• Disadvantages of the DSDM:

• Involves progressive development of requirements
• Requires full commitment to DSDM process
• Requires significant user involvement
• Requires a skilled development team in both the business and
technical areas
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Interaction Design Models -Prototype-Based Models

• Prototypes are used to develop, demonstrate and test design

ideas
• Appropriate for small-scale projects
• Enable discussions of:
• Look and feel
• Scope
• Information flow
• Product concept

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Interaction Design Models -Prototype-Based Models

• Throwaway Prototyping Model

• Can be used when a client is not clear about the scope of the project and can not
accurately describe the project requirements.

• Evolutionary Prototyping Model

• Trial –and- error method

• Advantages of prototyping :
• Easy for users to give feedback
• Reduced development time and cost
• Involvement of the user in the development process

• Disadvantages of prototyping :
• Can be viewed by client as the final product
• May lead to insufficient analysis due to the ease of development
• Difficult for developers to discard and start creating the final product from
scratch 21
Interaction Design Models - Discount Usability Engineering

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Interaction Design Models -Contextual Inquiry

• Involves
• Observation
• Inquiry
• Interpretation
• It is based on four main principles:
• Context
• Partnership
• Focus
• Interpretation

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Interaction Design Models -Contextual Inquiry

• Context
• how and why people use software products
• Partnership
• partnering with a typical user in a master/apprentice relationship.
• Focus
• Observations are focused on collecting information, which can be
categorized as follows:
• Tools—The various applications people use to perform their tasks.
• Artifacts—Nondigital tools required by the work but not part of the
design.
• Terminology—The labels and terms people use to identify objects and
processes.
• Sequences—The order in which people perform their tasks.
• Methods—Organization techniques used by the workers.
• Interactions—How and why people interact with each other. 24
Interaction Design Models -Contextual Inquiry

• Interpretation

• An affinity diagram is a way to sort, organize, and

prioritize observations
• They involve post-it notes and grouping observations
• The team creates models of :
• Communication flows
• Information sequences
• Physical environments
• Corporate culture structures
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Overview of Interaction Design Models
• Elements that appear in many of the standard
models
• Cost and risk analysis
• Observation
• Task analysis
• Requirements assessment
• Conceptual design
• Physical design
• Prototyping
• Evaluation
• Usability testing
• Implementation 26
• Maintenance
The Design Process Model
• The model involves the following Phases :

 The Discovery Phase

 Design
 Evaluation

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The Design Process Model
• Discovery Phase questions:

• What are the components of the project

• Who is involved
• What are the current work space and work flow like
• What are the contextual and extraneous factors that affect the
work flow

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The Design Process Model
• Design—The design phase has two parts:

• Conceptual Design—What are the possible ways in

which the design can address the needs of the problem
space?
• Personas,
• Scenarios,
• Use cases, etc.

• Physical Design—What are the possible ways that the

conceptual design can be realized in the real world?

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The Design Process Model
• Evaluation Questions
• How can we measure the success of a proposed design
• How can we get real users to give us feedback about a proposed
design
• How can we incorporate usability testing at the early stages of the
design process

• This is documented by the results of formal and informal

usability testing.

• Evaluation is not a discrete phase, it is layered

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References

• “The Resonant Interface: HCI Foundations for Interaction

Design”, By Heim, S. Addison Wesley, 2007.

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