Lesson 3.2

• Design techniques


  • Sketching
• Design techniques


  • Scenarios
• Design techniques


  • Storyboards
• Design techniques


  Sketching is the most important design technique. It is recommended to generate many ideas through sketching and not fixate on an early vision. Hand-sketching on paper is faster and more valuable in the early design stage as it focuses attention on important issues without getting distracted by details like font, color, alignment, whitespace, etc.
• Design sketches


  • Alternative designs for key pages of a grade management website. Hand-sketching is emphasized for its speed and focus on important design issues without getting distracted by details
• Benefits of using hand-sketch designs in early stages

  • Less likely for users to nitpick irrelevant details, more open to suggestions and improvements, less finished and set in stone
• Architects showing clean CAD drawings to clients in early design discussions

  Clients are less able to discuss needs and requirements that may require radical changes in the design
• CAD tools have an option for rendering drawings with a "sketchy" look to make designs more open to suggestions and improvements
• Comparison of two early-design sketches

  • Hand-sketch focuses on what's important in the early stage, while detailed graphic design is distracting and less relevant
• Scenarios in early design


  • Concrete, realistic stories that set up situations involving users with goals, turning task analysis into stories
• Storyboards in early design

  • Sequence of sketches showing what a design looks like at key points in a scenario, acting as a prototype to test if the design provides a way to achieve the goal
• Using information from user/task/domain analysis in design exploration

  Scenarios help check how important tasks are handled, usability aspects are considered based on user classes and tasks, domain information is used to inform design decisions
• Consideration in design based on user classes and tasks

  Learnability for computer novices, memorability for occasional tasks, error prevention and recovery for tasks with many preconditions or exceptions
• Consideration in design based on domain information


  Interface design considerations like sizing lists correctly based on typical number of items, implementing features like sorting, filtering, and searching for large data collections