HCI MIDTERM EXAM

• Interactive and clickable prototypes


  Basic initial impressions of the product with a limited interface to perform certain operations, including clickable buttons, links, or dropdowns
• Clickable prototypes

  • Can be produced through multiple iterations from low fidelity to high fidelity
  • Can mimic how the end product might work when coded, along with how the interface might behave
  • Allow a user to interact with a screen to move between screens of the designer software solution
• Low-fidelity clickable prototypes


  Use paper prototype sketches and clickable prototype software to add some basic interactivity
• Software tools for creating clickable prototypes

  • Keynote
  • PowerPoint
  • Adobe XD
  • Sketch
  • InVision app
  • Proto.io
  • Balsamic
• High-fidelity (high-fi or hi-fi) clickable prototype


  A prototype that looks like and may work just like the finished product, simulating the aesthetics of a proposed design and approximating the development behaviors and user interactions
• Native prototypes


  Actual product-looking prototypes that resemble the idea of the product from a closer view, where users can perform more operations just like fully fledged websites or applications
• Native prototyping


  • Requires solid development skills to prepare a useful prototype in just a few hours, rather than days or weeks
• Prototypes in order


  • The tray
  • The numbers
  • The social dot
  • The web
• The reason for building different prototypes is to explore several options and move the project closer to solving the problem</b>
• Prototyping has enormous value for a software team as it makes an idea tangible and allows testing it with users to validate one solution over another
• Validating with users


  The process of testing ideas and prototypes with users to understand whether they are working
• Stages of user validation

  • Idea validation
  • Usability validation
  • Market validation

  
• Idea validation


  Validating concepts under low pressure with low-fidelity paper prototypes to identify the right problems to solve
• Pros of idea validation

  • Validated ideas can keep a team on track and motivated
  • Generating many concepts leads to more innovative solutions
  • Validated concepts funnel solutions faster toward an end product
  • Teams are more motivated to solve the right problem
• Cons of idea validation

  • No one wants to work hard for a product that fails
  • Teams can spend too much time on concepts rather than moving on
  • Ideas can move on regardless of being invalidated by users
• Usability validation


  Validating whether a software prototype is usable through feedback on tasks, user-friendliness, and ease of use
• Pros of usability validation

  • Iterations can quickly be addressed through user testing on a clickable prototype
  • Usable software is a successful software, but not necessarily a loved software
  • HCI practitioners can validate their skills and decisions
• Cons of usability validation

  • Usability is not universal, every user has different understanding and experience
  • Teams can spend too much time on usability rather than trusting it will improve
  • Usability is more nuanced than just binary "usable" or "not usable"
• Market validation


  Validating a software prototype with a broader audience to ensure it is the right solution that users want
• Pros of market validation

  • Successful beta launches lead to revenue and more users
  • Users can validate the idea and execution as the right solution
  • HCI practitioners can validate their work is worthy of users
• Cons of market validation

  • Users can be extra needy or critical during beta tests
  • Teams can spend too much time looking for big numbers rather than growing users slowly
  • Beta software has more potential for crashes and user experience errors
• Quantitative survey method


  Gathering quantitative data through surveys

  
• Role of an HCI designer

  • Gather information from a number of sources
  • Learn from users over time
  • Act as the "collector" of data
• Qualitative observations and interviews


  Incredibly useful but hard to scale
• Surveys


  A method for gathering quantitative data that can be scaled to multiple users

  
• Surveys in UX


  • Prominent tool to gather feedback and measure human responses or software solutions
  • Cost to execute is very low
  • Can be quick and dirty or more strategic
• Strategic survey process


  1. Establish goals for sampling method

  2. Use survey design best practices

  3. Avoid common survey biases

  4. Improve survey evaluation
• A/B testing (split testing)

  Comparing two versions of a product, marketing, web page, or software application to evaluate which performs better
• A/B testing process


  1. Show version A to a portion of users and version B to the rest

  2. Verify which version is getting more users and should be applied
• Usability analytics


  Analyzing data generated by real-world websites and software to identify and diagnose issues and track user interactions

  
• Data gathering has created more scrutiny from users and government regulations, leading to policies like GDPR
• Key aspects of a system that can be tracked through usability analytics


  • Conversions
  • Pages per visit
  • Time per visit
  • Bounce rate
  • Exit pages
• Accessibility compliance


  Ensuring software is accessible and compliant with regional and global laws
• Key accessibility standards


  • WCAG 2.0
  • Section 504
  • Section 508
• Qualitative methods are more valuable toward the beginning of solving software problems, while quantitative methods are more useful as solutions get created
• Research data gathered can be used to communicate progress with stakeholders, add content for marketing, and build great businesses
• Universal design


  Design approach that aims to make products, services and environments usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design
• Universal design principles


  • Equitable use
  • Flexibility in use
  • Simple and intuitive to use
  • Perceptible information
  • Tolerance for error
  • Low physical effort
  • Size and space for approach and use
• NCSW stands for National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education
• Multi-Sensory Systems


  • Use more than one sensory channel in interaction
  • Used in a range of applications, particularly good for users with special needs, and virtual reality