Interface Design Assignment
Over the past few weeks, you have been developing personas that have driven the creation of scenarios, which in turn have driven the creation of requirements. After the material we covered this week in class, you are ready to begin defining an interaction framework that will provide a rough design for the interface of an application.
As a review, the interaction framework defines an application’s basic behavior and flow. You’re not so much concerned about how a particular interface will function, but rather defining at a basic level what it will need to do and how all of the pieces of your application will fit together.
In particular, we’re going to focus on steps 3, 4, and 5 on the process we discussed:
- Grouping elements to facilitate the persona’s flow
- Sketching the interaction framework
- Constructing key path scenarios (how the user will normally interact with your product at a high level)
Your job this week is to take the requirements you’ve created (all of them for both personas) and construct an interaction framework for the home automation system we have been defining over the past few weeks. Your deliverable is a set of storyboards or sketches that will lay out the basic application flow and the interfaces you will need. This can be submitted in PowerPoint (preferred) or Word.
For each “screen” in the application you design, use basic shapes and tell me what they are for. Describe at a high level how a user will interact with the screen. Make sure it is clear to me how the screens all fit together into a cohesive whole. Finally, include the requirements you defined in last week’s assignment and clearly show me how where requirements are being met in the screens you sketch out. Incorporate colors to the extent that you can.
It is important to not over-think this assignment. All you are doing is laying out basic form, flow, and behavior at this point and tying this basic structure back to your requirements. You are not building detailed interfaces (software engineers normally wouldn’t go to this detail anyway). You will likely need to construct a few key path scenarios for your application in order to meet all your requirements. If you have questions as to whether or not you are on the right track, please contact me and we will look at your work together. This concept can be a little tough for students to grasp, so I expect questions!
Recall also that the steps we discussed in terms of creating an interaction framework are fluid and that there are a lot of ways to come up with effective frameworks – there isn’t a template I can give you on this. You need to think critically about the task and be creative with your solution. This assignment will be somewhat time-consuming, so I recommend getting started on it as soon as possible so you have enough time to ask questions and iterate through your design.
